JAZZ GUITAR CURRICULUM

Note
Improvisation of the highest caliber can be on a blues or a folk tune. Pigeon-holing jazz musicians and
jazz guitarists into a particular level is very difficult. Some students have the fretboard, chord, and
scale math together, but the phrasing is not developed. Further more, other students have a natural
flow of melodic ideas steeped in the jazz tradition but technique and harmonic development is not yet
developed. Given all of the components of playing jazz combined with technical aspects of the guitar,
assigning a level is never easy. All students are designed a unique program of study to assist in all
areas in need of work with a focus on developing guitar skills and the art of jazz
performance/improvisation.

Level 1
Open position notational reading up to two sharps/flats, simple folk chords and 7th chords in harmonic
rhythm, reads simple pop or jazz melodies in open position
Alfred Method Volume One and Two, Easy Pop Melodies Hal Leonard

Level 2
More proficiency in notational reading up to four sharps/flats in open position, modest notational
reading in 2nd position, rhythmic acuity to read simple syncopation, increased knowledge of open
position chords and some simple bar chords as applied to songs (jazz, pop, folk), ability to combine
basic chords with melody, simple improvisation on a pentatonic scale
Alfred Method Volume Two, William Leavitt A Modern Method For Guitar Volume One and Classical
Studies for Pick Players and lead sheets of American Popular Sings for chord strumming and melody
reading

Level 3
More proficiency in major and minor scales in second position reading and use of higher positions and
increased syncopation, greater chord vocabulary to seventh chords with simple extensions, basic blues
improvisation, more facility with playing chords combined with melody (instructor arranged chord

melodies of Beatles, holiday music, simple jazz songs, modal improvisation (dorian and mixolydian),
simple riff construction students learn aurally in lesson before notation, introduction to jazz
standards and bebop, introduction to transcribing
Real Book 6th Ed., William Leavitt Modern Method for Guitar Volume. One, Classical Studies for Pick
Players, Melodic Rhythms for Guitar, Barry Galbraith Thirteen Solos, Jim Snidero Easy Jazz Conception

Level 4
Jazz phrasing and swing feel development through listening, singing, transcribing (Miles Davis, Barney
Kessel, Wes Montgomery, Charlie Christian etc.), chordal development inversions, extensions, simple
voice leading in comping, big band charts, Freddie Green 4/4 concept, small group comping, more
advanced blues and modal improvisation to include blues scale, MA scale modes and basic II-V-I
vocabulary from transcribed solos and lesson content, greater technical facility on entire fingerboard,
more advanced chord melodies (published and/or arranged in lessons), diatonic chord scales (triads
and sevenths in root position on different string sets)
Barry Galbraith Thirteen Solos, Bach Inventions for 2 Guitars, Fingerboard Workbook, Jazz Guitar Chord
Comping, Charlie Christian Genius of the Jazz Guitar, Steve Khan Wes Montgomery Guitar Folio, Barney
Kessel Jazz Guitar Solos (Hal Leonard) Jim Snidero Jazz Conception, Bob Sneider How to Play Guitar in a
Big Band and appropriate level five NYSSMA solos

Level 5
Further development of swing feel and jazz vocabulary through listening, singing, transcribing (Charlie
Parker, Barney Kessel, Wes Montgomery, Louis Armstrong, Charlie Christian etc.), working knowledge
of chord inversions, extensions, reading in all positions of the guitar, bebop heads phrased in multiple
locations/octaves, student arranging of chord melodies, melodic vocabulary through 12 keys and all
regions of the fingerboard, focus on II-V-I and mi ii-v-i, diminished chords, altered chords, greater
facility and ability to use major scale modes, blues scales, harmonic minor, jazz melodic minor,
arpeggios(including extensions and altered notes), simple chromaticism, assimilation of transcribed
material into improvisation, blues with III-VI-II-V, basic rhythm changes, simple standards (Autumn
Leaves, Take the A Train, Black Orpheus)
Level 5 materials, Eddie Lang Fretboard Harmony and Advanced Guitar Method, level six NYSSMA
solos, Jimmy Raney Transcribed Solos, Corey Christianson Essential Jazz Lines: Grant Green

Level 6
Jazz language approaching a more intuitive and spontaneous level through singing, transcribing similar
to level Five, memorization of bop heads (Powell, Silver, Parker), chord and melody combination more
fluid, comping contains more logical/inventive voice-leading(big band and combo), higher level of
improvisation on more difficult be-bop tunes and jazz standards, more sophistication in blues
improvisation, focus on repertoire development (standards/bop), advanced improvisation concepts
(modes of the melodic minor, whole tone, diminished, neighbor tones, tri-tone substitution etc.),
development of finger-style technique (bossa nova/latin), arpeggios carried through chord changes,
motivic development in soloing, introduction to more difficult progressions (Coltrane, Shorter, Hancock)
Materials similar to level 5, with more of a focus on teacher generated materials

http://www.esm.rochester.edu/community/handbooks/student/studentcurriculum/jazz-guitar/