Latin Jazz Guitar

How to solo over Girl From Ipanema

In video we will explore the scales the you can use over The Girl From Ipanema. Improvising blends your knowledge of harmony, scales, voice leading and technique. The scales that I use here are only one option but I think they work well in a Latin Jazz context. I have included a backing track for […]

Learn Armando’s Rhumba Guitar Solo

Armando’s Rhumba is considered a jazz standard, it was written in 1976 and appears on the Chick Corea album My Spanish Heart. The original key is C minor but I have transposed it to A minor for guitar, you can also use a capo on 3 to get the original key sound. I have also […]

Chega De Saudade

I have arranged Tom Jobim’s Chega De Saudade for this week’s lesson. In this arrangement, I have opted for a more arpeggio approach as there are long gaps between the melodic notes, you can also shape the chordal accompaniment with interesting dynamics to create compelling phrasing. I have put accents on the melodic notes so […]

Bésame Mucho – Chords and Solo ideas

Besame Mucho is regarded as one of the most famous Latin songs. Written by Mexican songwriter and concert pianist Consuelo Velasquez, the melody was inspired by the start of a Granados piano piece. The song style is a Bolero which, unlike the Spanish Bolero, is a popular Latin song form that originated in Cuba. It […]

Understanding Jazz Chords

In this video we will look at what the Latin jazz chords are in a major key. We will also look at how these chords are constructed and give a few examples of common jazz progressions. For this example, we’ll explore the chords in the key of C major. We derive the chords in a […]

How to Improvise with Chord Tones on Guitar

  We’re going to look at the start of Manha De Carneval and use chord tones to do get you thinking about improvising. Chord tones will give you a starting vocabulary of notes you case to improvise with. This lesson will help to famillarise you with where along the fretboard you can find certain chords […]

Essential Latin Guitar Scales

Latin Guitar Scales you need for know  (Great for improvising) Harmonic minor played over Am – E7 The A harmonic minor is a natural minor scale with a sharp 7th degree. This scale has a dark and moody feel and is characterized by a minor third interval which gives it a lot of tension. The […]

Corcovado Part 2

In this next section we will look at the next 8 bars. The next four bars utilise bar chords Gm7 and C9 barring the 3rd fret and chords F#m7 and B7#5 barring on the second fret.