Learn me some jazz.

[Benjamin Strange]

I can read music. I'm a competent player. I can hold my own, with no preparation in most styles of music except: jazz. I suck. I have absolutely, positively, no jazz chops whatsoever. I really want to learn - so learn me a book.

I've got the Charlie Parker Omnibook, which is quite a bit over my head at this point. I'm looking for a good intro to walking lines and jazz changes and such - let's just pretend that I'm a complete jazz idiot. Is there such a book out there that would be a good intro to jazz bass playing?

Hep me, peeps.

[KramerK]

getting a few lessons from a real jazz musician in your area will be more expensive than buying a book but . . . it could be a better place to start. especially if you know your instrument.
Also, there is a pretty general book on jazz theory by Mark Levine which is called . .. you guessed it, "The Jazz Theory Book." I don't have too much personal experience with it myself, but im sure some other TBers do.
The other thing i can say is obvious. Once you start learning about/playing/falling in love with jazz in any degree of depth, you have to listen. Again, obvious, but so much is to be gained/learned by listening to great artists.

[CoffeeJanitor]

The Evolving Bassist by Rufus Reid.

[MalcolmAmos]

http://ralphpatt.com/Song.html
For the chord progressions on hundreds of jazz standards.

http://www.ralphpatt.com/Backing.html
Backing tracks to most of those songs listed above. See what you can do, really see what you need help on. The next site is jazz theory in a nutshell.

http://aebersold.com/Merchant2/merch...Code=_HANDBOOK
Jazz theory - free from jazzbooks.com or it was when I got my copy.

http://www.aebersold.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc
The Jamey Aebersold Jazz catalog. Go to the bass section and chill out.

Have fun.

[bassandbeyond]

Originally Posted by CoffeeJanitor

The Evolving Bassist by Rufus Reid.

+1

Rufus's book is the best method I've seen yet, but I'm not there is any single, definitive book on the topic of jazz bass.

[Gab124]

Originally Posted by MalcolmAmos

http://ralphpatt.com/Song.html
For the chord progressions on hundreds of jazz standards.

http://www.ralphpatt.com/Backing.html
Backing tracks to most of those songs listed above. See what you can do, really see what you need help on. The next site is jazz theory in a nutshell.

http://aebersold.com/Merchant2/merch...Code=_HANDBOOK
Jazz theory - free from jazzbooks.com or it was when I got my copy.

http://www.aebersold.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc
The Jamey Aebersold Jazz catalog. Go to the bass section and chill out.

Have fun.

Great links!!! Though, I may have to learn how to read chord charts on the first link. Not sure how it flows with the horizontal lines here and there.

[Stumbo]

More links to check out:
~Jazz
1 Learning
2
Improvization Primer (Book/Online)
Theory, soloing, videos by Ethans1980 website
Walking bass lines examples
Walking bass lines books
Jazz Scales
History of Jazz website

[Thunderthumbs73]

Originally Posted by Benjamin Strange

I can read music. I'm a competent player. I can hold my own, with no preparation in most styles of music except: jazz. I suck. I have absolutely, positively, no jazz chops whatsoever. I really want to learn - so learn me a book.

I've got the Charlie Parker Omnibook, which is quite a bit over my head at this point. I'm looking for a good intro to walking lines and jazz changes and such - let's just pretend that I'm a complete jazz idiot. Is there such a book out there that would be a good intro to jazz bass playing?

Hep me, peeps.

Learn me some jazz? Check you out some Jamey Abersold play-along CDs. You learn yourself.

[MalcolmAmos]

Originally Posted by Gab124

Not sure how it flows with the horizontal lines here and there.

Horizontal lines indicate the measures (bars) in the song.

[ Ab / / Eb | Eb | Fm7b5 | Bb7 |
First measure has the Ab chord for three beats then Eb for one beat.
Next measure continues with the Eb chord for 4 beats.
Then Fm7b5 for 4 beats followed with the Bb7 chord for 4 beats.

Have fun.

[JTE]

"The Evolving Bassist" has been and still is an excellent resource. The Abersold stuff is classic and highly recommended. But the key, like blues, is to really listen to the music. Get recordings of standards, lottsa them. Dig into the things that the bassists do that make it "jazz". Timing, the propulsion the line provides (that's rhytmic AND harmonic propulsion), etc.

And, if you're still getting started, try Ed Freidland's "Building Walking Basslines" too.

John

[Gab124]

Originally Posted by MalcolmAmos

Horizontal lines indicate the measures (bars) in the song.

[ Ab / / Eb | Eb | Fm7b5 | Bb7 |
First measure has the Ab chord for three beats then Eb for one beat.
Next measure continues with the Eb chord for 4 beats.
Then Fm7b5 for 4 beats followed with the Bb7 chord for 4 beats.

Have fun.

Thanks, I think I understand that pretty well. What I was referring to - found in this one, ( http://ralphpatt.com/VB/a25.html ) - is the lines from left to right 1. and 2. They throw me off on how the chords follow each other. Does it start Am7 D7 G G or Am7 D7 F#m7b5 etc.
What does "pickup" refer to, and then there is the [: :] marks as well.

Thanks for the help - I'm still really diving in to learning this stuff.

[rabassaf]

some great tips are here.
i would add to check out and listen to a lot of this music. see if you relate to its many sounds.
when you have this sound in your ears, it is easier to transcribe it to your playing. just like with your expirience with every music you allready play...

[Bruce Lindfield]

Originally Posted by KramerK

getting a few lessons from a real jazz musician in your area will be more expensive than buying a book but . . . it could be a better place to start. especially if you know your instrument.
Also, there is a pretty general book on jazz theory by Mark Levine which is called . .. you guessed it, "The Jazz Theory Book." I don't have too much personal experience with it myself, but im sure some other TBers do.
.

I agree with this 100% - there is nothing like working with a teacher, who you can ask about the bits you don't get and who can play them to you - so you actually hear what it should sound like!

Also - the Jazz Theory Book - I bought this in the 2nd year, I started studying Jazz with a teacher and it was a great reference and working through all the examples in your own time, is a great way to get this stuff in your head!!

[Febs]

Originally Posted by Gab124

Thanks, I think I understand that pretty well. What I was referring to - found in this one, ( http://ralphpatt.com/VB/a25.html ) - is the lines from left to right 1. and 2. They throw me off on how the chords follow each other. Does it start Am7 D7 G G or Am7 D7 F#m7b5 etc.
What does "pickup" refer to, and then there is the [: :] marks as well.

Thanks for the help - I'm still really diving in to learning this stuff.

The [: and :] marks are repeat signs. It means to repeat what is in between those two marks. The "1." and "2." refer to the "first ending" and "second ending." When you repeat the section indicated by the repeat signs, you play what is under the first ending sign the first time through. The second time through, play what's under the second ending sign.

[Jim Nazium]

Originally Posted by Gab124

Does it start Am7 D7 G G or Am7 D7 F#m7b5 etc.

It starts Am7 D7 G C. Keep going left to right under the "first ending" line.

Originally Posted by Gab124

What does "pickup" refer to

It means the melody starts before beat 1 of the first measure. In this case, the first measure of the song is the A-7 chord, written in the upper left. The melody starts three beats before that chord, with the words "Those Au - tumn" and then "leaves" is sung as a whole note over the A-7 chord.

A lot of the stuff that's confusing you is just that the chart uses ascii characters to mimic standard sheet music symbols, like the repeat signs [: :]

[cnltb]

listening to jazz, playing along, analyzing what "they" do would be my way to approach it all, with, of course the support of a good teacher.
I've seen a couple rufus reid books as free downloads...

[CaptainWally]

I was in a similar situation. My recommendation is to start very slowly into jazz. My initial goal was to get some traction without being overwhelmed by its complexity.

With respect, I think the Rufus Reid book is a terrible first book, but no doubt it's considered one of the great jazz bass canons. I found it confusing and that it assumed too much existing knowledge for a beginner.

I had good luck starting out with this Ed's walking bass lines book:

http://www.amazon.com/Building-Walki...793542049#noop

EDIT: oops, +1 JTE.

[Billnc]

Originally Posted by Thunderthumbs73

Learn me some jazz? Check you out some Jamey Abersold play-along CDs. You learn yourself.

Get the walking line transcriptions from Ron Carter and Bob Cranshaw among others. One Carter's is to Charlie Parker tunes. Companion to Aebersolds volume 6.

[KramerK]

Im seeing a lot of recommendations for Jamey Abersold books here, and i just wanted to comment . . .
I don't have experience with these, so please correct me if im wrong, but what i have Heard is that these books are scale-oriented rather than chord oriented, as in: "solo over on this scale for this bar, and then solo on this scale for this bar"

now i know that there is a long standing debate between which method is "better," but I am a strong advocate of thinking in chord tones when playing music with changes. If you do get to a point where you're learning great bebop stuff like Parker heads and solos, you're going to see that those guys were thinking chords, not scales. At least it seems very much that way to me.

Of course im not saying its not important to practice/know scales, but I think its important, to think more in chord tones at first, both in terms of soloing and walking.

[onlyclave]

Originally Posted by KramerK

Im seeing a lot of recommendations for Jamey Abersold books here, and i just wanted to comment . . .
I don't have experience with these, so please correct me if im wrong, but what i have Heard is that these books are scale-oriented rather than chord oriented, as in: "solo over on this scale for this bar, and then solo on this scale for this bar"

now i know that there is a long standing debate between which method is "better," but I am a strong advocate of thinking in chord tones when playing music with changes. If you do get to a point where you're learning great bebop stuff like Parker heads and solos, you're going to see that those guys were thinking chords, not scales. At least it seems very much that way to me.

Of course im not saying its not important to practice/know scales, but I think its important, to think more in chord tones at first, both in terms of soloing and walking.

Well, all you have to do is ignore the scale syllabus in the front of the book and just play chord tones.

Aebersold books are "Music Minus 1", meaning the CDs are a rhythm section with the piano on the right of the stereo mix, bass on the left and drums in the center. You can use your balance knob to remove either part of the rhythm section. The books are the melody and then slash notation for the chord changes. It's jazz karaoke, really.