# Good jazz to learn and actually /learn/



## tpl2000 (Aug 1, 2013)

O7

I'm relatively interested in learning jazz right now, and I could certainly use some more jazz influence in my solos. So far I know the melody of Fly Me to the Moon by heart, and I'm constantly playing the easy parts of Fives--Guthrie Govan. 

So, what would you guys recommend learning jazz-wise? I'm currently using either a PRS SE Paul Allender or a PRS SE 7-string. 

(And also, if you guys could give me a good place to go to to learn jazz chords for the 7-string, I'd appreciate it. I have a chord buck, but it doesn't have anything for the 7-string.)

Edit: Also, my skill level: I can do the solos that include lots of sweeps and tapping. And shredding, too. I can do the solo to We Are The Nightmare, if that helps as a reference.


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## AMEmusic (Aug 2, 2013)

Get some bebop in your playing! If you have technique you'll be all over that stuff and its fun to play, and aside from the chromaticism, the harmonic concepts are usually pretty straight forward. For guitar: Pat Martino, Jimmy Bruno, Joe Pass

There's a ton of great players out there man do some research and find ones you like! Personally I like transcribing sax and piano solos for guitar! Learn some Charlie Parker songs  Good Luck!


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## bondmorkret (Aug 5, 2013)

Transcribe and learn lots of solos, also get a copy of the realbook and learn to play the chords/sightread the melodies. That'll be a good start


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## tpl2000 (Aug 5, 2013)

bondmorkret said:


> Transcribe and learn lots of solos, also get a copy of the realbook and learn to play the chords/sightread the melodies. That'll be a good start



I, uh, sorta can't read anything printed on paper. Le sig =[

But I'm still interested in finding out which chord patterns I like.


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## Santuzzo (Aug 5, 2013)

tpl2000 said:


> I, uh, sorta can't read anything printed on paper. Le sig =[
> 
> But I'm still interested in finding out which chord patterns I like.



I'd recommend trying to figure out and learn some Wes Montgomery solo's by ear.
For faster runs you could use a software that will take the speed down to 50% or so without changing the pitch.

But yeah, as someone else also suggested, Parker would be great, too.
But either way find something that you can figure out by ear.


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## Kaickul (Aug 6, 2013)

Start with learning classic jazz standards, learn the chords and as well as the theory behind it then go from there.


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## tpl2000 (Aug 6, 2013)

Santuzzo said:


> I'd recommend trying to figure out and learn some Wes Montgomery solo's by ear.
> For faster runs you could use a software that will take the speed down to 50% or so without changing the pitch.
> 
> But yeah, as someone else also suggested, Parker would be great, too.
> But either way find something that you can figure out by ear.



There's actually a program I've already had for a while, called slowmp3.jar. I used it largely to get in sync with any kind of fast solo, but I think you're right--it could prolly be used to play something by ear.

And Liquid_Rage: I don't know what most of the classics are. I'm still about half off with that one aforementioned moon rhythm, but really--I'm not too familiar with most jazz. 

And Mr. Bebop: The second person you listed is actually really good. Some of the things he taught that were posted on youtube are actually very similar to what my guitar teacher taught me years ago, as well.


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## raze8000 (Aug 6, 2013)

get a book of jazz standards. learn as many melodies as u can. try arranging 'em urself with chord voicings and bass lines and keep improvising.
also u can look up licks at some sites. but i find it more easy and effective to come up with licks of ur own. it physically hurts me when some people show off like "this is a charlie parker lick/ this is a coltrane lick/ reinhardt lick". ruins the entire thing.

but perhaps the key thing is as my teacher used to say is to improvise with everything around, radio jingles, tv commercial tunes, watever song is on etc. 

i dont come from a country where jazz is much celebrated but i have realised that u gotta figure it out urself no matter wherever u learn. else the notes seem arbitary and plain old weird ( i m giving u my experience , it may not apply to u though).

also fast runs in jazz is something u have to develop. there is no technique that give u shapes to run on. u have to first get used to playing out of the scale , playing slow melodies. the more u get used to it and the more quickly u can think of the same notes, the faster runs u can approach. 
at least thats how it was taught to me. i have no clue coz still after some 10 yrs some of coltrane and maclaughlin runs seem incomprehensible to me..meaning i have no idea how they came up with those.

good luck man. its a beautiful genre.  and remember its all abt improvisation so make ur own licks rather than relying on a plethora of licks u find on the net. those r just for reference/benchmark ( i m stressing on this again) understand where the notes of the licks came from more than what they are.

just my 2 cents


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## tpl2000 (Aug 6, 2013)

I, uh, can't read printed text. That's why I use computers for any reading necessary :x I can zoom in, enlarge, magnify, invert, and so on. Really, my sig says it all.

But as for improvisation, that's largely what I do whenever I listen to jazz now lol. It actually feels like a lot of the choices are kinda similar to how it's done with distortion, it's just that you have to focus on a different sound...

But really, I'm looking for recommendations of artists here  I don't know most of the standards' names. I know who Davis and Coltrane are, but not much past that. (Does Herbie Hancock count? I listened to Headhunters a lot in the last few years, and it sounds kinda more like funk in some way to me.)


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## Santuzzo (Aug 6, 2013)

get Wes Montgomery's album called 'The Incredible Jazzguitar' and if you like that stuff, get more Wes.
Also check out Jim Hall, especially the album with Ron Carter 'Alone Together', another nice guitar-bass duo album would be Joe Pass and NHO Pedersen - 'Chops'

EDIT: another nice one would be Bill Evans Trio - 'Waltz For Debby' and 'Portrait in Jazz'.

all of these recommendations are primarily meant for listening and finding out if you like this jazz-style, then if you do, pick your favorites and try to learn some solo's by year. And, as others already have recommended, try to get a PC version (pdf or other format) of some standards and learn the melodies and chords. Some classic all-time standards would be: Autumn Leaves, Blue Bossa, All The things You Are, How High The Moon, What is this thing called Love, Stella By Starlight........the list goes on and on, these are just a few examples


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## raze8000 (Aug 6, 2013)

tpl2000 said:


> .
> 
> But as for improvisation, that's largely what I do whenever I listen to jazz now lol. It actually feels like a lot of the choices are kinda similar to how it's done with distortion, it's just that you have to focus on a different sound...



precisely man...take away the distortion and gain and everything is pretty similar......(people will kill me for saying this though). 

as per artist reccos, most are mentioned here by santuzzo and the others.

also check out john scofield (modern sound), django reinhardt, maclaughlin (fusion sound), return to forever, etc.
also simpler stuff from louis armstrong, billie holiday, etta james, sinatra and all are gold to get into the mood for jazz.

imho miles should be avoided in the beginning.  like u myt find it nice, but decoding it is a whole new story  

if u wanna go crazy i have to recco a band called screaming headless torsos. (incredible stuff)

also check out alan holdsworth's instructional video. wonderful approach to what i was saying about making up licks and all. its a tough video to follow but even if u take in 30 secs worth of material its a win.


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## StratoJazz (Aug 6, 2013)

I think if you want to learn any Jazz, it comes down to how far down the rabbit hole you want to go.

Since you know Fly me to the moon, learn some more standards. How high the Moon is good as is Days of Wine and Roses, Satin Doll, Autumn Leaves, Summertime, All the Things you are, What is this Thing Called Love? and others.

Then learn some solos by ear. I'd suggest you find some musicians you like and stick with those. While Guthrie is amazing, he's more of a jazz-rock/fusion/virtuoso kind of guy. That's not necessarily bad but I think you'll gain a better jazz influence from listening to a jazz guitarist. Try the following:

-Wes Montgomery
-Joe Pass
-Pat Martino
-George Benson (No Breezin though)

I can recommend more things for you to do. But it will require you to read alot more text. I can post some links that I've done before if you want.


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## r134 (Aug 7, 2013)

You should try and find a teacher that knows a lot about jazz

Since you live in the upstate, I think you should take lessons from Steve Watson at Watsonwood in Greenville

He's the teacher at the Fine Arts Center in Greenville, and Ive played bass in his class

having a teacher is more helpful IMO because you can learn more about the feel of the music, and jazz is probably the most expressive genre of music, which requires the most feel of all


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## Suho (Aug 15, 2013)

Don't feel the need to limit yourself to jazz guitarists. If you are playing Fly Me To The Moon, chances are you didn't learn it from a jazz guitar recording, but rather Sinatra or another classic version. I personally love to jam to "Take 5" by Dave Brubeck. There is no guitar in that band/recording, but the saxophone lead and piano/bass lines are all playable on guitar (I use my 7 and 8 string). Learn the melodies first, and then expand by learning the chords that go under/around that.


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