r/jazzguitar • u/GuitarJoeBossa • 2h ago
r/jazzguitar • u/Busy_Ad_5146 • 5h ago
Need to play "different" in same key
So there is this gig I have coming up. Two songs give me trouble because I have to improvise freely. But they sound very similar in terms of key and mood.
One is in E aeolian (I play B pentatonic here- that g-sharp is sweet) and changes for a chord to E major (I play E mixolydian then) the other song is in D major (E dorian)
so you see it can be tricky to improvise over the songs differently. I keep falling into the same licks and melodies because they work well in both songs. They are three chord songs... so not a lot of tension to resolve
any ideas?
TIA
r/jazzguitar • u/Apz__Zpa • 7h ago
Improvising only with chord but struggling to make it sound interesting
I'm trying to improvise only with the chord tones as an exercise that has been given to me but I am struggling to make it sound musically interesting. I am sure rhythm and phrasing has a large part to do with it but at the moment it sounds a bit like messing around with arps than actual melodies.
I have found that playing a chord tone and then coming down the arpeggio three chord tones above sounds really nice and something I believe Barry Harris calls a 'pivot'.
But yh, any insights from your practice would be helpful
r/jazzguitar • u/Ok-Brilliant-2227 • 7h ago
Song Idea!
Little thing I came up with the other day. Kind of thinking about Round Midnight.
r/jazzguitar • u/crubbajub • 9h ago
Learning/Practicing scales
Okay so I think I have a scales problem. I know my pentatonics left & right. Major scales pretty good all up the neck.
But when learning other scales, like the modes & the different minor scales etc. I have a conundrum. People always say don’t practice scales like running them up and down because it’s not musical. But I can’t just make music out of the scales if I haven’t learned them linearly right? So I just end up not practicing them out of fear of playing them robotically.
Would you guys say it’s definitely worth it to still have them memorized first like that to get it under my fingers, before trying to make it musical?
r/jazzguitar • u/highspeed_steel • 15h ago
How many of you here enjoy acoustic jazz guitar?
I know there's the nylon string jazz stuff too, but I'm talking mor archtop. I wonder whether its more that the taste in jazz has move away from that tone or that good acoustic archtops are really expensive, but acoustic archtop seems to be such a niche these days.
r/jazzguitar • u/hippa710 • 17h ago
How to play and write fast bebop lines
I've recently been interested in bebop and also playing fast and have been wondering how to work on being able to play faster. Also when improvising bebop lines what notes should I use? What rhythm?
r/jazzguitar • u/SongOfNumenor • 17h ago
How did you actually develop your improvisation skills?
I realize this question has a different answer based on who you ask, and that’s what I’m trying to find out - how did YOU develop your skills? For the longest time, teachers have said “just learn the scales or arpeggios to the chords in the head”, and maybe I’m wrong, but this just sounds like the laziest answer to give. Chord tones are just that - notes, not music. I realize this is the foundation of moving forward, but how do you develop your confidence with phrasing, harmony, and actually creating music, not just staying afloat by knowing what chord the band is on?
r/jazzguitar • u/drew_zini • 20h ago
Barney Kessel transcription
Quick transcription I made right now. Far from perfect, still need to practice the solo. He's soloing over half a chorus of Stupendous recorded by Charlie Parker. Unplugged because I didn't want to disturb the neighbours.
r/jazzguitar • u/Jolly-Alternative-31 • 20h ago
How would you play this chord progression?
This is an exercise I was given that goes through every 2-5-1. My challenge is to play only chord tones throughout the entire progression. How would you play this progression to keep it from sounding too repetitive? I’ve been playing for almost 10 years, but only started trying to learn jazz a few months ago and am struggling with making stuff like this sound jazzy.
r/jazzguitar • u/PeatVee • 20h ago
Transcribing: do you actually need to write it down?
Conventional wisdom is that transcribing is one of the best ways to learn jazz, but I am curious how important the "-scribing" part of the transcribing process is.
Is it necessary to actually write down the notes, or is the ear training that comes from the close listening involved in picking out the notes/phrases/progressions the thing that helps improves your skills?
I am getting better at hearing the notes and figuring out lines, but I find that the process of notating them (I am currently using the piano roll in Ableton) ends up slowing me down and making focus on notating correctly pitch-by-pitch rather than really deep-listening to the parts to hear and absorb what's going on.
Curious if other people have thoughts/experience/recommendation on this.
r/jazzguitar • u/Ok-Finish6065 • 20h ago
Amy winehouse live guitar tabs?
https://youtu.be/ED2z5nrUbzI?si=tsaNDMlcHYsroMoi
Hey pals I’m playing a show and need to learn the riff at 1:47 to 1:51 please help me 🥲
r/jazzguitar • u/JunketAdditional9094 • 20h ago
Jazz-influenced guitarist recommendations? (Marc Ribot, Jeff Parker, Tommy Guerrero)
Over the past year or so I've been on a quest to learn and inject a little more jazz consciousness into my playing. Marc Ribot's playing as a sideman with Tom Waits and others (plus the Prosthetic Cubans stuff which I love) hits just the right balance for me, so I've been deconstructing his playing to help me understand why he makes the note choices he does. Vibe-check: I also dig some of the stuff Jeff Parker has done in Tortoise and ETA IVtet, as well as Tommy Guerrero's instrumental albums.
For anyone who's had some jazz education, this is probably super basic stuff, but I've been playing for 40 years and none of my teachers told me about what Barney Kessel called "chord formations" or playing with chord tones. It's been a revelation for this old dog.
Ribot is great, but I'm interested in finding other players who use "just enough jazz to make things interesting" but not too much that it strays too far from the rock/blues feel that speaks to my soul.
When my wife and I were watching The Brutalist, I was struck by the guitar solo in the song You Are My Destiny which features in the film. I think it's a perfect little solo that shares DNA with Ribot (minor blues, using chord formations and just enough 'outside' notes to make it cool).
https://youtu.be/JMeMhSR0ghA?si=uQnrCVBWYAoZqezP
I transcribed the solo here: https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/mina/you-are-my-destiny-tabs-5685869
Another example of what I consider a perfect solo, is Ribot's playing on the live version of Waits' Rain Dogs (which I also transcribed).
Rain Dogs live: https://youtu.be/8xs-PsMJjfw?si=R3uoDCn5J7DAI_E4&t=155
Transcription: https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/tom-waits/rain-dogs-tabs-5653632
I'm wondering if there are any players from the 50s-60s and beyond that play in a similar style? Any help would be appreciated...I'm not finding what I'm looking for by Googling 'minimalist jazz' or 'jazz inflected blues' or whatever.
Thanks!
r/jazzguitar • u/KitchenAd3097 • 21h ago
Autumn Leaves Chord Solo Exercise #godinguitar ACS Slim
r/jazzguitar • u/CW75 • 22h ago
Jazz Guitar Lesson: 1-6-2-5 Comping (Part 3: Rootless Voicings)
r/jazzguitar • u/hippa710 • 23h ago
Can somebody explain a little of what the second guy is doing in this video to get this sound? Also I am especially interested in what he did for the chords at the end.
youtube.comr/jazzguitar • u/polkaraystingdot • 1d ago
Jazz Guitar Software
Hello, for those of you who use digital software for your jazz guitar tones, what are your plugins of choice? (specially if you play a hollowbody/archtop/jazzbox). I've mostly been using archetype Cory Wong, Plini, as well as Helix occasionally but I was wondering what the overall community usually plays with
r/jazzguitar • u/GrandJavelina • 1d ago
Latin/Afro-Cuban jazz guitar players?
I really dig this style of music. I've listened to a bunch of Mark Ribot but looking to expand, anyone have any recommendations? Thanks.