An Introduction to Jazz

dcg

smigeon said:

http://www.jazzguitar.be ;

The lessons on there are excellent - and free. The forums on there are also very good.

As a resource, jazzguitar.be takes some beating.  However, I'd also add that Frank Vignola's vids on YouTube have helped me nail some tricky pieces.  He really breaks everything down into digestible chunks; monster player, of course.  Plus check out some of your local jazz workshops run as evening classes; it's perhaps easier learning with others, even if you're way out of your comfort zone...

JerkMoans

robinbowes said:

There's everything you need to know here:

Acid Skiffle!  

Littlejonny

Brad said:

@joeW I’ll certainly be checking that book out, nice one!

@Littlejonny I’ve been properly looking into the Barry Harris method for the past month or so, transcribed loads of the Chris Parks/TILFBH stuff, it’s a very good approach. 

With that being said, it can be hard to know where to start, particularly as Chris Parks races through the info. I think there are certain foundations one needs to get in the fingers and then everything begins to fall into place. I’d start with the major scale doing the following:

Scale up and down

Scale in 3rds up and down

Scale in triads up and down

Scale in chords (Barry language for 7th Arps) up and down

Add a half step below all of the above

Pivots

Barry’s chromatic scale 

In 3rds

Triads

Chords

All of that descending. 

Then all of the above for a Dominant scale. 

That’s certainly a lot of work, but will definitely lay the foundations for taking on the Barry Harris approach with more confidence as a lot of it, is knitting together these things. What I’ll say though, if you want to learn Jazz it’s not something you can really “do from time to time”. You do have to throw yourself in and get your hands dirty if you want to make progress

Brad said:

@joeW I’ll certainly be checking that book out, nice one!

@Littlejonny I’ve been properly looking into the Barry Harris method for the past month or so, transcribed loads of the Chris Parks/TILFBH stuff, it’s a very good approach. 

With that being said, it can be hard to know where to start, particularly as Chris Parks races through the info. I think there are certain foundations one needs to get in the fingers and then everything begins to fall into place. I’d start with the major scale doing the following:

Scale up and down

Scale in 3rds up and down

Scale in triads up and down

Scale in chords (Barry language for 7th Arps) up and down

Add a half step below all of the above

Pivots

Barry’s chromatic scale 

In 3rds

Triads

Chords

All of that descending. 

Then all of the above for a Dominant scale. 

That’s certainly a lot of work, but will definitely lay the foundations for taking on the Barry Harris approach with more confidence as a lot of it, is knitting together these things. What I’ll say though, if you want to learn Jazz it’s not something you can really “do from time to time”. You do have to throw yourself in and get your hands dirty if you want to make progress

Thanks @brad that’s really helpful. I’m someway into this list already, but trying to get my head round the Barry Harris minor 6th chord scale stuff…as someone with a background in music theory it’s like being told 2+2=5 all of a sudden.

Also, I’ve been thinking about this a lot, the BIG issue for me is that I don’t know the songs. I didn’t grow up listening to anything pre Miles, and my parents listened to rock and pop music. I didn’t hear jazz standards ANYWHERE. I never saw the musicals or films that these songs are from, and so they’re not internalised in me. When Jimmy Bruno or Joe Pass is playing a standard, he is intuitively playing around with the harmony in a way that is completely native to him - it’s like me messing about with a Beatles tune.

the first time I came across a lot of these tunes is in the real book, which is just the tune and chords, and what they really are (the majority of them anyway) are beautiful songs, with lyrics and meaning. 

The original jazz guys weren’t thinking about theory, they were probably just playing by ear, but the music was internalised harmonically because they’d heard it so much.

Also, it took me years to realise this, because no one ever explained it to me. I used to listen to jazz groups thinking ‘how does everyone use so many notes and chords and not clash with each other ?’ I genuinely didn’t understand that they could basically do whatever they want within a certain set of rules / structure. I think I used to think they were just completely improvising freely!

Brad

Littlejonny said:

Thanks @brad that’s really helpful. I’m someway into this list already, but trying to get my head round the Barry Harris minor 6th chord scale stuff…as someone with a background in music theory it’s like being told 2+2=5 all of a sudden.

Also, I’ve been thinking about this a lot, the BIG issue for me is that I don’t know the songs. I didn’t grow up listening to anything pre Miles, and my parents listened to rock and pop music. I didn’t hear jazz standards ANYWHERE. I never saw the musicals or films that these songs are from, and so they’re not internalised in me. When Jimmy Bruno or Joe Pass is playing a standard, he is intuitively playing around with the harmony in a way that is completely native to him - it’s like me messing about with a Beatles tune.

the first time I came across a lot of these tunes is in the real book, which is just the tune and chords, and what they really are (the majority of them anyway) are beautiful songs, with lyrics and meaning. 

The original jazz guys weren’t thinking about theory, they were probably just playing by ear, but the music was internalised harmonically because they’d heard it so much.

Also, it took me years to realise this, because no one ever explained it to me. I used to listen to jazz groups thinking ‘how does everyone use so many notes and chords and not clash with each other ?’ I genuinely didn’t understand that they could basically do whatever they want within a certain set of rules / structure. I think I used to think they were just completely improvising freely!

That's absolutely right, all those guys from that era.. that's how they did it. They were living it, learning and failing on stage, transcribing, getting stuff wrong, learning from others etc etc. Just how the majority of us learned rock, blues etc.

 On a slight (but related) tangent, I work with a lot of Gospel/Church musicians and its exactly the same deal. Early days my head was spinning, with all the reharms/tricks etc, I had to re-evaluate my approach to playing in many ways. But then I realised that these musicians grew up with that music, playing it every Sunday and shedding it through the week. Hearing those harmonic ideas constantly, whereas it just wasn't my background at all, so it was a big struggle. But the more I was involved in it, you do begin to pick these things up, you begin to catch them and they come out in your playing naturally.

It's the same with jazz. Jimmy Bruno (who I love), is very... forthright in his view about how you go about learning it. Yet, whilst Bruno is an exceptional talent and I'd argue music come easier to him than the rest of us, ultimately he is right about it. But books/resources can help us that get that bit closer to where we want to be, particularly if we don't find ourselves in an environment conducive to really getting it together... I think Bruno uses the Real book as a door stop  

 I need to spend some time with the Barry Harris Scales of Chords stuff when I get chance. You're right, it'll feel like re-learning, or re-thinking theory as you know it. But what I've briefly looked into makes a lot of sense and I can definitely see the mileage will be worth it. From the limited time I've been checking it out, I think BH shared the best way of learning jazz/bebop language for those of us that aren't from that world -  a "way in" so to speak. I can totally understand why people fall in love with the approach.