Jazz Jams
Description
Classic vocal and instrumental tracks to practice and play along with. Play on shuffle.
Quickstats
Playlist Length
2 days, 2 hours, 50 minutes
Playlist Followers
416
Source
Discovered On, Reddit
Playlist Last Updated
May 21, 2024
Mood
Mixed Mood
Track Popularity Rating
Deep
Style
Quiet
Average Release Decade
1950s
Main Genre:
Jazz
Reddit Info
Reddit Post
Learning jazz isn't fundamentally all that different from learning other styles by ear; it just has very specific vocabulary/grammar, so to speak, and it can be quite a bit more complex or sopisticated than something like blues or punk rock. (My old teacher used to say, "Blues is like checkers; jazz is like chess. Same board, different game.") It ultimately comes down to knowing songs and styles, which you've already started to do. A great way to get familiar with more jazz standards is by checking out some of the key musicians from the past: Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk are great places to start. Frank Sinatra, although not an improvising musician, also has definitive recordings of standards. I like those musicians' arrangements, because they are pretty straightforward and don't add a lot of abstraction like Brad Mehldau might. Charlie Parker tunes are still tough, but they are essential to jazz repertoire. What I like to do for my practice sessions is turn on my [standards playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1wpTm8yIs0rvzeP2f9HWxJ?si=1_PF6ScNTXuA0tb_R9vSZw) and just improvise along with the recordings. This skill basically comes from ear training. I can tell by ear what key we're in at any given moment (key centers shift more often in jazz than other contemporary genres). If a musician plays a lick, I know what scale degrees those notes are, and I also know where to find those sounds on the fretboard. [MusicTheory.net](https://www.musictheory.net/exercises) has some great tools for working on ear training, theory, and fretboard knowledge. Another great skill to practice is just singing along with recordings... whether it's the melody, a few licks, or an extended portion of a solo. If you can sing it, you can play it. Syncopated rhythm and the concept of "swing" are huge in jazz. It won't sound like jazz if you don't have a solid rhythm feel concept, so check out musicians like Thelonious Monk (*Solo Monk),* Red Garland, Benny Green, Bobby Broom, Oscar Peterson, Christian McBride, and even J Dilla. For guitar, heavier gauge strings help get a richer, fuller clean sound, which is necessary for jazz. People use all sorts of guitars for jazz, but having an archtop or semihollow with humbuckers and heavier gauge flatwound strings does make a difference, so you don't have to fight as much for a traditional "jazz" sound. Notes played on an archtop with flats tend to have a strong attack and weak sustain, and therefore sound very punchy, which is *perfect* for heavily syncopated jazz and bebop. Lastly, it all comes down to personal preference. Jazz is insanely diverse, and it really comes down to what you enjoy. Listen to what you enjoy; it's impossible to learn and master everything.
Upvotes
10
Subreddit
jazzguitar
Reddit Username
onlyforjazzmemes
Reddit Timestamp
11/12/20 12:23
Reddit URL
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