Jazz bass for beginners - When Sunny Gets Blue

[stage ahead]

This is a small lesson on how to play a jazz standard tune by using only the "big letters" of the mostly complex chord symbols. A beginner student of mine was largely confused by chord symbols like A7(b9) and therefore refused to play jazz although he'd love to. So in one lesson I taught him an easy approach to play jazz basslines without bothering about complex chord symbols. To demonstrate this I improvised a bassline on one of my favorite jazz standards "When Sunny Gets Blue" and videotaped it, so he could have a closer look at home. Later on I decided to put this lesson in my bass-blog to share it. Take a look!



Here's the complete transcription of my improvised bassline:

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Hope you like it!

 

[Splods]

I'm currently going over how chords work in jazz. Once you break it down it is easy to figure out.

Great lesson, Subscribed.

 

[stage ahead]

Hey Splods,

thanks! You're right, once you know how chords are constructed it's easy, but for a beginner jazz chords can be very daunting! So I tell them to play only the "big letters" (the roots) first and care about the rest later to make a start. Honestly I'm doing that myself, when I come across a bebop standard played at 200bpm ;-)

 

[stancy]

Great post. Thanks

 

[Spin Doctor]

This is a small lesson on how to play a jazz standard tune by using only the "big letters" of the mostly complex chord symbols. A beginner student of mine was largely confused by chord symbols like A7(b9) and therefore refused to play jazz although he'd love to. So in one lesson I taught him an easy approach to play jazz basslines without bothering about complex chord symbols. To demonstrate this I improvised a bassline on one of my favorite jazz standards "When Sunny Gets Blue" and videotaped it, so he could have a closer look at home. Later on I decided to put this lesson in my bass-blog to share it. Take a look!



Here's the complete transcription of my improvised bassline:

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Hope you like it!

I like the sound you get in your video. How about a tutorial on how to record videos? I've seen a few, but for some reason, they never seem to explain the mechanics of it very well.

 

[swink]

It's not about the bass, but I've found this site always helpful, when it comes to jazz.
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