The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    Despite having played jazz on guitar for almost 20 years I think something like 4 or 5% of my entire listening consists music with guitar players. I feel like I should be listening/studying more guitar players but I just don't really find a lot of it all that stimulating. Saxophone and piano have been mostly what I really like listening to. Maybe it's more just the music/groups I like just didn't have guitar. Meh... just wondering if this is common with guitar players or musicians in general.

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

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    If you don't like playing jazz, don't play it. It's not uncommon, I think, for guitarists to listen to music made on other instruments, just as it's common for pianists or any other musician to listen to many different instruments. I really would like to play other instruments, and did start out on some, but the noise level was too high for the situations I was in, so I let the trumpet and clarinet go. At this point in life, it's more trouble than it's worth to me to learn a new instrument. I bought a keyboard when I retired with the intention to learn to play it, but I've made little progress. I listen to all sorts of instrumentation - horns, keyboards, vibes, whatever. I'm not stuck on guitar except for playing, but it's the only instrument I'm capable of playing at any level that I can stand to listen to, so it's what I play. I do like listening to guitar players, though, and always have, even before I even started to play anything. But I do listen to other instruments about as much as I do to guitar.

  4. #3

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    I'm like that. I genuinely like playing and studying jazz guitar but the jazz guitarists I like are mostly from back in the day and it's kind of played out haha. I do make effort to seek out new and old jazz guitar but it doesn't make up the majority of my listening.

  5. #4

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    @ariel -- do you like to play jazz guitar??

  6. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by marcwhy
    @ariel -- do you like to play jazz guitar??
    Yeah, I love jazz and playing it. I guess I just don't feel like I fit in with the whole archetypal"jazz guitar" thing, if that's even a thing at all. It just happens that I play guitar and and play jazz.
    That said I do play and practice other instruments (tenor, piano, drums, bass) and I certainly love listening to most other players on those. Maybe it's an ego thing, unfortunately....
    Not to say I don't enjoy other guitarists but pretty picky.

  7. #6

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    99% of the 1600 plus jazz song recordings I have, have a jazz guitarist on them. E.g. the only exceptions in my CD collection are a few CDs I got as gifts. I.e. over 40 years I never purchased a jazz CD or borrow one from a friend to record, that didn't have a guitarist.

    When I was 18, I got into jazz because I lived with a professional jazz guitarist, learned to play guitar from him (I played classical violin up until then), and from there it was all jazz guitar, all the time for me. When I travel with my friends that love jazz they now know to bring some of their own CDs (or other device), because when they ask "is all you have here jazz guitar", the answer is "yes".

    (or I end up playing The Beatles or Kinks, the only rock bands I have recording off).

    Yea, my taste in music is very limited and my friends think I'm nuts!

  8. #7

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    Clearly you haven't listened to enough grant green.

    Joking aside, just play and listen to what you want. Theres not rules on this other than show up on time and play in time.

  9. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
    Clearly you haven't listened to enough grant green.

    Joking aside, just play and listen to what you want. Theres not rules on this other than show up on time and play in time.
    Grant's one of the ones I do listen to a bit actually. I hear different things with him, like Wes.

  10. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by arielcee
    Despite having played jazz on guitar for almost 20 years I think something like 4 or 5% of my entire listening consists music with guitar players. I feel like I should be listening/studying more guitar players but I just don't really find a lot of it all that stimulating. Saxophone and piano have been mostly what I really like listening to. Maybe it's more just the music/groups I like just didn't have guitar. Meh... just wondering if this is common with guitar players or musicians in general.
    I’ve met a few jazz guitarists who feel this way. I think it’s fine.

  11. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by arielcee
    Grant's one of the ones I do listen to a bit actually. I hear different things with him, like Wes.
    I feel that my favourite guitarists have a more hornlike approach. Grant is one....

    Guitar can be a bit noodly noodly. It’s hard to play it with intensity.

  12. #11

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    There are very few jazz guitarists that do it for me. John Scofield, Wayne Krantz... some of Wes... Joe Pass, but only the live recordings, not the albums... Bill Frisell, but is he jazz?

    I got into jazz through neo-soul. Plenty of super inspiring guitar work happening there. Spanky Alford, Iasaiah Sharkey, Melanie Faye...

    It seems to me the usual pioneers in jazz were mainly horn or piano players. The pioneering guitarists are happening now. And often it’s on the edge of jazz, or jazz-adjacent.

    That’s ok though, it means there are openings for guitarists to do some pioneering...

  13. #12

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    It's not a chore. You don't have to do it. You're your own person. Play what you can and listen to what you feel like. And silence (listening to no music) is always an option.

  14. #13

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    Silence is an option, but far from the best one most of the time. Sometimes it's what I want, though. Nothing is perfect forever.

  15. #14

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    Poor Jazz Guitar, nobody wants to hear it, not even the people who actually play Jazz Guitar...

  16. #15

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    Well, truth be told, sax is probably the best jazz instrument, sometimes more moving than the human voice. Good bass playing is something too. I suppose the sound of jazz guitar is somewhere down the list; it's not an 'A' instrument. Miles Davis didn't much care for guitar apparently. But now and again you get a jazz guitar player who can be genuinely exciting and hit the right spot.

    But guitar is what I can do best of all. I think the physicality of it has something to do with it. It's sensuous. And it keeps me off the street :-)

    But guitar in some other styles can't be beaten, just no replacement possible.

  17. #16

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    I am pretty much in the same boat. I like playing jazz on guitar but there are not a lot of jazz guitarists who really move me. Most of the jazz that I do like, including guitar jazz, kind of petered out by the late 60s. I think part of the reason for the death of jazz guitar (or at least, it's poor health) was the era where speed became the basis for improvisation. Sure, it's nice to see some really rapid-fire playing from time to time, but just like in heavy metal, speed as a thing in itself gets old very fast. Whenever I heard the term "gypsy jazz" I run screaming in the other direction because I know I will be pounded by a bunch of guys whose goal is to play everything as fast as possible.

    Just my 2 cents.

  18. #17

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    I wonder if part of the problem (if there is one with Ariel) is the way other musicians treat Jazz guitarists. Do they fully embrace the Jazz guitarist's role? Maybe like many, they feel a bit snobbish toward the guitarist?

    I wonder...

  19. #18

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    I don't think it's weird at all. I love all kinds of music and all kinds of instruments. Probably only about half of all the music I listen to regularly is guitar-oriented, and a fair proportion of that is good ole snarling rock'n'roll.

    I think most of us like to listen to non-guitar stuff and learn a lot about comping and improvisation from listening to other instruments.

  20. #19

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    Quote Originally Posted by doc w
    I am pretty much in the same boat. I like playing jazz on guitar but there are not a lot of jazz guitarists who really move me. Most of the jazz that I do like, including guitar jazz, kind of petered out by the late 60s. I think part of the reason for the death of jazz guitar (or at least, it's poor health) was the era where speed became the basis for improvisation. Sure, it's nice to see some really rapid-fire playing from time to time, but just like in heavy metal, speed as a thing in itself gets old very fast. Whenever I heard the term "gypsy jazz" I run screaming in the other direction because I know I will be pounded by a bunch of guys whose goal is to play everything as fast as possible.

    Just my 2 cents.
    Pretty darn good 2 cents there, doc w.

    Interesting thread. I've always felt guilty about not listening enough.

    There's another thread here titled "What Are You Listening to Now" and I have to say..."me".

    I prefer to to make little discoveries myself and add them into a solo than pick up something from another player.

    Also agree on the speed thing; it has its place but not always.

  21. #20

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    Quote Originally Posted by ragman1
    Well, truth be told, sax is probably the best jazz instrument, sometimes more moving than the human voice. Good bass playing is something too. I suppose the sound of jazz guitar is somewhere down the list; it's not an 'A' instrument. Miles Davis didn't much care for guitar apparently. But now and again you get a jazz guitar player who can be genuinely exciting and hit the right spot.

    But guitar is what I can do best of all. I think the physicality of it has something to do with it. It's sensuous. And it keeps me off the street :-)

    But guitar in some other styles can't be beaten, just no replacement possible.
    Said it pretty much to a T. Thank you.

  22. #21

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    I thought ride was the best jazz instrument.

  23. #22

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    I might just add that I do in fact like jazz guitar haha

    But it did take me a while to come around to the real 50s/60s stuff. Swing and fusion I got right away. But rather like Mozart, I came round to it eventually.

    These days, as soon as I type 'I don't really like this era/style' I then think of several exceptions, so although I don't like all jazz guitar players, the ones I do are a fairly eclectic bunch.

    Players like Wayne Krantz - well I've seen Wayne play twice live. Phenomenal, I love his music, but has very little to do with the corner of jazz guitar I've been primarily concerned with. I mean, who knows maybe I'll get a Strat and a JCM800 and let rip at some point.... I'm due a mid-life crisis...

    And instagram's concept of 'jazz guitar' is basically.... guitar haha.

    So, rather like a sneeze, jazz is a hard thing to measure the edge of... I would say the thing I don't care for in the modern guitar playing thing, esp. online, is the tendency of guitarists to communicate only with other guitar players. It's a very technical thing. I think my favourite players are all musicians first and foremost.

  24. #23

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    Quote Originally Posted by ragman1
    Well, truth be told, sax is probably the best jazz instrument, sometimes more moving than the human voice.
    I think the problem is that there has been a long running scam that makes jazz guitarists throw away much of their expressive possibilities, stuff bedding cotton in their guitars and play with bridge suspension cables, anything to make each note a fat boink.

    Resist!

  25. #24

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    Listening to other instruments is healthy.


  26. #25

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    Quote Originally Posted by frankhond
    I think the problem is that there has been a long running scam that makes jazz guitarists throw away much of their expressive possibilities, stuff bedding cotton in their guitars and play with bridge suspension cables, anything to make each note a fat boink.

    Resist!
    One can get a very fat sound playing straight ahead jazz.