If you’ve felt that the logic of “jazz lines” eludes you; if you’ve noticed that the phrasing of your own solos doesn’t sit right in a swing context; if you’ve started to hear that the lines played by your favorite jazz players aren’t just exercises running up and down a scale, but you don’t yet grasp the source of their “whirling circles”; or, if you’re someone who already understands some jazz theory, but still feels that your solos need more direction and “pocket,” this class will help you get “unstuck.

In my Swing Guitar Soloing workshop series, we’re going to jump right in and learn to play some classic solos (Lester Young, Charlie Christian, Django Reinhardt, Louis Armstrong, and more) so that we can start figuring out what the heck makes these musical statements so compelling. And we’re going to mine those solos and extract some of the catchiest licks that sit great on the guitar, so you can start using them in your solos.

One question I’ve heard many times is “What’s the difference between jazz and swing?” My answer is usually something along the lines of “nothing, if you’re doing it right,” but sometimes it could also be “jazz is what you learn in school.” Scales and arpeggios are important tools, but the essential foundations of the jazz language are found in the melodies of the songs that served to launch the improvisations in the first place. So in this eight-part class, we’re not going to be memorizing the names of a lot of modes, practicing abstract scales, or accumulating arpeggios divorced from any musical context. The best way to gain access to the language of the swinging improviser is to disassemble some classic musical statements, examine their interlocking parts, and learn to recognize and appreciate their logic and beauty as you begin to assemble a voice of your own.