Beginning Jazz Guitar.

[Silly Moustache]

Originally Posted by Rex Everything

Greetings, all. Over the past couple years I find myself listening to more and more music from the 20s, 30s, and 40s. Though some of this is Big Band, I guess these songs would be called the hits of that day or “standards” in some cases. I even like some Western Swing music.

The rhythm behind all of this “old music” always grabs my ear, and I would like to learn how to play this style of rhythm guitar.

I suppose this would technically be called Jazz, so I’m wondering where a good place to start learning this style of playing would be. Can you recommend a book or some other kind of resource for an absolute beginner to this kind of playing?

My background on guitar is pretty much folk, rock and old-time country styles, so this would be brand new territory for me.

Thanks in advance.

mmm, 20s-30s-40s - a great time for creativity, and melody.

Lots of stuff tfrom Hokum to what is often called "American Songbook" but songs written by many excellent writers/composers - but not "easy" compared to our 3 and 5 chord tricks.

The time of the Crooners, and swing. Gershin, Porter, Richard Rogers, Irving Berlin etc., etc.

Look up "Great American songbook" in Wikipedia, and see if the songs that are captivating you are on the list (they probably will be).

Working out the progressions WILL be a challenge - don't let it beat you down!

[stanron]

A couple of thoughts on chords in the 'music from the 20s, 30s, and 40s'. Apologies if you already get this. The kind of chords used and the way they were played has changed a lot between the 1920s and now. My take is that the big change came in the 1940s with the emergence of Bee Bop and modern jazz and after that both rhythm and harmony in jazz were a lot different. I've always associated the Mickey Baker book with music after that change. My personal preference is for music before that great divide when the chords were simpler and the rhythm was more gutsy. Jazz started of as good time music. It's not that now in it's mainstream. Sub genres, such as western swing and, in Europe, gypsy jazz still keep the old values and you should be able to find stuff on line that will interest you. Good luck in your search.

[Rex Everything]

Thought I'd post an update on this. After thinking it over a lot, I decided to tackle the jazz chord/rhythm project on the mandolin first rather than guitar (I probably play mandolin more anyway). The reason is two-fold: One, there are always more guitar players than mandolin players in any given setting, and I enjoy the less-traveled road; two, I have a feeling than when I get into swing on guitar, I will end up wanting an arch-top guitar. I don't want to get into GAS mode right now, so I think starting on mandolin might hold it off for a bit.

[MC5C]

Well, switching to mandolin pretty much eliminates the first piece of advice I had, which is to learn 4 note chords...

Here is the thing. Jazz comping is being a rhythm section player, like a drummer, AND being part of the underlying basic harmony of the song. A lot of books might have chords like m7b5, and b9 and 9-13, and that is because they are going up a step from basic harmony of the song to including the upper level of what the melody and the orchestration might be doing. To start, you need to basically learn all of the chords in a moveable form, but you really need to learn the major three note chords, the minor three note chords and the dominant 7 four note chords. If you see a m7b5, you just play a 2 note minor chord and leave out the 7b5 part. If the chart calls for a Maj7, you can just play a 3 note major chord and leave out the 7. You can add the other chord tones later, as you learn chord theory and the shapes that let to play those chords.

To get back to Freddie Green, he often played one and two note chords, rarely three or more. What is a one note chord? He felt he was part of a rhythm section, with a bass player and a piano. Jazz bass players emphasis the root and the 5th of the chord, the piano player is usually playing the upper voices in the orchestration, so all the guitar usually needed to do was play the 3 or the 7 to make it full.

In your case I would learn simple three note and four note moveable chords with the root on the bottom, with the root on the 6, 5 and 4 strings, and learn a basic 4/4 strum, and have at a few songs. It's OK to play the same chord for a full bar, or even a couple of bars, if that's what the song calls for.

[Big Band Guitar]

Originally Posted by Rex Everything

Greetings, all. Over the past couple years I find myself listening to more and more music from the 20s, 30s, and 40s. Though some of this is Big Band, I guess these songs would be called the hits of that day or “standards” in some cases. I even like some Western Swing music.

The rhythm behind all of this “old music” always grabs my ear, and I would like to learn how to play this style of rhythm guitar.

I suppose this would technically be called Jazz, so I’m wondering where a good place to start learning this style of playing would be. Can you recommend a book or some other kind of resource for an absolute beginner to this kind of playing?

My background on guitar is pretty much folk, rock and old-time country styles, so this would be brand new territory for me.

Thanks in advance.

Get yourself to Ashokan Western & Swing Week www.ashokan.org Best instruction anywhere, Nice place, Good food, great people. You will learn more in a week that you have learned up to this point. One example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3CCBzQyFP4

[Wyllys]

Originally Posted by Rex Everything

Thought I'd post an update on this. After thinking it over a lot, I decided to tackle the jazz chord/rhythm project on the mandolin first rather than guitar (I probably play mandolin more anyway). The reason is two-fold: One, there are always more guitar players than mandolin players in any given setting, and I enjoy the less-traveled road; two, I have a feeling than when I get into swing on guitar, I will end up wanting an arch-top guitar. I don't want to get into GAS mode right now, so I think starting on mandolin might hold it off for a bit.

One word: UKELELE

Look up Gerald Ross on YouTube.