Pick only 3

[mr. beaumont]

In response to the "where do I start?" thread I thought it might be useful to compile members' "Top 3 things to focus on."

For the sake of argument, let's say you have decent technical facility and knowledge of the fretboard already.

For me, it would be:

1. Learning tunes (as much by ear as possible)
2. Listening and stealing licks/solos/whatever you can
3. Voice leading (in both comping and in lines)

Add yours below. It will be interesting to see where folks agree, and where they don't...

[jim777]

Coming to jazz from decades of rock playing, "where to start?" likely means something different to me. From that perspective, knowing what every note is on the entire fretboard the way most rock guitarists know the notes on the E and A strings (and that's mostly it) would come first, tied with learning to read.

Knowing the notes and how to read, ties all of the scales, arps, and licks together in a way that you actually learn from them and not just learn to repeat them like a parrot Lots of parrots out there playing rock these days...

[AllanAllen]

1. Learning tunes (as much by ear as possible)
2. Listening and stealing licks/solos/whatever you can
3. Voice leading (in both comping and in lines)

I would replace 3 with play with others. I found I was diligently working on the wrong things once I played with other people.

Learning tunes and stealing licks are an established path to sounding good.

[fep]

1. Learning chords
2. Learning Tunes (chords and melody) and maintaining a repertoire
3. Learn the fretboard both chords and scales (I'd use CAGED)

[pamosmusic]

Can I cheat and say:

1. stealing licks.
2. Playing with people
3. Voice leading

But you can practice anything over a tune.

[jameslovestal]

In response to the "where do I start?" thread I thought it might be useful to compile members' "Top 3 things to focus on."

For the sake of argument, let's say you have decent technical facility and knowledge of the fretboard already.

For me, it would be:

1. Learning tunes (as much by ear as possible)
2. Listening and stealing licks/solos/whatever you can
3. Voice leading (in both comping and in lines)

Add yours below. It will be interesting to see where folks agree, and where they don't...

What do you me 'by ear'? I know you dislike the term chord-melody. I guess I'm one that dislikes the term 'by ear'.

E.g. do you mean learning a tune without ever having to associate the song with anything that can be written; E.g. not seeing the chord on paper or even having someone else show you how they approach the progression? (and I mean the chords as roman-numerals not actual chords or voicing).

[mr. beaumont]

What do you me 'by ear'? I know you dislike the term chord-melody. I guess I'm one that dislikes the term 'by ear'.

E.g. do you mean learning a tune without ever having to associate the song with anything that can be written; E.g. not seeing the chord on paper or even having someone else show you how they approach the progression? (and I mean the chords as roman-numerals not actual chords or voicing).

I mean learn a tune by listening to it and figuring out the notes and chords, as much as you can.

At the beginning, it might not be a whole lot. Maybe you can get the key center...bits of melody. But you gotta use that ear as much as you can to develop it.

[Tal_175]

Learning short lick fragments and practicing them in different contexts until they become words to build musical sentences has worked better from me then learning entire licks. I breakdown licks into short (say, 4 notes) reusable phrases. In fact, I believe the language of a player is largely a set of short fragments they use creatively to express higher level musical ideas.

[Jimmy Smith]

1. Ear
2. Theory
3. Technical skills

:P

[Jimmy Smith]

Learning short lick fragments and practicing them in different contexts until they become words to build musical sentences has worked for me. I breakdown licks into short (say, 4 notes) reusable phrases. In fact, I believe the language of a player is largely a set of short fragments they use creatively to express higher level musical ideas.

Great thought, I think that's true. However, I think it's nice to be able to use some complete licks too.

[mr. beaumont]

Right, you gotta start small.

That's why I've said that "transcribe" is often good, but lazy advice. It skips over all the stuff you might need to do BEFORE you could ever transcribe a whole line, let alone a whole solo!

[coyote-1]

In response to the "where do I start?" thread I thought it might be useful to compile members' "Top 3 things to focus on."

For the sake of argument, let's say you have decent technical facility and knowledge of the fretboard already.

For me, it would be:

1. Learning tunes (as much by ear as possible)
2. Listening and stealing licks/solos/whatever you can
3. Voice leading (in both comping and in lines)

Add yours below. It will be interesting to see where folks agree, and where they don't...

1. Learn to read.

2. Practice ‘feel’. That is, learn how to (for example) transmit eighth triplets vs dotted sixteenths to an audience so they can clearly feel the difference.

3. Study clave. Understand where things fall in relation to it.

do those three things, and you’ll have a versatility that many of your fellows/competitors lack.

[Lionelsax]

1. Tabs
2. Shapes & Scales
3. Avoid all that is not in a shape

[John A.]

My 3 things:

|| 1. Learn tunes (chords, melodies, and "chord-melodies) | 2. Play with other people | 3. Pick the next two things (while still doing 1. and 2.) :||

[Lionelsax]

1. Tabs
2. Shapes & Scales
3. Avoid all that is not in a shape

Sorry I forgot to comment this comment.
LOL

[Jimmy Smith]

^ Are you ok?

[nyc chaz]

In response to the "where do I start?" thread I thought it might be useful to compile members' "Top 3 things to focus on."

For the sake of argument, let's say you have decent technical facility and knowledge of the fretboard already.

For me, it would be:

1. Learning tunes (as much by ear as possible)
2. Listening and stealing licks/solos/whatever you can
3. Voice leading (in both comping and in lines)

Add yours below. It will be interesting to see where folks agree, and where they don't...

I would put learning to read music at one,because it would be a tremendous help in learning tunes,licks and voice leading.

[jameslovestal]

I mean learn a tune by listening to it and figuring out the notes and chords, as much as you can.

At the beginning, it might not be a whole lot. Maybe you can get the key center...bits of melody. But you gotta use that ear as much as you can to develop it.

I agree with the 3 you listed especially #1 (learn songs), but I would have left out the 'by ear' part. The reason being from a practical \ usage of time POV (what I assume you mean by 'at the beginning"), as it relates learning a song's overall harmonic structure \ chord progression. A lot quicker to use a lead sheet.

Learning the notes on one's instrument is one of the first steps. E.g., learning to play melodies starting on any note (and thus in any key) is one of the first steps (if not the first step), I recommend.

But having this skill with chords is very useful but I don't view it as part of what one does when starting to learn an instrument.

[John A.]

I would put learning to read music at one,because it would be a tremendous help in learning tunes,licks and voice leading.

Lots of people can and do play jazz without really knowing how to read. No one can play jazz without being able to learn tunes, and licks, and detect voice leading by ear. For sure, being strong reader helps with learning repertoire and studying harmony/theory efficiently, and I would never say "don't learn to read". But in the context of Jeff's question, I wouldn't make it a top-3 priority (or maybe Jeff was assuming that the hypothetical reasonably competent player can already read a bit?).

[mr. beaumont]

Lots of people can and do play jazz without really knowing how to read. No one can play jazz without being able to learn tunes, and licks, and detect voice leading by ear. For sure, being strong reader helps with learning repertoire and studying harmony/theory efficiently, and I would never say "don't learn to read". But in the context of Jeff's question, I wouldn't make it a top-3 priority (or maybe Jeff was assuming that the hypothetical reasonably competent player can already read a bit?).

Yeah, I need to reframe this as "3 things to focus on specifically for playing jazz."

There's a lot of "assume you can do's" that need to either come before or be worked on simultanouesly, but those are not exclusive to the playing of jazz.

Maybe I'm just realizing I can't pare it down any further for a beginner to jazz guitar. I just thought that other thread became kind of a shit show that probably scared off the OP.

[John A.]

... that other thread became kind of a shit show that probably scared off the OP.

Isn't that the motto of this site?

[Jimmy Smith]

I actually thought a couple pages was a little tamer than usual.

[Christian Miller]

1) Ears
2) Reading
3) Time

[nyc chaz]

Lots of people can and do play jazz without really knowing how to read. No one can play jazz without being able to learn tunes, and licks, and detect voice leading by ear. For sure, being strong reader helps with learning repertoire and studying harmony/theory efficiently, and I would never say "don't learn to read". But in the context of Jeff's question, I wouldn't make it a top-3 priority (or maybe Jeff was assuming that the hypothetical reasonably competent player can already read a bit?).

Of course you can play jazz without being a proficient reader as evidenced by many of the greats,but not too many are going to be Joe Pass.Being able to read just opens a whole new world of ideas and concepts and makes learning easier.

[Christian Miller]

Working on my reading makes a real difference in my professional life. I try to throw a few hours at it a week. Plus, it gets fun.

So I’m interpreting ‘three too things to focus on’ based on what I’m doing.

But tbh while I don’t expect students to be pro level readers it helps enormously when you can talk about music away from ‘fret 4 on string 3.’ A lot is intervals, sure, but knowing the notes is helpful too. Learning to read rhythms helps with time, too.