Want to start jazz

[Jezz8me]

I want to start playing jazz but i have no idea how to go about it. i thik it sounds cool bt don't realy know any certain players or ne thing.

[bloodline462]

I'm also learning jazz so i can give some advice. Learn your scales, and how to read chord diagrams. be able to find notes anywhere on the fretboard. Jazz bass is basically improvising randomly with only a basic guideline of chords to guide you.
Miles Davis and John Coltrane are my two favorite jazz artists.

[aceshigh]

I'm on the same boat. I've begun playing jazz about 18 months now. I'm no expert but here are my sugestions so far:

There are many types of Jazz, Standard, bebop, Hard Bop, Acid, Fusion, you name it. Find the style you like. Check this link for info on the many styles of jazz. I love Jazz Standards and do not like Fusion or later Miles Davis stuff.

Jazz Standards. Check this Web Site. Very useful information about Jazz Standards.

The Jazz Fake Book. For almost every jazz gig or jam people take tunes from the Jazz fake book. They usually say "Let's play song XYZ on page 231" or something like that. It is a book with 400 pages full of jazz standards. It comes in many clefs and keys (remember some horns are tuned in Eb, Bb and so on). I have the bass clef one. Check this link to see the book I'm talking about.

Listen to the best. For people that like Jazz standards, some of the best bass players are:
- Ray Brown
- Ron Carter
- Milt Hinton
- Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen
- Charlie Haden

Get their records and listen. Also, if there is a trumpet player you like, for example, check who is on the bass and get more from him/her.

Metronome and recorder. Get a metronome if you don't have one already. Get a recorder so you can record yourself and hear what you sound like. Jazz players tend to be more accurate than Rock and R&B, for example. One jazz guitar player complained that I was 'out of tempo' when counting the band in (1, 2, 3, 4...).

Jam with other people. Once you learn a few tunes get other people to jam with. Make sure to save yourself an embarrassment and ensure they are about the same level as you. Tell them up front what you can and cannot play. Jazz players can be very competent and might have little patience with rookies (Guess how I found that out...).

Be patient. Learning jazz is much like learning a foreign language.

Have fun!

FJ

[DocBop]

Learning to play Jazz is a lifetime task there is always more to explore. Technique wise need to work on the major scale and its modes. Then the arpeggios for basic chord types Ma7, Mi7, 7th, Mi7b5. When working on technique do everything in two-octaves or more. Also be sure to practice these things above the 12th fret too.

Theory learn how to construct the scales and chords above. Learn harmonized scales and how to analyze a chord progression in Roman Numerials. After that then can move into chord/scale relationships.

Start working on Walking Bass. That will start to tie the info above together at easy to process tempo. Walking will start teaching strong and weak beats and approach notes. Walking bass and learning to solo are very similar in source of notes, mainly the rhythms and starting notes change.

Work by learning Jazz standards and learning one song inside out before moving on. Learn to play the melody on bass, analyize the progresssion, find the key centers, what are the chord scale relationships. Work on Walking bassline for the song in a couple ways. Listen to the Jazz masters recordings and transcribe bass lines and solos (this will help develop your ear.) The start working on solos. Write your own solos. Writing a solo you really think about all the musical options you have and experiment with them.

Practice soloing. Trying to find a person if you can, but if not record the chords or a bassline line to practice with. In the beginning start by playing a chorus of arpeggios for each chord. Then try to solo a couple chorus'. As you get better on a song stop doing the arpeggios and do a chords of the scale for each chord. Now how to do this all depends on how far your technique and fretboard work has come. In beginning if you can only play the arpeggios/scales in quarter notes down the neck starting from the root, that's fine. As you develop your technique then move up to eighth notes. Later move up the neck around 12th fret or higher. As time goes on learn instead of starting on the root of each arpeggio/scale when chord changes to use the next closest chord or scale tone. Start with simple Jazz tunes with only a couple key centers and focus on soloing using key centers. As you get better then move to tunes with more changes and start working on chord/scale approach.

That is a real simple explanation of how to work on playing Jazz. It is a lot of work and takes time. The reward is it will develop your technique, your theory and ear, and knowledge of musical sources to create basslines and solos. All this can be applied to any style of music.

Also this is a lot of stuff, but you don't learn it all at once. Take is a piece at a time and it will build up. I don't know your background, but you maybe working on studying technique for awhile first, or the theory so you can analyze the songs. Don't worry if you take awhile to get that stuff before you can start working on songs. I'm sure you play other music and have things to work on there too. Learning to play Jazz will just be part of your daily practice routine.

Have fun.

[fcleff]

There is some nice reading material in the "Lessons and Articles" section of this website. One is called "Walk With Me" and the other is an essay dispelling the myths of walking bass lines. They are very informative and a must-read for anyone considering the construction of good basslines.



On the forum page, go to the "Reading Room" and you will find the link to "lessons and articles".