This lesson teaches you how to play Giant Steps on guitar.

By learning one improvisation and one etude, you will learn how to play Giant Steps.

Both pieces teach you how to voice lead lines through Coltrane changes.

The improvisation study teaches you how to do this with guide tones and melodic rhythms.

The etude teaches how you to play Giant Steps using lines with eighth notes.

Before learning how to play Giant Steps, you should feel comfortable with:

Improvising over intermediate jazz standards e.g. Have You Met Miss Jones

Playing major and minor triads across the fretboard on all string sets.

Using bebop techniques such as enclosures and chromatics

Improvising with guide tones

Improvising over changes using bebop language

Playing the chords and theme from Giant Steps from memory

Play through each study slowly to begin with, then gradually work up the tempo.

The first improvisation should be played medium-fast to fast for the phrasing to sound correct.

The etude has been recorded at two tempos.

Playing and hearing the etude at a slower tempo will help you hear the harmonies.

Aim to work up this etude to at least 200bpm.

How to Play Giant Steps – Guide Tone Improvisation

Firstly, you are going to learn how to play Giants by using guide tones.

This one chorus improvisation teaches you how to voice lead the guide tones of each chord.

The Coltrane Changes in the first three bars and in bars 5-8 are outlined using triads.

The short major ii-V’s use arpeggios which often incorporates the 7th.

It is essential that you see the full triads and arpeggios which all these ideas come from.

Playing through Giant Steps using arpeggios or triads in a constant rhythm will ensure that you have the necessary technique to make this connection.

For example, here is a short example that teaches you how to locate the required triads.

Note that only eighth notes have been used and all the triads are in one area of the neck.

When you can play through this improvisation, create your own using the guide tones.

Keep the harmony to shorter structures than scales due to the short time on each chord.

You should feel comfortable playing, singing and naming any guide tone for each chord.

If necessary, improvise over the progression using only one interval to begin with.

Practice the triad and interval exercises out of time or with a metronome.

When you can locate these, try improvising with a medium backing track like this one.

Click here to download this improvisation as a PDF

How to Play Giant Steps – Lines Etude

Now that you can outline all the changes using guide tones, we can look at creating longer lines.

The etude only contains eighth notes which ensures you can play through the changes without stopping.

Aside from a couple of bars, the first beat of every new chord contains a chord tone

Click here to download this etude as a PDF

Full tempo

Practice Speed

When you can comfortably play through this etude, try creating your own lines.

Here is a list of harmonic techniques used in this etude that you can use:

Major scales starting on the root, third and fifth

Triads – major and minor.

Major, minor, dominant and diminished 7 Arpeggios

Major and Minor Tetrachords

Bebop scales

Bebop and chord connection techniques used in this etude are:

Chromatics

ii-V language

Enclosures

When creating your own lines try to start in different areas across the guitar neck.

Though technically demanding, playing in constant eighth notes will give you fluidity over the progression.

So, you will be able to leave spaces when you choose rather than due to a technical limitation.

The goal of working through these exercises is that you will be able to hear and play Giant Steps freely.

I hope that you enjoyed playing and working through these two etudes.

Learning how to Play Giant Steps in a fun challenge which I still enjoy working on.

Can you play either of these two studies? If so, please post a video below.