# How Do I Begin Learning/Playing Jazz?



## ZeroSignal (Jun 30, 2008)

Hey guys,

I was wondering how to start playing Jazz guitar as I've been wanting to take it up for quite a while now. 

It would be fantastic if someone could point out what theory (chordal or otherwise) that I'd need to learn before I can start and any other info that would be helpful to an absolute Jazz beginner. 

Anything at all that you'd consider helpful would be greatly appreciated. Oh and I'm on grade 7 in theory for what it's worth.


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## OzzyC (Jun 30, 2008)

Take everything you know about theory, guitar, music, and art, and throw it out. Jazz doesn't have room for that kind of thing.


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## Desecrated (Jun 30, 2008)

Do you play any blues ?


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## ZeroSignal (Jun 30, 2008)

Desecrated said:


> Do you play any blues ?



I used to. I don't like it very much, aside from Joe Satriani of course.


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## Desecrated (Jun 30, 2008)

ZeroSignal said:


> I used to. I don't like it very much, aside from Joe Satriani of course.



hmmmm, blues is usually the easiest way to start with jazz. Maybe just a book about chord progressions to start with, a lot of jazz examples there.


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## Brendan G (Jun 30, 2008)

As desecrated said, I would buy a book and learn some chord progressions. And then I would record those chord progressions and try soloing over them.


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## ZeroSignal (Jun 30, 2008)

Brendan G said:


> As desecrated said, I would buy a book and learn some chord progressions. And then I would record those chord progressions and try soloing over them.



But where do I find out about note choices in a Jazz context. I know that's supposed to be very important.

I have a few chord books but I'm not sure if there are any ready made progressions with them. I guess they couldn't be too hard to find.


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## kristallin (Jun 30, 2008)

I'd think an obvious place to start would be to pick up the Real Book or the Fake Book - hundreds of Jazz standards and their chord progressions in those.


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## ZeroSignal (Jun 30, 2008)

Never mind! I found out about the fake and real books! 

Any resources/books to do with 7-strings?

I just downloaded the real book tab of The Girl From Ipanima and I'm going to learn the crap out of it tomorrow! 

I got it from here: Kyle's Project - Free Sheet Music


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## Desecrated (Jun 30, 2008)

Amazon.com: Understanding Chord Progressions For Guitar: Arnie Berle: Books

Amazon.com: Just Jazz Real Book, C Edition (Real Books): Warner Bros.: Books


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## ZeroSignal (Jun 30, 2008)

Desecrated said:


> Amazon.com: Understanding Chord Progressions For Guitar: Arnie Berle: Books
> 
> Amazon.com: Just Jazz Real Book, C Edition (Real Books): Warner Bros.: Books



Thanks man! I'll be picking them up as soon as I can!

BTW, this is the kind of stuff I want to do:


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## Luan (Jul 1, 2008)

1) blues first
2) learn how to comp before you improvise on the tune you will work
3) you have to know how to read, that is a must, in order to understand the note choices, the melody, everything. Every jazz player knows how to read.
4) arpeggios
5) good swing feel

with just that you have a lot to work, you can't learn how to play jazz in one year, it takes a lot of time, really a lot of time.


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## Lucky Seven (Jul 1, 2008)

ZeroSignal said:


> Thanks man! I'll be picking them up as soon as I can!
> 
> BTW, this is the kind of stuff I want to do:




Nice choice with the Skolnick trio.


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## ZeroSignal (Jul 1, 2008)

Luan said:


> 1) blues first
> 2) learn how to comp before you improvise on the tune you will work
> 3) you have to know how to read, that is a must, in order to understand the note choices, the melody, everything. Every jazz player knows how to read.
> 4) arpeggios
> ...



Well, I'm grade 7 so I'm more than capable. I'll just start learning the notes on the fretboard and I should be grand for now.

What do you mean by "comp"?


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## Desecrated (Jul 2, 2008)

ZeroSignal said:


> Well, I'm grade 7 so I'm more than capable. I'll just start learning the notes on the fretboard and I should be grand for now.
> 
> What do you mean by "comp"?



play the chords and be a rhythm guitar before jumping into the position as a solo guitarists.


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## Scali (Jul 2, 2008)

comp -> accompany, aka play rhythm/chords.

I think the most important change from blues/pop/rock/metal to jazz is that you have to start *thinking* about everything you play.
It's not enough to just think of chords in terms of root and major/minor etc.
So not just "okay the next chord will be Am, and that is this standard shape that I once learnt".
The order of the notes is important too, something called inversions.
Also, you should think about what notes are in a chord, and how they relate to the chords before or after it (some open chords don't really make a lot of sense because they just 'randomly' pick notes from various octaves that happen to be part of the chord, jazz players tend to play 'compact' chords, more or less how you would play them on piano).
You can think of a chord progression as a set of melodies played together. There's the bass, the lead melody, and countermelodies or harmonies. By changing notes in the chord you can make these melodies more interesting, eg add chromatic notes to the bassline so it seems to 'walk' from one note to the next.

Try reading this for a bit of understanding on how you 'think' during comping/soloing as a jazz musician:
Comping - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## Emperoff (Jul 2, 2008)

ZeroSignal said:


> Hey guys,
> 
> I was wondering how to start playing Jazz guitar as I've been wanting to take it up for quite a while now.
> 
> ...



Dude, you should check out some Scott Henderson instructional videos. "Melodic Phrasing" and "Jazz Fusion" If I remember correctly. There's awesome stuff on there


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## JBroll (Jul 2, 2008)

ZeroSignal said:


> Hey guys,
> 
> I was wondering how to start playing Jazz guitar as I've been wanting to take it up for quite a while now.
> 
> ...



Listen.

Again.

And again.

...

Still listening? No? Start listening again.

You could shoot for traditional and listen to a lot of jazz to just absorb it through osmosis... or you could really go bonkers and just try to play *any random noise you hear* on the guitar, and figure out a whole different 'voice' from there, or go everywhere in between... but the key thing is that if you wouldn't want to hear a note, you shouldn't play it.

Jeff


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## Luan (Jul 3, 2008)

ZeroSignal said:


> Well, I'm grade 7 so I'm more than capable. I'll just start learning the notes on the fretboard and I should be grand for now.
> 
> What do you mean by "comp"?



if you still don't know all the notes on the fretboard, what does grade 7 mean?


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## kung_fu (Jul 3, 2008)

JBroll said:


> Listen.
> 
> Again.
> 
> ...



+1 Listen, Listen, Listen. Sometimes listening and analyzing a piece of music can do better for your playing than hours of woodshedding.

as for chords to get you started with for basic comping learn maj and minor sevenths in all keys all over the neck as well as basic quartal/fourths voicings. Get comfortable playing through key changes as well. Learn enough chords and how they sound and pretty soon you'll be able to simply hear what scales will work.


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## ZeroSignal (Jul 3, 2008)

Luan said:


> if you still don't know all the notes on the fretboard, what does grade 7 mean?



It means I'm the second highest theory grade available in the UK apparently.


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## Luan (Jul 4, 2008)

ZeroSignal said:


> It means I'm the second highest theory grade available in the UK apparently.



You have to work a lot in basic things first, I suggest you.
I'ts useless to learn the altered arpeggio if you still have trouble with the notes on the fretboard.
Learn to play blues in all the tonalities first, jazz is advanced blues, every jazz musician can play blues, it's the basic.
You must be able to follow the chords in your head, first practice with the major and minor pentatonic (major for the I and V, and minor for the IV, but you can play minor on all of those, but not major on the IV)
If you can use both pentatonics on a blues, you're in a good way.


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## ZeroSignal (Jul 4, 2008)

Luan said:


> You have to work a lot in basic things first, I suggest you.
> I'ts useless to learn the altered arpeggio if you still have trouble with the notes on the fretboard.
> Learn to play blues in all the tonalities first, jazz is advanced blues, every jazz musician can play blues, it's the basic.
> *You must be able to follow the chords in your head, first practice with the major and minor pentatonic (major for the I and V, and minor for the IV, but you can play minor on all of those, but not major on the IV)*
> If you can use both pentatonics on a blues, you're in a good way.



Now THAT'S the kind of information I need to know! Thanks for that!


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## Luan (Jul 4, 2008)

ZeroSignal said:


> Now THAT'S the kind of information I need to know! Thanks for that!



Remember also that i'm talking about the root of the blues, not of each chord, for example, if you are playing a blues in A, you can play A minor pentatonic over all the chords, and A major pentatonic over A and E.


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## ZeroSignal (Jul 5, 2008)

Luan said:


> Remember also that i'm talking about the root of the blues, not of each chord, for example, if you are playing a blues in A, you can play A minor pentatonic over all the chords, and A major pentatonic over A and E.



Oooh I see now.


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## neon_black88 (Jul 5, 2008)

It's kinda obvious but a teacher is almost a must for Jazz, unless you have a heap of Jazz friends you can jam with and learn from all the time.

And yeah you should start learning how chords are constructed, learn the major 7th shapes, minor 7th shapes, diminished, dimished 7th ect. ect... Learn all the shapes with the root on the low e string, then learn all the shapes for the chords with the root on the low a string (they will be completetly different), eventually you will want to know them starting on any string. Learn what modes work over what chords, and learn how to identify what key a chord belongs too, within a chord progression or even on their own. That should give you a place to start. Theory is really really important here.


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## ZeroSignal (Jul 5, 2008)

neon_black88 said:


> It's kinda obvious but a teacher is almost a must for Jazz, unless you have a heap of Jazz friends you can jam with and learn from all the time.
> 
> And yeah you should start learning how chords are constructed, learn the major 7th shapes, minor 7th shapes, diminished, dimished 7th ect. ect... Learn all the shapes with the root on the low e string, then learn all the shapes for the chords with the root on the low a string (they will be completetly different), eventually you will want to know them starting on any string. Learn what modes work over what chords, and learn how to identify what key a chord belongs too, within a chord progression or even on their own. That should give you a place to start. Theory is really really important here.



Yeah I'm thinking that I'll need a teacher. Although I dislike the idea a lot.

I'm a Grade 7 in Theory already so I've got all of that sorted except for the scales in relation to chords.


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## Luan (Jul 5, 2008)

also, transcribe solos.
Miles davis it's perfect if you want to start with it.


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## JBroll (Jul 6, 2008)

I'd go Coltrane and Sonny Rollins myself, but that works too.

Jeff


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