Take 5: Jazz Super Arpeggios

One of the most elusive and complex concepts for jazz guitarists is figuring out how to express lush, modern jazz harmony using a simple melodic approach.   By understanding how to combine a few common arpeggio shapes as chord subs, we can imply elaborate super arpeggios for more colorful, harmonic hipness.

In this Jazz Super Arpeggio edition of Take 5, Sheryl Bailey dispels the myth that modern jazz harmony is complicated and elusive. By sharing a few approaches that utilize some very basic shapes and then simply shifting them around, Sheryl will show you how to produce a wide palette of modern jazz sounds for improvisation.

”We’ll start this course with a jazz super arpeggio primer where I’ll explain the 4 basic arpeggios and the way they can be related to different chords.  We’ll explore the shapes of the major 7, major 7-sharp-five, minor 7, and the minor-major-seven, and then we’ll experiment with how they can be layered on basic chords and crafted into contemporary jazz melodies.”

After the primer, Sheryl will guide you through 5 Super Arpeggio performance studies, from basic to more sophisticated and challenging approaches. Sheryl will first perform the study and then break it down explaining the applications in detail.

Sheryl will explain and demonstrate all of the key concepts and approaches along the way. You’ll get standard notation and tabs for all of the key examples and performances. Plus, you’ll be able to use TrueFire’s learning tool to sync the tab and notation to the video and can also loop or slow down the videos so that you can work with the lessons at your own pace. All of the backing tracks are included to work with on your own as well.

Grab your guitar and let's play some super arpeggios with Sheryl Bailey!