Getting into jazz

[Dgl44]

Hi!

I'm really starting to get sucked into jazz music, and I'd like to learn enough jazz bass that I can join in on my local jam sessions and join a jazz band that my friend will be forming in about a year or two. Therefore I'd like to know what jazz standards should I learn first, and if I should get a hold of a fake book of some sorts and which one?

Also I'm still rather slow at reading music. I'm pretty sure that one of my main objectives should be to learn to read music fluently and to learn a bit more theory. Am I right? Because I am not that bad at jamming along to jazz tunes by ear, since I can really feel the music, but it annoys me because I don't understand the math behind what I'm playing, and I feel limited because of it.

Thanks for all the help.

 

[MalcolmAmos]

Have you found Jamey Aebersold Jazz theory hand book (the little red book) that is free for the asking. Go to Link Removed and look for the Jazz Theory Hand Book it should give you the "math" you are looking for.

While at www.Jazzbooks.com check out the books in the bass section.

The real book sixth edition in Bass Clef is full of jazz standards. Now it's the tune in bass clef with chord names notated, standard notation of the tunes (not your bass line), however, the chords are listed so you can practice building your own bass lines from this book.

If chord construction is something you need to spend some time with the Get Started sticky in the General Instruction section will go into detail. How to get started? | TalkBass.com Post # 14 will speak to what specific notes make up certain chords.

Have fun....

 

[RunBeerRun]

My guitar teacher played jazz, people lied and said she wasn't good...

 

[Lee Moses]

1. Listen to a lot of jazz. Work out the basslines that you particularly dig.

2. It sounds like you want a jazz method book to help you understand the theory behind chord scales and constructing walking bass lines. Some good ones include Rufus Reid's The Evolving Bassist or Chuck Sher's The Improvisor's Bass Method. Several folks over on the DB side of TB recommend Ed Fuqua's book on walking bass. There are several online lessons, such as Beginning Walking Basslines #1 - A Basic Introduction - Talking Bass.net

3. As MalcolmAmos suggested, get a copy of the Real Book and start working on tunes. Which ones first? I dunno, but starting at "A" will get you some pretty standard standards down (e.g., "All of Me," "April in Paris," "A Foggy Day," "All the Things You Are," "All Blues").

As far as sight reading notation, there's not too much of that in jazz unless you play in a big band. But you will need to be able to read charts, e.g., the stuff in the Real Book.

 

[WBasstrolo]

Check out the iRealB app. It has chord charts for 1000s of tunes and you can transpose/play along.
I use that as well as the real book.

 

[Spin Doctor]

Well, it's one thing to say, "get a real book and start learning tunes". That's fine if you know how to get around the tunes already. If not, you may as well say, "build a rocket and go to the moon". So if you've never played jazz, I'd say, the first thing to do is learn how to walk the changes. So get Ed Friedland's book, "constructing walking basslines" and just focus on that, without getting distracted with other stuff. Do that first. It's real easy to get bogged down in a billion different bass books. Just pick one good one.

Once you know how to get around the changes, then you can worry about learning specific tunes. It's better to understand concepts that you can apply to anything, instead of specific songs where, if they don't call that tune, you might be kinda lost. But ultimately your goal is to just be able to read tunes from the real book. I would not advise trying to start there though.

My opinion only...

 

[akukulich]

My teacher in college broke walking bass lines down to this:
1. Play the root on beat 1
2. Play a chord tone on beat 3
3. Play passing tones (non-chord tones) on beats 2 & 4
4. Approach new chords from a half step

Play evenly and in the center of the beat and the lines should flow nicely. They should ascend and descend and use the full range of the bass. And don't get too fancy with the rhythm until you can do so without sacrificing the groove. And finally, try not to repeat yourself. The lines should always evolve.

These weren't intended as rules, just guidelines to get started. But if you follow this and do it well, you can cover a lot of ground.

Also, find a good teacher and listen to a lot of Ray Brown.

 

[Dgl44]

Thanks so much for all the helpful info so far!

 

[T-Funk]

In addition to the previous contributions to this thread, I would also suggest purchasing a few Aebersold and/or Hal Leonard jazz play-along (book/cd) volumes in order to obtain quality, bass-free backing tracks to learn songs. One of the two following items would be a good starting point:

Maiden Voyage: Fourteen Easy-To-Play Jazz Tunes
Maiden Voyage/All Blues: Jazz Play-Along Volume

 

[MrLenny1]

get a teacher who knows Jazz.
Learn how to read chord charts.
Jazz tunes have some complicated forms.
It's very technical music.
Get The Real Book

 

[johnReeve]

If there are jams that you'd like to play at, then that's a good place to find tunes you might like to learn.... just go and take notes about what they are playing, and watch the bass player(s) to figure out what they do.

It's easier to learn theory if you can read, but you can go a long way just playing by ear. I didn't really start sight reading until I got a gig with a big band. But it's real tough to think about what is going on in some chord changes if you can't kinda look at the notes and see what is happening.

 

[Dgl44]

So, so far I've gotten down the basic theory of the chords and how to connect them, the meaning of 2-5-1, keys and such, and I can construct simple walking bass lines. I have no money for a teacher so I'll probably take up Scott's Bass Lessons since he's about to release a jazz package, and 14$ a month isn't too expensive, even for me. Thanks for all the helpful info so far!