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All the jazz educators who I know and respect put listening to jazz in first place - so I'll follow their wisdom and start with this point too. Jazz sounds different to other music styles. It has its own rhythms and phrasing, it's own harmonies and melodic motifs. Educators refer to the "language of jazz" and "jazz vocabulary". Much of it is counterintuitive, intentionally breaking the rules of classical, popular and folk music. If you don't listen to a lot of jazz - and love it - you're not going to be able to play it.
What to listen to? Well, obviously the great jazz guitarists like Charlie Christian, Joe Pass, Wes Montgomery, John Scofield... But listen also to other instruments - Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Sonny Rollins, Duke Ellington, etc. Jazz guitarists are sometimes accused of being more interested in the guitar than in jazz, and that shouldn't be. And how to listen? Do you study and analyze what you're hearing from the jazz theory point of view? Try to transcribe some licks, or even a whole solo? Pick up your guitar and play along? Or just sit back with a beer and enjoy it? My personal answer is, all of those. Certainly great jazz recordings are a primary study source - the best text book you'll ever find, it's been said. But I believe you should devote plenty of time to just sitting back and enjoying. I hope the image gallery decorating this page is an inspiration!
Finally, you should also make a point of getting out and hearing jazz live whenever you can. Find out where there's live jazz in your neighbourhood, listen to the local talent, go to jazz festivals and concerts. Jazz is spontaneous performance music, and it's best heard live. |
