Sticky keys
Students often park in C, F, and Bb. This set puts the awkward keys on the stand: one scale or mode per turn, so the familiar keys cannot take every pass.
Bars: 1. Related: Scales and pitch sets · Around the Horn.
More exercises
What you already know gets played the most. The rest waits. These extra exercises are not in the default menu. Open one: eization asks Add or Preview.
Each example comes up once, with the metronome. Then the order changes. The books linked below stay the books: practice a line you already have; they do not reprint it.
II-V-I around the clock
The cadence everyone knows in one or two keys. Walk it through twelve keys so each II-V-I gets one turn with the metronome before the next key.
Bars: 2. Related: Chord changes · Harmony with LEGO Bricks · How to Improvise.
Guide tones
Lines stall when the ear loses the 3rd and 7th. Each example is a short 3-7 path through a cadence. Sing it, then play it in time.
Bars: 4. Related: Chord changes · Connecting Chords with Linear Harmony · Chord Tones.
Outline the changes
Before fancy lines, hear the skeleton. One arpeggio shape per progression: roots and chord tones only, in time, through common cadences.
Bars: 4. Related: Chord Tones · The Jazz Theory Book · Essential Progressions.
Enclosures
Bebop lines need a clear landing. Each example approaches a target tone from above and below, then resolves. Pair with Approach Notes when you want the full catalog.
Bars: 2. Related: Approach Notes · Target and Approach Tones · How to Play Bebop.
Slow time
Fast practice hides uneven time. Keep the metronome slow. Each cue asks for one subdivision or placement so you can hear every beat.
Bars: 4. Related: Time · Time Awareness for All Musicians · Rhythmic Devices.
Wide intervals
Stepwise comfort leaves leaps weak. One interval family per turn. Stay in one key for a full pass, then move the exercise.
Bars: 2. Related: All Intervals · Intervallic Improvisation · Thesaurus of Intervallic Melodies.
Minor II-V-I
Major cadences get the hours. Minor II-V-I needs the same rotation: one key per example, altered or b9 dominant into minor.
Bars: 4. Related: Chord changes · Essential Progressions · A Chromatic Approach.
Turnarounds
Endings and turnbacks are where solos lose the form. One short turnaround per line. Set Bars to four and keep the last chord clear.
Bars: 4. Related: Harmony with LEGO Bricks · Essential Progressions · Insights in Jazz.
Blues forms
Students know one blues and avoid the rest. One twelve-bar shape per turn. For every key spelled out, open Basic major blues, Jazz major blues, or Minor blues.
Bars: 12. Related: Basic major blues · Jazz major blues · Minor blues.
Rhythm bridge
The bridge of Rhythm Changes is a wall of dominants. One key center per example: III7-VI7-II7-V7, then the next start.
Bars: 4. Related: Chord changes · Essential Progressions · How to Play Bebop.
Tritone road
Substitutions feel abstract until they are under the fingers. II-bII7-I in several keys, one cadence per turn.
Bars: 2. Related: Chord changes · Essential Progressions · The Jazz Theory Book.
Pentatonic colors
One pentatonic sound stuck on one chord is common. Here each line pairs a pentatonic color with a short progression so the color has to move.
Bars: 4. Related: Pentatonics · Pentatonic Scales for Jazz · Scales.
Into the next bar
Lines that resolve early sound finished too soon. Each cue aims the phrase at the next chord or the next downbeat.
Bars: 4. Related: Forward Motion · The Goal-Note Method · Ready, Aim, Improvise!.
Leave space
Overplaying fills every bar. These cues force rests: play, then silence, so the next idea has room.
Bars: 4. Related: Play/Rest · Beyond Time and Changes · Sonic Nuances.
One octave only
Range hopping hides weak spots. Stay inside one octave for each example: scales, arpeggios, or a short cell.
Bars: 2. Related: Scales · Finger Patterns · Fundamentals of Guitar.
Sing first
Fingers run ahead of the ear. Each cue asks for a clear intention before you play: sing, hum, or hear the line, then match it.
Bars: 4. Related: Sonic Nuances · Effortless Mastery · Developing a Jazz Language.
Odd meters
4/4 comfort collapses in 5 and 7. One meter or grouping per turn. Tap the pulse first, then play a simple cell across it.
Bars: 4. Related: Time · Intro to Polyrhythms · Rhythms.
Dominant cycle
Cycle-of-fifths dominants show up in bridges and turnbacks. One dominant per turn around the circle so each key center gets equal time.
Bars: 2. Related: Chord changes · All Chords · The Barry Harris Harmonic Method.
Goal notes
A line without a destination wanders. Each example names a goal chord tone on a strong beat. Build any path that arrives there in time.
Bars: 4. Related: The Goal-Note Method · Target and Approach Tones · Approach Notes.
Basic major blues
The plain twelve-bar major blues in every key. One key per turn so C does not take every chorus. Hear I, IV, and V before you add turnarounds.
Bars: 12. Related: Chord changes · Aebersold Vol. 1 · Blues forms.
Jazz major blues
Major blues with the jazz moves: sharp-IV diminished, VI7, and II-V into the last four. One key per turn through all twelve.
Bars: 12. Related: Chord changes · Essential Progressions · How to Play Bebop.
Minor blues
Minor twelve-bar blues in every key: Im7, IVm7, bVI7, and V7. One key per turn so the familiar minor keys do not hide the rest.
Bars: 12. Related: Chord changes · Pentatonic Scales · Blues forms.
Scale patterns
Four-note scale cells from the tonic triad (1, 3, 5) plus one extra degree: 2, 4, 6, or 7. Practice each pattern on a chord, then use it as a send-off into a phrase. Stay in one key for a full pass.
Bars: 1. Related: Scales · Scales and pitch sets · Patterns for Jazz · Comprehensive Technique.
Lower structure triads
Common chord types with the lower structure triads that sit inside them. One chord type per turn. Hear the UST, then outline the full chord.
Bars: 2. Related: Upper structure triads · All Chords · Chord Tones · The Jazz Theory Book.
Upper structure triads
Chord type, chord scale, and popular upper structure triads. One scale color per turn. Hear the UST against the chord before you stack more.
Bars: 2. Related: Major pentatonics on chords · All Chords · Scales · Lower structure triads.
Major pentatonics on chords
Chord type, chord scale, and popular major pentatonic roots against that sound. One scale color per turn. Play the named major pentatonic over the chord. Lines marked none have no common major-pentatonic fit.
Bars: 2. Related: Pentatonics · Pentatonic Scales for Jazz · Upper structure triads · Scales.
Triad coupling relationships
Two major triads against one chord make one of five relationships: LST+UST, LST+non-harm, UST+non-harm, UST+UST, or non-harm+non-harm. One example per turn. Stay on the named chord for the bars; use every note of each triad.
Bars: 4. Related: Major 2nd triad couplings · Lower structure triads · Upper structure triads · Triad Pairs for Jazz.
Major 2nd triad couplings
One interval only: major 2nd. Every major triad pair connected by that interval. Apply each pair to one chord of extended duration. Use all notes of both triads and finish at least one rotation of the pair inside the phrase.
Bars: 4. Related: Triad coupling relationships · Triad Pairs for Jazz · Triad Pairs: The First Step · Upper structure triads.
Tritonic, 7sus4, pentatonic
From Tritonic 7sus4 materials: which scale degrees work as tritonic sus4, 7sus4, or pentatonic color on a chord scale. One color per turn. Play that structure from the named degree; the caption lists the tensions you hear.
Bars: 2. Related: add2, add4, madd4 · Major pentatonics on chords · Scales · Pentatonics.
add2, add4, madd4
Second half of the Tritonic sheet: add2, add4, and minor-add4 colors on each chord scale. One structure per turn from the named degree. Hear the listed tensions against the chord.
Bars: 2. Related: Tritonic, 7sus4, pentatonic · All Chords · Scales · Major pentatonics on chords.