10 steps to learn any jazz guitar standards

The world of jazz guitar is sophisticated, exciting, and often appears wildly complex for any guitarist looking from the outside. Learning how to play jazz guitar standards can feel like a daunting task, especially without a trustworthy method to keep you on the right track.

Whether you want to master melodies, perfect progressions, or skillfully solo over the changes – we’ve got you covered!

In this article, you’ll learn these key techniques for conquering those scary jazz standards:

• Active listening
• Memorizing melodies
• Walking bass lines
• Comping

After this, you’ll be a smooth-sailing jazz guitarist who can hang with the heaviest of cats!

Step #1 – Active listening

Listening to new and exciting music is one of the best ways to spend your free time, but as musicians, it’s crucial to pay close attention to what we hear.

If you’re learning a new jazz standard, it’s vital to familiarize yourself with the song itself before you attempt to play it. Your ears need to learn it before your hands!

• Find as many ways as possible to internalize the song – study individual elements each time you listen.
• Listening to different renditions is an excellent way to hear fresh perspectives on the same song – a saxophone player may show you a whole new approach to a melody.
• Try to be aware of every rhythmic, harmonic, and melodic element that make up the song – this is active listening.

Step #2 – Commit the melody to memory

The melody is key! Jazz standards are beautiful compositions that often have a strong melody that you’ll want to commit to memory. The stronger your connection to the melody, the better your musical decisions will be when it comes time to shed the changes!

• How are those vocal chops? Singing is one of the most effective ways to internalize a catchy melody. If you can sing it, you can play it!

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• Once you can sing the melody, grab a guitar and figure out how to play it on different areas of the neck.
• Jazz guitar players need to be comfortable playing the melody anywhere on the fretboard – the caged system will help you develop this skill.

Top tip: In jazz guitar, infusing the melody into your solo is a shortcut to sounding like a pro! Make your improvisation sound aware, and intentional by throwing in little “quotes” from the main melody.

Step #3 – Learn the chord progression

You might have heard terms like “ii-V-I” being thrown around, especially in the jazz guitar world.

This notation system breaks down chord progressions into simple roman numerals which describe a chord's position within the key, and its quality.

• Learning a jazz standard using this system is much quicker than remembering all the individual chords that make up a progression.
• The jazz standard All The Things You Are by Jerome Kern, initially appears to be a very complex chord progression but is mostly just a ii-V-I moving through different keys.
• ii-V-I and iii-vi-ii-V-I are examples of chord progressions that appear regularly in jazz music.

Jazz standards are much easier to learn once you’ve got to grips with the roman numerals system – check out our Jazz Learning Pathway for more.

Step #4 – Memorizing the form

Unfortunately, these forms aren’t yoga poses! Nevertheless, they could reduce your stress levels when learning jazz standards!

The form describes the structure of a song, kind of like a road map for musicians! Jazz musicians learn standards by memorizing the number of bars in the song and how many sections the song is cut up into.

• AABA, ABAC, or ABCD may sound like cheat codes, but to jazz musicians, they’re a way to remember the structure of a song.
• In jazz we often repeat the same 8 or 16 bars, so it makes sense to label them in a simple way.

Most standards follow a 32 bar form, Autumn Leaves is a great example and follows the AABA structure

• Two 8 bar A sections (16 bars)
• One 8 bar B section
• One 8 bar A section
• 16 + 8 + 8 = 32 bars

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Step #5 – Highlight the guide tones

The guide tones are the 3rd and 7th of a chord. These notes are vital in jazz as they give a chord its character or ‘quality’. Using guide tones in a melody or solo ensures a consonant and harmonically satisfying sound.

• Practicing a jazz standard using only guide tones allows you to highlight the most important notes in each chord.
• Guide tones are useful for outlining the movement of a progression – an essential skill for building a solo that follows the changes.
• Learning where your guide tones in different positions on the neck will help with fretboard visualization.
• Work on one song until you know it inside out and can confidently locate the guide tones for any chord.