The Three Elements of Music

Becoming a Better Jazz Guitarist

Whenever I teach a workshop or a clinic, one of the things that I always like to talk about is what I call the three elements of music.

These are the three most important elements that any jazz guitarist needs to be successful, plus a fourth that I add in at the end of the talk.

So, what exactly are the three elements of music?

Whenever we get to a point in the clinic where students are playing with one or two of the elements and ignoring the others, I’ll stop the class and ask:

“OK, let’s name the Three Elements of Music.”

At first, I get blank stares.

But.

Then students will catch on and suggest harmony, followed by melody and finally, with a little nudge and a few clues, rhythm.

These are the three elements of music, just not in what I would consider the best order of importance.

Think about it.

Would you want to listen to music that didn’t have solid rhythm and/or time?

Would you buy a record full of unmemorable melodies?

Would you pay money to see a concert where there was no sense of harmony between the musicians on stage, within the music, or both?

Most people would answer no to these questions.

So, let’s look at how you can make sure that you practice the three elements of music every day, staring with the most important element, Rhythm.

The First Element of Music: Rhythm

Why is rhythm the most important element of music?

Because everybody can understand and enjoy rhythm.

If you can walk in pace and have a heartbeat, you can feel a pulse and groove along to your favorite song.

Not everyone can sing in tune or understand harmony.

But.

Everyone understands rhythm.

Yet, when I ask students “How do you practice rhythm?” they often answer, “Well, I don’t.”

This is a problem.

If you have solid rhythm, you can get away with a lot of experimentation in your melodic and harmonic playing.

But.

If you don’t have good rhythm, you can play the exact same notes as John Coltrane and sound well, um, not like Trane.

Rhythm is that important.

So, how do you practice rhythm?

There are too many ways to list here.

But, the first step is to understand that rhythm is a thing, like a scale, chord, or lick, that can be isolated and practiced.

One of the biggest problems that I find with guitarists is that they don’t have command over rhythmic groupings and durations.

For me, it’s not enough to play “fast” and “slow,” or “double-time” and “half-time.”

These are good adjectives for certain tempos, but they aren’t specific enough to matter when it comes to playing.

You need to be more specific.

You need to play quarter-notes, half-notes, 16th-note triplets, quintuplets, and other rhythmic durations. And…

They need to be specific rhythms.

When I solo, I’m constantly thinking of exact rhythms, what rhythms I just played, and what rhythms I want to use in the next part of the solo.

Just as I would any scale, lick, phrase, arpeggio, substitution, or any other melodic and harmonic device I use in my solos.

This is something that a lot of people ignore in their practicing, isolating specific rhythms and perfecting them, as you would any scale or arpeggio fingering.

So, the first thing that you need to do, is play specific rhythms, at various tempos, and nail them every time.

Don’t aim for “fast” and “slow,” play exactly 16th notes, whole notes, etc.

Here’s an effective way to develop your sense of rhythm and begin to perfect specific rhythms in your playing:

Pick a jazz standard.
Pick a specific rhythm.
Set the metronome at 40 bpm.
Solo using only that rhythm and any notes you choose.
Raise the metronome to 50 bpm.
Repeat the workout until it’s too fast to control.
Repeat this process with other rhythms and standards.

It’s essential to stick with one rhythm, especially at the slow tempos, until you can solo with it non-stop over a tune.

Practice rhythms until you’re confident with them, then mix them up, one bar of each, four bars of each, half a bar of one, half a bar of the other etc.

If you have rhythmic control, then mixing them up, at any tempo, will be a piece of cake.

Here are examples of essential jazz rhythms to practice and master in your playing.

Whole Notes
Whole Note Triplets
Half Notes
Half Note Triples
Quarter Notes
Quarter Note Triplets
Eighth Notes
Eighth Note Triplets
Sixteenth Notes
Sixteenth Note Triplets

Make sure to practice rhythm every day. And…

Be aware of what rhythms you’re playing and how you fit into the groove of a song at all times.

Focusing on playing solid rhythms will elevate your playing, without having to learn new scales, licks, or chord voicings.

Everything you play sounds better with solid rhythm.

The Second Element of Music: Melody

If everyone can feel and understand rhythm, I would argue that many, if not most, people can understand melody.

Yes, some people can’t sing on key.

But.

Just about all of us can hum along with the radio or sing in the shower, so for me, melody is the second most important element of music.

It’s what people remember when they finish hearing a song or walk out of a club after a concert.

It’s the “hook” that digs into your ears, and players that have a strong sense of melody often have long and very successful careers.

When most guitarists hear the words “melodic playing,” they think of scales, arpeggios, patterns, and licks.

Yes, those are certainly important tools that you use to create melodies.

But.

They aren’t melodies themselves, and this is where most guitarists get stuck.

You’re often taught that if you learn enough scales, all the right arpeggios, and memorize lines from your favorite solos, that you’ll be able to play jazz.

But I can tell you that after spending hours a day for over a decade of my life in the practice room doing just this, it’s not going to happen, at least for me it didn’t.

Now, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t learn scales and arpeggios and licks.

These are very important tools that you need to know, all over the neck and in 12 keys, but they’re not the only items needed to play jazz with confidence.

If you want to play melodically and learn to create melodies, then it’s better to check out the building blocks of this music we call jazz.

Which phrases, motives, and melodic devices come back time and again when you analyze your favorite solos.

To help you organize your practicing, here’s a list of essential melodic devices that I’ve come across in many famous jazz solos that I’ve transcribed and analyzed.

Enclosures: One Note Below, One Note Above
Enclosures: One Note Above, One Note Below
Lower Neighbors
Upper Neighbors
Octave Displacement
1-2-3-5
1-3-4-5
3-5-7 Triads
3-5-7-9 Arpeggios
Passing Tones (Bebop Scales and Other Variations)

As was the case with rhythm, you should make sure to practice melody every day, and be just as specific.

If these ten items are found in famous solos by legendary players, then it’s a good idea to put the time in to master them in your own playing.

Here’s an example of how to practice any/all of these items, without just running them up and down the neck.

Pick a jazz standard.
Pick a melodic device.
Start your metronome to 40 bpm.
Improvise with that device over the tune.
Raise the metronome to 50 bpm.
Repeat this exercise until the tempo is too fast.
Repeat with other tunes and melodic devices.

By focusing on one device at a time, you’re putting on “handcuffs” as I tell my students.

You’re purposefully handicapping your playing so that you can only use one device in your solos.

This forces you to internalize that specific device and be very creative in how you use that device, since it’s the only improvisational tool you have at our disposal.

Then, when you take the handcuffs off, you’ll be surprised at how much clearer, creative, and confident your jazz guitar solos have become.

The Third Element of Music: Harmony

I think it’s indicative of the problems that jazz education faces when every student I ask names harmony as the most important element of music.

Think about it.

Everyone understands rhythm.

Most people enjoy and understand melody.

But, very few people understand harmony.

Harmony is a learned skill, one that players spend years mastering.

And it’s an element that only musicians or dedicated fans can fully understand in the moment when a band is performing.

Why then, is there such a strong focus on harmony in the study and performance of jazz?

Yes, I will be the first to say that harmony is a vital tool for any improviser, in any genre. And…

You need to have a deep understanding of harmony and harmonic function to become a performer.

But.

If harmony is all you study, or if it takes up most of your practice time at the expense of the other two elements, is that a good thing?

If you play complex changes, outside subs, and hit every chord with perfect voice-leading, does that matter if you play with poor time and melodic sense?

This is a problem that I’ve found time and again with older, more experienced students that come to me for advice.

They know their instruments inside and out.

They can make any changes I put in front of them and have a solid understanding of harmony.

Yet, they drag or rush their notes, don’t fully lock into the groove of a song, and run outlines through changes.

They don’t play anything that makes a meaningful connection with the listener, and often complain about playing for audiences that “Just don’t get it man.”

So, exactly how do you study harmony without ignoring the other two elements, rhythm and melody?

One way is to isolate changes and break them down to the lowest denominator, and then build things up from there.

For example:

Pick a jazz standard.
Isolate the first chord in the song.
Put the metronome at 40.
Solo over this chord using one rhythm and one melodic device.
Crank the metronome up by 10 clicks until it’s too fast.
Repeat with the second chord of the song.
Combine the first two chords and repeat.
Repeat this process with all the chords of the first phrase.
Repeat this process with every phrase in the song separately.
Repeat this process with every phrase together, playing the whole song.
Change the rhythmic motive and melodic device and repeat.

By breaking down the harmony into small, easy to digest chunks, you practice the tune while focusing on rhythm and harmony.

You’re now playing all three elements at the same time, ensuring that you aren’t focusing on just one or two of them and ignoring the others.

Emotion: The Fourth Element

You now arrive at the point in my talk about the three elements of music when students always ask, “What about dynamics, and phrasing, and, and, and…”

My answer to that question is:

“Emotion is an important element, but you can’t fully engage your audience in an emotional way if you don’t have command of the other three elements.”

Music needs dynamics.

It needs to come from the heart and mean something to the performer.

But, it’s difficult to put your heart and soul into a tune if you’re thinking about the changes, playing unmemorable melodies, or trying to find the groove.

But.

If you have command of rhythm, melody, and harmony, you can insert your emotions into the song in a much deeper way.

Having a command of the three elements of music won’t guarantee that you’ll become a world-famous guitarist, or that you’ll get a call for a gig on Friday night.

But, if you don’t have strong rhythm, melody, and harmony, then you can guarantee that you won’t get that call.

Practicing a bit of each of the elements every day also increases your enjoyment in the practice room.

Using tunes and soloing to learn rhythm, melody, and harmony, helps make that journey fun, creative, and challenging to your skill set.

And…

If you find yourself in one of my workshops and I ask, “What are the Three Elements of Music,” you’ll confidently say, “rhythm, melody, and harmony.”