Jazzy Stuff to Learn

NorioDS

Hey guys,

Was listening to Garth's Jazzy competition submission when I thought it would be cool to learn some jazzy songs.

Can I have some recommendations ranging from easy to intermediate (not advanced)? Preferably laid-back and/or swinging songs.

Thanks ?

arjunmenon

Hey Norrie,

This is a really difficult question to answer, however, my suggestion would be to check out a few horn players and emulate them on the guitar...that's what a lot of the famous jazz cats did,of course with their distinctive touch to it.

Just a thought. As for suggestions as to which songs to try, the first jazzy tune i tried was Dave brubeck's take 5 on an acoustic guitar...

Cheerz

Satriani

Joe Satriani - Brother John *grin*
hehe, I know I know, I am sadly obsessed! Arjun's idea is excellent tho. You can develop a few thing at once by just learning some sax / trumpet etc... solos with your ear. Also, you may not be a fan, but you can get Robbie Williams Swing When You're Winning album. It's all big band jazz kinda stuff, and nice to improvise to.

Renesongs

8) Now we talking big peoples music or musicians music. (Shredders and metal heads run for cover ?). I played jazz guitar exclusively from the 1980 to 1990 but didn't ever consider myself good enough to perform live. What it great about Jazz guitar is that with a bit of effort you can solo you can play bass rhythm and lead all at once which is pretty satisfying. Two moderate pieces I start my Jazz students with is "One Note Samba" by Antonio Jobim and "Spain" by Chick Corea. You can find tabs for these just about anywhere on the net. These sound best on nylon string using a finger style of picking.

If you want to take that a little further and want to compose or improvise the following is a little list of things I think you may need in your trick bag:
1.) Scales in all keys and modes - Stanard Blues Classical Major, Harmonic Minor, Melodic Minor, Augmented, Diminished Neopolitan, Enigmatic, Be-Bop Major, Be-Bop Minor
2.) Chord Construction and voicing with at least 3 voicing for 30 common chords types in each key
3.) An intimate knowledge of Tritone substitution and Cyclic Key changes
4.) 2 to 3 octave Arpeggios for Triads, 6th, 7th, and 9th

NorioDS

Thanks guys ? The main thing I'm trying to achieve is to get a "feel" for jazz. I think that's the most important part and that the rest will present itself to me as I need it.

Gonna try find your suggested songs. Appreciate it muchly ?

toastyrat

Hey bro

I've also been keen to get into the whole jazz thing, i found this site a while back. The content is very good especially if you have the time to get stuck in. Check it out:

http://www.jazzguitar.be/jazz_guitar_chord_theory.html

It might seem a bit tedious, but i reckon for jazz you have to have some theory.

NorioDS

Thanks toastyrat, checkn out that link now ?

Lethe

Renesongs wrote 8) Now we talking big peoples music or musicians music. (Shredders and metal heads run for cover ?). I played jazz guitar exclusively from the 1980 to 1990 but didn't ever consider myself good enough to perform live. What it great about Jazz guitar is that with a bit of effort you can solo you can play bass rhythm and lead all at once which is pretty satisfying. Two moderate pieces I start my Jazz students with is "One Note Samba" by Antonio Jobim and "Spain" by Chick Corea. You can find tabs for these just about anywhere on the net. These sound best on nylon string using a finger style of picking.

If you want to take that a little further and want to compose or improvise the following is a little list of things I think you may need in your trick bag:
1.) Scales in all keys and modes - Stanard Blues Classical Major, Harmonic Minor, Melodic Minor, Augmented, Diminished Neopolitan, Enigmatic, Be-Bop Major, Be-Bop Minor
2.) Chord Construction and voicing with at least 3 voicing for 30 common chords types in each key
3.) An intimate knowledge of Tritone substitution and Cyclic Key changes
4.) 2 to 3 octave Arpeggios for Triads, 6th, 7th, and 9th

Ah, something I've seen lately but which hasn't quite sunk in yet- Tritone substitution. Care to give a quick overview?

Renesongs

Ah, something I've seen lately but which hasn't quite sunk in yet- Tritone substitution. Care to give a quick overview?

OK I'll give it my best shot. Tritone substitution is a little trick that jazz composers use to sneak chords in to a song that are not strictly speaking in the right key. The word Tritone means 3 tones (6 semitones or frets away). Other names for the Tritone are b5 or the devil's interval. The Tritone of C is Gb and of B is F and so forth

Lets use the key of C for our example. The chords that perfectly match the key of C in 4 part harmony are Cmaj7 Dm7 Em7 Fmaj7 G7 Am7 Dm7(b5). G7 is known as the dominant chord in C. G7 is a good place to make the tritone substitution (why? see *). The Tritone substitution for G7 is Db7. So if you have a chord progression in C e.g. Dm7 / G7 / Cmaj7 the Tritone substitution would be Dm7 / Db7 / Cmaj 7

* The individual note of the G7 chord are G B D F = (1 3 5 b7). B and F are a Tritone apart. Tritone intervals are still Tritones when inverted so swop B and F around - ? F ? B = (1 3 5 b7). Answer Db F Ab B = (1 3 5 b7) which are the notes in the Db7 chord. PHEW!!

Lethe

sweet! thanks man! Much appreciated... I heard its also used for modulation... I guess I can figure out what it can go to! Thanks a lot ?

Renesongs

I heard its also used for modulation.

Yeah Coltrain chords they call it, for cycle of 5 down changes or tone and half up cycle but I didn't want to write a ten page essay ?