The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #26
    A ton of advice already, I'll just second a few things.

    1) Get a good teacher. It is much easier if you have someone knowledgeable to guide you along the way

    2) Listen and imitate some recordings you like and learn them by ear. Not easy, but simple.

    3)Enjoy the process

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #27

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    If you really love jazz and have the right instructor. Yes, it is definitely possible. Go for it!

  4. #28

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    As a re-beginner running down this path, I encourage you to do what you want to do. If you'll put in the work and have patience with yourself, and even be realistic in your short and long term goals, you can accomplish a lot. Many things simply take time to get under your fingers, for your ears to be conditioned to hear the error and try enough fixes to find the one that fixes it for you. Teachers can speed this along and help you learn to spot those errors - many of which you might not even know ARE errors, but a lot of this is simply time spent with your instrument and working on the things your hands won't do yet. FWIW, in my 5 years of classical lessons, I'll admit to having practiced things wrong.... just no getting around that sometimes, and then having to unlearn and relearn them. Even with a teacher.... but that was BEFORE videos that reveal the fingerwork... and help as a reference.... so much should be easier today. There's everything to learn from how to move your hands to how to hold the guitar or the pick or whatever, and all the small mechanical details make more of a difference in your "nailing it" then we tend to think. I'm reconnecting with that now I've restarted, and it's good to remember. If you imagine golf and how it focuses on the grip of the club, the stance, the swing, etc. just expect a similar break down in your lessons to help you succeed... and you'll be fine.

    Jazz has some advantages in that group/ensemble play is just a bigger thing to begin with, and the presence of the music in the popular mind isn't quite as far removed as classical guitar (CG) - which to be fair and honest, CG (as beautiful and diverse as it is) remains a subset within a subset and largely unknown even within the classical/symphonic range of traditional music.
    I think of jazz as a popular form or a classical form of traditional American music... and that has some advantages in learning to play it, but it DOES have a form and substance and it can be quite complex. Jazz offers a range of styles, a range of roles, and allows you to do more than simply play lead or solo... so in that sense might be more accessible. But I get the sense as a new re-beginner myself that it remains a mountain to climb, and but you can climb it the way you want. Do not be deterred.

    Get a teacher! Online is great and offers detailed videos I find quite helpful and could probably take you quite far, but the choices online are so broad I think it is probably easier to fall into the frustration of having to be your own coach, and becoming overwhelmed by following too many different voices. We all need a coach to buck us up and help us through the rough spots... they're there. If even folks like Grammy winner Sharon Isbin in the CG world have teachers... then rank stinkers like me can use one. And it really helps that your coach is one and the same person - not 25 different guys with 10 or more different confusingly detailed approaches. I'm starting lessons the end of this month with a jazz guitarist and have been following the Mickey Baker lessons in the meantime - my old high school nemesis - as a bit of prep. Mickey's been my self-test of commitment level... and so far so good, but no matter my "progress", I'm wide open to wherever my teacher's gonna suggest we start to broaden, deepen and push me toward my goals (and yes, I've written those out as best and detailed as I could) - even in ways I didn't anticipate at my restart.

    Good luck and have fun!

  5. #29

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    Quote Originally Posted by GregMil
    Hello,

    I'm new to the guitar and to playing music in general.
    I listen to jazz a lot and always wanted to learn an instrument

    Does it make sense for a complete guitar beginner to start with jazz?
    Or do I need to learn pop or classical first to get a grasp of the basics?
    U completely can start by jazz. Focus on the Style of jazz if u like. Be Happy Focus on what u like. Look I am self taught with no formal education and developed a method specially targeting people with zero knowledge. U may be intereses. My method is named guitar revolution .Because I think it revolts everything, i discovered some fundamentals in music that basically means that if we change our appreoach to it we can do many things that may look difficult... u will be able to play and imrpovise avoiding formulas or studying harmony (in the formal way), formal way is not the only, I Actually think this method can work better specially for begineers. By changing the approach to music u can do things very advanced... u can pm if u want, i am still developing the courses and the marketing material... theres a post where I am gonna post my stuff to prove skills
    Can a beginner learn jazz guitar?-revolution-6-1-jpg
    Last edited by Diego Bosch; 07-02-2022 at 12:46 PM.