The attached PDF shows some simple, useful chord moves for ii-V and iii-vi-ii-V progressions.  Here are a few reasons they are so useful:

1) They feature a strategy where you are only moving 1 finger on a grip.
2) They feature voice-leading -- the finger you move outlines a chromatic descent to the next chord
3) They expose how a small vocabulary of chord shapes can be re-used for different voicings

As I've mentioned before, the first teacher who attempted to teach me about jazz guitar recommended the Mickey Baker books.  While they were nice at getting some basic and hip sounds going, there were a lot of holes to be filled.  While I don't particularly recommend starting with them, the best thing about his books was he gives a relatively small number of chord shapes to learn and re-uses them to stand-in for different chords in a hip way.  The first page of the PDF attempts to show how his chord shapes can be used in a ii-V progression.

The 1-finger ii-V is at the heart of what he initially presents, using a min6 as a Dom.9 voicing.  Making a min7 chord (acting as the ii) into a min6 chord (by moving the chord's b7 down 1 fret) gives you a rootless Dominant 9 chord, which is used as the grip for the V chord in the sequence.  Mr. Baker also shows that if you just hold or reposition min7 chord, you end up with a  rootless Dom11 chord.

As you may know, the min6 chord not only sounds like a Dom.9 chord, it is also a half-diminished (min7b5) voicing. The second page of the PDF shows all the various ways the min6 and min7 chords can be interpreted.  Understanding other uses for any grip you learn is a great thing to do.

Page 3 gives a few variations on a iii-VI-ii-V progression with Mickey's chord voicings.  This is the next most essential progression to learn after the ii-V.  Once you learn and hear the 2-5 and the 3-6-2-5, you will be able to abstract away several measures of many jazz standards which will make them easier to learn and remember.  Instead of learning several measures of a standard, you can eventually just represent it in your mind and ear as a 3-6-2-5 leading to a tonic.  If the six chord is a Dominant (has a major 3rd), then the 3-6 is like a ii-V going to the 2 of the ii-V which then goes to the tonic.  

Mickey's variations include using a min7 shape moved down one fret to represent the tritone of the ensuing V chord.  This tritone works out to be a Dom.7(#9) voicing.  A more common written variation is to use a rootless Dominant #11  for a V, which also happens to be a Dom.7(#11) a tritone away.  In addition to using a half-diminished (min7b5) shape as a rootless Dom.9 chord, we also see how a min7b5 shape can be grabbed as  Dominant Altered chords.  Finally, we see that the iii-7 chord can be a Maj9 voicing for the tonic.

Ideally you want to work out similar chord moves for every inversion of these chords.  The remainder of the PDF will give you a start in that direction.

Page 4 begins the chord moves for a I-vi-ii-V in one position for all the basic inversions which are in the Jimmy Bruno Inversions dictionary (you should check that PDF out if you haven't already).  This should allow you to do this chord move anywhere on the neck for any key.  Remember that the vi-7 chord is homonymous with the Tonic as a Maj6.  The squiggly arrow shows you will have to move up some frets to get the chord root on the correct note.  The min6 of the ii is equivalent to the Dom.9 of the V chord (as well as the other homonyms shown on Page 2).

Page 9 shows a 3-6-2-5 progression with altered dominants as the 6 and the 5.  The squiggly arrow is to alert that you will need to move the shape down on the neck to get the root in the right place.  When the 6 and 5 of a 3-6-2-5 are dominants, the 'tonal center' is located a whole tone (2 frets) away from the final Tonic during the 3 to 6.  The VI chord is a Dom.7(#11) while the V chord is a Dom.7(b9) -- which is also a Diminished voicing.  Note that each of the Dominant voicings here are exactly the same chord if played a tritone away.  Try out Mickey's other tritone subs -- making the tritone a min7 or min6 also gives a hip altered dominant sound to the V.  You should also try grabbing a different ii-7 chord to serve as a Dom11 chord for the V.

The basic goal of practicing the content in this PDF is to increase your vocabulary of chord moves for basic building blocks of jazz harmony -- the 2-5, the 3-6-2-5 and the 1-6-2-5.  With study, you will see these progressions again and again in jazz standards.  The extended vocabulary will give you a host of options up and down the neck for playing over these progressions so you are not endlessly repeating yourself comping behind a soloist.  Learning comping is more useful than just learning how to solo with scales or modes -- for starters, you will realistically be comping far more than soloing.  But dig this -- when you start to picture the chord tones of these progressions all over the neck, they will also be the targets you can approach (scalewise, chromatically or any other way) in your solo to outline the harmony.

​My current journey is to get more fluent with diminished chords and the symmetrical diminished scale.  When I see a Diminished 7th chord on a chart, I rarely have anything more up my sleeve then finding the root and climbing an arpeggio.  The sound definitely works but it can get a bit trite, especially over multiple choruses.  The fact that the diminished sound was such a huge part of pioneer Charlie Christian and then the be-boppers, not to mention Barry Harris's Sixth-to-Diminished concept, I've felt the need to visualize the Diminished arpeggios and scales better, at least in one context.

I'm already aware that the diminished sound can be applied with any dominant. The 'half-whole' symmetrical diminished scale can be used from the root of a V to get altered tones, but what about Diminished chords in Bossas or even folk and classic show tunes?

The best I can gather, the Diminished is like connective tissue that links the meat of the Diatonic chords.  Altered sounds on a Five chord is really just a way to lead the ears back to the I chord, often chromatically instead of scale-wise.  When you see a Dim.7 for a whole bar, typcially the same idea is happening -- it is a chromatic walk to the next harmony.  My plan is to get a baseline visualization for any diminished around the Major scale and then adjust accordingly.  My approach -- outlined in the PDF below -- is inspired by the bars in 'Shadow of Your Smile' which moves from Cmaj7 to C#dim7.

My strategy starts on page 1 of the PDF with a set of 'anchors' over the course of the fretboard.  Specifically I am trying to learn a set of 3-note voicings on the middle strings where I tend to gravitate toward when comping.  The voicings are just repeats of two shapes.  Sometimes it is helpful to actually give a name to shapes to aid the memorization -- I'm calling these 'arrow' and 'cup' shapes (the arrow's 'point' is towards the bridge and the cup's 'base' is toward the nut).

The first goals is to learn how these shapes 'sit' against the 'mode boxes' of the fretboard.  I visualize the fretboard by segments where you can vertically play a mode with the mode's root on the sixth string.  I'm learning these 'anchors' by looping two bars of Cmaj7 followed by two bars of Diminished 7.  For each mode-box, I start slow and work up speed alternating between the Major scale and then the arpeggio.  From these anchors I am extending the diminished arpeggio shape out.  The ensuing pages 2-8 show arpeggio shapes for other strings.  As I practice, I'm starting just with the 'corny' arpeggios as a line back to the major scale harmony.  For each segment of the fretboard, I want to visualize the map of these arpeggios over the major scale. 

Page 9 of the PDF begins the rest of the half-whole 'Symmetrical Diminished'. The second 'half' of the scale is rendered for each shape on page 1-8.  The other half of the half-whole scale is the same arpeggio voicings, just one semi-tone up from the anchors.

The 'Symmetrical Diminished' is a synthetic scale comprised of two sets of diminished arpeggios.  Every other note has a semi-tone or whole-tone interval.  The pages 9-16 show what I am calling the 'consonant' half of the scale.  All the notes of the scale one semi-tone up are in the Major scale, save the #5.  Even though #5 is not classically consonant with the major scale, it is okay to resolve on a Maj7#5 chord.  The #5 is consonant in the Barry Harris world.

The arpeggios in pages 1-9 I will call the 'Dysonant' half of the scale.  Even though they have a Perfect Third and Perfect Fifth, you are never going to resolve a Major 7 chord with flat 9 or a flat 7.  These are the same arpeggios in the 'Sixth to Diminished' concept.  They are the diminished arps that alternate between Maj6/min7 voicings to complete the Barry Harris chord scale.

Interesting, the 'Consonant'arpeggios have the voicings you might use for a V7b9 chord.  The major #5 is the b9 of the Dominant chord in a Major key. 

Together, both the 'Consonant' and 'Dysonant' arpegios make up my Symmetrical diminished scale for navigating over a C#o7 from a Cmaj7.  The end goal is to be able to go into this scale at any point, from any point in any Major scale.

Of course this pdf leaves out a third set of diminished arpeggios, which contains the root, the b3, the sixth, and the #11 of the major. These arpeggios lead to other Symmetrical Diminished scales which I am not going into in order to keep things from getting too out of hand. If you think of the 'altered Five' application of the Symmetrical Diminished using the scale in the PDF (the 'anchors' combined plus a semi-tone up) gives you the b9, #9, #11, as well as the root, the third, sixth and the b7 of the Five chord.  The only alteration you are missing is the #5 of the Five.  In the end, in order to play the remaining Symmetrical Diminished scale, you would simply use the 'anchor' voicings in page 1-9 as 'avoid' notes -- avoiding the Major scale's 5, b9, b7 and P3.  In terms of the Five chord, that would mean avoiding the 5, 7, #11, and #3 of the Dominant.

By learning the 'anchors' in page 1 for each mode-box, then learning the other voicings connected to them, then adding the notes a semi-tone up, I hope to get a go-to framework for coming up with diminished sounds relating to the major scale.

Here is a great guide for beginners regarding jazz harmony:

The Ultimate No Nonsense Guide to Jazz Harmony

The contents are pretty much what's labeled on the tin -- straightforward explanations of concepts like:

• II-V-I and other cadences
• Secondary Dominants
• Backdoor Progressions
• Backcycling
• Tags
• Altered Harmony

​Here's a million dollar lesson for free from Bruce Forman on his Guitarwank podcast (episode '99R' April 4th, 2018 ~71:28).

This is a great exercise for people coming from a blues background trying to get a little jazz color in their playing.  The exercise helps get the altered sounds into your ear, even though it is a little bit of a 'fudge.'  Most importantly, it is focused on motif development rather than focusing on learning the shapes to play over each chord.  Instead of trying to re-visualize your fretboard's landscape over every chord, this exercise focuses on making phrases that resolve, i.e. 'making music.'

It is not uncommon for blues players to move their 9th voicing (for example) up a half-step to reference the IV chord. That half-step sound is what a beginner should be looking for when they are trying to 'jazz' up their playing.  If you play all the notes in this half step movement, you will feel how these notes compel you (lead you) to resolve back into the key.  This is how jazz players think.  The jazzbo is constantly introducing tension -- stretching a rubber band -- and then resolving, letting the rubber band come back to it's natural shape.

The ii-V-I is the progression to learn for jazz.  In G the progression is A minor, D7, G major.  If you line up all the notes in these chords, they are all in Gmaj.  It's a 'diatonic' progression -- all the chords' notes are in the same key. However, true jazz players do a lot of stuff to build up their tension playing 'outside' Gmaj.  I reality, it is more hip to play A minor, Ab7, Gmajor -- the tritone substitution. But let's simplify our ability to play this way without thinking to much.


The Exercise:

1) Play a simple phrase over the ii chord -- which is pretty much just a Dorian A minor -- the classic blues scale works.

2) Now repeat this phrase down a half-step.

3) Finally, resovle the phrase by ear.

Step one is the ii chord, step two is the five chord, step three is the one.  The brilliance of this exercise is it forces you to make music more than learning scales and substitutions and theory.  Practicing this helps you develop motifs, gets the altered sound in your ears, and helps you intuit where the leading tones resolve to G major.

There is a theoretical fudge to this exercise in that you are playing a minor on the five instead of a dominant.  But don't get your hackles up over this as a beginner.  Duke Ellington said, "If it sounds good, it is good."  So try to make it sound good. One of the gems of this exercise is you are forced to listen to yourself in the context of the progression.  You are listening to what you are playing because you have to repeat your own phrase.  You are not 'coloring by numbers,' but getting involved with what you are creating.  


Bonus Exercise:

1) Play a simple phrase over the ii chord (again just a blues pentatonic or dorian phrase in Aminor will work).

2) Repeat the phrase a minor third up (that's three frets or semi-tones).

3) Resolve to G major by ear.

To recap -- you are playing something melodic, committing it to memory and repeating it three frets up, then finding a note to answer in the G major scale.

Here you are essentially playing the iv minor (C-) in step two. Some people call iv- the 'important' chord.  The iv minor always wants to resolve to the one.  Now you have a whole harmonic substitution added to your vocabulary.  Try substituting the iv- in place of your five while comping.


Double Bonus Exercise:

Now let's actually play a REAL tritone substitution to get the most tension-resolution out of our line -- let's really stretch the rubber-band. Traditionally we say the tritone is Amin, Ab7, Gmaj.  But what is Ab7 -- just Ebmin with a differnt root!  The tritone is actually 2 minor thirds up from the one chord.   

1) Play a minor phrase over the ii chord.

2) Repeat the phrase 2 minor thirds up (Eb for resolving to Gmaj).

3) Resolve to the root major by ear.

With these three exercises, you've just increased your ii-V-I vocabulary about 400%!

In the Guitarwank podcast, Bruce refers to a youtube video where Josh Smith attempts to explain the same material that Bruce taught him.  I believe that video is here.  Even if you are a seasoned jazzbo -- try these exercises out.  You'll be glad you did.

The Altered scale is the seventh mode of the Melodic Minor (aka Jazz-Minor) scale.  It is a great scale for finding leading tones over a "functioning" V in a ii-V-I.  These leading tones are 'outside' the Key center of the ii-V-I, which create even more tension over the already tension-inducing V.  This tension of the V is resolved when you get back to the I.

The typical way to play the Altered scale (aka Super-Locrian), is to sight the root of the Altered scale on the root of the dominant.  Alternatively, you can sight the Melodic Minor's root on the b9 of the V chord -- one semi-tone up from the root of the V.

The Super-Locrian/Altered scale is really the 7th mode of the Melodic Minor -- the root of the Altered scale is the 7th degree of the Melodic Minor scale.  Additionally, there are other modes of the Melodic Minor that work nicely over dominant chords in other situations.  

The Lydian b7 (4th mode of Melodic Minor) works great over Dominants with a #11.  If you are familiar sighting the altered scale, you can sight the root of the altered scale on the #11 of the Dominant. Or you can sight the root of the Jazz Minor on the 5 of the V.

For a Dominant with a #5, you can play the Mixolydian b6 - the fifth mode of the Melodic Minor.  Sight the start of the altered on the 3rd of the V chord you are playing over.  Otherwise, sight the Melodic Minor starting on the 4.

Finally, a Dorian b2 (3rd mode of the Melodic Minor) works over a Dominant with a #9 or a b9.  Sight the altered scale starting at the V chord's 13.  Or sight the Melodic Minor on the b7.

I learned the Melodic Minor via the Altered Scale, so I tend to sight with the Major 7 of the Melodic Minor.  But it is really best to sight the Melodic Minor.  When you first learn the Altered scale, your melodic lines will probably sound quite foreign if you think of the 7 of the Melodic minor as the root -- similar to when you attempt to play the Locrian mode out of context.  The 7's of the scale are really pulling the westerner's ear toward the next tone up, which is the root of the key.

If you play lines with the Melodic Minor in mind, you will still be creating tension on the V with the outside note, but the lines will sound a little more familiar and groovy somehow.  The best way to inflect the Melodic Minor sound is to focus on notes in the Melodic Minor arpeggio 1, b3, 5, 7.  This isn't the end approach to take with the substitute modes, but it worth starting with.  By focusing on the Melodic Minor arpeggio, you will begin to see the other modes in relationship to the Melodic Minor harmony.

The chart provided shows all the Super-Locrian, Lydian b7, Mixolydian b6 and Dorian b9 modes against the Mixolydian of a V chord.

In addition, I've broken each of my mode boxes out and repeated the information for each neck position.  The name 'r6-vi' Aeolian Box is my description of the 4-5 fret position where the Aeolian Mode for would start with its root on the 6th guitar string (low E).  That is the shape of the notes in the position, but the V is still the root in this context.

With the mode boxes, I've also stripped this box down to the arpeggios for each mode.  The yellow ring indicates the Root of the Melodic Minor.  Therefore, for the right-hand, stripped down box of the Super-Lociran, Lydian b7, etc., shows the Melodic Minor arpeggio, with the yellow ring as the root.  This outlines how to play a really strong Jazz-Minor sound against these altered dominants.

Try looping a passage with an altered dominant like a Dom #11, and find the mode of the Melodic Minor (Lydian b7 in this case) that works best over it.  Play the melodic minor mode over the V chord -- maybe even imagine the arpeggio of the V chord dimly sitting 'underneath' the mode you are playing.  Then try and make a line solely comprised of the Melodic Minor arpeggio before resolving to the next chord.  Try this in various positions over the neck until you start to see the juxtaposed relationship.  You should practice until you can see your Mixolydian notes or your V arpeggio, and then immediately super-impose the applicable Melodic Minor mode, understanding the 'essential tones' (3rd & 7th) of the substitute mode.

Once you are facile at seeing each mode in relation to the Dominant arpeggio the V, you can begin focusing on structuring lines that really capture the essential tones of the V chord while also including the altered notes of the chord on the lead sheet, pulling you toward resolution with an essential tone of the one.

I made this chart to begin creating visual "anchors" to the diatonic modes I am already familiar with.

I've been practicing the Harmonic Minor, which I know serves as the Altered Scale when its root is on the b9 of a Dominant.

Now I need "anchor" it to the modes I already am familiar with, so switching to the Altered Scale will be instantaneous.  I'm practicing switching between each section of the Altered scale with the corresponding mode in the diagram, measure to measure.  Then I'm practicing a ii - V7alt - I progression to get to the scale in time.

I basically visualize 5 "boxes" which correspond to five modes where the root is on the 6th string.  The Lydian and Locrian are so close to the Phrygian and Ionian respectively that I just picture the later boxes.

I use 'r6 Aeolian' to connote the shape of the Aeolian mode where it starts on the sixth string.  I'm using 'Vr4' to connote the root, arpeggio or scale for the V (Dominant) of the diatonic progression where it appears on the fourth string.