Playing What You Hear

Lesson 3/87 | Study Time: 5 Min

Course: Jazz Guitar

Playing What You Hear

Another important aspect of understanding the scale forms is being able to play what you hear in your mind, and to play the same thing in many different places on the fretboard. Once you can play whatever you hear in any of the five forms, the need to move to somewhere "more comfortable" is eliminated and you can improvise much more freely.

A good way to develop this ability is to play a simple melody you already know from memory (e.g., Yankee Doodle) in any of the forms, and then move it to all other possible fingerings on the fretboard. You can often play the same melody twice in different octaves within the one form.

Once you can easily play a melody anywhere on the fretboard, choose another one and repeat the process, then another, etc. Make it part of your daily practice. As you progress, you will be able to do this with more sophisticated lines, but start with simple ones.

The following example shows a two bar phrase played in all five forms in the key of C major.

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Class Sessions

1- Keys and Key Signatures 2- More about Eighth Notes 3- Identifying Intervals by Ear 4- Intervals 5- Developing Rhythmic Control 6- Using Ties 7- Transposing 8- Using the Whole Fretboard, Playing in all Keys 9- Scale Degrees 10- The Triplet 11- Scale Tone 7th Chords 12- LESSON NINE 13- Using the Scale Forms 14- Learning all the Notes 15- INTRODUCTION 16- More about Major Scales 17- The II V I Progression 18- Arpeggios and Chord Progressions 19- Seventh Chords 20- Scale Tone Chords 21- Modes over Chord Changes 22- Fingerings for Modes 23- Basic Jazz Sounds and Techniques 24- The Major Scale 25- Understanding Chords 26- Modes 27- Understanding Rhythms 28- Understanding Chord Progressions, Arpeggios and Modes 29- Eighth Notes 30- The Chromatic Scale 31- Arpeggios 32- Major Scales in all Keys 33- Intervals in Sequences 34- Interval Qualities 35- Playing What You Hear 36- Improvising with Arpeggios 37- Scale Tone 7th Pattern 38- Major Key Triad Pattern 39- Tones and Semitones 40- Learning to Play Seventh Chords 41- Improvising with Set Rhythms 42- The Importance of Timing and Attitude 43- Using Set Rhythms 44- Syncopation 45- Mode Formulas 46- Other Common Progressions 47- Swing Rhythms 48- Creating Your Own Melodies 49- Ties Across a Bar Line 50- Combining Modes and Arpeggios 51- Visualizing Scale Degrees 52- Notes on the Guitar Fretboard 53- Tuning Your Guitar 54- Interval Distances 55- Chord Construction - Triads 56- Sequences 57- Jam Along Progressions 58- Scale Tone Chords in all Keys 59- Fretboard Diagrams 60- Major Sevenths 61- Counting Swing Eighth Notes 62- Enharmonic Notes 63- First and Second Endings 64- 5 Forms of Movable Fingerings 65- Major Scale Pattern 66- Notes in More than one Place 67- Dominant Sevenths 68- Listening 69- The G Major Scale 70- Finding Intervals on the Fretboard 71- Left Hand Fingering 72- Memorizing the Notes of the Scale 73- Position Playing 74- The Key Cycle 75- Common Progressions 76- The F Major Scale 77- Higher and Lower Versions of Notes 78- Minor Sevenths 79- Chord Symbols 80- Tablature 81- More titles by LearnToPlayMusic.com 82- Practicing Scales and Arpeggios 83- Other Major Scales 84- Technique 85- Minor 7 Flat Five and Diminished 86- Approach to Practice 87- Practice Position

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Playing What You Hear