So I always thought I couldnt play jazz to save my life. Not in terms of technicality, but in that I just didnt have a clue how to make a jazz sound...
Untill I found a jazz backing track. Seems I just needed a 'context' in which to play...I must say I love it. Its such a liberating style to play after playing mostly rock, blues, classical etc.
So 2 things - Does anyone know were I can get free jazz backing tracks? The one I got was from guitarbt.com and seems to be the only one on there.
And also what is the most common jazz chord progression and what chords are most used?
lol but dont bombard me with info. I know how theory laced jazz can be...Just need a few things to be getting on with. Not really jazz fan
Thanks.
Hey man!
Don't think you'll like this, but I don't think you can really get the hang of jazz unless you're totally dedicated to learning it. It's not something you can just dedicate a small amount of time to and then "get", it takes SOOOO much dedication and practice to even begin to understand it.
If you really want to learn how to play jazz I wouldn't go for backing tracks. I would get something like Band In a Box or any kind of sequencer and simply program simple tunes into it. I would recommend songs like Solar or Blue Bossa. Program those songs and then focus on playing chord tones over the chord changes. This is the first step out of many that you need to take to approach jazz guitar. I would be happy to help you with further steps if this is really the road you want to go down.
If you simply want to sound a little jazzier in your own playing, a simple technique that doesn't take years of practice (and serious musicians do this alot, people like Steve Lukather use this technique whenever he sounds "out" or jazzy) is to simply add some chromatic notes to your solo playing. I like to see it as boxes. Take any pentatonic patterns (I assume you know some of these) and simply experiment with adding any of the notes within this box. For example, if it is the standard position where there's a minor third interval on the 1-2-6 strings, just try to use those other notes in between and see how it sounds. Also, a simple short cut to playing "out" is simply to take any pattern that you solo over, like a minor scale, and just move it half a step up or down for a while when you play, and then resolve it. To people who aren't total jazz fans it's gonna sound out and a little jazzy. This is a good short cut that I think will help you grow.
Hope this helps. Remember, there is no right and wrong in guitar playing, just opinions. This is what worked for me.
Oh yeah, forgot to answer one of your questions.
The most used chords are probably major and minor 2-5-1. In major they would be a 2min7, five7 and a 1maj7. So if you're playing in C for example the chords would be Dmin7, G7, Cmaj7. In minor they would be Dmin7b5, G altered, Cmin7. This is where you need to start practicing. First you should be able to voice these chords in a couple of positions. Then practice by putting these chords into a sequencer and play arpeggios (chord tones) over the changes. Try not to jump around but to stay in one position on the guitar.
This is a starting point, there's several other cliches in jazz.
nice reply kaspen. i will try some of that myself!!
"I like to play that guitar. I have to stare at it while I'm playing it because I'm not very good at playing it."
Noel Gallagher (who took the words right out of my mouth)
Hi,
As Kaspen has outlined, 7 chords are big in jazz, as are even more extended chords. But the other big clincher has to do with timing. If your timing is right you can sound jazzy and still use stuff that you may be already fairly familiar with.
If you can't find backing tracks to suit then you might still try jamming along with regular tracks (e.g. youtube vids) that feature other instruments, so that you don't feel quite so led by another guitar. I've also had a fair bit of success (not necessarily just with jazz) at finding midi files to use like that. If you only use the built in media players, midi tracks often sound pretty ropey, but if you load them into something with half way decent sound engine they can often spring back to life.
Depending on what you load a midi file into, you can then usually see it split back into it's component tracks. Not only does this allow you to study how the arranger has put it together, you can also mute or remove a track and replace it with your own playing.
Here's a thread on a piano forum that's about one song - a jazz standard called "Autumn Leaves" that runs to 60 pages. :shock: There's a heap of info there, and some links to mp3s and midis. Autumn Leaves
Here's one of the midis Midi
Drag that into Garage band for instance, and you see three tracks, piano, bass and drums. The piano sets the scene and then leaves you the bass and drums to keep the groove going while you do whatever you like. Hope that helps.
Cheers,
Chris
The Hal Leonard "Play Along" series and the Jamie Aebersold books are fantastic places to get backing tracks to play along with. Both are organized very well, come with fairly good music and instructions, and if you really apply yourself you can learn quite a bit just jamming along.
"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." -- HST
wow, thanks guys this has helped a lot. Got plenty to be getting with for this jazz newby!
But I couldn't disagree more with u more on this one Kaspen:
I don't think you can really get the hang of jazz unless you're totally dedicated to learning it. It's not something you can just dedicate a small amount of time to and then "get", it takes SOOOO much dedication and practice to even begin to understand it.
I think to say you cant get jazz, unless you immerse yourself in theory and dedicate vast amounts of time to it, implies that listeners who aren't musicians cannot understand jazz.
Which of course is not true. And at the end of the day its about music - purely what your hear as a listener, not what you are analyzing theoretically as a musician. So I believe that, certainly for my purposes of just being able to pull off some average jazz noodling to a respectable standard, it can be approached with the listener in mind - Essentially asking "What is it about the notes I choose and how I play them, that makes this jazz and not some other genre"...Im not explaining this well, but its about getting to essence of a genre...The same goes when learning any.
Whenever you look back at greats in any music type - the earliest greats tend to be much less (if at all) knowledgeable about theory and just taught themselves by ear - what sounded right to them...
Wow that was long winded...hope my message got though all that lol.
Im just saying that's my belief - Im certainly grateful for the info you gave none-the-less! :D
As a decent jazz guitarist I beg to differ. I just don't really see it happening like that for people. And why would you want that? It's a much longer way to learn jazz than to simply learn a handful of scales and how to apply them.
But if you think it works for you, good luck.
As a decent jazz guitarist I beg to differ. I just don't really see it happening like that for people. And why would you want that? It's a much longer way to learn jazz than to simply learn a handful of scales and how to apply them.
But if you think it works for you, good luck.
Well i wasn't necessarily saying im gonna learn it all by ear. I just disagreed with the idea that you have to spend vast amounts of time and effort before you can even begin to understand a genre.
For example, i wrote a short classical piece lately. I played it to my friend and he assumed it was by a bono-fide classical musician. Indeed someone else came in the room and said, "was that [insert name of classical peice which id never heard of]?". They were both guitarists.
Now Im not trying to blow my own trumpet here lol :| - I have no doubt that a good classical musician would think it was pretty standard and realize it was, in all likelihood, written by me. My point is that, of course you have to learn some songs and theory within a genre, but you can pull something off to an acceptable standard for most listeners without having to dedicate endless hours to it...I don't expect to become the next Bach or Wes Montgomery lol...Im a rock man really 8)
