Frequently in your lessons, you will work through a particular chordal cadence and then you stop and say some variation of "and this is what it sounds like 'linearly'' whereupon you will play a blazing series of lines that fluidly address each chord. It SEEMS to me that this ability to "play the changes" effortlessly is one of the holy grails of jazz guitar improvisation. Any chance you would consider doing an "Essentials" lesson based upon cultivating this particular skill? I KNOW that you basically address this all throughout your lessons, but any particular tips or exercises on developing this skill would really be appreciated. I DO live in a degree of fear that the answer to the question (as to so many others) "how does one cultivate the ability to 'play the changes'" might well be "transcribe, transcribe, transcribe!" Would that I had the time! This for considering this Barry! -Josh

Intermediate novice here. I too am working on this skill (I think every jazz musician in the world is).

The long 251s that Barry provides in the PDF for the Major 251 essential video have helped me make some quick progress on this.

I try to think in either chord or arpeggio shapes and try like hell to hit one of the tones in the shape (preferably the root, 3rd, or 7th -I don't worry about the 5th because it doesn't do much for the chord), on the 1 and 3 of the bar. So, I'm trying to "see" the chord shape or arp and I'm trying to feel and hit a 1,3, or 7 on beat 1 or 3. To hone in on 1 and 3 I exaggerate a "swing" feel by playing those beats louder. Sometimes I'll work on "targeting" just one of the tones over a 251, so I'll play from the 3rd of ii to the 3rd of the V to the 3rd of the I, and so on. Or I'll go from 1 to 3 to 7, or whatever. Make a game out of it.

I don't think there's any voodoo involved in developing this skill. I think it's a matter of 10,000 hours of practice, and internalizing the sound of each chord and its tones. I can't play what I can't hear. I believe Charlie Parker thought in chords, not lines. I really do. He added chromatic tones to kill time, literally, until the next chord came around. Or maybe it was more to expand the duration of a chord. Connect a few chords together, you get the head to Donna Lee.

I think a lot of the problem as well is not knowing how to use approach notes, enclosures, and subbing different arpeggios

Will add that to practice routine

Not much more to add. Robert's advice is sound. Just make sure when you learn a line, that you learn to apply it to tunes.

Take those four up, four down lines that Barry preaches. The ones where you resolve the 7th of the ii to the 3rd of the V. Don't just learn them, make sure you force them into every ii-V in every tune you know, in every position etc.

It will sound overly academic and like you're forcing it (because you are). But the point is to have access to that stuff wherever you are on the fretboard in real time. If you can do that, then it's just a matter of a little embellishment and you can build on it. I was just watching "linear turnarounds" last night, and how to expand that concept. You can get a lot of mileage out of that.