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Jazz Guitar Tips and Tricks – Learning Jazz Guitar Playing

Posted by admin on October 29th, 2009 No Comments

Jazz is more complicated than any other music genres as far as playing guitar is concerned. But there are a lot of jazz guitar tips and tricks that you can use to make it easier for you and to help you become a better jazz player and a well-rounded guitarist.

At the top of the list of the important jazz guitar tips is knowing your scales and modes. Internalizing jazz guitar scales is considered to be one of the most challenging part of learning to play jazz because of the many scales to be learned and mastered. These scales provide the basis for the improvisational sound of jazz music.         

When it comes to modes, it becomes confusing because many guitar players call modes as scales. Technically, a mode is a scale but modes are used by many musicians to open doors to new sounds. Jazz players rely on the major and minor modes in setting the tone of their music. They use these to get the great flavors of music out of the scales aside from just using the full neck of their jazz guitars.

Other important jazz guitar tips include eliminating the feedback produced by the guitar, using a software to practice improvisation, and using a metronome in your practice to achieve good timing.

In learning to play jazz guitar, you should also learn and memorize the lyrics to help you recall the music better. Recording yourself will also give you a clear picture of how does your guitar playing sound.

And of course, you cannot play jazz guitar better if your guitar itself is not in a good condition. Before starting to play, check first if it needs some tweaking. You will know if it needs a tune-up when it begins to feel tiring to play.

The basic adjustments you need to do are in the truss rod, the bridge, height of the pickups and intonation. To ensure that the strings are on the proper height, you have to regulate the nut. Examine also the high and low frets and level them as needed.

In adjusting the intonation, do it in small increments and consider your ear’s accuracy in deciding the pitch between two notes. For more accurate results, use a highly accurate tuner with analog-style needle display.

Other helpful jazz guitar tips that will bring your performance to the highest level are ensuring the proper location of your guitar and your hands. The strap of your guitar should lift the instrument up to about midway on your chest. It will feel tighter but will give your left hand more mobility. Your right hand should not also exert much effort in picking out the notes.

To sum it up, you should be familiar with the important components of learning jazz guitar which include effective scale usage, harmonization, rhythm, melody and jazz chord improvisation.

Also, learning jazz guitar requires an astonishing skill that you can’t develop by just relying on your music sheets or music teachers alone, so keep in mind to practice and persevere.

By: Carolyn Anderson

Posted in Jazz Festivals

Jazz Improvisation is a Study in Theory

Posted by admin on October 29th, 2009 No Comments

Jazz has long been considered to be one of the most demanding forms of contemporary music to master. So much so, that many would be Jazz musicians will spend years learning music theory, alongside developing advanced playing techniques, simply to get a start in this fascinating musical genre.

The major difference between Jazz and most other forms of music is in the fact that improvisation is not only encouraged, it forms the very backbone of the style. Although there are many Jazz classics, no two musicians or bands will play these songs the same. They will follow the basic progression, but will be given a new inflection through personal and group improvisation.

The ability to play improvisations relies heavily upon two things; first the musicians creativity, and secondly upon the musicians knowledge of musical theory. Of course, there are many fine Jazz players out there who will tell you that they do not know any music theory. The simple truth of the matter is that they do, they just do not know it. They have spent years learning to play by ear, and although they cannot name the correct musical terms for what they do when they are playing, they are clearly demonstrating a deep knowledge of music theory at a base level.

For those wishing to take up playing Jazz, then a firm grounding in music theory is entirely recommended. Even the rhythm section of a Jazz band is encouraged to improvise and embellish the piece being played. Rhythm guitar players will be called upon to construct complex chord patterns, including augmented, diminished, 5th, 9th and 13th chords. They will also be expected to follow the soloist, should they decide to shift tempo, key or mode.

As a soloist, playing Jazz is all about creativity, backup up by an understanding of what they are doing musically. Many Jazz musicians, when questioned about scales, will smile and reply, “What is a scale? I don’t know any!” This is something of an insider’s Jazz joke, as most Jazz soloists play what they feel, not what they know works mathematically. Of course, this is far from the truth, but a Jazz player will have transcended standard scales in many ways. Instead, using their ear, they will be able to find step off points, into new scales and modes, shifting the music as they go. This of course, requires an immense amount of theoretical knowledge, either learned conventionally, or learned over years of playing by ear.

Playing Jazz can be one of the most rewarding experiences any guitar player is likely to experience. A good Jazz performance will see the musician develop ideas, and musical concepts on the fly, breathing fresh life into Jazz classics, while enthralling the audience like a true virtuoso. Although a thorough understanding of music theory is not a prerequisite for becoming a competent Jazz player, it can be seen as an effective short cut, removing the requirement to play Jazz for decades before becoming entirely competent in its application.

By: Bill Kernodle

Posted in Jazz Festivals

Jazz Guitar Theory – What is It?

Posted by admin on October 2nd, 2009 No Comments

Jazz as we know it now grew from a form of music that was passed directly from musician to musician without too much theory being involved. Jazz guitar theory is a collection of ideas and traditions that has grown over the decades of jazz playing.

The original jazz players did not need theory. They needed to know their guitars well enough to be able to provide part of the rhythm for other instruments in the band or to play solos if they were needed. The nature of guitar playing in jazz bands varied over the years and depended on whether the guitarist was in a big band or a small group.

Jazz guitar theory is the product of the need for jazz players to communicate musical ideas to one another. To pass these ideas on a guitarist needed to be able to read standard musical notation and, as jazz playing became more sophisticated, he needed the technique to play the exotic barre chords that became the norm in jazz guitar music.

A part of jazz theory is what we could loosely call traditions of jazz – ways of approaching music that have become standard practice for jazz players. None of these traditions is set in concrete, but the use of the electric archtop guitar has become widespread over the years as is the use of barre chord voicings rather than open chords.

If you learn jazz guitar theory you will learn to rely on the seventh and third notes of a chord and how interest can be added by the use of the ninth, eleventh or thirteenth notes. These notes may be totally foreign to the original melody the guitarist is improvising over, but jazz players have the work of guitarists from previous generations to draw on when they make use of these unusual voicings.

A big part of jazz guitar theory is the types of techniques used to express musical feelings. Jazz guitar players have their own strumming patterns and chord progressions that may vary greatly from the ways of playing the original genre they might be interpreting. Also, although rock and blues guitar players of the past thirty or so years have left their mark on jazz, there is a tendency among jazz guitarists to use electronic effects rather sparingly.

To examine the basis of jazz guitar theory we need to be aware of the founders of modern jazz playing, like Wes Montgomery, Jim Hall, Barney Kessel, Joe Pass and Herb Ellis as well as the founders of guitar tradition like Django Reinhardt and Charlie Christian. Jazz guitar theory has been shaped by modern players who have departed from tradition, such as John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola and Pat Metheny.

By: Ricky Sharples

Posted in Jazz Festivals
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