Modal Soloing for Jazz Guitar: Practical Strategies For Soloing With Modes Over Must-Know Jazz Standards

Unlock the Modern Sound of Modal Jazz Guitar - From Miles and Coltrane to Today’s Great Innovators

How do the world’s finest modern jazz guitarists - players like Kurt Rosenwinkel, Gilad Hekselman, Lage Lund, Julian Lage, Mike Moreno, and Jonathan Kreisberg - craft solos that sound fluid, harmonically rich, and effortlessly melodic?

They all draw on the deep vocabulary of modal jazz. In Modal Soloing for Jazz Guitar, acclaimed jazz guitar educator Tim Pettingale shows you how to develop the same freedom, color, and control in your own playing.

You’ll learn to improvise creatively over legendary modal standards such as So What, Impressions, Chameleon, Little Sunflower and Maiden Voyage, and understand how to apply those same principles to your own compositions and jam session vamps.

This is a hands-on guide that bridges classic modal language with the sound of contemporary jazz improvisation, helping you evolve from playing scales to playing music.

Inside the Book, You’ll Learn How To:

Improvise fluently over classic modal progressions using Dorian, Mixolydian, Lydian, and Melodic Minor approaches

Develop modern melodic vocabulary using triad pairs, hybrid pentatonics, and intervallic structures inspired by today’s top players

Build advanced phrasing skills that combine rhythmic displacement, chromaticism, and motivic development

Blend tradition and innovation, from Miles and Coltrane’s modal foundations to the cutting-edge harmonic ideas of the modern jazz era

Master real-world application through two full-length solo studies demonstrating how to integrate concepts into your improvisation

Why This Book Will Elevate Your Playing

Modal Soloing for Jazz Guitar gives you the tools to break free from box shapes and predictable scale runs, guiding you toward a deeper understanding of melody, tension, and release. You’ll learn how to:

Navigate extended vamps and shifting tonal centers with confidence

Outline harmony melodically without overthinking chord changes

Create expressive, evolving solos that sound modern, lyrical, and authentic

Think like the masters but play like yourself

Includes Audio Download

Every example and solo study comes with free downloadable audio and full-band backing tracks, so you can hear each idea in context and practice creatively. All examples are written in standard notation and TAB.

Whether you’re discovering modal jazz for the first time or seeking to expand your modern jazz vocabulary, Modal Soloing for Jazz Guitar is your roadmap to building expressive, contemporary lines with depth, groove and style.

Buy it now!