The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    Hi everyone,

    Can you recommend me some easy jazz guitar songs that are suitable for beginners?

    I teach guitar but my knowledge of jazz tunes - well could be better - I have a guy coming to me at the minute and he is learning arpeggios, scales, comping etc.. but to break things up I was thinking an actual tune would add to what he already is learning.

    I obviously know Autumn Leaves and Take Five - but was looking up some others?

    Anyone any ideas? any Wes Montgomery tunes that have "easish" chords?

    Thanks in advance,
    James

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

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    i think a lot of standards that fit into that "ballad to midtempo" range are good for starters. It seems just about every song has one or two little "tricks" to it--things that make them unique and provide a bit of challenge.

    here's some tunes i learned early in my jazz-u-cation that i still gig today. that's lasting power, eh?

    here's that rainy day
    how high the moon
    misty
    tangerine
    so what

    and stuff of this sort

    and funny, i don't think there's much easy about "take five"--those wide skips in the melody during the B section and soloing well in "5" can be a hard

  4. #3

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    Maybe some of the jazz blues stuff like All Blues - it gives your student a chance to learn improvising over non-resolving dominant chords, and if they jam with friends or at an event it's bound to get called sooner or later.

    Also, you could do a blues with a ii-V-I turnaround and cover two of the most used jazz progressions (the blues format and the ii-V-I).

    Hope this helps.

    Buy, if you don't mind me asking...if you don't play jazz much, why do you feel comfortable teaching it?

  5. #4

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    ^^^^

    yes, make sure you learn a jazz blues in C, Bb, and F for starters.

  6. #5

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    In addition to Autumn Leaves, All of Me is a great starter along with Tune Up and Solar.

  7. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Scrybe

    Buy, if you don't mind me asking...if you don't play jazz much, why do you feel comfortable teaching it?
    Hi,

    I had a feeling someone would ask that. I love jazz and to be honest have been only been getting into this past 3 years - I mostly teach rock as thats what makes up the majority of my lessons. I come from a more rock orientated background - Hendrix, Led Zeppelin etc...

    The guy I am referring to here is at the very, very basics of learning he loves jazz and thats his drive for learning guitar - so we are only covering the basics of scales and arpeggios at the minute - he's not even onto any advanced chords or anything I have him doing m7ths 7ths etc.. and very basic stuff - (the Take Five we did was 2 chords only! - which gives you an idea) - hence this is why its more difficult I think to get a few easier tunes - as most have chord substituions etc...or probabaly chords he hasnt seen yet.
    Maybe some more simple blues progressions might be a better idea. I thought a tune would be a change from scales and arp's etc....

    James

  8. #7

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    Vol. 54 in the Jamey Abersold has some good easy tunes in it. Songs like Watermelon Man, Footprints, Summertime, and other songs that are either jazz-blues or just really easy changes.

  9. #8

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    Satin Doll is an excellent tune to learn. It has a very strong melody that follows the changes nicely, so it's easy to remember the song. It also lends itself very well to melody embellishment when soloing. The changes are very commonly used jazz changes so what you learn in Satin Doll, you will see over and over again in other jazz standards. Oh, and maybe most important - it swings big time.

  10. #9
    Thanks both of you for that as well - I have a Jamey Aebersold book somwewhere on Odd Time Signatures come to think of it?

    Will check Vol 54 out - anything to give him something to get stuck into to! and myself1 LOL

    Cheers

    James

  11. #10

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    Going back to the teaching the blues idea, there is a very good lesson here on this topic:

    Jazz Blues Chord Progressions - Shapes & Comping Examples

    Dirk starts with the basic 12 bar form using just I IV V dominants, and shows each evolution thru jazz until you get to Charlie Parker changes, which is seen typically as the height of jazz blues changes.

    It is a great place to start and see how jazz progressions, like a virus, took hold of the blues.

  12. #11

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    I Feel like I wasted a lot of time with standards such as Stella by Starlight, All The Things You Are, On Green Dolphin Street, etc...

    Now that I'm getting a little guidance I've found that I should have started with Bags Groove, Blue Monk, Blue Bossa, Work Song, etc...

    Perhaps all newbies should start with easier tunes, Jazz/Blues, simple Bossa's, etc...

    Following this line of thinking, would anyone like to add a list of real "starting" tunes for jazz players???

    Thanks,
    Sailor

  13. #12

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    There Is No Greater Love
    Autumn Leaves
    All Of Me
    Summertime
    Satin Doll
    Perdido
    Mean To Me

    ...just to name a few

  14. #13

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    Herbie's Watermelon Man. Medium tempo, three chords: F7 Bb7 C7.

  15. #14

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    Tune Up
    Solar
    Autumn Leaves
    All of Me
    Song For My Father
    Watermelon Man

  16. #15

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    good ones already mentioned, and:

    sugar
    doxy
    sweet georgia brown
    so what/impressions (modal)
    milestones (new, modal-ish)
    so danço samba (great jobim tune, easy changes, great fun to play)
    footprints
    cantaloupe island
    maiden voyage
    killer joe
    sister sadie
    the preacher
    song for my father

    and i got rhythm...get your feet wet

  17. #16

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    Interesting lists here. I would totally agree with Autumn Leaves as the original is in a well known guitarist's key. I know Satin Doll is meant to be in this catergory but I found the harmony of it challenging for quite some time.

    I'd add that learning GDS and ATTYA isn't a waste. A lot of the same progressions keep coming up. I'd keep learning them, but slow the tempos down on the stuff you are struggling with.

  18. #17
    TommyD Guest
    The best song to begin with, IMO, is "What Is This Thing Called Love". It has only a few solid chords, and they repeat themselves. It also has a nice, easy bridge. You simply can't beat Cole Porter for bouncy, easy-to-learn tunes! It's a great tune to comp on and a great tune to play single-line melody or improvise on.
    The first few times through, forget the flat-5 chords and just play the dominants, one chord to a bar (or until the phrase ends and/or the chord changes. Try to play nice, chunky, repeating chords in your comping.)
    In the beginning, try using only the notes of the chords to solo on. You'll never play a wrong note. Try playing 2 notes per four beats (half notes), then 4 notes per bar (quarter notes!) Then branch out from there, to eighth notes. You really don't have to play any faster than eighth notes to develop a cogent, wonderful solo. (ref. Coleman Hawkins Body and Soul). It's called the "vertical approach" to soloing, and when I learned, nobody learned soloing any other way.
    Well, before this becomes a book. . . . .
    tommy/

  19. #18

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    Set yourself up with some II-V-I backing tracks in all 12 keys.

    Work on making lines for those for about a year (kind of joking) then go to the Real Book and you can play most anything.

  20. #19

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    Quote Originally Posted by brian329
    Set yourself up with some II-V-I backing tracks in all 12 keys.

    Work on making lines for those for about a year (kind of joking) then go to the Real Book and you can play most anything.
    Good advice. That is basically what he was talking about with the Aebersold blues and ii V I editions. They are full of different keys/tempos of this stuff. Something to be said for having to create your own comping tracks though, but it certainly is more fun to play with studio guys.

  21. #20

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    I'm actually finding Aebersolds backing tracks a little hard to follow.

    Sailor

  22. #21
    TommyD Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by Sailor
    I'm actually finding Aebersolds backing tracks a little hard to follow.

    Sailor
    That's because Aebersold is not a pianist - or an organist - yet he persists in making those accompaniment tracks - I guess to save money on hiring someone who knows how to play the piano. I stopped buying his stuff for that reason. As soon as he starts playing, I can tell it's him. Awful!
    tommy/

  23. #22

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    Sailor:

    I have been trying to learn a lot of tunes to play and got frustrated with songs that change keys a lot...e.g..ATTYA has +four tonal centers.

    So I went back and started to group songs into how many tonal centers to play through.. e.g.:

    Autumn Leaves - Can be played all in G maj

    Blue Bossa - Ebmaj and Dbmaj

    Paper Moon - Gmaj and C maj

    Almost like being in Love - Bbmaj, Gmaj, F maj

    Jeepers Creepers - Fmaj, Bb maj, C

    ATTYA, four, Miss Jones, In walked Bud, - 4 or more

    etc.

    Of course, lots of major and minor ii-V-I's in there but it has helped to progress up to harder songs.....

    I have also spent a lot of time on Rhythm Changes as there a dozens of songs that use that progression...Accentuate the Positve, Oleo, Paper Moon, Perdido,Jeepers Creepers, Frosty the Snowman...

    Just a thought...

  24. #23

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    Hey Sailor,

    I'm relatively new to jazz, so take what I say with a grain of salt, but I think your approach to these tunes might be the issue. My teacher started me off with doing chord tone solos to Autumn Leaves, which required me to learn the arpeggios to the chords in the song all over the guitar neck. Next he introduced Green Dolphin Street, which was immensely difficult when I first started playing it, but by focusing on playing chord tone solos (as opposed to playing scales within the keys the song modulates to) I was fairly quickly able to get through the tune. Then we talked about playing chord extensions in my solos, and which extensions worked for which chords and when.

    In the past I have tried to learn jazz by myself, trying to use scale/chord relationships to govern my playing, and I would quickly get stuck and frustrated. The "chord tone approach" has worked very well for me, and I would recommend giving it a try on tunes like ATTYA and GDS if you are so inclined. I realize this thread is a little bit old

  25. #24

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    There are great suggestions here for "beginning" songs, and I'm happy to see "Milestones" mentioned. "Autumn Leaves" and "Summertime" too.

    I'll add "So What" (aka "Impressions") to the list...two chords, dorian mode, and the sky's the limit.

  26. #25

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    If you can play these 10 standards you're pretty much good and have strategies to play most any standard

    1 Autumn Leaves
    2 All The Things You Are
    3 Green Dolphin Street
    4 Stella By Starlight
    5 Night and Day
    6 Alone Together
    7 Have You Met Ms Jones
    8 Body and Soul
    9 It Could Happen to You
    10 Girl from Ipanema

    imo, within those 10 tunes you deal with styles, tempos and harmonic progressions that are universally dominant in Jazz standards from ii V I in major or minor or deceptive to other typical Jazz progressions. You could argue a lot about taking in one or the other and swapping it and that's cool. Not only are those 10 tunes great teaching tunes but they are 10 tunes that just about everyone knows once you start getting into sessions.