What's my first step to learn jazz?

[DoctorZee]

I'm interested in expanding my repertoire into the jazz genre. I'm woefully ignorant about jazz. I imagine I'd start with the more common subgenres: swing, blues, etc. I'm a pretty eager autodidact, and I've taught myself almost everything else on the instrument... but is that the right approach for jazz? Cast your vote above: what should my first step be?

 

[jallenbass]

Do you listen to much jazz? If not, that would be the first step. After that, private lessons would be my choice.

 

[Nashrakh]

+1 to jallenbass. Listening a lot is key.

If you are "woefully ignorant" about it, what's your motivation to learn? Do you feel like it's an obligation to do so even if you barely know any jazz music? Just asking because I do know some people who think like that.

 

[Mushroo]

Since you are already an accomplished musician, I would suggest: Choose some songs that you already know quite well, and try to arrange them in a "jazz" style.

 

[skwee]

Do get a real book. But I'd hold off on heading to the jam until you have the concepts and applications of walking lines, melodic soloing, and form pretty well in hand. The number one most important thing is to LISTEN to jazz so that your playing will be idiomatic to the genre.

 

[foal30]

If Jazz is a conversation

Can you both listen and talk?

 

[White Beard]

When I was a high school kid learning jazz, my favorite part was going to Streetside Records and spending $9-$17 per CD based only on "I like this guy and he was on Kind of Blue," "I've heard of this guy," "Paul Chambers plays on this," "I've heard a lot about this Mingus person, which makes me skeptical..."

Anyways, the best part of it all is liner notes. There's nothing that 17 year-old kids love more than reading very tiny 3,000 word essays on the particular work they just purchased. Nat Hentoff, Leonard Feather, Neshui Ertegun… All the best Jazz essayists from the 50's and 60's. I very rarely buy things from the "we get half!" Apple Record Store that wants me to update every three days, so I don't know this. Do you get liner notes when you buy your records from Apple? Maybe just the big ones? I'd also go to the public library and read old Downbeat Blindfold Tests.

I guess what I'm saying is that context, to me, is very important in jazz. One can just play certain notes in a certain style against a certain chord and call it jazz without any real meaning. But, it's the cats that chooses to go above just learning the notes and style, and learns the history and reasons why, those are the ones that seem to understand it a little more.

 

[FretlessMainly]

I essentially did this about 25 years ago. After ~12 years on fretted electric, I bought a double bass, a thick book of Sinatra standards and five or six of his CDs that contain many of the common standards. I then locked myself in the woodshed for about three years, emerging only for the most basic essentials, which included the purchase of several hundred jazz CDs to further my study.

There's no one way to do it, but if you really want to do it, you need to take stock of where you are at:

• How's your fingerboard knowledge? While jazz will help you to expand this, you need more than a basic knowledge of your board to really dig into it.
• How's your theory? Again, while jazz will help you to expand this, you'll likely need more than a basic knowledge of simple diatonic theory. While not an absolute prerequisite, a strong understanding of theory will help you to overcome some of the harmonic challenges you might find along the way. For example, in most sheet music for older jazz standards, the convention used is that of the old Broadway/Tin Pan Alley scores. You'll see these chords such as Ab-6 which won't compute at first. These chords typically mean a iib5-Vb9 of ii. In the case of Ab-6, it is often denoting an F-7(b5) Bb7(b9) resolving to an Ebmin.
• How's your reading skill? While much of jazz is improvised, there are certainly tunes that have a written bass line for at least part of the piece. If you take a big band gig, you might read most or all of the night. You'll also need basic theory and reading skills to understand simple chord symbols and be able to improvise a bass line from them. Understanding how a chord in bar #2 might be harmonically-related (or not) to a chord in bar #5 will help to dictate how that line is created.

I don't mean to dissuade you; rather, I hope to give you an idea of what to expect. This can be an extremely rewarding undertaking, but the reward is commensurate with how much you put into it. Rather than spending money on a teacher at this point, try to dig into it and find your level of interest and, of course, your inevitable confusion. Then, bring questions to a teacher.

Since you mentioned blues, below is a simple example of how jazz might expound on the blues form:

Typical 12-bar blues:

| F7 / / / | ./. | ./. | ./. |
| Bb7 / / / | ./. | F7 / / / | ./. |
| C7 / / / | Bb7 / / / | F7 / / / | ./. |

Typical 12-bar jazz blues:

| F7 / / / | Bb7 / / / | F7 | ./. |
| Bb7 / / / | ./. | F7 | A-7(b5) / D7(b9) / |
| G-7 / / / | C7 / / / | F7 / / / | ./. |

 

[Whousedtoplay]

Since you are already an accomplished musician...

???
An accomplished musician who needs/wants to learn Blues?
An accomplished musician but doesn’t not mention “listening and enjoying jazz music” in his “questionable” questionnaire?

 

[Old P Bass Guy]

Do get a real book. But I'd hold off on heading to the jam until you have the concepts and applications of walking lines, melodic soloing, and form pretty well in hand. The number one most important thing is to LISTEN to jazz so that your playing will be idiomatic to the genre.

I'm sure some will dissagree but you gotta love it to learn it.

 

[Old P Bass Guy]

???
An accomplished musician who needs/wants to learn Blues?
An accomplished musician but doesn’t not mention “listening and enjoying jazz music” in his “questionable” questionnaire?

Could be a book report.

 

[Whousedtoplay]

Could be a book report.

In the OP’s “situation”, I would re-phrase that question as,

I have started playing the bass recently and have some knowledge about playing easy pop music songs by watching YouTube videos, but I am mesmerized while listening to this..... or that.... musician. I know it’s jazz and it’s difficult for me to understand/figure out chords, Harmony, etc., plus the bass lines are played on the DB, and bass players know how to Solo, improvise.
Even simple blues tracks are confusing to me with those “blues notes”, and so on...

 

[Whousedtoplay]

I essentially did this about 25 years ago. After ~12 years on fretted electric, I bought a double bass, a thick book of Sinatra standards and five or six of his CDs that contain many of the common standards. I then locked myself in the woodshed for about three years, emerging only for the most basic essentials, which included the purchase of several hundred jazz CDs to further my study.

There's no one way to do it, but if you really want to do it, you need to take stock of where you are at:

• How's your fingerboard knowledge? While jazz will help you to expand this, you need more than a basic knowledge of your board to really dig into it.
• How's your theory? Again, while jazz will help you to expand this, you'll likely need more than a basic knowledge of simple diatonic theory. While not an absolute prerequisite, a strong understanding of theory will help you to overcome some of the harmonic challenges you might find along the way. For example, in most sheet music for older jazz standards, the convention used is that of the old Broadway/Tin Pan Alley scores. You'll see these chords such as Ab-6 which won't compute at first. These chords typically mean a iib5-Vb9 of ii. In the case of Ab-6, it is often denoting an F-7(b5) Bb7(b9) resolving to an Ebmin.
• How's your reading skill? While much of jazz is improvised, there are certainly tunes that have a written bass line for at least part of the piece. If you take a big band gig, you might read most or all of the night. You'll also need basic theory and reading skills to understand simple chord symbols and be able to improvise a bass line from them. Understanding how a chord in bar #2 might be harmonically-related (or not) to a chord in bar #5 will help to dictate how that line is created.

I don't mean to dissuade you; rather, I hope to give you an idea of what to expect. This can be an extremely rewarding undertaking, but the reward is commensurate with how much you put into it. Rather than spending money on a teacher at this point, try to dig into it and find your level of interest and, of course, your inevitable confusion. Then, bring questions to a teacher.

Since you mentioned blues, below is a simple example of how jazz might expound on the blues form:

Typical 12-bar blues:

| F7 / / / | ./. | ./. | ./. |
| Bb7 / / / | ./. | F7 / / / | ./. |
| C7 / / / | Bb7 / / / | F7 / / / | ./. |

Typical 12-bar jazz blues:

| F7 / / / | Bb7 / / / | F7 | ./. |
| Bb7 / / / | ./. | F7 | A-7(b5) / D7(b9) / |
| G-7 / / / | C7 / / / | F7 / / / | ./. |

I can not imagine any contemporary “easy listening music” that does not include some elements of Blues!

 

[4dog]

its been said ,so i will say it again...LISTEN TO NOTHING BUT JAZZ MUSIC.....its not that you will learn by osmosis but your ears will tell you what feels and sounds correct for the genre....LISTEN TO OLD AND NEW...immersion immersion immersion....its the quickest way for anyone to really really learn a new style and or genre of music.

 

[InhumanResource]

I'm interested in expanding my repertoire into the jazz genre. I'm woefully ignorant about jazz. I imagine I'd start with the more common subgenres: swing, blues, etc. I'm a pretty eager autodidact, and I've taught myself almost everything else on the instrument... but is that the right approach for jazz? Cast your vote above: what should my first step be?

Get a teacher and I mean a real teacher. Head to the local community college music program. Find out where the jam nights are in the closest city and start hanging there until you are comfortable enough to play.

Listen a LOT. There's play along on YouTube you can practice with!

 

[Old P Bass Guy]

In the OP’s “situation”, I would re-phrase that question as,

I have started playing the bass recently and have some knowledge about playing easy pop music songs by watching YouTube videos, but I am mesmerized while listening to this..... or that.... musician. I know it’s jazz and it’s difficult for me to understand/figure out chords, Harmony, etc., plus the bass lines are played on the DB, and bass players know how to Solo, improvise.
Even simple blues tracks are confusing to me with those “blues notes”, and so on...

I would buy into that but he used the term "accomplished" which seems like a contradiction.

 

[Whousedtoplay]

I would buy into that but he used the term "accomplished" which seems like a contradiction.

I don’t see the word, accomplished in the OP’s comment.

 

[TheReceder]

Grow a soul patch (formerly known as a jazz dab)

 

[Bunk McNulty]

I'm interested in expanding my repertoire into the jazz genre. I'm woefully ignorant about jazz. I imagine I'd start with the more common subgenres: swing, blues, etc. I'm a pretty eager autodidact, and I've taught myself almost everything else on the instrument... but is that the right approach for jazz? Cast your vote above: what should my first step be?

If you are an autodidact, get a Real Book and then work your way through what used to be called "the American songbook"--meaning standards from the jazz repertoire: Songs by George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Harold Arlen, Irving Berlin, etc., etc. Listening while having the chart in front of you helps me, anyway, when I have to learn a 32-bar or 64-bar tune for a wedding or similar. Cautionary note: Don't start with Jerome Kern's "All The Things You Are." Gaaahhhh, so many changes!

 

[Michael Bauer]

My best advice to you would be to start with blues forms, since they are familiar to you. Jazz players approach blues much differently. Learn to walk over a blues form with swinging 8s without pausing or phrasing...just keep going. Once you are comfy doing that, it's time for chord substitutions.

My friend, John Jorgenson, really illustrates that well in his Intro to Gypsy Jazz Guitar instruction book. He takes a basic, 12-bar blues, and each time through substitutes a "jazz" chord for one of the blues chords. I won't take you through the permutations unless you really want me to, but you start out with this:

G/G/G/G
C7/C7/G/G
D7/D7/G/G

and slowly work you way to this:

G/Daug/G/G9
C6/C#dim7/G/E7
A/D7/G-Daug/G

Doing it one substitution at a time really helps you see how it fits together, and makes the learning so much easier! Now you are in full-on jazz blues mode! If you can get access to a copy of John's book, I recommend it highly! I have never seen a better presentation of getting from a basic blues progression to a full-on jazz one.

Next you study "Rhythm Changes." Some wag once said that all jazz is just blues meets Rhythm Changes, and there is considerable truth behind that exaggeration. When you can play a jazz blues progression and Rhythm Changes, you have the tools to play just about anything you will ever come across.

I did this for years as a rhythm guitar player in gypsy jazz, which includes just about any standard ever. I am just now trying to learn this stuff on bass, as a side project, with just the head start from my guitar experiences.

It can all seem overwhelming, but start out just playing the roots and octaves, then add 5ths once you know the progression well, then chromatic and scale approaches bit by bit, as you get comfortable. When in doubt, keep it simple. If there is a good jazz bassist where you live, by all means take some lessons, if you can. It will save you time and mistakes. And plan on it taking you years. To expect less will just lead you to frustration and disappointment. I'm on the same journey in whatever spare time my band duties allow, so let's share notes and frustrations as we go.