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Hi All
I thought about playing Jazz guitar and never really got around to it. I play a bit of Blues and Classic Rock , but want to branch out into Jazz. Can you guys suggest a great book for learning Jazz Guitar. I need it to be really coming as a raw beginner.
Thanks
D
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03-28-2022 07:05 AM
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do you read music ?
If yes , "the advancing guitarist" Mick Goodrick is excellent and not only for jazz music, it's great to understand a lot of music and guitar.
I spent many, many hours working with this book.
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Hi and thanks No sadly I don't. I am learning to play Sax and am just starting to read music. I'm at a very basic stage at the moment
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Many years ago, when I had the same interest as you, I purchased a two-volume set of instructional books, "Mickey Baker's Complete Course in Jazz Guitar." Many of my peers considered this to be the ultimate guide to learning jazz guitar. It's not frilly, and it was written in the 1950s, so its style is a bit dated. But holy cow, the depth of information is incredible! Fortunately, there is now an online version in addition to the books on Amazon.
Book (Vol. 1): Amazon.com
Online: Mickey Baker
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There's no question being able to read music is of great benefit. On the other hand, it may have a hidden value insofar as it makes you use your ears more. If you can't read it then you have to listen. And, trust me, that's something many reading players fall short of, myself included.
Not that I'm encouraging you to disregard reading music, you understand :-)
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If you go with the Mickey Baker book there is also a website that can guide you through and explain what’s happening.
Mickey Baker
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May I suggest a different path then a book. Below are some very common grips for jazz guitar. Most likely these are unfamiliar to blues and rock players. Try and play these chord shapes to the song Autumn Leaves. (also attached below.) Learn how to read music and learn the melody. Play some chords play some melody. Keep working on this tune till you get very comfortable with it before moving to another jazz standard.
Originally Posted by Kluson
There are about 1,000 videos on YouTube demonstrating every facet of the tune Autumn Leaves in the key of G/Em.
Using this method you are "playing jazz" from the get go.
jazz chord voicing chart.pdf
autumn leaves real book.pdf
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Bakers book is ok but for heavens sake C13b5#9...enough to daunt anyone lol...headed to band in a box...dont look back
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I will send you these three books that will help you get started for $20 including shipping and paypal fees (two of the books have CD's included). PM me if interested
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A Real Book, and a premium subscription to Spotify or YouTube music would be on my list...
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advice on band in a box buy some real tracks//all you need are drums bass piano..doors wide open......JGSOLOS in BB folder...200 songs...lots standards too..tabs and notation...wealth of playing there to keep you busy for years... tempo too fast on JAZZ guitar solos hit F5 reset all bars to your tempo ..not theres..SCALES ETC..ID RATHER SPEND TIME LEARNING SONG MELODIES......i cant think of an easier route to playing jazz...
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wow, didn't know Eva Cassidy, I like her voice a lot, excellent.
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Eva Cassidy was my late wife's favorite artist (aside from the group Journey; go figure). Living in the D. C. area, Cassidy was a fan fave (she won a WAMMIE, the Washington Music Awards equivalent of a GRAMMIE), but never quite found a broader audience. Sadly, she died of a melanoma in 1996.
Here's a good Wikipedia write-up on her.
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I only came across her when doing the exercise I suggested to the OP and I was listening to a bunch of versions of Autumn Leaves on Spotify. It was like hearing Ella Fitzgerald or Karen Carpenter for the first time. Originally Posted by Just Fred
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This free book from the same site as this forum was what helped me finally get going after many false starts. I found that there was too much info out there on the net and I jumped about too much without really getting anywhere.
I've a bound print out of the pdf in front of me right now as it happens, practicing chord shapes this morning.
https://www.jazzguitar.be/blog/jazz-...for-beginners/
The book follows the same advice as above posts, autumn leaves is heavily used as a learning vehicle.
I work with the pdf on my phone so I can play the audio examples, and same pdf printed out in front of me for ease of reading.
As for autumn leaves itself, what a beautiful song, my favourite version is Eric Clapton's.
Be wary of Jens larsen. His teaching material is spot on, but a 10 minute you tube video contains many days worth of practice, and he puts out so many videos that following him can feel overwhelming.
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If his youtube videos are intimidating he has a really great course here : Jazz Guitar Roadmap Invitation Originally Posted by KingKong
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I believe it is a trap to get too involved in these online videos. Nothing beats sitting down with your guitar and lead sheet and figuring out the stuff for yourself THEN seek out tidbits from the “gurus”. A true beginner might need some basic jazz grips like the ones I posted above. Originally Posted by KingKong
It is all about learning standards you love.
Jens is a great player and instructor but he is far too verbose for me and his video editing is too chaotic.
Robin Nolan and Chris Whiteman are two of my favorites in this regard. Their videos are short sweet and to the point.
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Here we go again... about once a month, someone posts this question and gets 100 different recommendations. So here's mine: this is not about the book you pick or the website you visit. Instead of teaching yourself a bunch of bad habits that you will have to unlearn later, and becoming mightily frustrated in the process, take private lessons with a good jazz teacher from the get-go. That person will inspire you and guide you, saving you a lot of wrong turns.
Also, you might want to consider digging one well deep, for now. Pick sax or guitar , and put all your effort into mastering one instead of putting half the effort into getting mediocre at both.
Otherwise, yeah, all the recomendations in this thread thus far are worthy of your consideration.
$0.02,
SJ
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Yeh but then u don't get the satisfaction of bragging about how you're entirely self taught, can't read music, never had a lesson, blah blah blah. Originally Posted by starjasmine
'Bad habits', are the way to go and will make ur playing distinctive and your own.
Whenever I've been to a jazz gig and felt compelled to have a chat with one of the players due to how nice they play, I invariably find that they are self taught.
Plus I ain't forking out x amount of pounds or dollars for lessons when its all there for you for free, u just need to find it. Through a trial and error process you realise what's bullshit and what isn't and I reckon that when the penny drops, it drops much better than if u have had a teacher telling you what to do.
I say this not from my own experience, I've never had a lesson so don't know anything about the teaching industry, but I've a few friends who have tried learning an instrument with lessons and given up due to frustration with their teacher.
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Whaaat? If you have never had a lesson, how does that make you qualified to comment on the validity of study with a good teacher? Originally Posted by KingKong
My own direct personal experience is that I got only so far as a self-taught musician. I started progressing a hell of a lot faster once I studied with some pros. I've also had some teachers who weren't so great. The operative distinction is good teacher.
Would you go to a doctor or dentist who was self-taught?
Ultimately, it is up to you to "teach yourself" how to do what the teacher has shown you. Study with a teacher is not a magic bullet. It's a map. If you have a particular destination in mind, you will get there faster and easier with a good map.
But everyone has their own path. You (or the OP) does not need to choose the path that works for me.
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- No I can't make ultimate judgement as I've never taken a guitar lesson. I know many people who have taken lessons in guitar, violin and piano. All but one still plays, and he doesn't give a shit about the stuff his teacher gives him to play and is frustrated with it. He tries to bring stuff he likes to lessons but the teacher doesn't seem too interested in it so he is making no progress. Originally Posted by starjasmine
- yes a GOOD teacher is the operative. But how will a beginner know if their teacher is good or not? Find me a teacher who does not think that they are a good teacher and will blame the student for 'not listening or practicing' enough.
- doctors and dentists are different to musicians as music can't kill you. Do you only listen to music played by people that were not self taught?.
Plus the cost is prohibitive. A quick Google round my area reveals that id be paying more than £100 a month for a weekly lesson. A year of saving that cash up and uve got a top quality Gibson/ Fender etc under your fingers, which will bring you on greatly compared to a budget beginners guitar.
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So, without saying whether this teacher is "good" or not, it seems clear that this particular teacher and this particular student are not a fit. That last friend of yours who still plays and has the frustrating relationship with the teacher should find a new teacher. The vast majority of my own private guitar teachers really did want to address my needs. Originally Posted by KingKong
Yes, there are some narcissistic folks out there. But the "good teacher" I'm talking about has a positive reputation among the music community (local or greater). People are coming to that person because what they are doing works. When the majority of students are succeeding and having a good time doing it, the "he said/she said" element is removed. So the person you want is the one that other people recommend. The teacher doesn't have to tell you that they think they are good because other people are already saying it for them. I have been lucky to study with a few folks whom I knew were right for me from the get-go. I liked their playing, I felt that I could understand what they were telling me, and I liked them personally. Originally Posted by KingKong
No, I listen to a wide variety of music. And I am not saying that all self-taught musicians are without merit. I was simply suggesting that there is benefit and efficiency to learning from those who have traveled the road before you. I once had a teacher who characterized theory as "artificial talent." He would say that J.S. Bach didn't need theory - he had enough talent and focus to DEVISE the twelve-tone system that we all use. But most of us don't have that level of talent, so learning from the ones that do can help us progress faster. Originally Posted by KingKong
TBH, very few skilled musicians are entirely self-taught. It is really common for players of a certain level of notoriety not to want to dilute their impact by admitting that they learned some things from someone else. But later on, maybe decades later, they start to admit that they studied with someone early on. I encourage you to research all of your truly favorite performers of national or international stature. You will find that the majority of them had some sort of music lessons. It is well known that Diz was the "teacher" of many of the bop players. Lennon and McCartney both learned music from their parents. Kreisberg went to U of Miami, DiMeola dropped out of Berklee, and Chick Corea studied at Julliard. Nobody is saying Chick Corea sucks because he is not entirely self-taught! But he took that music education and advanced the state of the jazz art, creating something new that nobody else had done... and, I daresay, ever will again.
That is the real thing I'm saying: there is a part of your musicality that is innately you and that you can't learn and that you can't teach to someone else. But there is also another part of music that can be learned, and IMO you should take advantage of every opportunity presented to you. We are ALL standing on the shoulders of Bach, Beethoven, the Romantic composers, the Impressionists, the beboppers of the 40s, the West Coast and Cool schools, the fusion pioneers and rock players of the 60s, EVH... you name it. Today's musicians have so many great traditions and styles and techniques available to them... including all that free stuff on YouTube! It is a LOT to sift through, so that "good teacher" can be a big help, if that's the way you want to go.
Finances are a very personal thing, so I can't really comment. We all have choices to make. Consider that money can be made, but time cannot. The truly prohibitive cost might be the years you can't get back when you determine that a particular course of study - whether self-teaching or studying with the "wrong" teacher - isn't getting you where you want to go. You have to draw a balance between knowing when to keep at it and knowing when to try something new. Originally Posted by KingKong
£100 a month does not sound "prohibitively high" to me. In my area (N. California) the cost to study with a pro musician is probably closer to £200 - 300/mo for a weekly one-hour private lesson. (My figures are probably low - I have not taken lessons in quite a while. Perhaps some other forum members can update these figures.) That would be the cost for an intermediate or advanced player (one who already plays well, knows a lot of tunes and has theory down cold) to study at a very high level with an established pro; the cost for a half-hour lesson or study of prerequisite skills with someone else would be less, probably more in the neighborhood of £100 a month.
To give you some context, over ten years ago I was paying around £250/month and driving 1.5 hours each way to take private lessons with a well-known national-act guitarist, and I felt very lucky just to have the opportunity to sit in a room with this guy and have him educate me. At that point I had already completed a university music degree, had decades of playing experience, and studies with other very strong players in the past. I was heavily invested in music, and I was willing to pay that much and work that hard. But if you are not that far into your musical journey, or the money is a barrier, or both, that may not be something you can do.
There are a LOT of REALLY good players on this forum. We don't always agree :-) But if cash is a barrier to private study, you can always go the YouTube route and reach out for advice here.
BTW, Jonathan Kreisberg (who is just a fantastic player) has unlimited video mini-lessons and PDFs on his website starting at $10/month (that's £7.63). Quite the deal.Last edited by starjasmine; 04-02-2022 at 10:33 PM.
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I can tell you my experience with this after few months that I came back to guitar after many years. Originally Posted by sm80808
The course is super well made I learned a lot even if I did not complete it.
It really unlocked my understanding of playing jazz on guitar.
Most of Jen's video are excellent, but as discussed above a lot of info to unpack!
This info is carefully unpacked in the course.
The reason I did not finish it? After intensively working it for a months I decided that I loved learning jazz and I looked for a teacher.
Clearly, This is a completely different experience as we interact and, more then everything, we play together the standards a process that brings great satisfaction and learning at the same time.
So Jen's course was the first step in my journey so in general an important one.
I will have to stop the lessons for few weeks due to travels. I might go back to it!
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starjasmine,
Thanks for the reply, its well written and thoughtful.
The beatles for example, yeh I think they had people show them the basics of music when they were young and George Martin showed them lots of stuff on the way. But I think there is a distinction between this kind of learning and the really dedicated studious approach that you describe.
Myself I figured out music initially by playing Smells like teen spirit on one string of a guitar my mum had lying around from her youth and it went from there. I worked out various rock tunes of the 90s by ear and gradually built up knowledge of chords, technique and theory from there, with the help of a couple of books along the way. No Internet in those days, so I did the books from cover to cover and didn't get distracted by the likes of Jens Larsen etc. I had access to like 2 or 3 choices of guitar book in my local store so I was essentially taught indirectly but solely by the guy who had written the books if you get what I am saying?
So I've been playing for 27 years now and when people say to me 'ur good at that thing' I always say that looking back, I 'could' have learnt what I know in a lot shorter time had I studied in a more focused and intensive way. But the slow burning process i don't think would have been helped by a teacher, it was never really my life and there have been periods where I've barely touched a guitar for a couple of years, I was always like 'I love blues, ill get round to learning it one day.' I think that due to my character, being kind of forced to keep a steady progress by seeing a teacher every week might have caused me to resent it over time due to a perceived lack of freedom.
Then I got onto jazz however, man what a jump from the rock stuff. It was then that I had to put a LOT more effort in to get over the initial hills with it.
But I figured out a system that seems to be working really well that I haven't seen described anywhere else, basically an adaptation of minor pentatonic blues playing into jazz by filling in the gaps in the pentatonic to make it a full scale. I even asked on this form a few weeks ago 'does this sound right?' and the response was basically a thumbs up. So for this I am pretty proud of myself.
With the jazz I am practicing much more intensely these days I will also say, probably 2 hours a day on average. This jazz thing is so intriguing and beautiful its like an addiction and I want to have a second career in it soonish when I've stashed enough cash to be able to live off the pretty poultry gig fees u get here in England. Might even consider teaching kids rock stuff also, in an ironic twist lol.
£300 a month and 1.5 hour drives, blimey, that's a lot of cash and dedication, I raise my hat to you for doing that.
BTW I fully admit to being a bit arrogant, obstinate and pompous about this 'I ain't having no teacher' attitude.
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