How to Play Jazz II

[trebledamage]

The first "How to Play Jazz" thread was so controversial (who would have thought?) that I just felt there had to be a sequel. What helpful information could you offer to someone who is just starting to learn how to play jazz? Are there any guitar tricks that you have learned over the years that helped make learning jazz easier for you?

[lalimacefolle]

the first thing I've done was listening to a LOOOOT of jazz records, eventually, that's what works on the long run...
When I started playing jazz licks, what I would do was put chromatic notes in between the tone of the pentatonic minor
---------------------------5-7-8
---------------------5-7-8------
---------------5-6-7------------
---------5-6-7------------------
----5-6-7-----------------------
-5-8----------------------------

Then you have to find the swing. Let's take a beat that has two eight notes:

If you are a math addict, you have to make the first note of a beat last 66% of the beat.

If you can count to 3, you have to make the first note last the 1 and the 2, and the other last only the 3.

If you can only feel it, try to emphasize the first note, and make the other one lighter...

There's nothing really academic about all of the above, but it worked for me...

[lalimacefolle]

By the way folks, let's make this thread technical and about jazz... Anything that will involve pointless criticism and put down will be deleted...

[trebledamage]

Playing the chord changes for many of the jazz standards would also be very helpful. If you play aenough of them, you will find that many of the patterns start to repeat themselves from song to tsong. There was a really good site for many of the jazz standard songs listed on this site.

http://guitar-primer.com/Charts/index2.html

If you are not familiar with many of the commonly used jazz chord forms, check out Mickey Baker's Complete Course in Jazz Guitar. That will give you a starting point for playing chords.

[trebledamage]

This particular thread had much more activity when trash talking was permitted.

[trebledamage]

I guess jazz is dead.

[lalimacefolle]

Well, I hope not!! Or maybe everybody has understood how NOT to play it in the other thread...

[snimbkar]

Originally posted by lalimacefolle
Well, I hope not!! Or maybe everybody has understood how NOT to play it in the other thread...

Maybe you guys will know if this is true or not. I had heard that when DiMeola was @ Berkelee, He would put a Music stand+lamp, and a chair in his walk-in closet,enter with his guitar, shut the door and not come out for 6 hours. Have you guys heard that rumor? If that's what it takes, THAT is the secret to playing jazz. I only wish I had that kind of dedication.

[lalimacefolle]

That's what Joe PASS did too, except it was his dad that locked him in the closet. And that's not a rumor.

[trebledamage]

That method might be just what I need to stay focused on music and tune out everything else around me. I find that whenever I sit down to practice, a million things come up that need to be tended to. It's really annoying sometimes.

[lalimacefolle]

I think that concentration, in any form of art or work, is your best friend. Steve VAI talks about that in his
articles on his site.

[snimbkar]

Originally posted by lalimacefolle
I think that concentration, in any form of art or work, is your best friend. Steve VAI talks about that in his
articles on his site.

Was that Link I posted helpful to you? Is that what you were looking for?

[lalimacefolle]

actually, the guy had only put the first few pages of the workout...

[nechako]

part of my yebula guitar meditation courses involves jazz,..I'm actually a jazz monk. It lives through us.

[snimbkar]

Originally posted by nechako
part of my yebula guitar meditation courses involves jazz,..I'm actually a jazz monk. It lives through us.

Eh?

[nechako]

I'm a self proclaimed jazz monk. I live in a very isolated region of the world, emotionally more than anything, the people here are really inbread. I meditate and teach guitar a lot.

[lalimacefolle]

Originally posted by snimbkar
Eh?

Dude, if you know steve VAI, it isn't weirder than what he says.
What do Jazz monks do??? I personally use zen guitar, thanks to Philip sudo, it's no prank http://www.zenguitar.com

[nechako]

every day I get up around noon, drink too much coffee, skip lunch and breakfast, then go to work. I then proceed to eat a box of chips ahoy, more coffee...then back to my web design job. After work I ride around town on my bike for relaxation purposes as rednecks blast by me with loud mufflered trucks. I teach guitar in the early evening, eat pizza for dinner, more coffee...and then a few hours of Yebula meditation. At night I dream imaginary guitar solos that would irritate executive kinds of people, usually astral travel to Isereal or Mars or some place like that. Perhaps some days a sage smudge with candles as I practice Yebula.....Travel in your dreams to the Nebula of Yebula I'll meet you there...no joke the planet is reaaly a big brain we are all cells and can communicate in many ways. "fornication of communication", my next recording...lok for my website in the spring.

[lalimacefolle]

you have made the interesting part too short.
I'll tell you the kind of stuff I want to know.
As a zen guitarist, I believe that everyone was put on earth to make his or her noise, be it music, or speech. So I consider that any form of music is pure. I try to help new players, and I try to learn from great players, I do not admire them, but their craft.

That's the kind of stuff I want to know. Try not to be too esoteric for a start.

[nechako]

If this is who I truly am , would it not be unwise to pretend otherwise?

[lalimacefolle]

Originally posted by nechako
and then a few hours of Yebula meditation.

that's the interesting part...

[nechako]

IN Yebula one has infinite probability of melody not even restricted to the 12 chromatic notes.

[Bardsley]

Aaah, so that's how you play jazz!
Actually, Charlie Parker was another one of those cupboard guys. He was playing in a nightclub when a fairly well respected sax player made a criticism of his playing. He then spent something like 24 hours straight practising and blew the guys mind next time he heard him. Can't remember the details, but it is a true story.

[nechako]

should we out speak our fellow man/women or speak with them communicating teaching? Is music a competition or artform? In training I learned it only takes one shot to hit a target not a thousand.

[crazyguy]

Aaah, so I'm not the only one with dream music that makes me want to give up life for a few years and play guitar instead... Oh, such tempting thoughts... Do we really need food and air and stuff?

[nechako]

one must maintain and respect the body and meet one's needs and resposibilities in order to attain enlightenment of Yebula. You know food rent bills etc. I don't see it as taking time away from life studying music I see it as emersing myself in life, the life I want to live, and the universe follows with support for this commitement. Yebula enlightenment isn't a destination or skill level, its a realization of the process of life/music and a true acceptance and joy of that with all the ups and downs.

[Edited by nechako on 01-21-2002 at 04:06 PM]

[lalimacefolle]

Originally posted by nechako
one must maintain and respect the body and meet one's needs and resposibilities in order to attain enlightenment of Yebula.

SO DON'T you eat Big macs....

[nechako]

mclean deluxes, 'bib' macs, all dat good stuff. I'm not a holliwood monk, I am an existing one, he who exists in this world.

[Edited by nechako on 01-21-2002 at 04:12 PM]

[snimbkar]

....or anything else for that matter can be summed up by Thomas Edison...


"Genius is 1% inspiration, and 99% perspiration"


That's The secret to playing guitar and the secret to life.

[nechako]

Is that why so many self inflated genius's stink? And there are no secrets to life only people who have the audacity to maintain the illusion that there is, to fool others into thinking that they are more than human, and should be worshiped and bragged about; as soon as you search you move away from the truth into illusion,..."we are searching for something that has already found us.." ; who said dat dawgs.

[Edited by nechako on 01-21-2002 at 06:25 PM]

[lalimacefolle]

self inflated geniuses aren't geniuses...

[snimbkar]

Originally posted by nechako
Is that why so many self inflated genius's stink?

[Edited by nechako on 01-21-2002 at 06:25 PM]


self inflated geniuses? I lost you.

[nechako]

self inflated meaning the person has the attitude and audacity to convince you they are something special however they are full of Ka Ka. You know the one ,the guy in high school that could play a few bars of ice nine or metalica and everyone bragged that they knew him but looking back he couldn't play dirt didly, but he had the tea shirt, long hair, drug addiction and cool lingo of a "rock" star: woops sorry I'm going off on my 80's rock bashing again.

[snimbkar]

Well The point of my post was to illustrate the wisdom of Edison's quote. Think about it, No matter how "gifted" a player is, There is not one Pro out there who has not practiced for thousands or hundreds of thousands of hours.They may have had the "germ" of a unique idea , but without the refinement of that through practice their contributions/ "genius" would never have been recognized.

Nobody, Not, Dimeola,Henderson, Hendrix, Satch,McLaughlin,Segovia, etc... simply picked up a guitar one day and blew everyone away, just like Michael Jordan didn't become the greatest ever without shooting thousands of free throws.

I guess the point is, with a little luck and A LOT of hard work , success can come to almost everybody, however you define success.

[nechako]

I am glad someone out there brought this up, and explained it very well. When I was younger I was always intimidated by people who could put on the facade that they were born able to play anything they wanted by some miracle and blessing that no one but them had and they must be worshiped. Hoey! Every one must crawl before walking no exceptions, I found out later that these people practiced the same stuff over and over for years, and when they said they were playing something from ear on the spot it was from memory and they were fooling musicaly illiterate people to inflate their egos, I know because I tested them on it; I would play a simple jazz progression and say " well then play this,...I very rarely met someone who could,..unless they were humble read music studied properly and were honest. People who play just with their ears must tear the hell out of their ear lobes, I encourage my students to strum with a pick.

[lalimacefolle]

You can also sell your soul to the devil. I'm too dang lazy to work for years....

I actually believe that geniuses, even though they need to work, get way more results in the same amount of time. Someone has brought up Jaco. He learned to sight read in ONE YEAR!! Come on, guys work 8 to 12 years to have a decent reading skill... I could go on and on about those exemples.

[nechako]

I learned to sight read in about the same amount of time and I am no genious, I just kept at it. A good method helps, Aaron Shearer's classical method works. All a genious is is someone who has a little more r.a.m on there computer, how you use the info is important. Three notes by BB king can blow the socks off any 3 year old prodigy that can play every mozart tune like a good little juke box. Oh and the devil's promises never pan out just look at Telsa, Toto, and a host of other 80's bands that sold their souls.