So I've been studying harmony because I want to be able to compose jazz melodies... But I just can't get that jazz feel with simple II V I progressions... any tips on scales or licks?

Question

anonymous · Answer

Depends on what style of Jazz, if you want more down and dirty blues sort of jazz I would recommend sticking with mixolidian scales.

anonymous · Answer

With jazz music, the only way to learn is to listen and try. It can take a while, but that is what's really necessary. The way I used to do it is by listening, "transcribing" (don't do this in classical notation. Learn to feel the music), and then emulating.

The problem with going ahead and just using a certain scale and trying to force it to feel like jazz is a) it won't feel like jazz, and b) you won't learn to hear the scale without thinking about it.