Guitar/Jazz

From Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection

Current revision (unreviewed)

A Wikibookian has nominated this page for cleanup.
You can help make it better. Please review any relevant discussion.

[edit] Jazz Basics

Jazz Chords: The guitar in jazz has a chequered history. Early jazz bands (circa.early 1900s) relied on the banjo because of its ability to match the volume of the other instruments. The early jazz scene did feature great jazz acoustic players like Django Reinhardt and listening to his recordings, especially "Nuages", is considered essential for anyone interested in learning jazz guitar. It was the invention of the arch-top guitar with its louder volume that finally led to the complete demise of the banjo in modern jazz. However the idea of a jazz guitarist as a featured soloist was still to come and the early guitarists tended to play block chords to provide rhythmic support. These early jazz guitarists had to adopt a very economical chordal style to match some of the fast tempos they were expected to play. This involved 3 or 4 note chords and the legacy of this is to be found in all jazz guitar styles. Here are three exercises designed for jazz beginners with the focus on expanding chord vocabulary:

Exercise One: Four Note Jazz Chords In Root Position

G major

G maj7

G7

G6

Exercise Two: Four Note Jazz Chords In First Inversion

E major

E maj7

E7

E6

Exercise Three: Three Note Jazz Chords In Second Inversion

C major

C maj7

C7

C6

Jazz Forms Any student of jazz has to be familiar with the two main forms: the twelve bar blues and the thirty-two-bar ballad. A very famous thirty-two bar song is "Misty" by Errol Garner and many other jazz standards also use this form. Jazz musicians have also used the twelve-bar blues form extensively.

Fake Book Fake Books are collections of jazz standards (tunes that are in most musicians' repertoires) by the likes of Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Bud Powell, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, etc. You should start by getting a Fake Book and recordings of the tunes. Listen to the songs and get a general feel for the jazz style.

Note that a fakebook is a good aid for learning tunes, but professional jazz musicians are expected to develop a large repertoire of memorized tunes. It is also helpful to learn tunes in every key, though the fakebook will usually present them in the most common key. This approach has two benefits: one, it forces you to consider the relationships between the chords rather than simply memorizing the chord names to play; and two, many singers perform tunes in keys other than the "book key."

Jazz Style Much of jazz rhythm has what is known as the swing feel. While not all jazz playing consists of this rhythm (some may have the straight eighth feel) it is important to get acclimated to the style as it is a milestone in learning jazz tunes.

[edit] Essential Jazz Guitarists and Recordings

Here is a list of jazz guitarists every guitarist should know, in more-or-less chronological order.

Charlie Christian was the first guitarist to popularize the electric guitar as a solo instrument in jazz. Listen to the recordings he made with Benny Goodman in the late 1930s, including "Solo Flight."
Django Reinhardt was a gypsy jazz guitarist who played swinging single-note lines on the acoustic guitar. Listen to his recordings with the Hot Club of France from the late 1930s.
Tal Farlow brought the harmonic and melodic innovations of the Bebop style of jazz to the guitar. His mid-1950s recordings are recommended listening.
Jim Hall brought a motif-based style of improvisational development to the jazz guitar. His recordings with Bill Evans are an excellent starting point.
Wes Montgomery is renowned for his horn-like single lines, innovative octaves, and 'impossible' chord solos. The three essential Wes Montgomery recordings, all from the early 1960s, are "The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery," "Full House," and "Smokin' At The Half Note."
George Benson is known for his improvisation as well as his more popular later works. Listen to his work with organists Jack McDuff and Dr. Lonnie Smith.
Pat Martino is known for his fluid single-line improvisation. A good introduction to his playing is "Live At Yoshi's," featuring organist Joey DeFrancesco and drummer Billy Hart.
Joe Pass was a great improvisor, but he is known especially for his solo chord-melody arrangements of jazz standards. Essential listening includes the "Virtuoso" series of recordings which showcase his solo pieces.
John McLaughlin is known as a pioneering jazz-rock guitarist. His work in the 1970s with the Mahavishnu Orchestra should be considered essential listening.
John Scofield is known for his angular lines and use of dissonance. For new jazz listeners, his two recordings with Medeski Martin and Wood are probably the best introduction to his playing.
Allan Holdsworth is a jazz-rock guitarist known for his peerless technique and his unique approach to harmony. "Believe It," a mid-1970s jazz-rock recording by the New Tony Williams Lifetime, and "None Too Soon," a more straight-ahead jazz recording under Holdsworth's name, are both essential listening.
Pat Metheny is known for his small-group work as well as his work with the Pat Metheny Group. A good introduction to his playing is the record "Bright Size Life," which also features electric bassist Jaco Pastorius.

[edit] Jazz Movement Exercises

These three exercises lend themselves to the 12-bar blues form. They are designed to aid movement along the fretboard and to give the student the chance to practice applying one chord on each beat of a bar.

Jazz Movement Exercise One