Learning to improvise over jazz tunes in a convincing fashion means learning how to move between creating tension and resolving this tension in your lines and phrases. Though there are a ton of different ways to create tension in your lines, from using exotic scales to advanced chord substitutions, one of the easiest and quickest ways to achieve this sound in your solos is to use chromatic passing chords, especially over ii-V-I progressions.

One of the first progressions many guitarists tackle when learning to improvise in the jazz idiom is the ii-V-I. This common three-chord progression can be found in countless jazz tunes, and improvising over these chords in a convincing fashion is a must-know skill for any budding jazz guitarist to have under their fingers.

Working on scales in the practice room can sometimes seem like a one-handed event. Sure, the picking hand is there, and it may even be focusing on alternate picking, sweep picking or other picking technique, but beyond that, how deep do we really go with our right hand when practicing scales?