I want to be a jazz guitarist when I grow up. I've been at it since the late 1970's. When I get it down, I'll let you know how I did it!
What I've done so far:
- Studied jazz guitar/theory at North Texas State University (now University Of North Texas) off & on for 3 years
- Played a LOT of jazz gigs (both with bands and as a solo guitarist doing chord solos)
- Listened to a lot of jazz (this seems to be VERY important)
- Learned a lot of jazz songs (also very important)
I think if I had a student that "wanted to learn to play jazz" I'd start that student out with the following:
- Learn one intermediate chord solo
- Learn to "comp" the chords to an intermediate jazz standard
- Learn to play the melody of that same jazz standard
- Learn an intermediate solo over that same jazz standard. This would come by playing the chords to the standard and humming or scatting a vocal solo over the chords, and then figuring out how to play what was hummed/scatted
- Repeat the above steps over and over
- Learn to spell chords (e.g. C7(#5) = C - E - G# - Bb)
The Jazz Guitar Forum is a good resource -->
http://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/