Vision Music

[nylenny]

Of Mark's three cornerstones of learning jazz guitar -- Arranging, Recording, and Transcribing -- arranging is the most challenging for me.

It is challenging because there are so many activities that are exercises in arranging, I find it a little difficult to pick one and work on it for awhile.

Right now, I am practicing arranging the language that I transcribe. For example, I'll take two-fives out of solos I'm transcribing and a) play them in different positions (but the same key), b) play them in different keys and positions (in all keys), and c) try to work them into solos (using "dry" improvisation and in-time improvisation.

The other exercise I routinely do is to take a progression on which I am working and play it with proper voice leading using, for example, drop-2 voicings.

How do others approach the "A" in ART?

How are others approaching arranging tasks on the guitar?