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Here you can learn the chords, the melody and some improvisation tricks of the song on Broadway by George Benson. George Benson used to be a great jazz guitarists and performer and one of his signature songs was On Broadway. It is basically a blues which works with a simple riff and that one I am showing you in the tutorial. The Melody comes around with the singing of George Benson but I show an instrumental version of it here. Therefore I took the simple part of it and did not go too much with the little variations he did in his singing. The improvisation work like a blues and I am showing you a few simple tricks how can work in a jazzy way over these chords. In the original song it transposed each chorus one half step up till the guitar solo comes. On Broadway ( George Benson ).pdf On Broadway ( George Benson ).gp george benson _ on broadway.mp3

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

Here you can learn some essential phrasing tricks which work great for smooth jazz and on the dorain mode. Such phrasing can be heard by artist like Lee Ritenour, George Benson or others. Smooth Jazz Phrasing ( Dorian ) .pdf smooth jazz dm.mp3

Phrasing is an important element in smooth jazz guitar. I would even say it's the most important part of it. So let's have a look how you can achieve an easy way of phrasing with 3 tricks I am showing you. In this example I am working with a I VI II V progression in D major. That means that you can use either the D major pentatonic or the D major scale. In combination with the 3 phrasing tricks I am showing you here in this tutorial you can already reach a good level on smooth jazz guitar and reach the quam. Smooth Jazz Guitar Phrasing Tricks.pdf Smooth Jazz Guitar Phrasing Tricks.gp grabbel_jam.mp3

Here you can learn a happy smooth jazz song of mine. It is basically in the style of George Benson in the style of his CD Breezin or another protagonist would be Lee Ritenour a great smooth jazz guitar player. The song itself is a vamp over the chords C major 7 A minor 7 D Minor 7 G 7 and I am showing you a very simple to play theme which even beginners among you have a chance to play. I'm showing you the theme and variation of the theme and then how to improvise with the c major pentatonic by spicing it up with the blue note. This will be in this case the E-flat as an approach note to the E. By adding this bluesy style of improvisation you can spice up the sweetness of the major pentatonic which is sometimes a little bit hard to take when you only play major pentatonic in improvisation. At the end of the tutorial I show you how you create the theme going to the main progression, go back to the theme and then start to mix up the theme of improvisation and finally come back to the theme. This is a very common way of playing instrumental smooth jazz songs. the song is in the color of green and she'll give you some uplifting feelings in this probably a little bit hard times in the corona crisis. If you are more interested in my color music concept please search for Farbmusik. joy ride.pdf joy ride.gp joy ride backing track.mp3 and here you can listen to my version of this song