6 months into jazz - overwhelmed and not sure where to focus. Advice?

[ragman1]

Keeping time is probably one of them. Getting the guitar in tune helps. After that god knows

[GuyBoden]

I'm climbing Everest, but I'll be ok, because I've bought a "Method Book".

[pamosmusic]

I'm climbing Everest, but I'll be ok, because I've bought a "Method Book".

Worth noting that jazz guitar won’t kill you if you make a wrong step

[James W]

Worth noting that jazz guitar won’t kill you if you make a wrong step

You might develop a fiendish dependency on noodling, however...

[AllanAllen]

Worth noting that jazz guitar won’t kill you if you make a wrong step

Yeah man, like Jimmy Bruno always says "It's just music, it ain't fuckin' rocket science"

[CliffR]

Yeah man, like Jimmy Bruno always says "It's just music, it ain't fuckin' rocket science"

It's not even brain surgery.

[mr. beaumont]

So to distill the pertinent information.

1. First, be able to actually play the guitar. Old guy tip #1, get your picking in order now, or it'll never be

2. Learn a bunch of tunes

3. Learn a bunch of chords. Good news, to do #2 you'll need to do #3

4. Challenge your ear right from the start. Transcribe melodies. If all you can hear right now is the head to C jam blues, that's fine.

5. Yes, there's scales, arpeggios, 50 different books, YouTube channels with good graphics, YouTube Channels from people who actually play well, apps, mystic runes, and tai chi. Old guy tip #2, know a few things really well instead of "knowing about" a bunch of things.

6. Play with others, any chance possible

[emanresu]

I sit my on my hands under my butt reading these posts.
But what is the most grand goal?
When you want to impress the world and become the next best jazz-star, then hm, ok.
Or..

What exactly do you want?

[JazzKatua]

Learn-by-example; learn from simple but GREAT solos you like.
Chet Baker couldn't read music, but he's ONE of the BEST Jazz players EVER!
So get a teacher as many "advised"?! Not necessarily IMHO!
Practice and play what YOU believe in and not necessarily others tell you WHAT to do.

[JazzKatua]

"get your picking in order now, or it'll never be"

Picking is a personal matter; you're saying your picking is like 'absolute'...
I'd like to see yours then.

[pamosmusic]

"get your picking in order now, or it'll never be"

Picking is a personal matter; you're saying your picking is like 'absolute'...
I'd like to see yours then.

What?

Picking is a personal matter -- so get it in order. Whatever it looks like, it needs to be together.

My old guitar teacher used to say "amateurs think about the left hand; pros think about the right."

These were classical lessons, but the same applies. I have a whole document filled with lines from Wes on Misty with the picking notated. What I chose for a given passage is personal and doesn't matter within certain parameters, but THAT I chose something is enormously important and something that 99% of guitarists (no, not exaggerating) overlook.

So many things that guitarists complain about in the abstract (my time sucks, I'm just not confident, I sound like I'm noodling) come down to your picking being absolutely sure of what it's doing on the next note.

105% with Mr. B on this one.

[pamosmusic]

wes montgomery - misty - Score.pdf

in case you were curious

[rpjazzguitar]

So to distill the pertinent information.

1. First, be able to actually play the guitar. Old guy tip #1, get your picking in order now, or it'll never be

2. Learn a bunch of tunes

3. Learn a bunch of chords. Good news, to do #2 you'll need to do #3

4. Challenge your ear right from the start. Transcribe melodies. If all you can hear right now is the head to C jam blues, that's fine.

5. Yes, there's scales, arpeggios, 50 different books, YouTube channels with good graphics, YouTube Channels from people who actually play well, apps, mystic runes, and tai chi. Old guy tip #2, know a few things really well instead of "knowing about" a bunch of things.

6. Play with others, any chance possible

All great advice.

On the picking issue -- I have found that the left hand is easier than the right. Getting picking together early, however you're going to approach it, makes sense. Don't ask me how I know.

[James W]

What?

Picking is a personal matter -- so get it in order. Whatever it looks like, it needs to be together.

My old guitar teacher used to say "amateurs think about the left hand; pros think about the right."

These were classical lessons, but the same applies. I have a whole document filled with lines from Wes on Misty with the picking notated. What I chose for a given passage is personal and doesn't matter within certain parameters, but THAT I chose something is enormously important and something that 99% of guitarists (no, not exaggerating) overlook.

So many things that guitarists complain about in the abstract (my time sucks, I'm just not confident, I sound like I'm noodling) come down to your picking being absolutely sure of what it's doing on the next note.

105% with Mr. B on this one.

I agree that picking is important but Mr B's statement isn't entirely true I feel, since it suggests that there is a limited time span in which to get it sorted out ('now or it'll never be')....

[pamosmusic]

I agree that picking is important but Mr B's statement isn't entirely true I feel, since it suggests that there is a limited time span in which to get it sorted out ('now or it'll never be')....

stop being reasonable. this is neither the time nor the place.

[mr. beaumont]

"get your picking in order now, or it'll never be"

Picking is a personal matter; you're saying your picking is like 'absolute'...
I'd like to see yours then.

Yeah, im saying my picking sucks and im going to be 47 in a month.

I could have figured shit out when I was 20 and could practice 5-6 hours a day. But I was lazy. Now it's what it is, unless I want to stop playing music and devote the much smaller time I have to play to work on picking.

But hey, if you want to see how I play, I've only posted, I don't know, a few hundred videos here over the years.

[rpjazzguitar]

There are certain things that seem to be a lot easier to learn when young.

For example,

Internalizing rhythmic feel.

Reading standard notation.

And, probably, picking.

My first teacher didn't mention it, my second teacher had me doing Chuck Wayne style (economy) and my third teacher had me do Warren Nunes style (mostly alternating). My fourth teacher thought my picking was awful, but concluded it was too late to change. You'd think I'd be adept at both economy and alternating, but what actually happened was becoming adept at neither. So, I think Mr. B's advice is wise. And, despite what he thinks of his picking, I think his stuff uniformly sounds great.

[AllanAllen]

I’ve been applying these picking drills to my metronome practice. Never too late to try.

[Bob_Ross]

My main question: looking at the full picture, where should I focus right now? Keep pushing through Barry Harris even when it feels like too much? Shift toward ear training and transcription? Work more on rhythm? Or is there something more fundamental I'm missing altogether?

Four pages into this thread already, I'm gonna assume that someone -- or, more likely, multiple someones -- already suggested
Get Yourself A Personal Instructor.
Someone you sit down with in the same room face-to-face and talk about/play music, from the most basic archetectonic level to the most cerebral/emotional level, and everything in between.

Get yourself a real teacher. Now. Not a youtube influencer, not a PDF that some friend of a friend who studied with a guy who studied with Charlie Banacos gave you... a real live in-person music teacher.

[wolflen]

Four pages into this thread already, I'm gonna assume that someone -- or, more likely, multiple someones -- already suggested
Get Yourself A Personal Instructor.
.

Guilty as charged..

When I finally found a teacher that I KNEW would be able to help me..

Lesson one went like this ...

Hi what do you want to learn?
Ah..Jazz.

OK what do you mean by jazz?

And there it was..the question I had no answer to,

So he played some diatonic progressions withe very tasty chords that out lined songs that I grew up on that were
sung and played by "jazz musicians" so I said..Yes..THAT.

And we started my learning Harmony and Theory and Chords and their inversions and some basic chord melodies (TUNES) and why they worked.

Up to this point I had been playing rock and blues for a number of years and thought I was fairly good. Hell..I knew how to play an A13 chord!

The OP has only been into "jazz" for 6 months according to his thread title..I dont think he is quite ready for Barry Harris harmony.

Yes a teacher that can show him what he needs to learn in order to fulfill his musical goal. All else seems to be just good intentions.

This thread is a composite of many students first steps into learning a difficult subject with many giving advice
on how to learn it.

[Mick-7]

When I said "rhythmically falling apart" I meant that when I try to transcribe rhythm, I lose the plot - I can't hear the subdivisions and sometimes can't even lock in with the basic pulse. I recently tried to transcribe the piano melody from Louis Armstrong's A Kiss to Build a Dream On, but when I started putting it into Guitar Pro I got completely lost with the rhythm

Sounds like you're being overly ambitious about transcribing. Try to play the phrases you like, don't worry about writing them down, you won't be able to accurately notate phrases you can't play.

[ragman1]

Overwhelmed by advice? Let me give you some advice...

[Christian Miller]

What?

Picking is a personal matter -- so get it in order. Whatever it looks like, it needs to be together.

My old guitar teacher used to say "amateurs think about the left hand; pros think about the right."

These were classical lessons, but the same applies. I have a whole document filled with lines from Wes on Misty with the picking notated. What I chose for a given passage is personal and doesn't matter within certain parameters, but THAT I chose something is enormously important and something that 99% of guitarists (no, not exaggerating) overlook.

So many things that guitarists complain about in the abstract (my time sucks, I'm just not confident, I sound like I'm noodling) come down to your picking being absolutely sure of what it's doing on the next note.

105% with Mr. B on this one.

I must be more of an amateur than I was 10 years ago because I am obsessed with my left hand these days haha

If you study Wes as he played it, it becomes a matter of arranging the left hand fingering around what the thumb wants to do.

Much of the articulation of swing feel comes from the left hand too.

Anyway, I do wonder if the Tristano guys were right and students should focus on pure downstrokes. If you can do that, you are ahead on alternating. Also pure downstrokes does help with swing.

You won’t be able to play at burning bop tempos (until you get the slurring down) but students don’t do that anyway for a while.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Mick-7]

I agree that picking is important but Mr B's statement isn't entirely true I feel, since it suggests that there is a limited time span in which to get it sorted out ('now or it'll never be').

I agree, however, if you're going to entirely deconstruct your picking technique - versus just refining it - you must be willing to sound like warm or lukewarm dung for quite a while (cold dung is not as bad 'cause it's in vogue now). Old habits are hard to break and you may have to go cold turkey on them.

[James W]

I agree, however, if you're going to entirely deconstruct your picking technique - versus just refining it - you must be willing to sound like warm or lukewarm dung for quite a while (cold dung is not as bad 'cause it's in vogue now). Old habits are hard to break and you may have to go cold turkey on them.

True - but, speaking personally, those old habits weren't up to much anyway... I didn't so much deconstruct my picking technique as just start doing something very different. I started doing circular picking (which for people who don't know, is picking where the main motion is from the thumb and index finger) around the beginning of July last year and I can see in some videos after that that I still resort of movement from the wrist out of habit... but after several or more months in and the technique I was practising (circular picking) started being more embedded. It is true I have had the luxury of being able to practice several or more hours a day which helps... Having said that, before July last year I was still coming from a fingerstyle classical background so I felt I was at a ground zero crossroads of a place with my right hand technique anyway...