Trading Solos: Jazz Standards Vol. 2

Interactive Video Jam Session with a Top TrueFire Artist

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Sean McGowan

Educator

jazz

Genres

About this course

In Sean McGowan’s Jazz Standard edition of Trading Solos, you’ll comp and then also trade solos with Sean over five jazz standard progressions commonly encountered on the gig or in the jam. The progressions range over a variety of keys, tempos, and feels.

”This course will give you the opportunity to explore a number of approaches to improvisation through soloing and comping - all in real-time. The best way to learn music and improve your playing is to play with others in as many different situations as possible. This is especially true with jazz, which is all about embracing personal expression and style. In this course, we'll cover a number of different harmonic and rhythmic concepts and strategies that you can use with your own playing, over any jazz standard.

We'll explore some time-honored standards, a 12-bar blues in F, a beautiful ballad, and a classic jazz waltz. Each one will offer a variety of techniques, chord voicings, and line concepts for you to practice and incorporate as you like. Ultimately, the idea is to create your own solo and comping language using these ideas, apply them to a wide variety of tunes, keys, and tempos, and then hit the bandstand ready to play!”

Sean begins the course with a few tone tips to help you get an authentic jazz sound. For each of the five jazz standard progression backing tracks, Sean will show you a handful of licks and comping approaches that you can use over the tracks as you trade solos with Sean. Then, you'll take turns applying those ideas, trading solos and comping for each other.

Sean 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 the backing tracks are included to work with own your own as well.

Grab your guitar and let’s trade solos with Sean McGowan!

What you'll learn

Create moving inner voices within static chords
Use hybrid picking technique for jazz comping
Apply polyrhythmic phrasing (2 against 3) in soloing and comping
Construct melodic lines using interval-based approaches (thirds)
Comp through a 32-bar jazz waltz progression with multiple rhythmic feels

Release date: 08/08/2019 • 2h 32m runtime

intermediate late intermediate guitar electric guitar soloing improvisation

Start Course

Sample lessons

Track 2: Deep Winter Blues

Track Overview

Track 2: Deep Winter Blues

Comping Ideas: Demo

Track 2: Deep Winter Blues

Soloing Ideas: Demo

Track 2: Deep Winter Blues

Playalong Preview

Track 2: Deep Winter Blues

Track Overview

Track 2: Deep Winter Blues

Comping Ideas: Demo

Track 2: Deep Winter Blues

Soloing Ideas: Demo

Track 2: Deep Winter Blues

Playalong Preview

What's included

28 lessons • 15 charts • 5 Jam Tracks

Trading Solos: Jazz Standards Edition

Hi, I'm Sean McGowan, and welcome to this edition of Trading Solos: Jazz Standards! This course will give you the opportunity to explore a number of approaches to improvisation through soloing and comping - all in real time. The best way to learn music and improve your playing is to play with others in as many different situations as possible. This is especially true with jazz, which is all about embracing personal expression and style.

In this course, we'll cover a number of different harmonic and rhythmic concepts and strategies that you can use with your own playing, over any jazz standard. We'll explore some time-honored standards, a 12-bar blues in F, a beautiful ballad, and a classic jazz waltz. Each one will offer a variety of techniques, chord voicings, and line concepts for you to practice and incorporate as you like. Ultimately, the idea is to create your own solo and comping language using these ideas, apply them to a wide variety of tunes, keys, and tempos, and then hit the bandstand ready to play!

Jazz Style Tips

In this section, we'll talk about visualizing, hearing, and creating your own concept of "good sound" using your hands and ears. I'll also run down the roles of the guitar, strings, pickups, effects, and amplifier in playing classic and modern jazz.

Track 1: Lunar

Let's kick off the course with a tune called "Lunar", based on the changes to the popular jazz standard, "Solar". Trademarks of this progression include four bars of "open" minor, a tapered form, and series of ii-V's moving descending in whole steps.

Track 1: Lunar

When comping on this - and on any tune - you want to be able to employ a wide palette of colors and techniques. Open position triads are a great way to outline the changes while still allowing for the soloist to utilize textures and colors in the lead improv. We'll also talk about great sounding voicings stacked in 4ths, and take some cues from a master of jazz guitar comping, Jim Hall.

Track 1: Lunar

Here we'll talk about how to outline the changes using lines based on neighbor tones and arpeggios, while employing typical bebop rhythms and phrasing. We'll also talk about playing quick, double-time lines and using the "half-whole" diminished scale over a dominant 7th chord.

Track 1: Lunar

As you listen to the track with both parts, pay attention to how they complement each other, and imagine what you might do differently or similarly when you comp and solo in the play along section.

Let's Trade Solos

OK, it's time to trade some solos! When the track starts, I'll take the first solo and you comp. Then we'll switch - I'll comp and you take the lead! We'll trade solos for each full chorus of the tune.

+ 21 more lessons

Reviews

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leeofcalifornia

Verified buyer

04/24/25

Trading Solos: Jazz Standars Vol. 2

I thought this was a very good course. It supplements his course Organic Jazz Improv using neighbors with C,A,G, E. and D shapes which is why I purchased this course. Thus, Tradiing Solos provides material to practice what he has taught in the Organiz Jazz Improv course.

Sindibad

12/27/24

Trading Solos: Jazz Standards Edition

Good approach to playing jazz as a whole with visualization and listening.

rickwilli

Verified buyer

01/09/23

Great lesson with lots of great ideas..

Lots of great ideas here!

SoniaMyLove

10/24/21

Trading Solos

I must say that Sean is one educator that has great concepts and a way to connect to his students. I highly recommend Trading Solos and any other course from Sean.

5peter5000

Verified buyer

08/02/21

Sean presents a number of different harmonic and rhythmic concepts and strategies that you can use with your own playing. As usual showing deep insight and inspiration.