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New! Ok, so this isn't exactly new, but my telling you about it certainly is. A couple of years ago I was considering making a new instructional DVD using a simplified approach, with less theory and more hands-on examples. As coincidences like this go I was then contacted by a company called Guitar Control, and the owner had the same type of project in mind, so we created Real Easy Jazz Guitar. The way it works is, I explain some basic chords, scales, and arpeggios you'll need, then we learn ten standards out of the New Real book, which comes with the course. I show you how to play the melody, single line and (where applicable) chord melody style, then show you examples of comping and soloing. All of it was written out in standard notation and tab by yours truly, so you know it's right! A Real Easy Jazz Guitar Volume II is on its way soon, so more to come Check it out! |
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I've tried to be selective about which sites to link to, which was tough considering all the web sites there are to explore. Basically I've listed three types of sites: official, tribute, and educational.
Some of this categorization is a bit arbitrary, I admit. Most of the players' sites have educational material, as do some of the tribute sites. The educators are usually great players as well, and so on. However, I think breaking them up this way will make browsing easier. I hope you enjoy discovering (or learning more about) these great jazz guitarists as much as I did...
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Read any good books lately?
New! The Lowdown on Fakebooks
Most of the jazz musicians I know have one or more fakebooks at their disposal, for learning tunes at home, in rehearsals, or even on the bandstand. There are a lot of them out there, some better than others, so I'd like to list some of the ones I use regularly.
The Chuck Sher New Real Books These books are at the top of my list because they are the most accurate and pay royalties to the composers. Sometimes the charts are a bit too detailed to sight read in a dark club, and there are some pop tunes included in some of the volumes that really shouldn't have been included, but overall they're excellent books. If you have to pick one start with The New Real Book, Volume 1, which contains a lot of tunes jazz musicians play.
If you are looking for an alternative to the Chuck Sher books the Warner Brothers Just Jazz Real Book A great resource for locating which book(s) a particular tune can be found is The Fake Book Index over at http://www.seventhstring.com/, who also make the terrific program Transcribe!
Classic instructional books on jazz improv and jazz guitar
Sometimes nothing but a book will do (i.e, not an "e-book.") Below I've listed and annotated some of the ones that I first started with back in the mid 1970s, which I believe have stood the test of time. In addition, there is a review of a newer book that has set the bar for jazz texts, Mark Levine's Jazz Theory Book.
This book was recommended to me when I was 17 by jazz guitarmeister Curt Warren. Written and first published in the 1950's, Baker's book (still published with the original cheesy cover art, typos, and other mistakes left intact) is an often hilarious window into a bygone era. With all its flaws it's still an extremely useful instruction book for guitarists who are newbies to jazz. It's divided into two sections, chords and soloing. The chords are all written as box diagrams (requiring no music reading ability), and the subsequent exercises teach you solid musical examples using the chords you've learned. If you work your way through the first section more or less as Baker instructs you'll know 90% of the basic "jazz guitar chords" that you'll need to play jazz/blues changes, standards, bop tunes, and bossa novas. The section on single note soloing is pretty basic, but it does teach you some simple jump blues lines and a few concepts about soloing on changes.
Jerry Coker started his career as a saxophonist, apprenticed in big bands such as those of Woody Herman and Stan Kenton, and later garnered fame for his extensive contributions to jazz education. Improvising Jazz
Unlike its svelte cousin discussed above, Patterns for Jazz: Treble Clef
Joe Pass was one of my main influences on guitar. When I was nineteen I had the pleasure of meeting and studying with Joe at a seminar in Tampa, FL, and in addition to his book I had just about every record he had put out at that time. The Joe Pass Guitar Style book was carefully written by Joe and Bill Thrasher. Like Mickey Baker's Complete Course in Jazz Guitar: A Modern How-to-Play Jazz and Hot Guitar, Book 1
Another terrific "play-along" tool is Band in a Box 2009 Pro The Jazz Theory Book
I need more books on jazz theory and methods like I need a hole in the head, so I resisted buying this book for a long time. Now that I own it, I can honestly say that it's the best single resource of its type I've found on the market today. During the last twenty-five years of teaching, I've mostly relied on explaining things my own way, because there was no single book that pulled all the aspects of theory and common practice into one place. Mark Levine has written just such a book. I studied all the chapters to see what was included and how it was explained, and in most every case it either matched my opinions exactly or explained things even more clearly than I could.
Transcriptions
One thing that almost every jazz musician does is study the improvising of other great jazz musicians, and more often than not this is done via transcriptions. Strictly speaking transcription is writing music down in some form of notation, say standard treble and bass clefs or guitar tab, but it's sometimes done by learning a solo with your instrument (Joey Goldstein calls this "lifting" rather than transcribing) or by singing it. It's best to do this yourself for the ear training, but since I have a bunch of solos already written out I thought I'd share them with you. More of these will follow. If you're so inclined read the caveats.
I've started with some Charlie Christian solos on account of he was the man.
This would be a good time to mention a really helpful tool called Transcribe!, put out by the good folks at http://www.seventhstring.com/. Transcribe! allows you to manipulate sound files (mp3s, etc) in various ways that help in transcribing - slowing them down, changing the pitch, creating and storing loop points, and so on. Their excellent web site has loads of free music tools and advice for transcribing, as well as the The Fake Book Index mentioned above.
Quintessential jazz recordings
Every musician I knows has an extensive library of jazz records (even the ones who don't play jazz). Below are some recommendations, particularly suited for those of you new to the genre. This will be a work in progress, not only because of the staggering number of jazz records that already exist, but great new recordings come out all the time.
Miles Davis, trumpeter, composer, bandleader. One of the most important jazz musicians in the music's history. Almost any of his records can be considered classics, but here is a short list.
John Coltrane, tenor and soprano saxophonist. Coltrane or 'Trane as he was sometimes known remains one of the most important and influential musicians in jazz. He was a sideman for Miles Davis during the 1950s on two separate occasions, and began his solo recording career during this time. His style was very intense, and with his classic quartet with McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones, and Jimmy Garrison they would sometimes play one song for an entire hour or more! Below is a sampling of his prodigious recorded with.
The Dave Brubeck Quartet. Pianist/composer/bandleader Dave Brubeck is a controversial figure, often dissed by critics and some jazz musicians for his popularity and sometimes heavy handed approach to the piano. Others have pointed out that he was not the first musician to use odd time signatures in jazz, which is true. But the fact is, he was a true jazz pioneer who managed to spread high level, original instrumental music to a wide new audience during a time when jazz was being overshadowed by rock and roll and R&B. His most famous quartet included drummer Joe Morello, bassist Joe Benjamin, and the stunning alto saxophonist Paul Desmond, who wrote the group's signature tune, Take 5. Two of their most recognized and creative albums are:
Wayne Shorter, tenor and soprano saxophonist, composer. A sideman with both Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and Miles Davis's Quintet, Wayne Shorter probably did more than anyone else to change the sound of jazz composition during the 1960s, one of music's most turbulent and fertile periods. His compositions sound deceptively simple and lyrical, yet with underlying depth and sophistication. The albums below represent some of his best work.
Clay's practice tips series
A couple of years ago I ran a series of weekly e-mail tips that I sent to a group of people who signed up to receive them. Although time constraints eventually caused me to discontinue the series I enjoyed writing them, and I think the advice holds up. See for yourself. |
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is excellent mainstream jazz, and getting a lot of great press and airplay.
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would defintely be in the running.
.
, 
, and 
, and I recommend them all for anyone interested in the state of jazz guitar in the 21st century.
and his most recent sideman recording 
with saxophonist David Sanchez.
, 
, 
, and 
.
in 1974. Pat has recorded prolifically, but because of the ups and downs of the record business it's difficult to find all of his recordings intact; some are out of print, some repackaged, and so on. His first recording 
is a classic and still available, as are 
, 
, and 
.
Or, to browse all of it just go to the
, 
, and 
. If you would like to play his songs yourself check out the excellent 
.
.
some time ago and found it very compelling.
.
.
and 
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, with Joe Lovano, Bill Stewart, and Dennis Irwin is right up there.
.
and 
.
and the 
, with his long time Indianapolis trio featuring organist Mel Rhyne and drummer George Brown.
,
,
,
,
.
is back.
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is very good. The tunes are very well-known standards and the music is legible with good changes.
by Jerry Coker
These albums (now CDs, of course) provide rhythm tracks (usually piano, bass, and drums) and the accompanying books have the melodies and chord progressions written out in treble and bass clefs and transposed for Bb and Eb instruments, suggested scales, and other tips on how to improvise. My first one was 
(I believed after playing for only two years that I needed the "intermediate" level). To date Mr. Aebersold has produced 118 of these play-along recordings, including volumes devoted to songs by jazz composers such as Horace Silver (three separate volumes, 
, 
, and 
, 
John Coltrane (two volumes, 
and 
), and 
,
and many volumes of tunes that are classic jazz standards. Many of the volumes are simply exercises, including the volumes 1 and 3 discussed above.
. For those of you unfamiliar with this little gem, it is a computer program which auto-generates accompaniment backgrounds for practicing soloing. All you do is type in chord symbols (in ASCII text), hit the play button and off you go. You'll also need a sound card on your computer and some speakers for audio. There are several clear advantages to Band-in-a-Box - namely, you can play your tunes in any key, at any tempo, with any of a copious number of rhythmic feels. If you aren't happy with a particular chord, you can change it. The files take up almost no room on your hard disk, so you can easily store hundreds or even thousands of tunes.
by Mark Levine
note: I don't have this edition, but I'd sure like to get it!
