Rhythm is the heartbeat of jazz guitar. Your feel, time, and groove are what bring chords to life, transforming simple harmonic accompaniment into authentic jazz. Mastering the essential rhythmic language of jazz is one of the fastest ways to sound more confident, musical, and stylistically authentic.
David Shorr breaks down the foundational rhythmic approaches every jazz guitarist should know in his 'Jazz Rhythms, Vol. 1' interactive curriculum.
"We'll work through the rhythmic concepts that define the sound of jazz guitar, including classic patterns like the Charleston, Mirrored Charleston, Push Charleston, Freddie Green, and Red Garland styles. Along the way, we'll focus on feel, touch, and learning how to place your notes in time so your playing grooves naturally and supports the music."
IN THIS COURSE, YOU'LL LEARN: How to develop an authentic jazz feel, strengthen your time, improve your groove, and confidently apply the foundational rhythmic patterns that define jazz guitar.
You'll have TrueFire's interactive learning tools at your fingertips to customize your workspace and learn at your own pace.
The demonstrations and performances are tabbed, notated, and synced to the video lessons with controls for looping, slow motion, fretboard animation, and other tools designed to accelerate your progress.
You'll also get the tab and standard notation files to print out, downloadable Guitar Pro files to edit, and backing tracks to practice and record with.
Grab your guitar, and let's dive into Jazz Rhythms, Vol. 1 with David Shorr!
Hey guys, David Shorr here. In this set of lessons, we’re going to work on essential jazz rhythms. This is where your feel, time, and groove really come together. We’ll cover classic patterns like the Charleston, Mirrored Charleston, Pushed Charleston, Freddie Green, and Red Garland styles. These are foundational rhythmic approaches that help define the sound of jazz guitar. As we work through them, focus on feel, touch, and how you place the notes in time. All right, grab your guitar. Let’s dive in.
2Charleston
In this lesson, we’ll learn the essential Charleston rhythm, focusing on its long-short rhythmic pattern and the placement of the hits on beat one and the “and” of two.
3Charleston
In this lesson, we’ll learn how to make the Charleston feel natural and swing by counting the rhythm, internalizing its placement, controlling the space between notes, and letting the groove breathe.
4Charleston | Hybrid Picking
In this lesson, we’ll work through the Charleston using hybrid picking, combining the pick and fingers for a balanced, controlled approach to the rhythm.
5Charleston | Pick
In this lesson, we’ll work through the Charleston using a traditional strumming approach, focusing on clean articulation, muting, and rhythmic separation.
6Charleston with Accents
In this lesson, we’ll learn how adding eighth notes and shifting our accents can create new rhythmic variations while maintaining the core feel of the Charleston.
7Charleston with Accents
In this lesson, we’ll work through an accented Charleston, emphasizing beat one and the “and” of two to bring out the core rhythm.
I have been working on improving my rhythm playing metronome on 2 and 4. This course helped me consolidate the key rhythms and kept me encouraged to continue playing with the infernal device (metronome) and trying to internalise the feel of 4 beats.
