Here are some jazz turnaround lines for a I VI II V chord progression.  These melodies are typical of the bebop jazz language and make use of scale passages, arpeggios and approach notes.

I have offered some suggested fingerings in the tablature, but you may well want to use your own.

The target tempo here is very fast, but these will also work well at slower speeds. I would suggest starting at a comfortable tempo and build slowly from there.

Note as well that the chord VI is a dominant chord here, rather than a minor chord as would be the case in regular diatonic harmony. The conversion of the VI chord to a dominant chord is very common in jazz harmony and here it produces a secondary dominant leading to the Amin7.

I play these lines mostly using alternate picking, but feel free to experiment with other picking styles if they feel more comfortable to you.

Jazz Turnaround Lines

I hope you enjoy playing these jazz turnaround lines and I’ll post some more in the near future.

Happy practicing,

Pete