Jazz Festivals » Chord Changes

Learn Jazz Improvisation With Chord Exercises

admin2 — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 09:09:55 +0000

If you’d like to learn jazz improvisation, or learn to improvise in general, you’ve come to the right place!

Jazz improvisation is often viewed as the hardest part of learning jazz. The masters have left behind many tips and exercises though. Unfortunately people often hear these tips but never act upon them. So please take action on these tips to “learn jazz”.

When you have a song you’d like to improvise on, follow these preparatory exercises.

1. Listen listen listen! Buy CDs and vinyl records and listen to the jazz masters. Get as many versions of the song as you can.

2. Find sheet music (chord changes are the important thing). Try memorizing the changes, and just go through them in your head.

3. Figure out what the chord is for each chord change. Finding the chord and scale of each change will help you learn to improvise.

4. Once you know the chord, run up the chord 1-3-5-7 in eight notes over the change.

5. Then do 1-3-5-9. These steps may seem silly, but it will help you learn jazz, learn jazz improvisation, and learn to improvise.

6. Try both step 4 and 5 backwards. Go 7-5-3-1 and 9-5-3-1.

7. Then invert the chord as many ways as you like. Go 3-5-7-1, 5-7-1-3, 7-1-3-5, 3-1-5-7, etc. etc. Do every possible combination.

That’s a lot of work right there. And these are just preparatory exercises. And of those exercises, these are just chords! We still have scales AND scale tones to worry about.

This seems like a lot of work, and it is. If you follow this, you will quickly learn jazz improvisation, and learn how to improvise.

By: Bobby Jackin

How to Use Jazz Patterns and Still Sound Original

admin2 — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 07:26:40 +0000

So…back again to the old dilemma. Do I have to learn licks or make them on the spot? I just want to be myself… I don’t want to sound like anybody else… sounds familiar?

Well, I was there, years ago in my late teens, when my guitar teacher wanted me to transcribe Wes Montgomery’s solos and learn them by heart. I just wanted to sound fresh, original… I just wanted to be myself. And learning somebody else’s guitar solos felt like repressing my creative instinct.

Guess what… I still want to be free from having to keep in mind licks. But I can’t help remembering them while I play… confused? You should be.

You see, a great deal of what you do today is the result of what you learned in the past… consciously and unconsciously. The words that you use, the gestures you make when you speak, and yes… the music you play when you solo on the guitar come from what you learned in the past.

Your brain acquired that information and internalized it. Filtered and reorganized it. This information is stored in your long-term memory and accessed every time it is needed to carry out a task that requires it.

So, when you are soloing, you are using all the information you have stored in your brain until that moment. However, the output will be filtered once again by your neurology and will also be the result of the adaptation to a specific context (a song with different chord changes for example, where you need to transpose the original key of your licks).

In other words, you’ll be playing original solos using the patterns that you studied. Voila’!

This seems quite easy to understand logically. It is a COMPLETELY different story when it comes to performing.

Have you ever been in a situation when in the middle of a solo you start thinking: “Maybe I should play a fast lick now”, or: “this is too simple…I should play something more complex…” And while you are busy saying that, you realize that you just lost the song form or your creative train of thought.

So how do you let the music come out and use your memory to your advantage?
I thought you’d never ask…

Try this: sit down and breathe deeply 4 or 5 times. Then from that state, play whatever note feels right, with no timing, following no harmonic setting. Just do this for 5 minutes. Don’t worry if it sounds terrible…

In fact, your goal should be sounding bad… as bad as you can… just let go of any judgment and let your fingers move as if they were 4 little mice on the fretboard. And whenever you catch yourself thinking, stop… just stop playing.

Then, as soon the 5 minutes have past, stop, get up and do something else. Do this every time you practice soloing, especially after you have been practicing within specific restrictions. Very soon you’ll be able to find this state of mind while you are playing your solos and you’ll find that you are capable of playing with more “taste” and creativity than you can possibly think of. Just leave worry and fear of being judged out of your mind. Enjoy your music… have fun.

Good Luck

By: Francesco Amico

Marc Antoine "Mediterraneo" Smooth Jazz Music CD Review

admin2 — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 01:25:25 +0000

The very talented Spanish guitar playing Marc Antoine has once again created some of the worlds most beautiful music with the release of his latest CD, Mediterraneo.

Antoine, now clearly on a roll, has developed himself into one of those rare musicians who upon hearing them gives you the impression that he is in total command of his instrument. Causing it to perform in a way that no one else can, or would dare try to duplicate.

I have myself been a big Marc Antoine fan for a few years now but this is by far the most awesome, creative and inspiring work he has produced.

It is an excellent smooth jazz CD and just about the only thing playing in my CD player these days. Listening to it over and over again, I’m finding there’s always something I failed to hear the first, second, third… tenth time.

Mediterraneo is a gem of a CD in that there are literally no wasted tracks. Each one is a masterpiece.

There is just something about GOOD Spanish guitar that engages your imagination and transports you to new and exotic locations. Not to mention the grand smile that it produces. I guess what I’m saying is it generates happy music.

Overall Mediterraneo is smile producing stuff. What I call, must have music. I give it two thumbs up.

Even the casual smooth jazz fan will appreciate and enjoy Antoine’s very nice chord changes, and good mix of styles.

The standout tunes are Funky Picante [track 2], Mediterraneo [track 3], and Senor Groove [track 7]. My SmoothLee Bonus Pick, and the one that got Sore [...as in "Stuck On REpeat"] is track 9, Lady. Very nice!

Release Notes:

This CD was originally released September 23, 2003 on the Rendezvous record label.

CD track list follows:

1. Cuba Nova

2. Funky Picante

3. Mediterraneo

4. Preludio

5. Castellana Hood

6. Afromenco

7. Senor Groove

8. Gotham

9. Lady

10. Gringo

11. Alejandro’s Lullaby

By: Tom Milson

The Evolution of Jazz

admin — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 05:08:03 +0000

Jazz is an American form of music that has come from an interesting background and evolved into a worldwide genre. It roots are in blues and other African-American styles of music combined with the classical European musical system, and it largely started in the southern United States. While the term jazz may refer to many different things in the beginning it eventually evolved into a style comprised of improvisation, syncopation, swing, and blue notes. This base of jazz has constantly evolved over time to where we find it today.

Jazz improvisation originally started out as slight modifications and embellishments to the melodies of standard tunes. This changed into a harmonically based improvisation style where the soloist uses notes based on the harmony of the tune to construct a sometimes completely new solo line. With this development, jazz improvisation started on a course towards some of the most technically proficient and impressive improvisation of all time in the bebop era, characterized by lightning fast runs of notes over highly complex and frequent chord changes. Once this style had reached its zenith, the jazz world reacted by moving in a new direction; minimal chord changes and slower tempos of the modal jazz era, started by Miles Davis.

From here, jazz has evolved more in instrumentation and overall style rather than in improvisational philosophy. Miles Davis also helped bring about new forms of fusion and experimental jazz. In the 70s and 80s, bands got started mixing jazz with the funk and popular music of the time. All of these developments have spread jazz to new listeners and new places.

Today you find too many different types of jazz to mention. There are neo-traditionalists, modern players who use traditional arrangement but play with new harmonic and structural elements, a huge number of different types of fusion, and finally, the widespread addition of electronic music elements to jazz. Electronic jazz represents a new direction and ability for jazz to appeal to different music lovers and increase the ability to jazz musicians to arrange and compose their music. A new era of jazz should be provided by the addition of electronic music and modern recording technology. Look for this new style of electronic jazz to have an impact soon.

There are already many jazz musicians who have redefined themselves with electronic jazz, which enables them to make use of more types of sounds in their recordings and enables them to craft more precise compositions.

By: Randal Stevens

Hearing the Song in Jazz Guitar – Memorizing Tunes

admin — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 04:15:27 +0000

If you’re serious about learning to play jazz guitar, you will need to memorize a few standard tunes. Many people already know this, and the first place they head to is to a fakebook. They’ll try to learn some tunes that way and wonder why their playing ends up being rigid.

We don’t want to say that a fakebook isn’t a great tool, but there are other ways to learn that we would like you, as the jazz guitar player, to open yourself to. For example, you can always learn some of your favorite tunes by listening to them over and over and then learning to play them during your jazz guitar lessons or practice time.

- Hear the song. One way to learn a tune for your gypsy jazz guitar is to listen to a tune over and over. Keep listening to it until it becomes so embedded in your mind and heart that you’ve memorized the tune even when it isn’t playing on a CD. Doing this will help you replay the song and harmonize it in different chords and transitions.

- Once you’ve got the tune memorized, find the tune on your fretboard. If it helps, you might also consider hooking up jazz guitar amps to help you hear and give it a more “real play” feel to your practice. Sing the tune and try to figure out the notes going back and forth until you’ve learned the tune. Don’t be concerned about playing it in the right key, just be concerned with learning the play the tune. Remember to add in learning the chord changes and you might also want to add in your own substitutions for the tune.

As you’re learning to play jazz guitar this way, you’re also learning to hear the song and replay it on your jazz guitar. If you stick to the music sheets, you might find that you’ll have a harder time feeling the music and putting some “soul” into it.

While your play might be technically correct, it will still lack the essence of the song. You decided to become a jazz guitar player because you somehow connected with the music, not because you wanted to be a technically great player.

If you learn how to hear a song and then recreate it, you’ll be taking yourself through an important learning activity that sets the foundation for your improvisations and solos down the line. You see, you’ll need to learn how to hear the music naturally before you begin doing improvisations.

Imagine how you’d feel if you were able to learn a new tune this way. You’d feel pretty motivated to stick with your jazz guitar learning and you might even be inspired to delve deeper into the art of playing jazz guitar.

By: Logan Young

Jazz Piano and Style

admin — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 20:42:34 +0000

The piano or keyboard is an instrument that can be played in a solo performance or it can be part of a band. Jazz bands make heavy use of pianos since jazz began. The reason for this is that pianos along with guitars are some of the few instruments in a jazz band that can play chords in addition to a melody or counter melody.

In the past, a jazz pianists main role was to keep tempo with a combination of repetitive chords, but in recent years this has changed. Jazz pianists now days are able to select from a multitude of styles and techniques that they will use to accompany a band or singer. Short and sustained chordal or melodic fragments are used.

Experienced jazz pianists are not only great at sight-reading, but can also improvise chord symbols and adapt to the various playing styles of jazz bands. A jazz pianist must balance this improvisation and interpretation with the music style of the band.

The extended range that the piano provides also helps a jazz pianist with creating unique sounds that other instruments in the jazz band can not create.

Jazz pianists have 3 goals that they aim to achieve while they are playing. The first is to provide a clear rhythm and swing. The second is to play a melody or improvised solo with the right hand. Jazz pianists are also expected to help guide the band into chord changes with the help of notes leading up to the chord change.

It is quite a challenge for pianists to meet these 3 demands at the same time. Most jazz pianists are quite skilled in this art and are able to maintain this while planning unique improvisations.

If the intend to be great at playing the piano in a jazz band, you need to master these styles and techniques.

By: Mary Nicole Hicks

Practice Jazz Using Space Age Online Tools

admin — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:09:27 +0000

It is not unusual for young men and women who are full of God given talent and music enthusiasm to want to dive right in and begin sitting in with musicians who have been around for many years and know how to capture an audience with their playing. To the young “want-to-bees” they just can’t wait for their chance to show what they can do. But for many of these young musicians, their first sit-in with experienced musicians did not yield a happy ending.

One of the problems young musicians have with trying to break into the jazz scene, accord to many seasoned jazz musicians, is they don’t know the tunes. It just stands to reason, “How can young musicians play with seasoned jazz musicians if they don’t know the tunes?” The only way for up and coming musicians to learn and memorize a large number of jazz tunes are through hard work and many hours of practice. Practice, practice, and more practice is the key to becoming an exceptional jazz musician who will eventually be able to play with the best, anywhere at anytime. Getting to that point is not an impossible feat, but it takes a level head and strong determination to achieve. But first, above all you must learn the correct changes for every song you play. This is key!!

In the old days, there was no internet, nor sophisticate music software applications, nor notation software that could bring the music to you in a laid out form. Musicians of old had to spend the time necessary to figure out chord changes, melodic patterns and solo arrangements. Many musicians put an album on the turntable and turned the speed back in order to “cop” the runs and solo changes played by Oscar Peterson and many other great jazz pioneers.

Today it’s a different story. If you want to learn the tunes- which basically mean the jazz Standards- and play them well, there are a number of internet based sites available to get you there. An internet site that is very visual and jazz education based is the site sponsored by Doug McKenzie at http://www.bushgrafts.com/jazz/home.htm. Doug McKenzie also has great educational videos on YouTube for jazz pianists. It’s a great online tool for all jazz instrumentalists.

A great new online jazz practice tool is provided at www.studiobypass.com. StudioBypass allows you to select from over 400 jazz and Latin tunes, listen to and manipulate the song of your choice, edit the final output, then download it onto your computer for future practice sessions. It is a fantastic practice tool for new up-and-coming jazz musicians, and also for seasoned jazz professionals. It’s a new day for jazz musicians, and space age tools are available to help you to become better-than-average jazz musicians.

By: Akhila Choudhary

Jazz Piano and Style

admin — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:38:55 +0000

Jazz Guitar Chords Online

admin — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 06:20:38 +0000

Learning jazz chords online can be confusing and frustrating to
say the least. Just when the budding jazz guitarist thinks
they’ve stumbled onto something along comes another version of
the same song with a completely different set of chords.

For our present discussion, we’ll limit our observations and
suggestions to learning jazz chords online, however a quick
browse through any well stocked sheet music store will reveal the
same issues that any aspiring jazz guitarist must learn to
overcome.

The choice of chords the guitarists selects has a significant
effect on the soloist’s choice of notes in their solos and
presentation of the melody.

There’s an endless list of possible chords, chord inversions,
chord substitutions etc. that can totally blind side the newbie
jazz player. In fact, the task is often so overwhelming that the
avalanche of information swamps the guitarist with an enormous
amount of stuff they do not have to learn.

So,before trotting off to another jazz guitar website in search
of the lost chord, here’s a few things to think about to pin your
ear on straight!

Focus your jazz studies on specific objectives: a great idea is
to learn the chord changes to “jazz standards”.

Jazz standards are tunes that working musicians are likely to
encounter at any time. Too often, guitarists with a rock or
country background wishing to move into jazz don’t know the tunes
that are the common currency of players in all styles of jazz.

Here’s a sample list of 20 jazz standards:

1. Autumn Leaves

2. All The Things You are

3. All Of Me

4. Ain’t Misbehavin’

5. C Jam Blues

6. I Got Rhythm

7. Have You Met Miss Jones

8. Out Of Nowhere

9. I Cover The Waterfront

10.Satin Doll

11.Misty

12.Summertime

13.St.Louis Blues

14.Watch What Happens

15.Lullaby Of Birdland

16.Sweet Georgia Brown

17.Georgis

18.Take The ‘A’ Train

19.Stormy Weather

20.There Will Never Be Another You

There are many books that show how to use chord substitutions,
but if the basic chord changes are not known, substitutions and
embellishments often confuse the improviser and the listener.

When the musician is learning jazz guitar chords online, it’s
essential to learn the basic set of chords for the jazz
standards.

Chord substitutions to basic chords are usually determined by the
melody notes and the style of music being played.

The point is that guitar players can become totally absorbed in
jazz chord manuals that teach chord substitution etc., without
firstly learning the basic set of chords.

Keep in mind that while the melody of a jazz tune is usually
presented in an accurate manner in standard sheet music, the
harmonic changes are rarely suitable for a jazz performance.

Once the guitarist learns the skills of being able to uncover the
basic chord changes to jazz standards, they can then re harmonize
the harmonic background many different ways to reflect the way
they wish to present a particular piece of music.

Understanding how to strip back the chords also helps the
guitarist see many similarities in the small number of chord
templates that thousands of jazz tunes are composed over, which
helps us remember tunes.

I repeat, The essential skill to learn is to be able to ’see’
(de-code), and ‘hear’ the basic set of chords.

The purpose of learning the basic set of chords when you are
learning jazz chords online is to help the jazz player learn the
basic changes and allow the player to add embellishments and
substitutions on a solid framework.

By: Mike P Hayes