The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
Reply to Thread Bookmark Thread
Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Posts 26 to 35 of 35
  1. #26

    User Info Menu

    Rpjazzguitar, I just used your Nunes anecdote as a launching point. That’s it.

  2.  

    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #27

    User Info Menu

    Sometimes I play licks every jazz guitarist I ever heard played licks. Some manage to do it better and make some real sense. I would not discount anything when it comes to learning jazz. I listen to things over and over just to get a feel for what is going on without actually playing the exact solo note for note. In the end melody is what makes the music and most of the stuff that I listen to these days melody means the most. So for me that would be Chet Baker who just swings and plays very nice melodic lines. Lately I went back to listening to the classic Joe Pass Catch Me sessions. If you listen to this Joe certainly has licks at least to my ears, in places all over the recording. But what seems to stand out is the rhythm and phasing he is using and making connections that appear almost like a melody instead of improvisation. After awhile I get pretty nauseated with guitar diarrhea playing that sometimes occurs.

    Arps, scales, licks, and anything else but melody is where we all seem to smile. Once I was playing before Mass in the Chapel on retreat. I used a borrowed guitar that was a awful cheap flattop. All I did was play Amazing Grace, and few hymns with 3 note triads basically. It would be called the most basic playing by anyone on this forum almost at the rote beginning level compared to Tim Lerch. However one of the Nuns came over and said that was absolutely beautiful music and playing. I mean she meant it with her whole heart. She played a little guitar herself. I tell you to this day it stands out in my mind.

  4. #28

    User Info Menu

    People learn stuff in different ways.

  5. #29

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by Christian Miller
    People learn stuff in different ways.
    This is the most beautiful thing.
    Most jazz education gives you the opportunity to play with different musicians.
    It's a dream that the musicians you play with are better than you.
    Last edited by kris; 02-08-2022 at 03:26 AM.

  6. #30

    User Info Menu

    I already said that.

    So probably let each one find his own way. We all have our ways of learning and finding out.

  7. #31

    User Info Menu

    It's my goal to improvise and build on what I play in the moment, however I think using a couple licks or rhythmic motifs that I already have in my head only helps with that.

  8. #32

    User Info Menu

    I think it's a philosophical, life-skill, psychological, spiritual, blaa-blaaa, issue as well as a musical one. The creative mind will use whatever it can but it's thinking for itself and is therefore creative. The dull mind won't, it just copies to be safe.

    That's the whole issue right there.

  9. #33

    User Info Menu

    "Who makes music?
    Those who have talent and skillfully use the language of jazz." Kris

    Hi, K,
    Great reply! Every time I read posts about playing Jazz, talent is, rarely, if ever mentioned. It's always about everything else as if talent isn't a major component in all creative endeavors. You can teach a person to write a clear, legible sentence . . . show someone how to paint a perfect Lily . . . or copy a Bird solo note for note . . . but in order to have creativity, you must have talent. Otherwise, your efforts are a one-dimensional mish-mosh of mimicry. This is why we still listen to musicians who played over 100 years ago who didn't have the advantage of University Jazz Programs, Youtube tutorials, and sophisticated home recording equipment that was relegated to only a few select recording studios in the past. And, that's why these musicians had a "voice" since they were developed in the dirty clubs and bars across the nation, night after night, rather than the hallowed halls of academia or in the seclusion of their bedroom studio playing with backing tracks. When did we stop thinking about music as Art? And, why? How can we let 10,000 people in a theater that only has 200 seats? Dreams are important in people's lives but it's the talent that gets you into the theater. And, the perverse notion of Music as a Math equation is why there are so few voices today that can compare to the music of the past where talent got you in the door and the rest was just time spent on the job developing your voice.
    Finally, it is my opinion that Art is reflected in the culture of Man. And, it morphs from generation to generation as we have seen in the flowering of Greek and Roman Science, Philosophy, Mathematics, through the Renaissance, the Age of Enlightenment, and recently in the Romantic Era through the mid-20th Century. But we cannot expect a culture in decline to produce great Art when the focus of people's lives are centered around cell phones, video games, Youtube, mindless sitcoms, celebrity lifestyles, and what material possession they buy on any given day that gives temporal meaning to their frivolous lives. And, it's not that our generation(s) do not have sentient beings mixed in the miasma but they are like Hemingway's "Islands in the Stream" and their opportunities are not based on real talent but how many hits they get on Youtube. Talent? Um . . . what mode am I supposed to play with the flat 9 chord????
    Marinero

  10. #34

    User Info Menu

    Great Post!
    Thanks Marinero

  11. #35

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by kris
    This is the most beautiful thing.
    Most jazz education gives you the opportunity to play with different musicians.
    It's a dream that the musicians you play with are better than you.
    Well in my case it represents an easily achievable goal.