The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
Reply to Thread Bookmark Thread
Posts 1 to 12 of 12
  1. #1

    User Info Menu

    Hi, I'm an amateur guitar player starting to learn jazz improv.
    I'd love some feedback on this recording.
    Also, it'd be great if someone can recommend me a study group for my level.

    For those who couldn't open the file for some reason, I posted it here:
    Attached Files Attached Files
    Last edited by vitorlds; 05-25-2021 at 11:39 AM.

  2.  

    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by vitorlds
    Hi, I'm an amateur guitar player starting to learn jazz improv.
    I'd love some feedback on this recording.
    Also, it'd be great if someone can recommend me a study group for my level.

  4. #3

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by vitorlds
    Hi, I'm an amateur guitar player starting to learn jazz improv.
    I'd love some feedback on this recording.
    Also, it'd be great if someone can recommend me a study group for my level.
    File will not play for me.

  5. #4

    User Info Menu

    Or me.

  6. #5

    User Info Menu

    You've got a really good grasp of the form, and of what you can do with the chords. Your time is really good to and there's a strong feel with the beat. Nicely done!
    Your ideas do seem like a somewhat busy catalog of appropriate ideas, but not so strong on the thread that connects those ideas. It indicates a real desire you have to "fill in" the harmonic area with things that make up melody, but not so much of a command of what melody serves when telling a story; making ideas lead to one another and conveying a feeling of WHY you're soloing.
    Listen to the original tune. Notice the way the first phrase (which you do nicely to use as a springboard for your own solo) leads to the weight of space? This isn't just to save on ink and breath, it's "framing" the impact of the first phrase. When you make your flurry of notes at the ends of your phrases, they fit the form, but they detract from the clarity of the phrase.
    I don't want to tell you how to play notes, but you can try to develop your own personal lexicon, and note that sometimes fewer notes in the right place make a stronger statement. They set up development.
    Shorter phrases can help you make a stronger solo because they give you somewhere to go.
    For instance, you use a tritone arpeggio pretty early in the game. That's a potent dominant device when you haven't established that your inside tonality (diatonic harmony) can support that. That's a nice second chorus device, and once you have the confidence of the listener in what they're hearing, you can tell it in a way that hooks the listener and rewards them.
    Prioritizing your vocabulary is a task in itself.
    I listen to the second chorus and it's a much stronger first chorus than your first chorus.
    A lot of this comes from just playing, and hearing impact before you play it.
    You've got talent! That's for sure. I really look forward to where you go with it!
    Just take these as some opinions from somebody that's still working on these things after playing forever ;-) and don't take my comments too seriously. Have fun!

  7. #6

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by citizenk74
    Or me.
    I downloaded the file and put it into itunes.

  8. #7

    User Info Menu

    You have a bright strong confident facility that has a gypsy jazz sound. I like it! Your ear is grasping things well; the only real confusion I heard was both times on the D9 before the end of each chorus. Other times you are doing some nice rather sophisticated stuff through what most would consider the more difficult changes.

    My impression is that you are in a good place - essential talent, exuberant flow of creative ideas, expressive technique... exactly what you want in extra reserve to drive forward. Only thing I would suggest other than continuing to do what you are doing now would be to put time into examining, evaluating, and implementing strategies for focusing and developing how to improvise from an organizational structural perspective. So that's another whole layer of gradually learning when, where, why, and how to choose what to execute among your immediate ideas contending to be executed. Member here, Reg, has thoroughly lived this professionally and has been very generous with posts, threads, and videos discussing this very thing. Honorable mention to some others, too.

  9. #8
    Thank you all for being so welcoming!
    Your comments make lot of sense to me. Listening to it now I think I didn't develop the "story" long enough - this includes mainly the differences between a first and final round feel you commented on. Indeed, I did some local motif playing at few bars but then some disconnected new 'thing' coming. I need to practice more to keep going on the flow.
    And your comments on the "silence" make lot of sense too, it seems that I was trying hard to not leave "spaces" but they are part of it as much as the notes I guess, I just need to be mature that aspect of my playing.
    Overall I'm super flattered by your kind words and encouragement, for sure helps me keep motivated. Thanks so much!

  10. #9

    User Info Menu

    Ah, tried it on an actual computer.

    I think you sound great...A lot of good things going on here. With time, yeah, develop your ideas a bit more, but this is a great start.

    If I was giving any points to work on, I would say to watch your time when you get "notey-er" with your playing. Sometimes it sounds like you're trying to fit a few extra notes in on a run, and your feel, which is generally really good, falls off.

  11. #10
    In fact I felt myself a "bit off" the flow of the tune in these passages, I will work on that too
    Thank you very much for your feedback

  12. #11

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by vitorlds
    In fact I felt myself a "bit off" the flow of the tune in these passages, I will work on that too
    Thank you very much for your feedback
    Really glad you put it out there. We grow enormously by getting feedback from others. If your perspectives are always evolving, you're becoming a better player.

  13. #12

    User Info Menu

    Nice!

    The only comment I'd offer is that you seemed to be altering the vanilla changes in both the comping and soloing.

    Nothing wrong with that, but, sometimes, the alterations seemed at odds with each other. That's easier to deal with in a band where you're adjusting on the fly than in a home recording project (assuming that was one player, overdubbing).