Spending a lot time on tunes

[brent.h]

..

[James W]

That's nice.

I'm sort of the opposite, in that much if not most my time is spent developing stuff to play over changes - or not even that, technique and scales. It's possible I get bogged down in preparatory work but at the same time at the moment I am playing the long game so to speak. Obviously I still transcribe but not generally in the way you do.

I'd say I have a pickier relationship to the repertoire you mention. I guess generally speaking I prefer post-WWII stuff.

I plan on really shedding thoroughly just a few tunes so that I can at least sound good on something! Rather than spreading myself thin as I see it on learning loads of tunes... I reckon those with more talent or who learn more quickly probably don't have this predicament.

[GuyBoden]

When I was younger, I played many (and any) songs from sheet notation badly, so nowadays I only learn songs by memory and play them badly.

[Stringswinger]

Joe Pass once was asked what the most important advice he could give an aspiring jazz guitarist. Joe's answer was "Learn tunes, chicks dig guys who know tunes".

[AllanAllen]

Part of me wonders if I can get away with only using fragments of melodies as licks instead of copping long complicated licks from jazz greats.

This is very common in jazz. Check out this transcription of an Ed Bickert solo where he quotes the song melody, You and the Night and The Music as well as But Not For Me

[benhatchins]

enjoy it! Spending time on tunes is one of the best ways to improve. Repetition really helps build confidence and muscle memory. It’s kind of like grinding through levels on epic games epic-games.pissedconsumer.com/review.html until things click. What styles are you focusing on right now? Consistency makes a big difference. Keep at it.

[emanresu]

Sure. Classical guitar. Piece is ready and sounds good, playing it over and over increases the enjoyment.
Or playing a groovy thing of some rhythm-music type, the enjoyment increases.