How to Play Jazz II

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?

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...

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...

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.

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

I guess jazz is dead.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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?

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

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

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

Eh?

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.

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

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.

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.

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