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All About Learning to Play Jazz Guitar

Posted by admin on December 23rd, 2009 No Comments

Let’s get rid of one myth right here! One common myth floating around is that jazz music is complicated. Some people have the idea that it can only be learned by unraveling the deep mysteries of the inner being – like it’s some sort of mystical experience that requires years of learning theories, scales and chords. That thought alone is overwhelming and as a result, we need to refocus our attention to one thing – keeping it simple.

If you seriously want to become a better jazz guitar player, then keeping it simple is all you need to get where you want to go. Start with the basics. You already know that you’ll need some knowledge of jazz guitar scales and chords. You’ll also need a mentor or a teacher who can help you develop your talent and skill and lastly, you’ll need to begin developing confidence in your playing ability (this means practicing what you’ve learned). For the new player, these basic activities will help you progress in your learning and soon, you’ll be looking for the intermediate and advanced teachings in jazz guitar!

The first step to learning how to play jazz guitar is to invest in some jazz guitar lessons. In the basic type of lesson, you should be learning the different scales and chords from a teacher who isn’t trying to impress you with his or her blinding knowledge and ego. Instead, find a teacher who keeps it simple so that you can grow as a student.

Know that you have to invest some time into your playing and practice! One of the players I met used to avidly videotape his playing the gypsy jazz guitar so that he could improve his playing technique. Another woman I met used to listen to a melody over and over again until she had it solidly in her mind. As she listened to the melody, she attempted to memorize it and recreate it on her guitar. In fact, she’s memorized a lot of tunes that way. A few years ago, I knew of a student who used to go over the lesson he just learned for hours, and I literally mean hours, until he knew it inside and out. I think he was just looking for an excuse to play, though, because even after he knew the lesson, he didn’t quit.

Before you get out there and start buying your jazz guitar amps and other gear, consider if you’ll have the time to do the basic things you need to do to learn all about playing jazz guitar. Set your learning and practice habit up for success by keeping it simple and you will reap the results of your investment!



By: Logan Young

Posted in Jazz Festivals

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

Major Jazz Guitar Scales

Posted by admin on August 21st, 2009 No Comments

There seems to be an endless array of scales to learn for jazz
guitar. What are the major jazz guitar scales to learn, if we can
define the major jazz guitar scales that are commonly used, we’d
reduce our workload significantly.

Jazz scales are used by improvisers to convey complex harmonies
common in Jazz. The jazz guitarist must start with the basic
scales, too often the guitarists dives headlong into the more
advanced scales without having a good working knowledge of the
basic scales used in rock, country, bluegrass etc., these scales
are as follows:

* minor pentatonic

* blues scale

* major pentatonic

Once the guitarist can play these scales in every key the next
scale to learn would be the major diatonic scale and it’s
associated modes based on the major scale.

How the modes work:

If we were looking at a piano keyboard we would notice that
without the black keys there are 8 octaves of the C major scale.
If you run your finger left to right along the white keys you
will be playing , the scale of C major even though you happen to
start on a note other than C. This musical fact is the essence of
the modes. A scale can be played from any of it’s notes to any
other of it’s without moving into another key. Actually if you
were to play the scale of C major from F to F an octave higher
you would be playing a nodal scale based on the key of C and the
scale would be called F Lydian.

In every major scale there 7 modes; one for each degree.

Learn the following table -

Play a major scale from note 1 to note 1 above = IONIAN MODE

Play a major scale from note 2 to note 2 above = DORIAN MODE

Play a major scale from note 3 to note 3 above = PHRYGIAN MODE

Play a major scale from note 4 to note 4 above = LYDIAN MODE

Play a major scale from note 5 to note 5 above = MIXO-LYDIAN MODE

Play a major scale from note 6 to note 6 above = AEOLIAN MODE

Play a major scale from note 7 to note 7 above = LOCRIAN MODE

Play a major scale from note 8 to note 8 above = note 1 to 1

All examples above are shown in the key of C major however the
advancing guitarist should practice the modes in every key. The
same formula works for each key:

note 1 to 1 always = IONIAN

note 2 to 2 always = DORIAN

note 3 to 3 always = PHRYGIAN

note 4 to 4 always = LYDIAN

note 5 to 5 always = MIXO-LYDIAN

note 6 to 6 always = AEOLIAN

note 7 to 7 always = LOCRIAN

note 8 to 8 always = note 1 to 1

Each modes unique sequence of intervals creates a mode’s unique
musical (quality) or flavor.

The main thing to keep in mind is that it’s not how many scales
you know but rather how many to “own”, by that I mean how much
you control you have over your scales both intellectually as well
as physically.

The next major jazz guitar scale of importance to learn would be
the harmonic minor scale. Like the modes of major scale the
Harmonic minor scale also has modes built on the different
degrees of the scale.

Here are the names of the modes of the Harmonic minor scale:
the following examples are all derived from the C harmonic minor
scale.

C Harmonic Minor : C-D-Eb-F-G-Ab-B-C

2- D Locrian #6: D-Eb-F-G-Ab-B-C-D

3- Eb Harmonic Major: Eb-F-G-Ab-B-C-D-Eb

4- F Spanish Phrygian: F-G-Ab-B-C-D-Eb-F

5- G Double Harmonic Major: G-Ab-B-C-D-Eb-F-G

6- Ab Lydian b3: Ab-B-C-D-Eb-F-G-Ab

7- B Diminished : B-C-D-Eb-F-G-Ab-B

The real jazz minor scale is the next major jazz guitar scale to
learn. The real jazz minor scale is the jazz variation of the
classical melodic minor scale. An easy way to remember this scale
would be to think of it as a major scale with a flatted third
note.

The real jazz minor scale with it’s various modes. Again, the
real jazz minor scale is presented in the key of C real jazz
minor.

C melodic minor :C-D-Eb-F-G-A-B-C

2- D phrygian (w natural 6th) : D-Eb-F-G-A-B-C-D

3- Eb lydian augmented: Eb-F-G-A-B-C-D-Eb

4- F lydian dominant: F-G-A-B-C-D-Eb-F

5- G mixolydian (w b6th): G-A-B-C-D-Eb-F-G

6- A aeolian (w b5): A-B-C-D-Eb-F-G-A

7- B altered dominant: B-C-D-Eb-F-G-A-B

I would also include the whole tone scale in our list of major
jazz guitar scales to learn.

The note of the C whole tone scale are as follows:

C-D-E-F#-G#-A#-C

There’s a lot of study and practice to gain control of the scales
described so far, particularly to know each scale or mode on all
keys, for many guitarists these are the major jazz guitar scales
to know.

By: Mike P Hayes

Posted in Jazz Festivals
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