🚨 New Series Alert – Play A Great Rhythm Changes In 3 Months
Over the past few months, we worked through Play A Great Blues In 3 Months, building a complete approach to the blues through comping, guide tones, lines, vocabulary, melodies, and chord melody.
Now it's time for the next challenge:
👉 Rhythm Changes
If the blues is one of the foundational forms in jazz, rhythm changes is the next major milestone.
This series assumes you're already comfortable with basic jazz harmony and four-mallet playing. We're not going to reduce rhythm changes to a beginner theory exercise. Instead, we'll focus on the kinds of voicings, harmonic movement, and musical concepts that working jazz musicians actually use.
Over the next 14 weeks, we'll explore:
• Common comping approaches
• Guide tone movement
• Voice leading
• Bebop vocabulary
• Rhythm changes melodies
• Chord melody concepts
• Full arrangements
The goal isn't just to survive rhythm changes.
👉 The goal is to make them feel familiar.
🎵 Week 1 – Common Voicings
This week we're working through a full chorus of rhythm changes in B♭, one of the most common keys used for this form.
You'll notice that the progression stays close to the basic structure of rhythm changes, but there are a few harmonic adjustments along the way. These are common variations that many players use to create smoother voice leading and stronger harmonic motion.
The focus this week is not rhythm.
👉 The focus is learning the harmony and internalizing these voicings.
For that reason, the exercise uses simple half notes throughout the entire chorus. There are no Charleston rhythms, syncopations, or rhythmic variations yet. Those concepts will come later.
Right now, we want to:
• Learn the shape of the form
• Become comfortable with common jazz voicings
• Hear how the harmony moves through the A sections and bridge
• Develop confidence navigating an entire chorus
Just like the first lesson in the blues series, this is about establishing a foundation. Before we start creating rhythmic variation, we need to know where the harmony is going.
Think less about comping and more about hearing the progression.
The rhythm is intentionally simple so all of your attention can be placed on the harmony.
🛠 Practice Tips
🎯 Learn the form first
Before worrying about individual voicings, make sure you can identify:
- A section
- A section
- Bridge
- Final A section
🎧 Listen for the guide tones
Even though we're playing full voicings, the 3rds and 7ths are still doing most of the harmonic work.
⚖️ Focus on smooth voice leading
Notice how many chords connect through small movements rather than large jumps.
🔁 Practice one section at a time
Work on:
- First A section
- Bridge
- Last A section
Then connect them together.
🐢 Start slower than performance tempo
The harmonic rhythm moves quickly enough that accuracy matters more than speed.
🎵 Pay attention to the dominant chords
Many of the strongest moments in rhythm changes come from how the dominant chords resolve.
🧠 Recognize common movements
Look for:
- ii–V progressions
- Cycle-of-fifths movement
- Diminished passing chords
- Dominant substitutions
These sounds appear constantly throughout jazz repertoire.
🎯 Don't rush into rhythmic variations
Play the written half notes exactly as written. The goal this week is to internalize the voicings and hear the form clearly. We'll add rhythmic comping concepts in future lessons.
🎨 Listen to the color changes
Some voicings are more stable, while others create tension and pull. Train your ears to hear the difference.
🔁 Play along with a metronome on 2 & 4
The goal is not just to learn the chords—it's to make them groove.
This week is all about orientation.
👉 Learn the map.
👉 Hear the movement.
👉 Get comfortable navigating the form.
Everything we'll do over the next 13 weeks builds from this foundation.