Written studies on building and connecting jazz phrases, developed from Josh Hindmarsh’s research into Wes Montgomery’s single-note solo on West Coast Blues.
Lessons in development. P07 and P09 include original practice diagrams. The remaining entries are short lesson outlines. Guitar videos, performance audio, backing tracks and checked notation/TAB are not yet available.
Content, Connections and Context
Study the notes in an idea, how one idea joins another, and where each phrase sits against the pulse and harmony. These principles can be practised on any instrument; guitar-specific fingering will be added separately.
- Why Licks Don’t Become a Solo
- Land on a Strong Note
- Colour Notes and Approaches
- Join a Scale to an Arpeggio
- Give a Phrase Direction
- Connect Two Musical Ideas
- Change the Rhythm, Keep the Feel
- Let Silence Do Some Work
- Where Does the Phrase Begin?
- Find Your Ending in the Chord Changes
- Hear the Blues Inside Jazz
- Build Your Own Coherent Chorus
Why Licks Don’t Become a Solo
Build a short musical sentence instead of joining unrelated fragments.
Try it
Play a short original C7 idea, leave a rest, then answer it with a related shape. Keep one rhythmic or melodic feature in common.
Land on a Strong Note
Give a line a clear destination.
Try it
Choose a C7 chord tone—C, E, G or B♭. Play a short line that resolves to that note, then compare two different endings.
Colour Notes and Approaches
Use colour notes as part of a resolved phrase.
Try it
Over C7, compare the colour of A with the chord tones. Try A–A♭–G–E as an original approach-and-resolution exercise. Listen to the ending, not just the scale.
Join a Scale to an Arpeggio
Connect stepwise movement with a chord-shaped fragment.
Try it
Create a two-bar line over C7. Begin with a short Mixolydian fragment, connect to a C7 arpeggio and finish on a chosen chord tone.
Give a Phrase Direction
Change contour while keeping a recognisable idea.
Try it
Take a four-note idea and make rising, falling and mixed-direction versions. Keep the rhythm constant while comparing the shapes.
Connect Two Musical Ideas
Use repetition, variation and response to join phrases.
Try it
Write a two-bar question and a related two-bar answer. Keep one feature in common and choose the note that connects them.
Change the Rhythm, Keep the Feel
Keep the same pitches while changing duration, space and subdivision.
Try it
Use the study below: the eight pitches stay in the same order while the rhythm changes.
C7 · 3/4 · two-bar cycle. Play E–G–B♭–C–E–G–B♭–C. Begin at 60 BPM, then try 72 BPM. Each green block shows a note’s duration; grey blocks show the rests.
- A: play eight eighth notes, then leave a two-beat rest.
- B: lengthen the first B♭ and final C into quarter notes. Leave a one-beat rest.
- C: fit B♭–C–E into a triplet on beat 2, then play G on beat 3. Finish with B♭–C and a two-beat rest.
Record all three versions. Compare how duration and space change the phrase while the pitches remain in the same order.
Let Silence Do Some Work
Give the next phrase room to sound like an answer.
Try it
Play a busy two-bar idea, then reduce it to two short phrases separated by a rest. Count through the silence and compare the effect.
Where Does the Phrase Begin?
Hear how the same phrase changes when its entry moves.
Try it
Use the study below: start the same four eighth notes on beats 1, 2 and 3 in a two-bar 3/4 cycle.
C7 · 3/4 · two-bar cycle. Keep E–G–B♭–C as four eighth notes. Move the start without changing the note order or note lengths. Begin at 60 BPM, then try 72 BPM.
- A: begin on beat 1 and rest after the four notes.
- B: leave beat 1 empty; begin on beat 2.
- C: wait until beat 3, then let the phrase cross into the next bar.
Count continuously through both bars. Record each version twice and compare the feeling of arrival and forward motion.
Josh’s thesis describes phrase entrances away from beat 1 in the specific analysed solo. This exercise compares entry positions; it does not make “never start on beat 1” a rule for all of Wes’s playing.
Find Your Ending in the Chord Changes
Connect a phrase’s resolution to the harmony beneath it.
Try it
Choose a short jazz-blues phrase. First end it before the chord changes; then adjust the landing note to connect to the next chord. Sing both endings before playing.
Hear the Blues Inside Jazz
Carry a blues idea through moving harmony.
Try it
Compare one original blues motif over a tonic vamp and over jazz-blues changes. Adjust its ending to the chord while keeping the motif recognisable.
Build Your Own Coherent Chorus
Combine note choice, connection and placement in a complete chorus.
Try it
Plan a chorus with a recurring motif, a contrasting phrase and a clear ending. Record it, then mark entrances, rests, connections and resolution notes.