When comes to smooth jazz George Benson is one of the go-to guys. I've always been a huge fan of George Benson and his guitar playing even his more sweet songs like on his CD Breezin.  In this tutorial I'll show you some tricks and tips how to play a song pretty much in the style of breathing by George Benson with the chords Dmaj7 / Bm7 / Em7 / A7.  This is a so-called 1625 progression which is normally displayed with Roman letters. In this tutorial I first show you the chords, then explain the progression, then show the used scales and then show you a simple theme which really works nights on this progression. The theme is very simple to play and give you an idea how you can develop a theme with simple melodic lines. Then I'll show you how to make variations on a theme by using the associated scale in this case this is the D major pentatonic. Since  the major pentatonic sounds a little bit sweet I show you a trick how to use an approach note on the third note of the major pentatonic scale to create a more bluesy sound.  For the concept to play smooth jazz theme song is to first play the theme then start to do variations on the theme then go into improvisation with a major pentatonic and then give you the more highlighted line with the Blues Licks and at the end you come back to the theme.  Discounted is very similar to normal Jazz improvisation and it smooth jazz you just going to work more in a bluesy kind of way. At the end of the tutorial I going to play for 3 minutes example how to develop your ideas on improvisation on variations on a theme and to make it  interesting to the listener.

Orange Smooth Jazz ( I VI II V ) .pdf

Orange Smooth Jazz ( I VI II V ) .gp

grabbel_jam.mp3

HP, hope you are well.  I was a member about a year ago and now I'm back.

This tutorial has changed my life!  This is the music I want to play.  I'm going to work on this(and the other smooth jazz tuts)... I'll holler if I have any questions.  Been playing for 40 years and I really found something here!  Thanks for sharing your knowledge and all your hard work putting these vids together!!  Stay safe...

Pete in Austin TX

Hey Pete,

nice to have you back and thanks for your feedback. I really will go more for smooth jazz in the very near future. So if you have any suggestions let me know.

I am curious - in which ways did the tutorial change your life ?

btw - if you feel like sharing your playing related to this tutorial  - check the HPCrazy Students Club - there you find instructions how  to  share it https://www.hanspeterkruesi.com/members/index.php?/forum/79-students-club/

Ok...I'd had a few🍸 when I wrote that so maybe I overstated it a little bit.🙃  To be more clear...that tutorial has changed my music life!  Here's how for now(I will struggle to articulate this but)...I'm an intermediate player at best, I've played Blues and Rock most of my life, and then lately, Jazz Guitar but something about Smooth Jazz is really grabbing me...where when I play along with you or to the backing track, it feels good and more importantly, I'm hearing what I want to play.  So that's the first huge change  and I'm super excited about this!!

Also, it's never been very clear to me the relationship between major and minor pentatonics and when to play them.  I find I much prefer the major scale and I'm one of those that loves the "sweet" notes, which is another discovery I found in this tutorial.  Some other puzzles are also starting to unlock... more on that later if I can describe it.

Question: the run you did starting at 1:17, what scale is that?

54 minutes ago, Pete C. said:

've played Blues and Rock most of my life, and then lately, Jazz Guitar but something about Smooth Jazz is really grabbing me...where when I play along with you or to the backing track, it feels good and more importantly, I'm hearing what I want to play.  So that's the first huge change  and I'm super excited about this!!

Hey Pete, thats really a great feedback. Thats whats music is all about - you need to hear what you want to play. Thats a sign that you kind of found a musical home. You can train this more - try to play the things you here on the fretboard. It might be difficult at the beginning but the more you do that the better you are able to play instant what you hear.

The run at 1:17 it just the D major pentatonic up.

On 8/17/2020 at 4:33 PM, admin said:

When comes to smooth jazz George Benson is one of the go-to guys. I've always been a huge fan of George Benson and his guitar playing even his more sweet songs like on his CD Breezin.  In this tutorial I'll show you some tricks and tips how to play a song pretty much in the style of breathing by George Benson with the chords Dmaj7 / Bm7 / Em7 / A7.  This is a so-called 1625 progression which is normally displayed with Roman letters. In this tutorial I first show you the chords, then explain the progression, then show the used scales and then show you a simple theme which really works nights on this progression. The theme is very simple to play and give you an idea how you can develop a theme with simple melodic lines. Then I'll show you how to make variations on a theme by using the associated scale in this case this is the D major pentatonic. Since  the major pentatonic sounds a little bit sweet I show you a trick how to use an approach note on the third note of the major pentatonic scale to create a more bluesy sound.  For the concept to play smooth jazz theme song is to first play the theme then start to do variations on the theme then go into improvisation with a major pentatonic and then give you the more highlighted line with the Blues Licks and at the end you come back to the theme.  Discounted is very similar to normal Jazz improvisation and it smooth jazz you just going to work more in a bluesy kind of way. At the end of the tutorial I going to play for 3 minutes example how to develop your ideas on improvisation on variations on a theme and to make it  interesting to the listener.

Orange Smooth Jazz ( I VI II V ) .pdfUnavailable

Orange Smooth Jazz ( I VI II V ) .gpUnavailable

grabbel_jam.mp3Unavailable

Great tutorial...........cool 'n'

 

On 8/17/2020 at 4:33 PM, admin said:

When comes to smooth jazz George Benson is one of the go-to guys. I've always been a huge fan of George Benson and his guitar playing even his more sweet songs like on his CD Breezin.  In this tutorial I'll show you some tricks and tips how to play a song pretty much in the style of breathing by George Benson with the chords Dmaj7 / Bm7 / Em7 / A7.  This is a so-called 1625 progression which is normally displayed with Roman letters. In this tutorial I first show you the chords, then explain the progression, then show the used scales and then show you a simple theme which really works nights on this progression. The theme is very simple to play and give you an idea how you can develop a theme with simple melodic lines. Then I'll show you how to make variations on a theme by using the associated scale in this case this is the D major pentatonic. Since  the major pentatonic sounds a little bit sweet I show you a trick how to use an approach note on the third note of the major pentatonic scale to create a more bluesy sound.  For the concept to play smooth jazz theme song is to first play the theme then start to do variations on the theme then go into improvisation with a major pentatonic and then give you the more highlighted line with the Blues Licks and at the end you come back to the theme.  Discounted is very similar to normal Jazz improvisation and it smooth jazz you just going to work more in a bluesy kind of way. At the end of the tutorial I going to play for 3 minutes example how to develop your ideas on improvisation on variations on a theme and to make it  interesting to the listener.

Orange Smooth Jazz ( I VI II V ) .pdfUnavailable

Orange Smooth Jazz ( I VI II V ) .gpUnavailable

grabbel_jam.mp3Unavailable

great tutorial......cool 'n' smooth.......cheers HP!