The Jazz Beginnings...

[contiContiCONTI]

Wazzapnin guys,

So after playing mostly blues and atmospheric type music (slow and clean) for most of my playing years, I have grown very bored of my solos, and therefore made the decision to start learning jazz and hopefully in the future be able to apply jazz runs and ideas into my playing.

Just looking for general advice and tips of how to start on the right path. There's so much to learn that it's hard to know where to start. So far I have looked at various chords (dom7, dom7flat5, dom7sharp5, sharp9, flat9, 13 all of those ones) and some arpeggios and common chord progressions (2, 5, 1 ect..). However I still find it difficult to apply these at all.

Any advice appretiated, even atrists to listen to!

Cheers!

[Gtrjunior]

Re: The Jazz Beginnings...

I’d suggest taking lessons if that is possible.

[contiContiCONTI]

Re: The Jazz Beginnings...

I’d suggest taking lessons if that is possible.

That would be the best way of course but I don't have the funds unfortunately :/

Do you think its essential?

[Gtrjunior]

The Jazz Beginnings...

That would be the best way of course but I don't have the funds unfortunately :/

Do you think its essential?

Well, I think that you can teach yourself things from watching YouTube etc, but you’re really just scratching the surface that way. If you want an in-depth knowledge and practical application of deeper theory I feel that yes, lessons from the right teacher are essential.
I’ve been playing 30 years. I’m a competent player. But a couple of years ago began lessons again.
Why? Because I want to know more, apply more and be a better player.
I am on my second teacher now. The first guy was a great player (Berkelee grad) but his teaching style and my learning style were a bit different and I felt I wasn’t getting what I needed from those lessons. The guy now, has a teaching style that meshes well with my learning style.
Sometimes a lesson is purely talking....you talk about a particular concept, a particular way to think about a concept. Those are very valuable lessons to me.
Like I said, I can already play. But sometimes the challenge is to change the way I think about things on the guitar or music in general.
Most YouTube lessons are:
“ Here...play these licks”. But you end up not really knowing how or why they work. You just know how to play it in the examples given in the video.
I’m not at all saying those licks/lessons are worthless...heck, I watch those vids too. But licks without knowledge eventually is a dead end road.

Just my opinion.


But yes, lessons are not cheap so I can understand trying to find alternative ways to learn.

[contiContiCONTI]

Re: The Jazz Beginnings...

Well, I think that you can teach yourself things from watching YouTube etc, but you’re really just scratching the surface that way. If you want an in-depth knowledge and practical application of deeper theory I feel that yes, lessons from the right teacher are essential.
I’ve been playing 30 years. I’m a competent player. But a couple of years ago began lessons again.
Why? Because I want to know more, apply more and be a better player.
I am on my second teacher now. The first guy was a great player (Berkelee grad) but his teaching style and my learning style were a bit different and I felt I wasn’t getting what I needed from those lessons. The guy now, has a teaching style that meshes well with my learning style.
Sometimes a lesson is purely talking....you talk about a particular concept, a particular way to think about a concept. Those are very valuable lessons to me.
Like I said, I can already play. But sometimes the challenge is to change the way I think about things on the guitar or music in general.
Most YouTube lessons are:
“ Here...play these licks”. But you end up not really knowing how or why they work. You just know how to play it in the examples given in the video.
I’m not at all saying those licks/lessons are worthless...heck, I watch those vids too. But licks without knowledge eventually is a dead end road.

Just my opinion.


But yes, lessons are not cheap so I can understand trying to find alternative ways to learn.

Yeah that's sprt of the same idea as me, I can play the things I feel comfortable with but I want to expand into uncomfortable territory.

I guess I could afford a couple of lessons. Do you think 2 half hour lessons would be beneficial in any way (I know this is very little), but just enough to get me on some track? Or would it be a waste of money if it's just 2 lessons?

[Gtrjunior]

The Jazz Beginnings...

Yeah that's sprt of the same idea as me, I can play the things I feel comfortable with but I want to expand into uncomfortable territory.

I guess I could afford a couple of lessons. Do you think 2 half hour lessons would be beneficial in any way (I know this is very little), but just enough to get me on some track? Or would it be a waste of money if it's just 2 lessons?

I guess you never know until you try. Maybe the teacher will give you a free consultation where you can talk about your goals/budget.
I do Skype lessons. 2 per month, every other Saturday. They are half hour lessons but we go over time often.

[Mincer]

Re: The Jazz Beginnings...

If you don't like what you are playing, stop playing it. Erase the muscle memory, stock licks, and boring solos. Don't play on auto-pilot, and be present with your note choices. Learning something new, however you do it, is never a bad thing. Listen to more interesting music and musicians, especially music you don't understand yet.

[Clint 55]

Re: The Jazz Beginnings...

Learn tunes. If you can't read the melody, teach yourself. You don't have to be able to sight read it in tempo, but you can get to the point quickly where you can figure out how the melody should go by listening and reading. Start with just learning the melody. Then learn the chords. Then play the chords with the melody above. Then work out solo ideas by playing the arpeggios. Leave your hand in one spot and play the 1st chord up then connect it to the next chord going down and continue. I've found this exercise the quickest way to sound musical.

[contiContiCONTI]

Re: The Jazz Beginnings...

All great advice as always, thank you!!

Will incoporate all these tips into my practice routine and jam sessions.