Jazz Soloing

[PrinceGeorge]

I've been starting to try jazz soloing, but it sounds really bad. I've been playing guitar for about five years but have only recently gotten into jazz. So I need some help with my soloing. Right now I am just using chord tones.

 

Any tips?

 

Thanks

[1001gear]

4 finger patterns. Technically these are tetrachords but I offer them as melodic drills.

The finger sequence is 1 2 3 4

W = whole step

H = half step

The steps of course go between the fingers.

W W W for instance would be a whole tone tetrachord, H H H would be a half tone or chromatic tetrachord. This stretches the definition of tetrachord but is allowed.

Anyway:

W W W    H H H

W W H     H W W

H H W      W H H

W H W     H W H

[PrinceGeorge]

Okay, so lets say I did a whole tone tetrachord starting on the 3rd fret on the A string. Would it be 3-5-7-9 or 3-5-7-2?

 

And how do I put these into my soloing?

Thanks for the reply

[jeremy_green]

Honestly you need to,take the tried and true approach that pretty much everybody before you has taken - transcribing great solos. Forget all this theory stuff, get in there and lift a bunch of Miles Davis solos. THEN analyze and see how he treated each chord. Do enough solos and all your questions will be answered.

[JonR]

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PrinceGeorge wrote:

I've been starting to try jazz soloing, but it sounds really bad. I've been playing guitar for about five years but have only recently gotten into jazz. So I need some help with my soloing. Right now I am just using chord tones.

Chord tones is good - stick with them. They make arpeggios, of course, all over the neck (I assume you know that, and can find all the chord tones for any chord, everywhere...  You don't need to play all over the neck, of course, but you need to be able to pick any neck position and play the notes you need there).

You can use just about any passing note in between chord tones - notes from the chords either side are a good bet if you're not sure of the right scale. Approaching chord tones from a half-step below is always good (regardless of key or scale).
Pick a chord tone on one chord, target a chord tone on the next chord, and plot a line between them.

But of course you need a vocabulary too, little phrases and motifs, typical jazz licks of various kinds.  As Jeremy says, you can get these from listening to jazz solos, listening out for any phrase that catches your ear.  (No need to transcribe whole solos, although with any great player you really admire, that can be worthwhile.)

And don't forget melodies too. For any tune you want to improvise on, you need to be able to play the head melody first. But listen to melodies all the time, in any kind of music. As with solos, listen out for phrases that appeal to you: learn them, along with how they fit the chords. 

Make sure you can play all these little phrases you pick up in every key (or at least all the common keys).

The point about this is that learning phrases will help you think in phrases: short groups of notes with pauses. 

Good melodies and good solos should also make you aware of how important rhythm is - how notes are timed relative to the beat.  Don't just think about notes the whole time (scales, chord tones, chromatics).  Think rhythm first; then phrase shape; and notes last of all.   Sometimes a good phrase can be played with just ONE note, if the rhythm is good.

[PrinceGeorge]

Okay, thanks for the help. very appreciated