What's your process for progressing?

[Blackguard53]

I picked up guitar 2 years ago after a 10 year break playing only bass and drums in combos and pop bands. I wanted to "take back" music for my personal enjoyment, rather than it always being a job with all the pressure and disappointment that working musicianship can bring.

After a couple of months of getting my chops back, I set out on finishing a goal I'd made for myself and given up on after getting burnt out on a music degree; be a "real jazzer". One of the cats. Like Joe Pass or Jimmy Bruno or J Kreisberg. Anyway.

Here's my current plan for becoming a cat. I thought it'd be interesting to see how others have tailored their pathway towards their goals.

"1. Create a set list of jazz tunes you want to have "in the bag". I have about 50 I know on the spot from my time in groups as a bass player

2. Learn the head (played and sung)

3. Practice the changes

4. Find ways to insert chord subs, modal interchange etc to create a more interesting and modern chord framework

5. Play the chart in only one position on the neck

6. Voice lead every chord into the next without falling back on "vanilla jazz chord shapes". Doing this will reveal new chord shapes and ideas to help unlearn the standard Freddy green type chords from my vocabulary while revealing shapes that can be used for note sequences (like Kreisberg or Tim Miller)

7. While doing all of this, have a transcription of a chord melody or recording of a jazz guitarist of your stylistic preference playing this chart to study and/or learn the fundamentals of traditional straight ahead jazz."

This work flow means that I always have something to play when I sit down, I can choose what part of the routine I want to work on for a specific chart, and I can simultaneously develop my own style and sound while training the fundamentals of thr language.

This has worked for me so far, and I'm excited to continue until I find a good duo partner or 4 piece to play some local gigs after I retire from pro music.

[Cunamara]

1. Listen. Lots. Get the sound of the song I am learning in my head, preferably multiple interpretations.

2. Put the guitar away and sing solos over tunes. If you can't sing it, then you're not probably expressing with your hands the music that is inside you. An awful lot of people learn scales and modes and altered scales and scalar substitutions and all of this stuff, without actually learning how to make music. I'm not sure that we can be taught to make music (as distinct from being taught technique and cognitive structures such as functional music theory, Lydian chromatic concept, etc.) because music is the sonic expression of emotion. We can learn to make music but that is very much an internal process of discovery.

[rpjazzguitar]

1. Listen. Lots. Get the sound of the song I am learning in my head, preferably multiple interpretations.

2. Put the guitar away and sing solos over tunes. If you can't sing it, then you're not probably expressing with your hands the music that is inside you. An awful lot of people learn scales and modes and altered scales and scalar substitutions and all of this stuff, without actually learning how to make music. I'm not sure that we can be taught to make music (as distinct from being taught technique and cognitive structures such as functional music theory, Lydian chromatic concept, etc.) because music is the sonic expression of emotion. We can learn to make music but that is very much an internal process of discovery.

Well said!!!

If you can scat sing a good line, then all you have to do is master the mechanics of getting it to come out the speaker. And, the mechanics of finding the notes and so forth is the easy part.

Many find that it isn't quite so easy and that a lot of other approaches, e.g. more theory, can get you to a higher level. But, another view is that more listening, formal ear training and so forth to make you scat better is a good approach.

I'd add only one thing. If you want to play in a jazz group, if that's the goal, then don't wait. Learn a jam session's worth of tunes and organize one. Play with the best musicians who are willing to play with you.

[emanresu]

My current work process is:
Do a warmup - whatever hops in mind. 1-2 hours.
Do ear training and learn some Spanish words. 4 hours.
Work on benz.

[Guitlifer]

As a cover band - weekend warrior for decades, my main goal was to "get good". Over the years I tried to emulate my heroes SRV, EVH, Setzer, Ford, Young, pretty much any of the big name slingers out there, bought gear, bought books, went to workshops etc.

After I retired, I set out to really learn not only music, but the actual mechanics of playing the guitar. When people ask, I say "I'm into jazz". But I've come to understand that I use the word 'jazz' as a short form for "an improvisational approach to playing songs I like".

I realized one day that all those years of bar gigs had taught me tons of songs. But as the guitarist in trios and quartets, I simply played rhythm or solo'd (usually pentatonics) when needed. I never learned melodies!

Studying with a great jazz guitarist has helped me learn standards to play, approaches for comping, soloing etc. Personal study of the great guitar bibles, Chord Chemistry, Advancing Guitarist et al has helped me uncover the mechanics of how the instrument works. My current gigging is in a duo with a vocalist. We do a variety of classic pop and jazz tunes.

My process for progressing is: learning or refining tunes, applying harmonic and scalar knowledge to create flexible solo arrangements. Trying not to get locked in to playing a tune only one way. Hitting Youtube for Lenny Breau, Joe Pass, Julian Lage, Pat Metheny, Jake Reichbart, Bill Frisell, Martin Taylor, Joscho Stephan, Adam Rafferty, Adam Smale, Jens Larson, Ritchie Zellen, Aime Nolte, Rick Beato and whoever else videos. As my understanding increases, I have a great time applying new things to all the tunes I know as well as any new ones I want to tackle. I feel like I'm finally starting to get a handle on solo improvisational guitar.

[GuyBoden]

Practice a short lick I like.

Transposed the lick to other chord types.

Practice the lick in the keys of a fav Jazz Standard.

Practice the lick over the Jazz Standard. (Start very slow, then gradually increase speed.)

Repeat.

[Christian Miller]

Practice stuff I can’t do until I can do it

Given there’s an infinite amount of stuff I can’t do, try to prioritise what other people want me to be able to do on gigs so I seem like some sort of responsible adult who takes their job seriously

try not to judge what comes out of the painbox on gigs too much

[Jimmy Smith]

Be methodical like you mentioned in the op, but be realistic about what to prioritize, don't take it to Pebber Brown silliness levels. Some things I do that you didn't include are I try to identify weaknesses that are relevant to the music I do and I play in every key.

Some of the ways I break things down are tune wise for style: swing, 2 swing, up, ballad, bossa, waltz, pop, funk (I really hate funk but it's idiomatic to jazz organ).

Then I break it down by facility on the instrument: bass lines, right hand comp, right hand chord melody, right hand single note. Then there is other stuff like for ballads, foot bass, right hand chord, left hand melody etc.

I do all my playing in 1 key for several days then I go up a key. One of the weaknesses that I'm focusing on is rhythm and time feel. So I'm making up exercises that focus on either hand, bass line or melody, then do exercises to combine them.

Not Pebber Brown lol.

[kris]

I listen to a lot of records from the 60's. etc.
I practice with backing tracks and record myself.
I go to jams and play concerts. This is the best test of progress.
I enjoy playing, but I'm always self-critical.

[pauln]

My process is two-fold:
- "the map"- playing alone at home
- "the territory"- playing out in the world

"The map is not the territory"

Just about everything I learn happens during performance of songs with others on stage (where sometimes the others are new to me, sometimes the songs are new to me, and sometimes (my favorite) both the others and the songs are new to me). What I do at home prepares me to learn in performance.

[orri]

I saw Tim Learch in a relatively recent youtube video on the Pedal Show channel.

He said he likes to view what other people often refer to as practising as three differnent modalities:

Learn - Practice - Play

Learn is to adopt new material, whether it is concepts, repertoire, vocabulary etc.
Practise is basically doing a bunch of repetitions until to familiarise yourself and internalize with what you learnt a
Play is about expressing yourself as a musician, playing something someone else would want to listen to.


I think this is a really elegant summary of both how I've been viewing it and what I've seen other people expressing in various ways.

[Guitlifer]

I saw Tim Learch in a relatively recent youtube video on the Pedal Show channel.

He said he likes to view what other people often refer to as practising as three differnent modalities:

Learn - Practice - Play

Learn is to adopt new material, whether it is concepts, repertoire, vocabulary etc.
Practise is basically doing a bunch of repetitions until to familiarise yourself and internalize with what you learnt a
Play is about expressing yourself as a musician, playing something someone else would want to listen to.


I think this is a really elegant summary of both how I've been viewing it and what I've seen other people expressing in various ways.

Yup! Pretty much nails it. And I forgot to mention Tim Lerch as another Youtuber I follow. His new chord book is an excellent resource as well.

[rpjazzguitar]

From another perspective, I'd offer this.

I think it's easier to progress if you set a specific goal and have a plan to achieve it.

I think it makes the most sense when the goal relates broadly to the kind of musician you want to be.

So, for example, after decades of vaguely trying to follow a path to be a "jazz guitarist", some circumstances led me to think a little differently.

I decided I wanted to get better at playing Brazilian jazz in a small group. And, in a startling epiphany, it occurred to me that the best way to do that was to start doing it. That is, not to practice specific techniques, or transcribe or work on right hand technique, or anything specific, but, rather, to get a group together (with the best musicians I could find who were willing to do it) and start playing. That decision was more valuable than any decision I ever made about technique, except maybe taking lessons when I was beginner.

If the goal was to be a solo guitarist, maybe the best thing you could do would be to start working out the arrangements you're going to play.

If the goal was to be a big band guitarist, find a big band and do whatever you need to do to play the arrangements.

This doesn't necessarily replace more specific technical things, but maybe it sustains the connection to the music you want to make.

[emanresu]

Just one idea to keep in track with the.. progress.
There's a bunch of stuff to do and some people keep a diary or something. That was not working for me.
Thing that seems to help me - when spending a hour on something new, some exercise,
meaning 1-2 hours spent - afterwards I take 10 minutes to write a note or tab about it,
and little comment. And save it somewhere comfortably.
The idea is, when spending a hour on something small but useful, it can be refreshed
without much effort at all.. but if not doing that, most of those things get forgotten - so this neglected
pile gets huge over time.