Miles Davis Soloing Techniques For Jazz Guitar

12/03/15
Miles Davis Soloing Techniques For Jazz Guitar | MattWarnockGuitar.com | MATT WARNOCK GUITAR
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Miles Davis Soloing Techniques For Jazz Guitar
There is a common trap that many guitarists, including myself, fall into as they advance in their
musical development and learn to play jazz guitar.
The more techniques, scales, chords, riffs, arpeggios, concepts etc we learn, the more we try to
cram these ideas into our solos, every solo.
We run from one idea to the next, barely giving ourselves time to digest what we are playing,
let alone our band mates and audience.
Sure, playing long lines with lots of subs and chromatic notes is fun for us as a guitarist, but is
it really the best way to connect with an audience and develop our musicianship in the long run?
This week Im teaching a workshop titled History and Analysis of Kind of Blue: The Story and
Music of Jazzs Most Iconic Album.
Its a fun course. We spend the first hour each night, its a five-night workshop, talking about the
history of the album, analyzing the different melodies, changes and solos, before diving in and
learning to play each tune with different harmonic and melodic approaches in the second half of
each class.
Last night we started off studying So What, analyzing each solo and then trying to improvise in
the style of each player, Miles, Coltrane, Cannonball and Bill Evans.
During our time spent imitating Miles, the students had a group revelation about two of the
most important tools in any improvisors bag, context and contrast.
Miles was a master of these two ideas. He could take the simplest idea, his Root-Fourth-Fifth
mattwarnockguitar.com/context-and-contrast-how-miles-daviss-solos-can-make-you-a-better-jazz-guitarist
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motive at the start of his solo on So What for example, and build an amazing solo from a very
simple starting point.
We observed this as a class in the opening bars of this solo, where Miles focuses on three
boring notes, the Root, 4th and 5th of Dm7, before he hits us with what is normally a fairly
conventional 6th and 7th (B and C) over that same Dm7 chord.
But, because we havent heard those notes before, and Miles has firmly grounded us in that
Root, 4th, 5th sound, these two simple notes have an enormous impact on the listener.
This is the power of context and contrast.
Have a question or comment about this lesson? Visit the Miles Contrasting Solo Ideas thread in
the MWG Forum.
Workshop Students Warming Up Before Class
I then asked the students to each blow a chorus of So What, using only the Root, 4th and 5th
for an extended period of time.
When they felt ready they could add one note to their lines, then one more and so on, until they
were using a handful of notes in their solo. As each student played, I noticed how much better
they sounded right away. It was night and day.
The simple solos forced them to be more creative with rhythm, motivic ideas, dynamics,
emotions, diversity of range, all the ideas that they were ignoring when they were focusing on
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running long lines and having more complexity in their note choices.
When it came to my chorus, I stuck to those three notes right up until the very last four bars.
Then, I just ran down a two and a half octave D Dorian Scale with a few rhythmic twists, the
students were stunned.
They all asked me, What the hell was that? That line was so cool!
When I told them it was just a plain old Dorian Scale, they were shocked.
They thought for sure I had played all sorts of outside notes, or used an exotic scale, but I
didnt. I created this high-level of interest not with a complex melodic idea, but by playing
something simple that seemed complex in contrast to what I had already played up to that point,
the context of my solo.
This is a lesson that I try and impart on my students, and in my own practicing and playing,
99.9% of the time, simpler is better.
If we are trying to run long, complex lines, we dont give ourselves time to think. Time to
develop an idea that we as a musician and our audience can grab a hold of and follow. But,
most of the time it isnt easy to hold back and not play everything we know in the course of one
solo.
There is this unwarranted pressure that all jazz guitarists have, that tells us to play faster, more
notes and more complex changes. As someone who has studied jazz for almost two decades, I
can do this. I can run fast changes and play double-time on my double-time when I want.
But, as I told my students last night, every gig I play where I hold back, where I allow myself
space to breath and focus on simple motives that are full of rhythmic interest, emotion and
dynamics, are the best gigs I ever play.
This is a lesson that Ive learned from Miles over the years, but that I have to keep reminding
myself about because of the pressure that I put on myself to play faster, more complex ideas.
Miles Davis Soloing Techniques For Jazz Guitar Exercises

So, how do we practice using Miles approach to context and contrast in our improvisation?
Here is some of the ways that I like to handcuff myself so that I am forced to play less notes
and focus more on rhythm, dynamics, emotion and other musical concepts.
Limit yourself to soloing within only one octave on the neck

Start with using the triad for any chord, then add the 7th, then slowly fill in the rest of the
arpeggio up to the 13th
Limit yourself to soloing only on one string
Limit yourself to soloing with only one finger on your fretting hand
Use only two notes over any chord, slowly adding one note at a time to your ideas
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Dont play any rhythm faster than a quarter note

For every bar of music that you play you have to follow it with two bars of rest
After doing any/all of these ideas in your playing, start to open things up a bit. Expand to the next
half octave, then full octave. Add another string or finger to the mix. Use these new approaches
to build intensity in your solos by contrasting them to the simpler ideas that you have already
played.
You might be surprised how well this works and how intense a 7th can sound if youve been
playing only triads for several choruses.
These are also all great ways to slow you down, forcing yourself to focus on more motivic
playing, as opposed to line playing.
Miles turned the world on its head when he released Kind of Blue. At a time when Hardbop
was King. When players were playing fast tunes with tons of changes and running complex subs
over them, Miles took a step back.
Rather than try to compete with these players, he went in the exact opposite direction and
invented Modal Jazz. The result was not only a new genre, but the best-selling jazz album of all
time.
As jazz guitarists, we love to play long, complex lines, we really do. But, if we take a page from the
Miles playbook once in a while, we might find that less is more, and that a simple 6th or 7th can
have a big effect on our audience if we place it in the right context, in contrast to a much simpler
idea we have already played.
Do you have favorite Miles Davis soloing techniques or ways of adding space and contrast to
your solos? Share it in the comment section below.
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32 Comments
1. Levi, July 15, 2011:
Please keep them coming Matt, I always find it refreshing reading your website -its a true
gem!
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2. Britt Reed, July 15, 2011:

Great observation Matt. Miles was a guy who could make a real statement with very few
notes. We could all benefit by remembering that lesson!
3. Matt Warnock, July 15, 2011:
Thanks Britt, there are few things that Miles played that we cant learn from!
4. Nav Singh, July 15, 2011:
Yep yep yep yep. well written and a hearty thank you for putting it together so coherently!
there are only 12 frickin notes what are you going to them? :)
no problem, yeah Pat Martino once said that jazz was just 12 notes and experience it
goes deeper than that statement, but its a good starting point for sure.
6. kengon, July 19, 2011:
Matt,
Ive had a look over your site and this is just awesome. Wonderful stuff. Hope to direct a lot
of folks your way. Key lessons to be learned.
Best,
kengon
Thanks Levi, its great to have readers of your caliber on the site!
Thanks Ken, glad you like the site, lots more to come in the next few months so stay
tuned!
9. Blaine, July 21, 2011:
I have had similar rhythmic revelations, albeit without the ability to expand out to the larger
contrast, by just noodling around on a 5-note xylophone kids toy or similar limited
instruments like an African thumb piano. Great stuffthanks.
Very cool! Yeah when we take away all of the various distractions, like tons of notes and a
huge range, sometimes something as simple as a 5 note toy can inspire our playing to
move in new directions.
11. Jean-Marc, August 30, 2011:
Matt,
thanks a lot for all these lessons and advices.
theres really a lot of material on your site to work with, but you also provided priorities and
method!
Best,
Jean-Marc
12. Matt Warnock, August 30, 2011:
Thanks Jean Marc, glad you are digging the site!
13. Brent Wheeler, April 16, 2012:
Great stuff thanks Matt. I notice Miles often played a simple very simple arpeggio from
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low to high running up those simple notes right over the top of the chords (and the
underlying rhythm) in a song He does it on Miles in Antibes on Autumn Leaves again
the contrast is stunning.
It works just as well on guitar!
14. Matthew Warnock, April 17, 2012:
Thanks Brent, I agree, sometimes just playing a simple arpeggio can have deep meaning
if the rhythm is tight and the situation is right. I sometimes have students work on playing
only outside the chords to develop their ears to hear outside notes. So they play B7
scales over a C7 chord. After a while the B7 becomes normal, and if they just play C E G
Bb, it starts to sound outside even though its the root arpeggio. Funny how that all works.
15. Andreas, August 18, 2012:
Thank you for your articles Matt!
I was also impressed with his solo in So what and i transcribed it! Did you transcribe other
Miles solos? I need to get more Miles ideas :D
16. Matthew Warnock, August 18, 2012:
Thanks Andreas glad you like the site. I like Miles solo on Freddie Freeloader as well as
All Blues, cant go wrong transcribing those ones for sure!
17. Vadim, October 4, 2012:
I love these lessons! They are based on concepts. For example call and response and
developing motifs. I find that understanding concepts allow more room for creativity. Keep
up the good work.
18. Matthew Warnock, October 4, 2012:
Thanks for checking out my site, glad you dug the lesson!
19. Amelia, April 8, 2013:
This is an awesome concept to realise and master. Ive been working on overhauling my
improv style to incorporate more space.
Do you find that the Miles approach is also less annoying for your rhythm section when
you gig ?
20. Matt Warnock, April 8, 2013:
Thanks, glad you dig the concept. yeah its a great thing to bring to the stage. I wouldnt
say its less annoying, but it can open things up and make it more of a conversation on a
gig rather than just playing over the rhythm section.
21. Amelia, April 8, 2013:
Good point Matt, I like conversation on a gig hehe.
22. George Tsang, May 8, 2013:
Thanks, Matt. I love these ideas! I myself often break down melodic ideas into their
simplest forms and make appropriate repetitions and variations. Sometimes, I just play one
note over a few chords.
This somehow gives a illusion of having big arsenal of licks. It is so much easier to develop
a short motif than a long one, like Beethovens 5th Symphony.
23. Dave, July 19, 2013:
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Excellent article and advice as always Matt. Going to employ those musical handcuffs
this weekend while working on the material from our last lesson. Thanks!
24. Ivan, August 4, 2013:
This is so useful thanks Matt. So if for example you were going to blow over 4 choruses
what features of soloing would you use for each chorus to build the solo to a crescendo,(
so to speak) at the end of the 4th chorus? Nice slow, spacious first chorus and then a
gradually building of motifs?
Hey, yeah start slow with a melodic idea. Then from there you can move into octaves,
chords and other timbers to build energy.
26. Alex, August 7, 2013:
Thanks for this, Matt! Its telling that we tend to transcribe/learn by ear Miles solos before
we do any guitarist- they give that rare sense that were learning immense amounts
without doing anything technically outside our reach. Im wondering if you can point us to
any guitarists with a more Miles-ish, minimal approach- I know Jim Hall, Grant Green, and
Wes get mentioned in this connection. Any more contemporary players who fit the bill?
Hey Alex, glad you dug the lesson. Check out Peter Bernstein, great player in this style
28. Dave, August 7, 2013:
Since Matt mentioned Peter Bernstein I highly recommend a Bernstein recording I just
heard for the first time a few weeks ago Alex that is simply called Monk. It is an amazing
album!
29. Amelia, August 8, 2013:
Thank you Matt and Dave for mentioning Peter Bernsteins Monk.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrnWaEvhT08
I love his clear phrasing and articulation. Its refreshing to hear a guitarist play with this
amount of space.
I had the privilege of watching Peter Bernstein live in Sydney a few years ago as he was in
Sonny Rollins 80th birthday band.
30. Cem, October 7, 2013:
Thanks for the insightful article! I have also realized that, during So What, Miles Davis
uses melodic minor scale from time to time, especially while ascending, to create even
more tension. It works like a charm!
31. Mike Crutcher, August 20, 2014:
Matt, do you ever post any videos of your playing examples from these workshops?
Hi Mike. Ive never filmed one of these workshops, but if you look on YouTube I believe
there is footage that others have taken of various workshops Ive done over the years.
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Workshop Students Warming Up Before Class

Miles Davis Soloing Techniques For Jazz Guitar Exercises

Limit yourself to soloing within only one octave on the neck

Dont play any rhythm faster than a quarter note

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2. Britt Reed, July 15, 2011:

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