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The article discusses the art of the two-five-one chord cadence. It is stated that for a jazz musician, being able to improvise over the ii-V-I (two-five-one) chord cadence is essential--the equivalent of what the I-IV-V (one-four-five) progression is to blues and rock players. The ii-V-I is significant to the language of jazz. A technique for crafting melodies over a ii-V-I is to target chord tones on the downbeat of each chord change.

The article offers step-by-step instructions for performing coltrane changes and melodic sequences in guitar using double-stops.

The article offers insights to guitarists on several good picking and musical exercises that entail moving major scale-based motifs, or melodic patterns through the cycle of fourths. According to the author, every exercise starts in the key of G major in second position on the low E string and moves across the neck. It notes that a guitarist can play exercise legato style, picking only the first note on each string and hammering on the rest for a more fluid and rolling sound. A good way to master a down-down-up economy-picking pattern is cited.

The article describes several guitar music exercises focusing on the alternate-picking and sweep-picking techniques. Each exercise involves alternation between two minor-seven arpeggio shapes. The first exercise requires keeping the pick close to the strings with the picking hand relaxed, which is said to allow the player to achieve picking accuracy as well as coordination of the left and right hand. The musical notations used for each exercise are provided.

The article offers step-by-step instructions for playing jazz guitar music on the Dorian mode.

The article describes the blues matrix, in which the constant-structure guitar chord qualities are applied across the 12-bar blues form. The application will begin with the dominant-7 chord types, including 7ths, 9ths and 13ths, as they most linked with the traditional blues form. Comping over a modified 12-bar progression in the key of F using dominant-7 chord types is shown, and the major-7 chord types being used exclusively are illustrated. The application of minor-7 chord types to progression is also described.

The article offers step-by-step instructions to guitarists on mixing and matching chord substitutions in the blues progression.

The author offers guitar lessons on extreme chord substitution for the last four bars of the blues progression. Accordingly, the first substitution examined is borrowed from tenor saxophonist John Coltrane. Meanwhile, it says that the second substitution works well with a slower straight-eighths groove.

The author explains extreme guitar chord substitutions ideal for the first four bars of a stock of 12-bar jazz-blues progression. He notes that such substitutions may serve as variations and detours or twists that enhance and disguise the familiar-sounding chord changes. He mentions that he used the popular key of F to demonstrate the substitutions. He describes the harmonic rhythms of four illustrated chords.

The article discusses three improvisation devices for the five-note minor pentatonic scale. It states that the three improvisation devices include over a minor seven chord using the minor pentatonic scale rooted a fourth below, over an altered dominant chord playing the minor pentatonic scale a minor third higher, and over a major seven chord using the minor pentatonic scale rooted a half-step below. It also discusses how these devices relate to the qualities of the seventh chord.

The author looks at a guitar-playing technique to smoothly connect chord changes in diatonic progressions that move through the cycle of fifths. He explains that the idea is to have the top note of each chord voicing move no more than a whole step, or step-wise motion, in order to create a harmonic thread that the ear can easily follow. He provides an example of how such approach may be applied to the one used in the jazz standard "Autumn Leaves."

The article focuses on the voice leading technique in guitar. It says that this concept involves the different methods in which the notes that make up a chord can move when the chord changes and also the ways they can move within a single, essentially unchanging chord to add melodic interest to a static harmonic environment. Several guitar chords that present this technique are offered.

The article offers a technique for applying interval stocks to modal comping in electric guitar playing. According to the author, the technique involves taking a stack of intervals on the top four strings and walking up the scale on each string, in the process of generating a set of highly unusual diatonic chord voicings produced by the initial interval structure.

The article offers advice on ways to imply a tritone substitution over an ii-V-I progression when playing a jazz guitar music. It describes how guitarists can play around with harmonic connection and create adventurous single-note melodies over such progression. It also illustrates two guitar playing styles by jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery.

The author focuses on a harmonically rich scale that features the signature tones of the exotically sweet raised fourth note of Lydian and the bluesy lowered seventh note of Mixolydian. He adds that the scale is Lydian-dominant, and it is the fourth mode of melodic minor. He explains that his personal guitar technique involves taking a chord shape and overlay a scale that works well with that chord in the same position. He suggests to consider emphasizing the harmonically interested tones when improvising over any chord.

The article looks at the altered dominant scale, and explores effective ways to apply it melodically in jazz improvisation. The altered dominant scaler is the seventh mode of the melodic minor scale. This scale starts out in half-whole diminished scale but changes course midway through and concludes with three consecutive whole steps. It is tailor-made for soloing over and defining the sound of an altered dominant-seven chord.

This article focuses on the concept and practice of improvising with the Lydian mode. The Lydian mode, which is based on the major scale's fourth degree, runs a close second to the Dorian in terms of its popularity among jazz improvisers. The Lydian mode is nearly identical to the major scale. The different ways to construct single-note lines using the Lydian mode as opposed to just running it up and down the guitar neck are described.

The article offers step-by-step instructions for playing unusual, exotic-sounding chord voicing.

The article offers insights for guitarists on how to construct a harmonically dramatic and outside-sounding arpeggio in jazz harmony and illustrates some melodic patterns that can be applied to it. It notes that guitarists Wes Montgomery, Barney Kessel and Joe Pass would frequently connect arpeggios with chromatic passing tones and, when playing over a dominant-seven chord, add altered tension tones, such as flat five, sharp five and flat nine. It suggests transcribing solos by guitarist Django Reinhardt.

This article describes a lesson that would help jazz guitarists learn the concept of incorporating perfect fourth and fifth intervals into single-note lines. It offers additional examples of ways to build lines in fourths and apply them to three commonly used chord qualities: major seven, minor seven and dominant seven.

The author explains the concept of the diminished seven guitar chord and its two symmetrical scales. The diminished seven is constructed by stacking together three consecutive minor-third intervals. The author specifically illustrates two standard applications of the diminished seven in jazz harmony, as well as some methodical, but hip, approaches to improvising interesting, outside-sounding single-note lines over the chord.

The article discusses the concept of theme and variations in music, which, according to the author, can serve as a useful aid in inspiring story-like improvisations. Legendary jazz trombonist Slide Hampton once explained that an improvised solo should tell a story the same way a good essay or paragraph gets its written message across. A brief history of musical improvisation is discussed.

The article presents advice on using quartal and quintal harmony in single-note lines. It demonstrates how the intervallic approach may be used in various scales and arpegios played over certain chord types with a focus on perfect fourths and fifths. The examples given in this section are designed to be multidirectional or multidimensional.

The article demonstrates how chromatic tones can be used in conjunction with chord and scale tones to create varied single-note lines in playing guitar. The author looks at how chromatics can lend a sense of melodic tension-and-release when played over a static chord quality. Each example presented by the author is four bars long and is played over a different chord quality in the key of C.