Welcome to Jazztheorylessons.com, the best place to find lessons on jazz theory and improvisation. If you are looking to learn jazz theory then our free jazz lessons will help you. We will be adding new and interesting jazz theory lessons each week. Our site is here to make learning jazz theory fun and interesting. We have lessons on scales, jazz chords, modes, arpeggios and jazz repertoire. When you first start playing jazz, one of the biggest traps to fall into is that of just playing scales up and down through a chord progression. Many jazz players are guilty of scale overload at time and it can really sound boring for a listener. One of the best ways to start really getting a feel for playing over chord changes in jazz is to start using arpeggios to outline chord movements. Start with the most obvious choices and when you learn a new tune, make sure you can play through it using just arpeggios. Being able to play through a standard with arpeggios will help you learn the harmony of a song and also give you the ability to really spell out the chord changes. Using arpeggios to play through a difficult chord sequence is an essential skill that you will need if you are going to progress in the world if jazz improvisation.
Try playing through the 2 5 1 progression through a cycle of 4ths using nothing but arpeggios. If you were playing over a Dm7, G7, Cmaj progression then play over it using Dm7 arpeggio, G7 arpeggio and Cmajor7 arpeggio. Practicing with arpeggios like this, through the cycle of 4ths, will really help you learn arpeggios in all 12 keys.
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