In this lesson I show you some great and simple ways of making regular chords sound Spanish, giving Gypsy Jazz a Flamenco flavor.

If you just raise your pinky a fret on a regular bar chord then you instantly give a flavor of Spain. Try it on Dorado Schmidt’s “Bossa Dorado” and Stochelo Rosenberg’s “For Sephora” where instead of the regular A7 & B7 you play A or B Spanish.

I also look at “Dark Eyes” and show how placing the diminished chord over the A7 can create a dramatic Flamenco effect.
There is a wealth of fantastic music in Flamenco & by using just a dash here and there can give Gypsy Jazz a broader and deeper sound.

In general when learning gypsy jazz guitar keep your ears open for other styles of music which you can incorporate.
Have fun – and Please leave a comment! Cheers, Robin

When I was in Sydney Australia this week I had the fantastic opportunity to go flying with my buddy Ian Cooper (amazing musician) who took me up in the skies above that beautiful city.

Couldn’t help thinking of Django’s ‘Nuages’ as we climbed into the heavens and that in turn brought to mind a simple yet awesome move over that tune that Ian Date (guitarist extraordinaire) had been talking about earlier that day.

When you land on the home key of G major at the end of the sequence instead of playing the Am7 – Bbdim – G/B sequence just bounce of the Cm6 chord and back to the G. Ian Date explains this concept with chords and soloing ideas.

Ian has a wealth of killer diller tricks and a great insight into Jazz which can help us all keep the Jazz in Gypsy Jazz!

Some of my favorite guitarists ever are Jazz fusion players like John Scofield and Mike Stern and the lick I show you here is inspired by their way of playing. It’s my own lick but reeks of Jazz fusion.

I think it’s healthy to bring licks and ideas from other genres into Gypsy Jazz and this is an example of just that.

You can use this over a minor tonality and it will sound great. It’s very guitaristic and involves some hammer ons and pull offs but you can see clearly what’s going on when I play it real slow note by note. I also talk about the tension created when playing a major 3rd (in this case a B natural) over a minor chord. This is something I do a lot and it can kind of sounds awful but if you pull the right face and it rocks!

Check it out and let me know what you think!

In this video I demonstrate the classic Jazz device of ending a song with a turnaround. In this instance I use the Django tune ‘Djangology’ to show you how it works.

Quite simply after you play the last II-V (Am7 -D7), instead of resolving to the home key of G, you move up 2 frets and play Bm7-E7 then back to Am7-D7 continuing this for as long as you want. This is the ‘turnaround’ and gives the soloist a platform on which to get things really going. I also demonstrate it in C and it’s good to practice in all keys so as to give you the option of using this device in any song.

Sound good? Let me know how it goes and leave a comment below. Cheers.

Here’s a different way of playing the changes to Django’s classic ‘Minor Swing’ using mostly open chords down the bottom of the neck. It sounds slightly more traditional Gypsy.

In the clip I show you these chords and play a couple of chorus’s of Minor Swing changes so you get the idea. It’s just an alternate way to accompany a soloist without playing the usual ‘Pompe’ rhythm and mixes it up a little.

Let me know what that works out for you by posting a comment below. Cheers.

In this lesson I’ll demonstrate how one chord shape acts as three different types of chord making it one REALLY useful shape to know.

I show you how what we might first think of as a minor 7-5 (1/2 diminished) type chord can, in the Gypsy Jazz style, also act as a dominant 7th and a Minor 6th. Therefore by learning this one shape you have learnt three chord types.

All the Gypsy Jazz players use these shapes and this one tip will get you a long way quickly!

John Jorgenson showed me this lick in L.A. a few years back and sometimes I can’t stop using it!

It’s a real country lick and works over any major type chord. The example I’ve shown you in this clip is in the good old country key of G but I also play it in A so you get the gist of how to apply it to different tonalities.

There’s a big bend of a whole tone up on the B string while fretting with your pinky a note on the top E string with a release of the bend and moving the pinky down to another note at the same time. It gives the effect of a pedal steel guitar.

I play it really slowly and up close to the camera so you can see what’s going on. It’s not a Gypsy Jazz lick or even a Jazz lick but what the heck it’s a country lick and turns heads every time!

Leave me a comment or question at the bottom of this page. Cheers.

Check it out.

This Big Band style ending in C is a classic, but I learnt it from Bireli Lagrene. It’s especially useful at a slow to medium tempo and really swings.

You chromatically slide the shape up the neck until you reach your home key, adding the little voicing at the end rounding it off very nicely. It’s classy and will suit any song in a major key (that’s alot!). Practice it in all keys and it will come in really useful.

Let me know how this works for you. Leave me a comment or question on this page. Cheers.

In this lesson I’ll show you some cool ways of getting around J’attendrai using some really nice chordal ideas which can be used when playing a solo, or if you perform the piece unaccompanied. I’ve used voicings down the bottom of the neck using where possible open voicing.

I cover J’attendrai in volume 4 of the Gypsy Jazz Songbook series.

Let me know what you think by leaving a comment or question below. Cheers.