Richard Mills BA LGSMD Guitarist, Guitar Teacher

Professional guitar lessons in Leeds, tuition for beginners to advanced
Jazz guitar performance

a syllabus for jazz guitar

This is not a detailed list: what I am stating here are the main areas of music theory that have to be integrated (gradually!) into your practice and playing. (This does NOT include areas of physical technique, ie HOW to play and practice. For some thoughts on that, see some technical advice .)

Scales

Firstly, major, mixolydian, dorian minor, aeolian minor, lydian, blues scale, bebop scale, pentatonic minor and pentatonic major.
Then: melodic minor ascending ('jazz minor'), diminished and augmented.
Then: the remaining modes of the major and melodic minor, including lydian dominant and super locrian.
Then: harmonic minor and its modes.

Arpeggios

The 3-note major and minor, and 4-note 7th chord arpeggios.
Then, five-note arpeggios with upper extensions.

Substitute scales, arpeggios and chords

Playing one chord or scale when another is written on the music sheet is a well-used way to generate harmonic interest. The most common one is the tri-tone substitution (play Db7 for G7). I like playing penatonic minor scales as subsitutes, eg over Dm7 G7 Cmajor7 A7b9 use Am Bbm Bm Cm pentatonic respectively. See Steve Khan's book ( books I recommend ) for more on this.

Chords

1) Chord composition:

Triads
7th chords
extensions (9th, 11th, 13th and their alterations)

2) Chord texture:
Open position chords
Barre chords
Chords on 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 strings
Voice-leading

Rhythm

The difference between swing and even feels
8th note and 16th note rhythms
Different styles of comping (accompaniment)

Repertoire

Blues
Minor blues
Rhythm changes
32-bar standard tunes of the American songbook
Modern jazz standards

Chord/melody playing

This is the application of all the above, such that the listener simultaneously experiences the melody, harmony and rhythm of a piece. I used to divide my playing into 'chords' and 'lead', but now that I can integrate them both in one moment I enjoy my music much more.

Improvisation

Growing fluency in the above areas form a basis from which improvisation can be developed. See my page on improvisation improvisation