Jazz Rhythms – Essential Patterns, Grooves, and Exercises

mattwarnockguitar.com/jazz-rhythms

January 28,
2019

by Matt Warnock / Tuesday, 29 January 2019 / Published in Beginner, Jazz Guitar Lessons,
Jazz Guitar Rhythm, Practicing Jazz Guitar
It don’t mean a thing if it
ain’t got that swing.

No truer statement has

been made about what it
means to play jazz and jazz.

Learning scales, chords, and

arpeggios teaches you what
to play, but it’s how you play
these devices that makes
you sound like jazz.

Studying jazz rhythms from

a comping and soloing
standpoint gives you the
feel and swing you need to
sound jazzy in any situation.

And, having that jazz sound in your playing is the difference between being satisfied and
unsatisfied in the practice room and on the bandstand.

In this lesson, you study essential jazz rhythms to elevate the swing feel in your comping
and soloing phrases.

These rhythms take time to master, but, they get you swinging with confidence over any jazz
standard.

Download Your FREE 82-Page PDF

Join over 150,000 other guitarists who learned to play jazz with this FREE eBook.
Your name*

Your name

1/31
 Your Email*

Your email

Download Now

Jazz Rhythms Contents (Click to Skip Down)

Comping Rhythms vs. Soloing Rhythms
What is Syncopation?
Jazz Rhythms for Comping
Freddie Green Rhythm
Charleston Rhythm
Upbeats on 1 and 3
Upbeats on 2 and 4
Dotted Quarter Notes
Jazz Rhythms for Soloing
Single Rhythm Exercises
Rhythmic Motives
Reverse Rhythmic Motives
Rhythmic Pairing
Reverse Rhythmic Pairing
Rhythmic Transposition

Comping Rhythms vs. Soloing Rhythms

The material in this lesson is broken down into two main sections, comping rhythms and
soloing rhythms.

While rhythms are rhythms, such as 8 th notes or quarter notes, certain rhythms work better
when comping and others when soloing.

This is due to the speed and complexity in rhythmic soloing compared to comping.

As you work through this lesson, feel free to apply comping rhythms to soloing and vice-
versa.

But, if you find that you prefer to study each rhythm and exercise and apply it to only
comping or only soloing, that’s cool as well.

Also, rhythms are often written differently in jazz for chords vs. single notes.

2/31
Here’s an example of a chord chart progression using rhythms in the staff to indicate how
you should play these chords.

This is similar to how you see rhythms written in a big band chart, or some Real Book lead
sheets, when comping over jazz tunes.

In the examples in this lesson, you use TAB as well as notation, so won’t see slashes such as
these.

But, they’re included here, as you see them in other musical situations when you expand
your jazz guitar performance and rehearsal opportunities.

Click to hear jazz rhythms 1

Vm
jazz rhythms 1
00:00
R
P

In the next example, you see rhythms written in the staff of a jazz guitar lick in C major.

Notice that there are no rhythms in the TAB, to make things less cluttered and easier to read
on the page.

Because of this, you need to read the notation of any single-note phrase you’re learning,
even if there’s TAB, to get the rhythms for those notes.

Click to hear jazz rhythms 2

Vm
jazz rhythms 2
00:00
R
P

3/31
Now that you know the difference between reading single-note and chord rhythms, it’s time
to learn about syncopation in your jazz guitar studies.

What is Syncopation?
Before you learn these jazz rhythms on guitar, take a minute to define one of the most
important aspects of jazz rhythms, syncopation.

To keep things simple, here’s a short definition of syncopation.

Syncopation is playing rhythms on more up beats than down beats, the &’s of the bar.

Here’s an example that illustrates non-syncopated notes, the first two bars, and syncopated
notes, the second two bars.

Notice that the first two bars contain rhythms on the down beats, 1-2-3-4, while the second
two bars contain rhythms only on the up beats, the &’s of each beat.

Click to hear jazz rhythms 3

Vm
jazz rhythms 3
00:00
R
P

4/31
Here’s an example that illustrates non-syncopated, first two bars, and syncopated, second
two bars, rhythms in a comping situation.

Notice that the syncopated rhythms don’t have to always be up beats, they just have to
mostly be up beats to create a sense of syncopation.

Click to hear jazz rhythms 4

Vm
jazz rhythms 4
00:00
R
P

In this last example, you use non-syncopated notes in the first two bars and syncopated
notes in the second two bars of a single-note line.

Syncopation is an important part of both your comping and soloing phrases, so practicing it
in both situations is essential when learning jazz guitar.

Click to hear jazz rhythms 5

Vm
jazz rhythms 5
00:00
R
5/31
P

Now that you know what syncopation is, you’re ready to study the following jazz rhythms,
which contain many syncopated rhythms.

When studying syncopation, count along and use a metronome until you’re fully
comfortable with these rhythms.

Syncopation sounds hip in a jazz setting, but it can cause you to rush when applied to tunes
if you’re not yet comfortable with syncopation.

To prevent this from happening, go slow, use a metronome, and count along with each
exercise in this lesson.

Jazz Rhythms for Comping

To begin your studies of jazz rhythms, you learn and apply essential jazz rhythms to
comping situations.

As guitarists spend the vast majority of their time comping in jazz combos, behind the
melody and other soloists, having a strong rhythmic approach is essential.

In this section, you learn how to play essential rhythms, as well as apply them to popular
jazz progressions and jazz standards.

Go slow with these rhythms, there’s no rush to learn them all.

Start with one, master it, and then move on to the next.

Over time, you build up your rhythmic comping vocabulary in the same way you build your
soloing vocabulary.

At the same time, you increase your ability to function in a jazz combo situation, and have
more fun playing jazz guitar chords.
6/31
Freddie Green Rhythm
The first rhythm in this lesson is inspired by the comping of the great jazz guitarist Freddie
Green, and consists of steady quarter-note pulses.

Freddie was known for his rock-steady sense of time, and his use of quarter notes to propel
the rhythm forward in the Count Basie Band.

Though it’s a simple rhythm on paper, using only one rhythmic duration, maintaining a
steady quarter-note pulse is tricky.

There’s a tendency to rush on faster tunes, and then drag on slower tunes, so using a
metronome is key when studying this rhythm.

To get you started, here’s an example of the Freddie Green rhythm applied to a ii V I VI
progression using shell voicings.

After you can play this rhythmic example from memory, put on the backing track and comp
over those changes with the Freddie Green rhythm.

C Turnaround Backing Track 2516 C Major Backing No Piano

Vm
2516 C Major Backing No Piano
00:00
R
P
Click to hear jazz rhythms 6

Vm
jazz rhythms 6
00:00
R
P

7/31
To take this rhythm further in your playing, here’s a chord study over an F jazz blues
progression that uses the Freddie Green rhythm.

Go slow, use a metronome, and when ready, play along to the recording.

After you can play with the recording, put on the F blues backing track and work on
comping with the Freddie Green rhythm over those changes.

The Freddie Green rhythm is an essential tool for any jazz guitarist to posses, and therefore
it’s an essential part of any rhythmic practice routine.

Jazz Blues Backing Track F Blues Backing Track No Piano

Vm
F Blues Backing Track No Piano
00:00
R
P
Click to hear jazz rhythms 7

Vm
jazz rhythms 7
00:00
R
P

8/31
Charleston Rhythm
Now that you can play a steady quarter-note rhythm, you add syncopation to your lines in
the following chord exercises.

This rhythm, called the Charleston, is built by playing a chord on beat 1 and the & of 2 in
each bar.

When playing this rhythm, you use syncopation when you play the & of 2 in each bar.

Syncopation is a term used to describe playing on the up-beats of any given bar, the &’s
st nd rd th 9/31
rather than the 1 st, 2 nd, 3 rd, or 4 th beats.

Here’s an example of the Charleston rhythm over a ii V I VI progression, using drop 2 chords
to outline the changes.

Work on memorizing this example, then comp over the backing track with the Charleston
rhythm after the sample chords are comfortable.

C Turnaround Backing Track 2516 C Major Backing No Piano

Vm
2516 C Major Backing No Piano
00:00
R
P
Click to hear jazz rhythms 8

Vm
jazz rhythms 8
00:00
R
P

To take the Charleston rhythm further in your playing, here’s an A minor blues progression
using that rhythm to outline each chord.

After you can play the study from memory, put on the minor blues backing track and comp
over those changes using only the Charleston rhythm.

If you feel up to it, mix the Freddie Green rhythm and Charleston rhythm over the backing
track to expand on these rhythms in your studies.

Minor Blues Backing Track A Minor Blues Backing Track No Piano

10/31
Vm
A Minor Blues Backing Track No Piano
00:00
R
P
Click to hear jazz rhythms 9

Vm
jazz rhythms 9
00:00
R
P

11/31
Upbeats on 1 and 3
Moving on, you now up the syncopation in your comping as you place a chord on the & of 1
and 3 in each bar.

This syncopation is essential to adding a jazz sound to your comping, but it’s hard to keep
steady in your playing.

When using syncopated chords like this, with no downbeats, it’s easy to rush the rhythm, or
get lost in the form.

Because of this, counting along with your practicing is essential to mastering this rhythm.

After you can play and count confidently, start feeling this rhythm and not have to count as
you apply it to tunes.

Here’s an example of this rhythm over a ii V I VI progression in C major using triads, or triad
based chords, to outline the changes.

Start by working on the given example, then when ready, put on the backing track and
comp using the & of 1 and 3 in your playing.

C Turnaround Backing Track 2516 C Major Backing No Piano

Vm
2516 C Major Backing No Piano
00:00
R
P
Click to hear jazz rhythms 10

Vm
jazz rhythms 10
00:00
R
P

12/31
To finish your study of chords on the & of 1 and 3, here’s a Summertime chord etude using
three-note shapes and only that rhythm.

Go slow, working each phrase one at a time before piecing them together to form the study
as a whole.

After you can play the study with confidence, put on the Summertime backing track and
comp over the tune using this syncopated rhythm with your chords.

Summertime Backing Track Summertime Backing Track No Piano

Vm
Summertime Backing Track No Piano
00:00
R
P
Click to hear jazz rhythms 11

Vm
jazz rhythms 11
00:00
R
P

13/31
Upbeats on 2 and 4

14/31
One of the most common jazz guitar rhythms is playing chords on the & of 2 and 4 in each
measure.

Though it’s easy to play once you get the hang of it, this rhythm requires that you anticipate
the next chord by half a beat in every bar.

For example, when you play a Dm7-G7 progression, the G7 chord first appears on the & of 4
in the Dm7 bar.

This type of anticipation sounds hip, but it takes concentration so that you don’t get lost on
the form.

Make sure to count through the following example to get you started with chords on the &
of 2 and 4.

Then, when ready, comp over the backing track using the same rhythm, counting at first
then moving towards feeling the rhythm over time.

C Turnaround Backing Track 2516 C Major Backing No Piano

Vm
2516 C Major Backing No Piano
00:00
R
P
Click to hear jazz rhythms 12

Vm
jazz rhythms 12
00:00
R
P

15/31
To take this rhythm to a musical situation, here’s a comping study over the Miles Davis tune
“Tune Up.”

Work this study phrase by phrase and then piece those phrases together to play the tune as
a whole.

After the study is under your fingers, put on the Tune Up backing track and practice
comping over that progression with chords on the & of 2 and 4.

Tune Up Backing Track Tune Up Backing Track No Piano

Vm
Tune Up Backing Track No Piano
00:00
R
P
Click to hear jazz rhythms 13

Vm
jazz rhythms 13
00:00
R
P

16/31
Dotted Quarter Notes
The final jazz comping rhythm is the dotted quarter note.

Dotted quarter notes are built exactly like their name implies, you chain together a series of
dotted quarter notes.

When doing so, it takes three bars to come back to the first beat of the bar with your chords,
causing a high level of syncopation along the way.

Because of this syncopation, you need to count when working on dotted quarter notes for
the first time.

From there, learn how to feel each dotted quarter and can count less when applying them
to your playing.
17/31
To begin, here’s an example of a ii V I VI in C using drop 2 & 4 chords to outline each change
with dotted quarter notes.

After you can play this example, comp over the backing track using dotted quarters to
outline the progression.

C Turnaround Backing Track 2516 C Major Backing No Piano

Vm
2516 C Major Backing No Piano
00:00
R
P
Click to hear jazz rhythms 14

Vm
jazz rhythms 14
00:00
R
P

Here’s a chord study over the Herbie Hancock tune “Cantaloupe Island” that you can apply
to your jazz practice routine.

After you memorize this study, put on the Cantaloupe Island backing track and practice
comping over this tune using dotted quarter notes for each chord.

If you like to hear this type of comping in action, check out Jim Hall’s recordings, as dotted
quarter notes are a favorite rhythm in Jim’s chord work.

Cantaloupe Island Backing Track Cantaloupe Island Backing Track No Piano

Vm

18/31
Cantaloupe Island Backing Track No Piano
00:00
R
P
Click to hear jazz rhythms 15

Vm
jazz rhythms 15
00:00
R
P

19/31
Jazz Rhythms for Soloing
Apart from working on jazz rhythms in your comping routine, you can apply rhythmic
exercises to your soloing workout.

By doing so, you’ll bring a secure sense of rhythmic control to your solos, as well as build
your confidence with specific jazz rhythms in your lines.

The exercises in this section are designed to expand your knowledge of jazz rhythms, but
also to help you develop these rhythms in your playing.

By working rhythms as you would melodies, you’ll be able to dig deep on a single rhythm in
your playing, rather than constantly moving from one to the next.

This’ll create a rhythmic thread in your lines that both listeners and your band mates can
follow, which creates a deeper connection to your audience on stage.

These exercises are easy to understand, but can take time to master on the guitar.

So, take your time, work one exercise for a long period of time, and when you’re ready
move on to the next exercise in your routine.

And, most importantly, have fun!

Single Rhythm Exercises

One of the biggest hurdles jazz guitarists face in their soloing, is that you play “fast,” you
20/31
play “slow,” but you don’t know the exact rhythms you’re playing.

This causes your lines to be sloppy and not rhythmically clear, or for your lines to not lock in
with the rhythm section.

To help you avoid, or correct, this issue, you can practice single rhythm exercises in the
woodshed.

By working one rhythm at a time, you always know exactly what rhythm you’re using in your
solos, and recognize specific rhythms in your band mates’ solos.

Both increase your ability to improvise on the guitar in a jazz context.

Here are the steps to applying this exercise to your jazz guitar practice routine.

Pick a rhythm to study, such as quarter notes.

Solo over a tune or progression using only that rhythm.
You can use rests, but they must equal the rhythm you chose.
Repeat with other single rhythms in your studies.

When working this exercise in your practice routine, start with the following essential jazz
rhythms.

From there, branch off into more advanced rhythms such as groups of 5 and 7 notes over
one beat.

But, even without those advanced groupings, these rhythms build your knowledge and
confidence with jazz rhythms.

Whole Notes
Half Notes
Quarter Notes
8 th Notes
Triplets
16th Notes
16th Note Triplets

After you work these rhythms on their own in your studies, feel free to mix a few together.

But, make sure that you’re doing this in an organized fashion.

Avoid just playing random rhythms; instead focus on mixing two exact rhythms in your
playing.

21/31
This helps you become more rhythmically versatile, and know exactly what rhythms you’re
playing in your solos at all times.

Rhythmic Motives
Another effective way to develop your rhythmic vocabulary is to work rhythmic motives in
your solos.

These short phrases, often one bar or less in length, are rhythmic melodies that you came
back to time and again in your solos.

In the same way that you come back to a melody in your solose, you can create rhythmic
motives that do the same thing.

The exercise is fairly straightforward on paper, but takes time to become comfortable in
your practicing and performing.

Pick a short rhythm to work on.

Solo over a progression using only that rhythm.
You change the notes, but the rhythm stays the same.
Repeat with other rhythms and other progressions.

Here’s an example of a short rhythmic motive played over a C turnaround chord

progression.

To keep things simple, the line is built with a quarter note and two 8 th notes, with a half
note rest in the second half of each bar.

Using rests like this not only breaks up your lines, but makes it easier to hear and plan
ahead when soloing over jazz standards.

C Turnaround Backing Track 2516 C Major Backing

Vm
2516 C Major Backing
00:00
R
P
Click to hear jazz rhythms 16

Vm
jazz rhythms 16
00:00
R
22/31
P

After you can play this example, put on the backing track and solo over the progression
using only this sample rhythm.

From there, come up with your own rhythms to work on in this exercise, as well as find
other progressions to apply them to in your practicing.

Once you can do this comfortably with one rhythm, you can move on to the next exercises
where you learn how to expand rhythms in your solos.

Reverse Rhythmic Motives

Once you can solo with a single rhythmic motive in your practicing, begin altering that
motive to expand it in your solos.

The first way to go about expanding a rhythmic motive is to play it backwards.

This means that you take the rhythms in the original motive, and play them back to front in
your lines.

For example, in the previous exercise you played a quarter note and two 8 th notes.

So, the reverse of that motive would be two 8 th notes and a quarter note.

Here are the steps to take when working on this exercise in the woodshed.

Pick a rhythmic motive to practice.

Solo over a progression with that motive.
Reverse the rhythms of that motive.
Solo with the reversed motive over the same progression.
Repeat with other rhythmic motives.

23/31
Here’s an example of the reversed motive from the previous section over a turnaround
progression in C.

After you learn this lick, solo over the backing track using this new rhythmic motive in your
lines.

From there, come up with your own original rhythms, then practice reversing them as you
expand upon your ideas in the woodshed.

C Turnaround Backing Track 2516 C Major Backing

Vm
2516 C Major Backing
00:00
R
P
Click to hear jazz rhythms 17

Vm
jazz rhythms 17
00:00
R
P

Now that you know how to expand rhythmic motives by reversing them, you can extend
rhythms to full measures or longer in your playing.

Rhythmic Pairing
With your original and reversed rhythmic motive in hand, you can now pair those two ideas
up to produce a longer idea in your solos.

24/31
To do this, you play the first motive immediately followed by the second motive in your
lines.

Using the examples from the previous two sections, here’s how that would come together
to form the longer motive.

Quarter Note
Two 8 th Notes
Two 8 th Notes
Quarter Notes

As you can see, the first two beats are the original rhythmic motive, and the second two
beats and the reversed rhythmic motive.

Here’s how that looks on paper.

After you can play this lick, solo over the backing track and make up your own notes while
sticking to the given rhythm in the example.

C Turnaround Backing Track 2516 C Major Backing

Vm
2516 C Major Backing
00:00
R
P
Click to hear jazz rhythms 18

Vm
jazz rhythms 18
00:00
R
P

25/31
Now that you’ve seen a sample of how to combine an original and reversed rhythmic motive
in your playing, you can make up your own to practice.

Here are the steps to build these longer rhythms in your studies.

Pick a short rhythm to study.

Solo over a progression with that motive.
Work out the reversed version of that rhythm.
Solo over a progression with that reversed motive.
Combine both rhythms to form a longer phrase.
Solo over a progression with that combined rhythm.

With this longer rhythmic motive under your fingers, you can expand upon this longer idea
in your practice routine.

Reverse Rhythmic Pairing

As you did with the original rhythm, you can now reverse your longer, paired rhythm in your
studies.

To do so, you use the following steps build this exercise.

Pick a short rhythm to practice.

Solo with that rhythm over a chord progression.
Reverse the original rhythm.
Solo with the reversed rhythm over the progression.
Combine the rhythms by playing the reversed rhythm first then original.
Solo with this combined rhythm over the chord progression.

Here’s an example of how to reverse a combined rhythm using the original rhythmic motive
from earlier in this section of the lesson.

After you have this lick under your fingers, put on the backing track and solo using the given
rhythm, but you make up the notes as you go.

C Turnaround Backing Track 2516 C Major Backing

Vm
2516 C Major Backing
00:00
R
P
Click to hear jazz rhythms 19

26/31
Vm
jazz rhythms 19
00:00
R
P

Now that you can build and expand any rhythmic motive, go back and repeat these
exercises with new rhythms that you come up with on your own.

You can also take rhythmic motives from transcriptions as you learn them by ear from your
favorite jazz guitar solos.

When you’re comfortable with these exercises, move on to the last section of this lesson,
learning how to transpose rhythms in your solos.

Rhythmic Transposition
Now that you have an original rhythm to work with, you can move this rhythm around the
bar by starting it on different beats of each measure.

To begin, here’s a reminder of the original rhythmic motive.

C Turnaround Backing Track 2516 C Major Backing

Vm
2516 C Major Backing
00:00
R
P
Click to hear jazz rhythms 20

Vm
jazz rhythms 20
27/31
00:00
R
P

Now, here’s an example of how this rhythm would look and sound when starting on the &
of 1 in each bar.

After you can play this sample lick, put on the backing track and solo over the changes using
the same rhythm, but improvise the notes.

From there, you can move the rhythm to other parts of the bar by starting it on beat 2, the
& of 2, beat 3, etc. in your soloing.

C Turnaround Backing Track 2516 C Major Backing

Vm
2516 C Major Backing
00:00
R
P
Click to hear jazz rhythms 21

Vm
jazz rhythms 21
00:00
R
P

28/31
Following the exercises that you did earlier in this lesson, you now combine the original
rhythm and the transposed rhythm in your soloing.

Here’s an example of how that would look with the original rhythm in bar one and the
transposed rhythm in bar two, repeating from there in the line.

Once you have this sample line down, solo with this rhythmic group while improvising the
notes in your line.

Then, you can practice combining other transposed rhythms in your soloing practice routine
from there.

C Turnaround Backing Track 2516 C Major Backing

Vm
2516 C Major Backing
00:00
R
P
Click to hear jazz rhythms 22

Vm
jazz rhythms 22
00:00
R
P

29/31
The final exercise finds you pairing up your original and transposed rhythms, but this time
you play the transposed rhythm first, followed by the original rhythm.

Here’s an example of this approach over a C turnaround progression.

Work this line in your studies, then when ready, solo over the backing track with the same
rhythm, but you improvise the notes.

From there, you can expand upon this rhythmic exercise by applying it to other rhythms
and transpositions in your studies.

C Turnaround Backing Track 2516 C Major Backing

Vm
2516 C Major Backing
00:00
R
P
Click to hear jazz rhythms 23

Vm
jazz rhythms 23
00:00
R
P

30/31
As you can see, transposing a rhythm around the bar will allow you to create new rhythmic
ideas from a single phrase.

From there, you can create dozens of variations by combining transposed rhythms and
reversing those combinations in your playing.

Have fun with these exercises; though they may seem tough at first, over time they greatly
expand your rhythmic vocabulary and improvisational skills on guitar.

Matt's site is an amazing resource when studying Jazz guitar. It's

clear, effective, and available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Join Joel and 150,000 others who benefit from free email guitar lessons.
Your name*

Your name

Your Email*

Your email

Send Me Free Lessons

Tagged under: Jazz Guitar Rhythms

© 2019 Matt Warnock Guitar. All rights reserved. Tucson Web Design by Tagline

31/31