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Best way to dive into jazz (guitar)???


MoogProDG

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Posted

Ive been listening to alot of jazz stuff lately-

 

Is there like a standards book out there that can give me a good jump start? or any "tricks"

 

Or should i invest the money in a teacher (classical teachers dont work for me... never really tried a jazz teacher... or books for that matter)

 

 

I am really interested in learning this style... so any help would be great~!! thanks so much!:confused:

Posted

Four things are all you need, three of which you've mentioned:


1) Listen to a lot of jazz. Records will always be the best teachers for learning the vocabulary of jazz and picking up tricks to use in your playing.


2) Get a fakebook. A fakebook is a collection of commonly played tunes, with the melody written on a staff and chord changes written above the staff. The best one to get, as it is the most widely used by jazz players, is the "Real Book." The original one is hard to come by because it is an under the counter purchase as it doesn't pay royalties to the songwritters. Hal Leonard Publishing just released a legal version of it (subtitled the"Sixth Edition" as the illegal one everyone uses is the "Fifth Edition"). You can pick it up for about $25, which is actually cheaper than the original. The Hal Leonard one is very faithful to the original book, with some minor changes.

3) Find a teacher/read books. There's a lot involved in playing jazz, whether it be theory, licks, approaches to playing tunes, accompaning, etc. A good teacher will help out a lot and critique your playing, and I've found books to be a great suppliment on common topics like accompaning, soloing, chord voicings, etc.

4) Get out and play! I gig quite frequently now playing jazz, but I still try to make it out to jam sessions as often as possible. It's the perfect forum for trying out the new things you've been working on, playing with new people, learning new tunes you hadn't heard before, and otherwise keeping you on your toes and revealing your weaknesses to you. If you can, also try to find a person or two to regularly get together with and just play some tunes with. Just get out there and play!

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Posted

Originally posted by Poparad

1) Listen to a lot of jazz. Records will always be the best teachers for learning the vocabulary of jazz and picking up tricks to use in your playing.

 

 

And while you're doing this do not forget to listen to the live stuff with Charlie Christian from Minton's Playhouse. That is the foundation of electric jazz guitar and it's still extremely important music.

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