Hey guys, here is my dillemma (another one). I've been pushing my self to learn jazz but my city doesn't offer too much source for practicing or playing/jamming. At the most i can watch some concerts of jazz, bossa nova and some Classical stuff. Thinking about this i decided to get some play-alongs BUT here in my city i can't get those too (except for the ones i got in the internet). I'm talking my brother and 2 other friends to start playing jazz with me but if this fails to i don't know what else to try! I've been doing my ear trainings on a day basis but i've been laking inspiration to play my bass because of all the difficulties i have down here. And the worst is that: A) I don't live in a small city B) I live in the most cultural city near here. so if you guys could tell me something i haven't tought of please reply. Thank's in advance. Gabriel
You might want to try Jamey Aebersold's play along CD's. All songs are done by excellent players; no computers. The bass and piano are on separate stereo channels so you can mute the bass by using your stereo balance control. Drums are on both channels. Check out http://www.jazzbooks.com/playalongs/greatstarts/Default.htm for some good starting places. [Edit: Typos]
Abersolds are really cool, another really good thing is a program called band in a box, i always recommend this to people who want to play jazz because bassically its what is says, a band in a box. You type in chord changes then play the melody or walk a bass, then solo. Its a really good program to learn jazz, and you dont need other players to use it. Try it out, it helps alot.(dont download it, its a cheap program)
Try to find classified ads or message board of your underground music scene I'm pretty sure there are some
Yamaha QY100 or a used QY70 sequencer. It's a portable sequencer with built in backing tracks that allow you to create your own sequences. Using one of these allows you to put the chord changes in and the patterns automatically adjust to the changes.
Have someone or band in a box or an abersold cd play ii IV V chord progressions. When you are playing the major scale over a dom 7 chord, say a C Maj scale over a G7, find a place where your fingers do this: |---|-0-|-0-|---|-0-|---| |---|-0-|-0-|---|-0-|---| Ok, you are playing the ii and the IV and then you get to the V chord, play one of these notes shown below at the X right at the start, on the 1 beat, of that dom 7 V chord: |---|-0-|-0-|---|-0-|-X-| |---|-0-|-0-|---|-0-|-X-| Woa. What is that? Jazz. You are on your way. Tim99.
The Jamey Aebersold books are phenominal instruction books to learn just about any type of Jazz that you'd like to learn especially if you trying to play standards and learn the changes.I would highly recommend this instruction book.