The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    Hi - I know there are lots of questions here re: which jazz books are best etc. but I have a slightly different question.

    I'm studying music theory to clean up my sight reading. The series of books I'm using are very structured. Lots of exercises and every lesson builds on the previous ones. Going through the series with a teacher is really working for me. As long as I do my homework I'm "getting" the material. The book didn't just show me the circle of fifths and say "learn that".

    I'd like to find something similar for jazz guitar. Does it exist?

    I've looked at the Mickey Baker books and while the chords are cool the whole thing doesn't have that unified one step at a time program that I like in the theory books so much. Or maybe I haven't gotten far enough along?

    Thanks for any advice you can offer and for your patience if this is really the thousandth time someone has asked this.
    Last edited by davelang; 01-17-2013 at 03:24 AM.

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

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    I think you're being given more than you think. Like in music school you get the core curriculum and if you learn it you will improve a little and come out of school have chewed up a lot of money and more important time and not be much further along. The students who come out of music school make huge gains are ones who ask themselves what all can I do with this piece of info, what does it sound like, where do I hear others use this info, a boatload of "what if" exploration.

    Take that learning the 3rd's and 7th's that IMO is one of the most important lessons there is. Finding the 3rd's and 7th's in chords you already use to now have the target tones for improv, know the 3rd and 7th's and you know how to imply the chord so you can extended the chord, or put the melody notes on top for solo playing. Playing the 3rd's and 7th's is good way to get the sound of a new tune's changes in your ear. Once you get the sound of 3rd's and 7th's in your ear you will start hearing it in your fave players lines and can study how they use those sounds. You learn what they sound like on weak beats, strong beats. How can I use 3rd's and 7th's to imply chord substitutions Can I use them to anticipate and chord change or delay the resolution.

    That's is stuff you suppose to learn on your own taking a germ of an idea from a teacher or a book and experimenting and exploring with it. If a teacher told you all those things you study it for a week and say okay I studied it I understand the theory, but won't understand and grow from the tactile learned gained from you own spelunking. This is how to old masters learned because there wasn't stacks of books, videos, CD's, internet, they listened, learned to play, then studied it so they could find their own way of using the idea.

    To the OP I'm not trying to pick on you, just this is topic that has bugging me lately.

  4. #3
    I deleted the example cause I think it's leading the discussion off track.

    There are lots of learning styles and teaching styles. I'm asking a question about a particular style that is working for me in another area that I would like to try with the guitar.

  5. #4

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    Sounds like you need The Hal Leonard book Called "Chord Tone Soloing" by Barrett Tagliarino. Most guitarists really don't know their chord tones and think an arpeggio is laying down a barre chord and then playing through the notes slowly, 6th to 1st. You need to know how chords are built and then transfer that to the fretboard - AND then be able to do the inversions as well. Another good series that deals with this subject is Jody Fishers series for Alfred Publishing on Beginning, Intermediate, and Mastering Jazz Guitar. All the positions and inversions are in those books.

    Sounds like you are heading towards being able to arpeggio your way through any chord sequence.

  6. #5

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    I personally prefer the structured approach to learning as you can monitor progress and set goals, and have even tried teaching in a structured manner but it doesn't always work, since many players want to learn specific things, or have their own ideas about what jazz is. I think the best you could do is look for teachers that are qualified, and ask them to explain their approach to teaching jazz. If it meets your expectations, sounds structured and impresses you then you may have found your mentor. If it sounds like a 'suck it and see' deal, you're probably going to be wasting your time. A good teacher will advance your playing quickly and make you an effective player. A bad teacher will leave you scratching your head for ever.

  7. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by vsaumarez
    I personally prefer the structured approach to learning as you can monitor progress and set goals, and have even tried teaching in a structured manner but it doesn't always work, since many players want to learn specific things, or have their own ideas about what jazz is. I think the best you could do is look for teachers that are qualified, and ask them to explain their approach to teaching jazz. If it meets your expectations, sounds structured and impresses you then you may have found your mentor. If it sounds like a 'suck it and see' deal, you're probably going to be wasting your time. A good teacher will advance your playing quickly and make you an effective player. A bad teacher will leave you scratching your head for ever.
    Yes I agree - most older students want the route-map approach and know what to practice, how to practise, and some sort of timescales so they know where they will be in 3 months, 6 months. Its easy to find a teacher who will have you taking the car to pieces every week and you never seem to get to do some driving. Everything should lead to playing and performing.

  8. #7

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    yes.

    the ones i am familiar with and can recommend:

    doug munro: jazz guitar: swing to bebop and jazz guitar: bebop and beyond

    ted greene: single note soloing vols 1 & 2

    garrison fewell: jazz improvisation for guitar a melodic approach (vol 1) and jazz improvisation for guitar a harmonic approach (vol 2)

    others may recommend the jody fisher series and the william leavitt series (as i have only a passing acquaintance with them, i have no opinion)

    our fellow forumites are working through this:

    https://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/impro...ead-index.html

  9. #8

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    It sounds like you want "A Modern Method for Guitar" vos 1-3 - William Leavitt.

    But that series doesn't really teach you how to play and improvise over tunes which is really what jazz is about. There are so many ways of approaching the various aspects of doing those things that there really isn't a standard step-by-step teaching methods for doing that. What you end up with are individuals who have decided that they want to get better at some particular aspect of playing and a lot of one-off books on approaches to that aspect. You sort of have to either feel your way through or get a good teacher to set up a program for you.

  10. #9

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    I think that learning jazz will not work this way. It could not be so structured. This is the difficulty of learning how to play jazz. There are a lot of "paths", a lot of methods, a lot of concepts. Maybe the series of books published by Jody Fisher is a good place to start. Most of the theory of jazz is there. You can learn about scales, chords, progressions, arpeggios.
    If you combine the study of the books with listening to jazz music, a real book and some internet resources you can make considerable progress. Also, start transcribing some licks or phrases, it is essential.
    As far as, internet resources, the lessons offered in this site are excellent and they can help you.
    Also, a good idea would be to have some lessons with a jazz guitar teacher.

  11. #10

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    but you just listed another type of "structure" whether you intended to or not.


    jazz can be taught. it is taught. the question for the student is - will it be learned?

    the short list of what is taught in a good program should be well familiar to most by now.

  12. #11

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    Hey Dave, I'm curious, what series of books are you using now that is very structured?

  13. #12

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    I think it can be taught in a structured way - as universities, music schools and the like do it.

    Learning to play bass is rather like this. There's old style root and fifth plonking. Then there's a whole lot of rock pattern playing up and down the neck. Then we open up a whole box of goodies when we start to teach walking basslines - arpeggios, chord tones, approach notes, passing notes, chromatics. Sounds much like the early stages of learning jazz to me - and its exactly what decent bass players ALL do. For bass players its not niche stuff like it is with Jazz - its what is done to play past about Grade 6 or 7.

    You do have to get the basics sorted first though. If jazz were like dancing, we would all agree that you have to know how to walk, step sideways, walk backward, run - you know the basics of staying upright and moving about. I think on the guita that's any routeto about Grade 6. Sfter that you could pay around with the music. Jazz to a raw beginner...? I woildn't take it on as a teacher.
    Last edited by ChrisDowning; 01-17-2013 at 12:03 PM.

  14. #13
    Brandon - the structured books I was talking about are music theory books not jazz guitar (just to be sure we're talking about the same thing.) I'm working through the "Sound Advice" series of books published by Frederick Harris. I have a teacher guiding me through that.

    Thanks everyone else for your feedback.

  15. #14

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    If you're looking for a methodical approach, pairing the Leavitt and Fisher books would probably turn someone into a pretty decent player fairly quickly. My only problem with the Fisher books is that I feel like his fingering system for scales and arps is pretty bad, and I can't see how anyone would ever be comfortable soloing at quick tempos with the kind of pinky stretches he advocates.

  16. #15

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    Yes I agree ecj - the best fingering I've come across is Jimmy Bruno's. He covers his six patterns in his book on scales and on his DVD "No Nonsense Jazz Guitar"

  17. #16

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    Sal Salvador (Mel Bay) has a very good series of books...well put together....

    Jerry Cokers.."How To Practice Jazz"..a little textbook is also very good...

    Jamie Aebersolds site has many good books and a free "Jazz Aids" book I think all of has had at one time or another...

    Bert Ligons USC (South Carolin) site is top shelf stuff...

    It takes time...IMO...start with one book and finish it...then another one...it will build up your knowledge and bone up your chops as you progress..their are soooo many books...

    and always ask questions on this site...or read past posts on the subject matter you are looking for....many of your questions will be answered without you asking...

    Lots of good information has already been said above by others...one small step is needed....:

    time on the instrument..

  18. #17

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    I agree with Pierre - one book at a time. And I would do your learning to read project separately from your jazz study. Reading jazz pieces in standard notation is hard and it will demotivate you early on if you tryto use jazz as your source materials.

    Try the Mel Bay reading books becaues they are structured to be progressive and if you can get to book 7 you'll be quite a reader and ready for jazz reading. They are so cheap its a no brainer to try them. Here's a link and book one is listed here second handand at 1p - you really can't get cheaper than that can you? Mel Bay's Modern Guitar Method: Grade 1: Amazon.co.uk: Mel Bay: Books

  19. #18

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    Quote Originally Posted by davelang
    ...I'm studying music theory to clean up my sight reading. The series of books I'm using are very structured. Lots of exercises and every lesson builds on the previous ones...I'd like to find something similar for jazz guitar. Does it exist?...Thanks for any advice you can offer and for your patience if this is really the thousandth time someone has asked this.
    I've had to revise my opinion on the way I studied and learned Jazz Guitar. I've done as well as most other avocationist jazz guitarist using Jerry Coker and Jamey Aebersold publications and other Jazz Guitar books in pursuing the Jazz Style, but after going back to my collection of basic primers, such as Mel Bay, I found that I may have missed something by not completing them, like it's all icing without the cake.

    Why is there such a jump from Standard Guitar or Classical Guitar to Jazz Guitar? Perhaps a return to Mel Bay's Method, but this time with an armful of Broadway Melodies as opposed to the Folk Melodies first learned. They are typically played in the Jazz Swing Style as opposed to the very straight Folksongs, so swing rhythm and melodic envelops would have to be introduced.

    The Mel Bay books 1-7, Hal Leonard books, the Dick Bennett books, Carcassi and Sor, and the Alfred Method books offer something that I overlooked. The solid basics of performing simple songs, excerpts, etudes and duets are important. Learning the accompaniment styles and being able to read in popular keys, at least in first position, are very important if one expects to become a guitarist or musician.

    At the very least, these primers force good plectrum and PIMA technique and offer the basics in harmony with scale construction and harmonisation or chord building. Learning to read chord stacks in rhythm with single notes is the most expedient way of conveying chordal ideas as the information presented by chord symbols is often misleading and untimely. Rhythmically they teach Latin dance rhythms, waltzes and polkas. You may never return to these topics, but they are the critical lower steps on the ladder that get you further ahead. This may be the answer to the confusion that some experience when simply jumping into Jazz Guitar and not knowing how to proceed.

    A few JG discussions have sought to establish the levels and standards needed to describe a guitarist's standing, rating or status, but I would respect anyone who honestly completed any one of these guitar methods. Internet Lessons may be informative, but they ramble and after a year how complete is one's learning? Can you then claim a certain level of skill?

    Perhaps many guitarists do not know where to start in learning Jazz Guitar because they quickly dive into Jazz without completing these basics. How can one become a Jazz Guitarist if they never were a Basic Guitarist? If one can't read Mel Bay, how will they ever read Charlie Parker?

    Learning by ear is great, but a musician should become literate so they can at least learn new material from written music. They should also learn how to use chords and melody together from a simple foundation before increasing the complexity.

    In the past, all the greats and not so greats underwent some form of training on the guitar as youngsters, before dedicating themselves to the Jazz Style. I don't think it very effective to learn any style unless you can already play basic guitar by ear and by note to some moderate degree. A style always comes after learning how to play the basics. Most instruments are learned in this way. Guitarists seem anxious to bypass these important steps.

    Currently, I'm going back to a simpler way of playing and gain a firmer foundation of basic guitar playing. I like the classical excerpts and folksongs, anyway. They sound like a tradition or historical development of what we now label as Jazz or Pop. To be honest, although I like jazz, I may have preferred the guitar chair in the Lawrence Welk Orchestra. He had so much going on in every musical style.

    I'm also getting better at harmonising melodies. Yes, they are simple, but I'm copying them to staff paper, adding bass lines, counter melodies and more complex chords. After exhausting the triads, I can reharmonise with substitutions to arrange some variations.

    After awhile, I'll return to the Real Book, I believe with a better understanding of how to realise a lead sheet. Perhaps the Real Book was never intended to be used authoritatively and followed blindly, but was designed as a good beginning point.

    ...
    Last edited by StringNavigator; 07-08-2021 at 12:56 PM.

  20. #19

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    ...[/QUOTE]

    I think that many guitarists may not know where to start in learning Jazz Guitar because they never completed the basics. How can one be a Jazz Guitarist if they never were a basic guitarist? If one can't read Mel Bay, how will they ever read Charlie Parker?


    So true, I went to a music teacher about 30 years ago having already played for 20 or so years, I really thought I was going to impress him by blazing through some hendrix licks. After I showed him my favourite pentatonic runs and licks he the burst my bubble by asking me to improvise over a simple major scale progression. I realised at that moment how much I had skipped over the rudiments. My advice for any beginner now is always learn the Major scale and all it's chords and arpeggios inside out before thinking of moving on any further. There is so much music just inside that one Major scale.

  21. #20

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    Jazz is not music. Jazz is a way of playing music...

    And the only way to become a Jazz Guitarist, without becoming dazed & confused, or emptying out your wallet, is to first become a Guitarist.

    So many on guitar forums are looking to find a way to become a Jazz Guitarist. No one told them. Jazz is a style of playing ordinary American music. The American Songbook All Loosened And Ragged Up. Jazz is a style of playing these songs with swing, anticipation, syncopation, blues borrowings, a good dose of improvisation, a Latin tinge...
    To play Guitar in this style, you must first know how to play Guitar!

    Miles Davis... Wes Montgomery... Look at the piles of vinyl recordings they made as side-men playing Broadway and Big-Band numbers. Their solid background in straight-ahead American Music prepared them for their solo-careers in Jazz in the late 60's - early 70's.

    It's no longer possible to ride the riverboats or walk the streets of Storyville and experience the true essence of Jazz, but you can gain from seeking out the Jazz Tradition in the best way that you can and emulate it as best as you can. However, you need to have Guitar Experience with these songs before they were jazzed up. Only then can you understand the process.

    The Jazz Process is playing Skip To My Lou until it sounds like Jazz...

    And the only way to become a Guitarist, is to play songs, all kinds of songs. Like Joe Pass said he did as a youngster. Ordinary musical pieces. Then you can Jazz them up...

    A Repertoire Driven Advancement.

    The tune will tell you what you need to know, because you will immediately be faced with your musical ignorance. Practice, with repetition, what you need to perform the piece. Go to a teacher if you must and request lessons focused on that. Let the songs guide you. Jazz songs that you like. Your faves... Selecting the right songs that will lead you there the quickest is the real trick to learning Jazz Guitar.

    Otherwise one becomes merely a dilettante, one who cultivates an area of interest without real commitment, reading up on diminished substitutions and arguing on chat-boards but not able to play a song.

    You can learn Guitar without reading music, but being musically illiterate is the crutch of a wasted lifetime. Reading music is a different quest. It can be mind-numbing. Hire an instructor who deals only in structured programs like Mel Bay, Bennett, RCM, Hal Leonard - Schmidt, Alfred - Manus..... Learning without a coach is very tough. You can understand it on your own, but you need coaching to actually do it and see it through. This is very different from Jazz Guitar Lessons with some local wizard who puts bread on the table because you want someone else to do it for you.

    One can only shake their head at those who complain about the daunting first few pages of Leavitt's Modern Method, when we know full well that they have never even looked inside a Mel Bay book. If they had, they'd be reading chord stacks in the key of C, first position and the duets of Leavitt Chapter One would be simply a nice review. (I'd wager money that William Leavitt studied guitar as a child with a Mel Bay book.)

    No one can do it for you. And if it were easy, everyone would be doing it...

    Pay a visit to Mel Bay and Greensleeves before embarking on an expensive journey to nowhere. I've met music college graduates. Not impressed. I could go to Rocket Science School with a specialty in Brain Surgery, but... I should at least start out as a First Aider with a high school diploma.

    Music is a time-in, hands-on journey that never ends. There are no short cuts to Jazz. Just try to play it. Find out what you're lacking and get it done. Use your @... Become a Guitarist first!

    "I'm drowning here and you're describing the water..." (Melvin Udall)

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    Last edited by StringNavigator; 03-03-2023 at 03:53 PM.

  22. #21

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    I haven't seen, or heard, about a single series of books that somebody advocated as all you need to become a jazz guitarist from scratch.

    There are lots of helpful book, but no single series that does everything, as far as I know.

    People advocate Leavitt's books, but as good as they may be, nobody says they give you all you need.

    And, btw, my guess is that most series on sightreading provide a great foundation. They may prepare you for a big band gig up to a point, but reading nicely printed materials at a comfortable tempo won't feel like enough when you actually get there.

    Jazz books (and I have a wide shelf filled with them) all help and all, cumulatively, are never enough.

    All that said, I found Warren Nunes' books quite helpful. The Real Book, of course (and there's a file with mp3s of the tunes floating around). I got something out of Jody Fisher's. Not much from Ted Greene's (better with a teacher?). Very little from lick books, but I came to them late.

  23. #22

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    You could try Open Studio Pro. It's a vast lesson archive of many instruments including guitar, and it also has a schedule of live classes where you can participate. I'm thinking of doing it.

    Open Studio Pro - Fall in love with practicing again
    Last edited by Jimmy Smith; 03-04-2023 at 02:19 AM.

  24. #23

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    Many Are Called But Few Are Chosen
    Another consideration is the hard-ask fact that not every string plucker is cut out to be a "Jazz-Bo"... Try it, but allow for an influx of all other musical styles so you can make intelligent decisions and direct yourself more appropriately. You may be the next natural-born "Polka King or Queen" but instead, your life is racing down the Track of Doom on the Fourth Mode of the Jazz Minor scale in hopeless pursuit of a Diminished Seventh Substitution. And then there's Nicolas Slonimsky throwing a switch to a siding...

    A Lack Of Planning Will Eventually Engender A Future Existential Emergency
    Of course not many of us look at Guitars in a logical way. We hear Wes Montgomery and Joe Pass, we pass a bright red ES-335 in a pawnshop window, we drop in, we pick out an amp - and off we go - guitar in tow! And where we stop, nobody knows.

    Come To Terms With Your True Motivation - Then Act Accordingly
    Do you want to play for the folks in hospitals or old-age homes? Or, do you want to get the attention of high-school girls? Be like big brother? Edged into it by your street-corner friends? Band class? Perhaps you can sing and need accompaniment? Popular at parties...? You want to earn $25 on the weekend playing at the Legion? Or do you just like music and choose to amuse yourself? How about this one - "I want to be famous, be a star and get rich!"

    Repertoire Is King!
    Whatever your goal, you must decide on repertoire. Do Jazz Tunes take you where you want to go? If not, why are you trying to noodle like a be-bopper? Can folks dance to it? Will Maiden Voyage work at the wedding gig? Middle of the Road musicos haunt the hospitals and homes to cheer people up! Chet and Merle raised a lot of good ol' boys to sit out on the front porch and play good ol' songs that they all know and can chime in on and drink good ol' tea. Classical Guitarists have snooty societies they can join and drink tea. Rockers blast their garage door off the hinges and have a few to the strains of Hell's Bells... After years of "studying" Jazz, what can most of us actually do? Pay to play at the local watering hole?

    Jazz Is Not Music. Jazz Is A Style Of Playing Music. You Can Find It At Your Local Museum.
    What in tarnation are you going to do with Jazz alone? Get Pat Metheny kicked off the stage? Replace Wes Montgomery's albums on the museum shelves? But it's museum music, now. The Miles Davis exhibit is collecting dust...! The best jazz that all the greats copied was recorded on shellacked 78's or vinyl 33's! In fact, the term Jazz no longer has the same meaning in 2023 as it did in 1932. I hear music on jazz radio stations that bears no resemblance to my father's music. Singers today try to sound like orgasmoids. The Melody Jar is empty and Swing has now become an article in Cosmopolitan Magazine.

    Digression
    Personally I'm a jazz and blues fan, an avocational musician longing/pining for the Ol' Mississippi Riverboat Days! Had I chosen to make it real, I'd be homeless today instead of shoveling snow to get my car on the road to go to Home Depot while my wife hands me a revised shopping list to spend my pension on. If you ever have to choose between more guitar-time or more over-time, do the commute. Are we having Fun...??!!


    Becoming A Guitarist First Is A Sure-Fire Way To Becoming A Jazz Guitarist
    Just play it for fun. Pick a favourite tune and learn it. Forget about programmed Jazz learning, surefire internet Jazz lesson sites, or college Ja$$ courses. You'd do much better to have a beer with someone like Jimmy Bruno and ask his honest opinion of your life-expectancy as a Jazz-Bo. Become a Guitarist first by playing a repertoire of attainable songs that you like. At least you may entertain some folks on the way rather than throwing handfuls of scales & modes at them. You want to Jazz these songs up? Try it, hear where you're going wrong and correct it through practice and listening. Arrange & Re-Arrange. Listen to yourself, listen to the greats and have fun with it.

    Save Your Money
    I have over a thousand music books for various instruments collected from library sales and flea markets. None of them will propel you onto the stage with Pat Metheny. I use them for fun and to organise a Praxis Session.

    Get A Grip!
    What they will do is teach you hundreds of chord grips that will take you years to know how to use. Better to start with a dozen chords. Forge your very own Chord-Set from Latarski, Edison, Eastlee, Rector, Johnson, or Bay. But limit your grips to 12 or 33. Memorise the CAGED matrix (Major) for any key. Exhaust your Chord-Set's possibilities for a multitude of standard changes. Learn how the inversions and voicings voice-lead and physically sit with each other on the fretboard. Play actual songs with them. Start with your pinky adding scale neighbour tones to the chord tones. Then add chromatic tones. Try mixing the melody into the chords. Perhaps now, you will realise that you need a larger chord vocabulary.

    Every Big Tree Started Out As A Little Nut
    Starting small and adding to your knowledge on a "need to know basis" after you've explored the territory will inculcate forever skills rather than overwhelm your senses with Big Stuff. You will develop a signature sound before you realise it. Remember, there is no programmed Jazz process. There is only Frank Brutal's Trial & Error Method. And it's free...
    ::
    Last edited by StringNavigator; 03-04-2023 at 10:13 PM.

  25. #24

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    Quote Originally Posted by StringNavigator
    Many Are Called But Few Are Chosen
    A Lack Of Planning Will Eventually Engender A Future Existential Emergency

    In my case, it's the other way around. Any attempt at planning leads eventually to depression.
    Recently, I try to narrow the focus of my practice as much as possible. For example, today (if possible) I plan to play some of Tim Lerch's courses. Possibly tomorrow too. Or maybe I'll just go through some tunes. Personally, it has become much easier for me to live this way, and oddly enough, for me it has become a much more productive way of practicing.
    In one of Martin Taylor's books, he advises to replace the concept of "improvisation" with "variation" in your mind. In my opinion it really works. By analogy with this, it seems to me that if you replace the words “play jazz” in your head with “play melodies” (or even “play music”), then everything around will sparkle with other colors).
    On the topic of the thread. I personally have not seen such a comprehensive manual, which the author of the post asks about. And I think that it is very difficult to create a universal method, if only because we all have different preferences in music (and even those often change). But if I decided to write such a textbook "for myself", then it would be based on the study of the repertoire.
    P.S. This is the opinion of an amateur musician.

  26. #25

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    No one knows what another person’s path should be. No one knows what will inspire them. No one knows how a person’s life will turn out.

    There are certain things: if you are using drugs, things have a higher likelihood of turning out bad… but outside of extremes an ability to predict things is incredibly limited.

    However, if you do what you love you will enjoy yourself more often then if you do something for a different reason. I can not say if that is good.

    Let us take my parents fears for example: “what you want to be musician… you will starve”. They were completely correct, but it was also one of the best times in my life, even though; I was hungry.

    My parents were very happy when I took the LSAT. I realized that becoming a lawyer was not for me… so I am poor, but I am doing exactly what I want. Is it good… I do not even know. I also do not know how long my life will last.

    What I do know is that the only thing that really matters is how people treat each other. It is also one of the more difficult things to do correctly.