My Second Start In Jazz

[raylinds]

I have been playing guitars on and off for years mostly blues and classic rock, but about a year and a half ago I started playing jazz guitar. I have always loved jazz and especially love I nice dark jazz guitar tone. I listen to a lot of jazz and became a huge fan of Wes, Joe Pass, Grant Green and the usual suspects.

About a year ago I got very frustrated with my lack of progress and soon lost my motivation. The fault was mine as I was making it a chore for myself and spent too much time working on things that I did not particularly enjoy. I completely stopped playing guitar for a few months, but then decided I would stick with simpler blues and rock playing and focus on having fun.

Now a year later I found that my technique, dexterity, knowledge and ear have gotten much better as I was having fun and actually putting the time into woodshedding. That gave me the confidence to give jazz another chance but with a different approach and attitude. I was determined to have fun and set realistic short-term goals to feel a sense of accomplishment. I decided to work on just the melody and changes to some standards that I love so that I feel like I am playing real music and then I can focus on learning to improvise on those tunes. I can now play basic arrangements of Satin Doll, Caravan, Summertime, All Blues and So What that sound great to me. This has had a tremendous impact on my motivation and I find myself playing more than ever.

I have created some nice backing tracks in Cubase with some really nice Drum, Bass and Keyboard samples to play over and am starting to work on improvisation. I am getting solo ideas from various YouTube and internet sources and studying scales and theory. It has also completely changed my way of listening to jazz, which has become a very educational experience. I am having a lot of fun and do put aside time for things that I find not-quite-so-fun (like ear training and sight reading) but only in small doses (baby steps).

My advice to newbies is to never lose sight of the fact that it is supposed to be fun and don't overreach. Find some tunes that have fairly easy melodies and changes to start with. The sooner you feel like you're actually making music rather than just doing exercises the better. It will give you a sense of accomplishment and motivation.

I'm very happy to be active on this forum once again.

[Bobby Timmons]

That's good! Glad to hear it. I've had that same experience. You feel like you should take on a whole regimen to 'get good'. But it's more effective to work on what you actually like and in practical doses. Enjoying yourself should be a priority. You can balance in harder stuff for growth. But you shouldn't really try to work a bunch of hard stuff just to get good when you don't really enjoy it and burn yourself out. And you get better as time goes by and stuff starts to fall into place. And stuff that seemed hard before is doable.

[JazzPadd]

Welcome back! Playing jazz is fun for sure, and much of that fun is playing tunes. You’ve also discovered something important, that most of what one needs to know to play jazz is in the tunes.

In some ways, jazz can be social music and a handful of tunes can be enough to explore that facet, too. Maybe there’s a friendly jam session scene in your locale!

Wishing you all the best!

[emanresu]

Jazz goes nowhere. I mean, it stays here.

You had no choice. Once entangled, you never get rid of it. Ever.

[raylinds]

Jazz goes nowhere. I mean, it stays here.

You had no choice. Once entangled, you never get rid of it. Ever.

It consumes your soul. In a good way.

[digger]

Good post, Ray. I've made many false starts on my jazz journey, and progress has been slow, but, like you, my latest attempt has been a better than previous goes. I think the difference this time has been down to actually jamming and playing tunes with someone, learning about how this music works in reality, and then,maybe a year on from starting those jams, actually playing a few gigs. My playing at these gigs is really simple, just playing around the melody and plugging and playing a few licks, but there have been a few 'moments' and playing a lot more rhythm has been great fun. I may well never progress a lot further, but these songs are great fun to play, and I remain amazed that I ever got this far.

Derek

[raylinds]

Good post, Ray. I've made many false starts on my jazz journey, and progress has been slow, but, like you, my latest attempt has been a better than previous goes. I think the difference this time has been down to actually jamming and playing tunes with someone, learning about how this music works in reality, and then,maybe a year on from starting those jams, actually playing a few gigs. My playing at these gigs is really simple, just playing around the melody and plugging and playing a few licks, but there have been a few 'moments' and playing a lot more rhythm has been great fun. I may well never progress a lot further, but these songs are great fun to play, and I remain amazed that I ever got this far.

Derek

Derek- that is a great story and you should be proud. I do think that playing with others should be the ultimate goal, even if you are not the star and getting standing ovations. Jazz tends to become a passion for many people and being able to share that passion is something very special.

I am a Hi-Fi audio enthusiast and record collector (particularly into jazz) and I have a group of friends that also share that passion, but none of them are musicians. I need to change that!

Cheers, Ray

[Jimmy blue note]

No matter what anybody else says (including your own inner slave driver), ...have fun!
Go for the endorphin boost that comes from making things connect.
The progress will follow naturally.

Welcome to the music.

[benhatchins]

Enjoy it! Having a good time while learning something new is truly essential. It makes the entire process much more enjoyable and less stressful. When I decided to pursue my second degree, I knew from the start that I would need some extra support to handle the pressure effectively. That’s why I turned to ukwritings.com/. Managing the demands of advanced studies on my own would have been overwhelming, and having their assistance has been a game-changer.

[pauln]

Glad you've returned with progress.
Ear training; not just another thing,
it's the primary thing; keep in mind.
That goal to have fun is important;
not just for your individual learning
but critical/integral when in a band.

[corkjazzer]

Glad to hear you're loving learning again. A bit of daily work on transcription might be enjoyable -apparently "Green's Greenery" is good and Miles solo on "Freddie Freeloader" but the best thing, in my opinion, is to go to a jam session, check it out and when you're ready, put your name down for a tune -there's no better buzz, even though it's terrifying at first. have fun, John Mc