The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #76

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    I would borrow a good book from a local library and learn what jazz guitar is about. I started with Jane Miller’s Introduction to Jazz Guitar (Boston, MA: Berklee Press, 2015), but there are many others. I also liked Essential jazz lines in the style of "Cannonball" Adderley by Corey Christiansen and Tamara Danielsson (Pacific, MO: Mel Bay Publications, 2002), for giving me something to play: it contains lots of easy riffs and lines and doesn’t overdo the theory. If you prefer modern stuff to standards, you might enjoy Guitar Transcriptions by John Scofield (Milwaukee, WI: H. Leonard: Third Earth Productions, 1987). Most of the songs transcribed are in common time and are surprisingly straightforward. All the songs can be found on Sco’s YouTube channel, so you can play along.

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #77

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    Quote Originally Posted by CarterJohn
    What would be the best way to learn? is transcribing one of the main ways to learn that is just something you have to push through and do like any other type of music?
    Exactly. If you really want to learn it, there are no shortcuts. You ear is the most valuable asset in jazz.

  4. #78
    Quote Originally Posted by CarterJohn
    Hello everyone,

    I really love jazz and want to learn it but it just seems so complex... What I mean is that I usually learn styles of music by transcribing songs and 'decoding' them to see what they're playing but in jazz guitar there's just so many notes and to transcribe a full 3 minute song takes hours and is almost impossible to remember them all.

    What would be the best way to learn? Is there certain websites or places to go, or is transcribing one of the main ways to learn that is just something you have to push through and do like any other type of music?
    There's a lot to it, involving multiple components. One of the simpler ways the breakdown study is to work on what you would needin order to play with other people.

    1. Be able to play the head (melody out the tune).

    2. Be able to comp convincingly through the tune.

    3. Be able to play a convincing solo chorus on the tune.

    Anyone can get this together on simpler tunes with a bit of work, and that may be a good start. Transcription is an important part, but additionally, long term, don't miss things like fundamental musicianship and basic knowledge of progressions most commonly found in jazz tunes. Some of the seeming complexity is from lack of experience with arpeggios, scales, and melodic pattern specific to the jazz idiom. If you learn some basics, you'll hear jazz better.

    Basic Roman numeral analysis of progressions isn't as "optional" as it is with other styles. From your post, it sounds like you're also talking about the complexity of the changes and larger forms in jazz.

    You would also benefit greatly from getting together basic technical work, like arpeggios and scales, which horn players and keyboardists all know coming out of JUNIOR HIGH school. These are called fundamentals for a reason. Fundamentals like these are talked down by a lot of "Internet experts" who may or may not actually play. Be careful.

    If you decide to ignore fundamentals, just understand that you are ignoring the advice of a great many professional players and teachers who recommend these things and who can actually PLAY at very high levels.
    Last edited by matt.guitarteacher; 12-14-2019 at 11:51 AM.

  5. #79

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    Quote Originally Posted by CarterJohn
    Hello everyone,

    I really love jazz and want to learn it but it just seems so complex...
    Hope your still with us! It can seem like that if it is new to you, or depending on how you approach it.

    Quote Originally Posted by CarterJohn
    What I mean is that I usually learn styles of music by transcribing songs and 'decoding' them to see what they're playing but in jazz guitar there's just so many notes and to transcribe a full 3 minute song takes hours and is almost impossible to remember them all.
    Outside of a lesson plan or method workbook, a lot of practical transcription and "decoding" is done by ear, not even written down. Jazz is a listening and hearing art, focused on the sound of things. This approach is more abstract, but it also simplifies some of the underlying complexity - for example, the almost 150 note names for the almost 50 pitches on the guitar (average of three note names per pitch, the right one determined by the key). If you memorize the note names for a transcription, those names are subject to change when you shift to another key. But you can learn to hear and grasp and internalize the musical sounds themselves as organizational, structural, and functional... in order to play the tune in any key, any style, and speed, any instrumentation, any feel, etc...

    Quote Originally Posted by CarterJohn
    What would be the best way to learn? Is there certain websites or places to go, or is transcribing one of the main ways to learn that is just something you have to push through and do like any other type of music?
    Best thing in the world is to find tunes you enjoy and transcribe them by ear without writing anything down (and don't insist on perfection). No matter how slow that seems to be in the beginning, it will save you many years if you keep with it... you need good ears to perform Jazz with others, which will include people you have just met and with whom you have never played, and they will be wanting to play tunes you have never heard.

  6. #80

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    It really depends on what you mean by "jazz guitar" and what your goal is.

    If you're just talking about jazz improvisation, there are as many paths as players. I'd suggest that, at its core, it's the ability to think of an interesting line to play, and then play it instantly. Can you scat sing an improvised line you like? If so, play it -- and that's jazz.

    That would argue for two things to practice -- one would be singing along with solos on record to develop some vocabulary. The other would be working on your ability to play what's in your mind. There are all kinds of things to help with this process, including theory, transcription, keeping a lick diary and so forth.

    But, that's just soloing. On a jazz gig, the guitarist spends more time comping than soloing. And that gets into a bunch of other skills. Knowing tunes (not just the chart, but the way jazz players play them), reading, knowing how to comp (voicings and time feel, for example), a trained ear for fitting in with a keyboard and other instruments, recognizing typical devices for endings and intros, getting a good sound, and more. These are all skills that were traditionally learned on the bandstand.
    Last edited by rpjazzguitar; 12-15-2019 at 02:46 PM.

  7. #81

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    Good jazz lessons on this very site.

    Check them out.

    Free Jazz Guitar Lessons

  8. #82

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    If you google "how to learn a language better.. faster" then it looks like 90% of the advice is similar to what people people suggest when learning to play jazz.

  9. #83

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    get a friend and start playing
    a couple of standards together

    play the tune really simply and
    keep good time ... make it
    swing

    when you get that together , start adding in a few
    notes here and there ...

  10. #84

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    Jazz guitar is a lot easier than players think! Like someone above said, there are some really good free lessons on this website! There's also some very good lessons on Youtube. When I'm working with beginners, which isn't very often but I start them with Birth of the Cool jazz, basic blues progressions. All Blues, Watermelon Man, Cantaloupe Island etc. You'll get it, it's a lot of fun playing these old songs and it's even more fun because you will be with playing jazz in no time!! The great thing about starting with blues/jazz is you can play through most of them with pentatonic scales, not so much on All Blues, but the others I mentioned, yes you can!!




  11. #85

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    Welcome to the forum. I’m a noob too. I am not sure I can add much to what others have said, but I will suggest that if you have the means, look for a good local teacher and take a few lessons. I am working with a teacher who is a great player. I often feel overwhelmed by the amount of information I need to learn, but my teacher keeps saying it’s not as much as it seems. At last night’s lesson I was mentioning how I sometimes feel frustrated that from one lesson to the next I haven’t had time to fully internalize and integrate the new material. He said not to worry. He compared a beginning jazz student to a dry sponge. The water initially just runs off a bone dry sponge under the faucet, but after a while the sponge finally starts to expand and absorb the water. I’m a dry sponge. Jazz is water.

  12. #86

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    Get these books:

    Mickey Baker's Jazz Guitar.
    "Jazzin' the Blues" by John Ganapes
    Arpeggios for Guitar by Don Latarski

    If you're struggelin' with cash, get at least somehow the Mickey Baker - book.
    There a tons of books out there, but 90 percent are....well, you know what I mean.
    A cool cat from Texas came up with a complete course for the Baker-Book. Check it out.
    Mickey Baker

  13. #87

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    You need to hear the music in your head and you need to create melodies in your head over a particular harmony. How do you do that? Listen to as much jazz music as you can.

    Also, you NEED to play with a metronome. Once you can internalize a steady tempo in your head, make it so you only hear like one every 4, 8 or 16 clicks.

  14. #88

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    Hello friend, for years I want to learn to play jazz, I have wanted to learn in a self-taught way. I have searched and asked for many places since I like the guitar with nylon strings and I have found few who have found this guitar for jazz. Today I am 34 years old, I have played classical guitar for some years now but I felt that it was no longer the path I wanted to follow. Now I am learning something I never thought I would learn. The moment is the one that life has given you, find that way for you.

  15. #89

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    Quote Originally Posted by eh6794-2.0

    Also, you NEED to play with a metronome. Once you can internalize a steady tempo in your head, make it so you only hear like one every 4, 8 or 16 clicks.
    True.

    But when just starting out and thinking a lot about what to play against those crazy chords, metronome can drive you crazy and make you feel inferior...
    Metronome is good when you already know what to play.

  16. #90

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    How Do You Start Learning Jazz Guitar?-hint-jpg

  17. #91

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    I was looking for this. There is a great video of him playing Fly Me To the Moon with his wife.

  18. #92

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    How To Learn JG
    (A word for the wise, only... all others can return to their $50 internetz jazz guitar lesson where you learn to tweak your pedalboard.)

    Learn the Tradition! Learn the Tunes!
    To learn jazz guitar, you only need to do one thing: Play Jazz Songs!
    Pick your favourite jazz song. If you don't have one, then you're barking up the wrong tree in the first place. There must be at least 1000 Jazz Standards. There are also good jazz tunes that are not standards. Review the list and choose a dozen. Even if they are not in the Real Book, they often use the same jazz harmonies and rhythms.

    It's Endless - $10,000 And I Still Can't Play Jazz Guitar...
    Although the guitar is not a piano, it has the same limitless possibilities. You will be dead before you know it all... If you are paying the big bucks to some big jazz guitar teacher, get them to stick to your tunes. Then you really will have something you can keep forever. And you'll never be ripped off because everything you learn is encapsulated within your jazz cover tunes. If he insists that you must learn the Hyper-Phrygian Augmented-Demented Scale, you should insist that he shows you how it sounds in your tune. You may run out the door with your money still in your fist... "Just ten more lessons and you'll have it! Guaranteed!"
    (I'm not speaking of Basic Reading-Technique Teachers. They're not part of the Jazz Guitar Lessons Teacher Brigade.)

    Pick A Course
    You need to pick a course. To get from the bare dusty road to the cool flowing brook, you must find a path. Forge a course through the woods, the thick brush and tall trees, the wildlife and wild insects. You WILL reach the water, even though it will take time and effort. You don't have to search the fields. Just pick a course.

    Many Doors In, One Door Out
    The road runs parallel to the brook, so all you have to do is walk between them. Go through the woods. That's what a course is. Just one path. There are millions of paths you could have made or taken, but any one of them alone will get you there.

    Your Ear Is Your Compass
    If you don't have a map and compass, just listen for the murmuring waters. Use your ear. Pick favourite songs that will motivate you to memorise them. They will guide you along a course through the woods.

    It's All In The Song
    If you learn scales, modes, arpeggios, chords, harmonised scales and inversion scales, it's like wearing a good pair of hiking boots, a box lunch and a mosquito net. They are a blessing, but not essential. You can learn all of these from a song. The song is like a Zen Koan. Note the Key. From the key, learn the harmonised scale chords of the song. Play them as arpeggios. Weave the modes of the scale through the chords. Invert the chords, extend and alter them. Reharmonise the chords with substitution. Play melodic fragments from the scale within the arpeggio and chord shapes. See Jamey Aebersold for "How To Really Know A Tune".

    Develop A Repertoire
    When you've gone as far as you can go, pick your next favourite song. Repeat. You can review the first song and learn something else based upon what you learned in the second song. The fire spreads in all directions. Not only will you learn jazz from the greatest artists, people who were actually successful at making some kind of living at it, but you will have something to show for your time and effort: a repertoire of songs!

    Jack Of All Trades - Master Of None!
    How many of us know all about tritone substitutions and can play them in an exercise, but we can't even play a tune for our grandmothers? How often do you meet famous artists who know little about upper structure substitution but they can play that guitar like a ringing a'bell... and earn a fortune!

    The Song Is Now Yours Forever
    Every tune you read, hear, learn, memorise, and analyse is now yours. Each song is like a "laboratory" where you already know the melody, changes, bassline and rhythm. You can experiment forever. Amuse yourself in your old age. Amuse your friends. Leave them to your beneficiaries. Only then can you even begin to improvise a solo.

    Balance Your Repertoire - Widen Your Horizon
    Balance your tunes for certain characteristics of your choosing: ballads, blues, waltzes, swing, popular melody, era, venue, artist, composer... Remember that most successful working musicians try to please the audience, while the selfish lock themselves away in their room and study tritone substitution effects upon upper structure alterations.

    Improvisation, eh?
    Improvisation is the greatest scam known to mankind. People prefer to believe in magic. We love a mystery. But you can only regurgitate what you know. All the "improvisors" constantly repeat what they know and practice. If they make something up on the spot, they are often just following their fingers' muscle memory. Learn songs and then you can improvise by repeating those bits of melody you've absorbed along your course of favourite songs.

    Be Realistic And Stay Musical
    There's a big difference in becoming a jazz guitarist and mimicking the latest guitar flame; spending years on the Super Speedo Etude Book in order to play like the latest guitar virtuoso. (Oh, I was doin' alright, yunno, 'til the carpa tunna set in...). And leave those pedals alone. I have a pedalboard, but it can become a tragic distraction.

    We must: Learn the Tradition & Learn the Tunes!
    ...
    Last edited by StringNavigator; 06-11-2021 at 02:05 PM.

  19. #93

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    How do you start learning jazz guitar? Become a Buddhist and introduce your reincarnator to genetic modification and enhancement theory.

  20. #94

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    Just play to start Keep it simple. I had relatives who played all the old jazz standards. They asked me to get my guitar and I jumped in, making terrible mistakes but they were incredibly supportive. I was a kid mind you. But I just made stuff up, like I do now. Gradually I played changes, modal at first so I could get a handle on scales and phrasing, a little. Then simple chord changes like Foot Prints.Then I started collecting fakebooks. I took lessons the whole time, but theory wasn't emphasized right away. But as soon as I figured out three chord families, which simplified changes, I was off to the races. 7 note scale patterns of major, harmonic and melodic minors, arpeggios and super amount of listening recorded and live music of the greats. But you need to take ome step at a time. ONE STEP AT A TIME. Resist running ahead and drowning.

    Along the early way I studied with an acolyte of Howard Roberts, Howard Roberts and Warren Nunes. I always played.

  21. #95

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    *shrug*

    if you have to ask, you'll never know.

  22. #96

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    Quote Originally Posted by vsaumarez
    How do you start learning jazz guitar? Become a Buddhist and introduce your reincarnator to genetic modification and enhancement theory.
    That sounds complicated...
    They might have a vaccine fer that.

    Quotin' my good friend Lonesome 'Little Willie' Bigfoot:

    Why, when I bought my first gittahr, I asked the feller how do I start playin' the darn thang.
    He said, 'Just strap 'er on, boy an' go to town!'
    An' I nevah looked back!

  23. #97

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    Quote Originally Posted by StringNavigator
    .

    Improvisation, eh?
    Improvisation is the greatest scam known to mankind. People prefer to believe in magic. We love a mystery. But you can only regurgitate what you know. All the "improvisors" constantly repeat what they know and practice. If they make something up on the spot, they are often just following their fingers' muscle memory. Learn songs and then you can improvise by repeating those bits of melody you've absorbed along your course of favourite songs.

    ...

    There's a lot of hard truth in this one.

  24. #98

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    learn some tunes, work on chord tones all over the neck and learn phrases by ear (good for rhythm and feel)

    Laser like focus on the basics you probably would rather not bore yourself with. There’s a lot of people out there selling ‘the Answer’ because there’s no gigs.

    String Navigator put it well. It’s not about intellectual cleverness, it’s about time on the instrument and time listening to music.