Wanted!! Jazz guitar tips.

Only been whacking about with guitar for a couple of years but totally bored with the blues scale jamming style.

Hoping some kind guitarists here can help me towards a little more creative style of playing ala George Benson.Larry Carlton,Pat Metheny.(TOO AMBITIOUS?)

A 'Post a riff' thread would be great.
Tips, Tricks,shortcuts,exercises..anything helpful.

Recently got a Don Mock training Vid.This has really inspired me to try some more involved stuff
Only one day later and my scales are a thousand percent better already.

Cheers for any replies in advance.
T.

I recommend getting Mickey Baker's Jazz Guitar book . I reckon a good way to suss out lead melody is to hit two chords , one strum each , then stitch that up with some melody
lead till you get to the next two chords one strum each . Pick out four chords that can turn around like this over and over . Approach the chords in twos and the melody lead chromatically but especially for the lead , in broken bit parts of the chromatic scale . You've got to hear spaces first so you can hone your art of stitchin them up if they need stitchin up . Good on ya keep goin ! I hope what I've said hear makes sense down the track for you .

I'm not sure it's a tip but I saw Nancy Wilson and several other guitarists over the years using notched nails on both pickin hand pinky and fret side 4. I tried it on the one finger that still works...

Um, it could be "bad" given some doodle-time AND given someone who actually could wail on a box with competence and grace.

It could be a classical-git thing or maybe SE Asian. I had a stroke... my git-box abuse could cause WAKING SEIZURES IN THE DEAD. Pickin-side. I hear "them", ("they" over the other-side) feel the heat. They aren't anxious to hear my Harp. LOL. I go out on the roof. The cat sings. LOL.

Vic

[edit on 30-1-2008 by V Kaminski]

Originally posted by V Kaminski

Vic

LOL.. You make it sound worse than mine but I bet it's not..

I've NO idea what you mean by notched nails but I'll go search it out.
(Do I need to find a hammer and adjust my guitars?

I've got nails on pick hand but not fret.(Do a lot of Knopfler in the show).

I seem to me tending towards a 'hybrid' pick style (plec and pluck) with the little finger supported on the pick guard next to pickups.. (helps me remember where I left my hand):w:



Cheers too MUZZAJG I,ll hunt down the Vid/book/guy..

and I think I get what you mean..

I,ve been trying to make it sit around one scale only (ala easy blues style) but it's been sounding total and utter pants..
Guess I'll have to learn chords now properly..

reply to post by AGENT_T


It's a little notch filed into the leading edge of the nail... a little divot to trap/control and play with the string fret-side... just enough to pinch it. Try it see what you think. Where I use it pickin-pinky it makes the pluck a bit crisper. I try and catch the string perpendicular to the nail... it makes a very small contact patch and the sound is definitley different. It's really hard actually... pick-side pinky. Oh, I know who else used it Al Dimeola.

Cheers,

Vic

OK thumb notched.. what's next?






LOL.. Just had it done 4th jan.. rekindled my interest in playing again(Was fire damaged stock lol)

I have trouble keeping nails on at all. Usually jam them in door frames lugging P.A's n stuff.
I usually end up with a notch of some description just with wear on the strings anyhoo.. Can you recommend a good nail varnish.??

reply to post by AGENT_T


Gee I'd never considered nail structure T'. I just assumed everyone has nails like mine... sorry. Mine are hard but a bit brittle if I let them get longer than an eighth inch or so. Nail varnish? Lemme see what the Missus' might have in her dressing table... It's Estee Lauder something blah Opal Crystalline... stinks like race gas cut with benzene or maybe nitro-methanol. Pretty viscous and opaque. 'Says it's not for children so I better not fiddle around.

That's a nasty rip. Bet that bled big. Is that duct-tape residue around the wound site? Nice stitching. Yup, luggin' amps and and the PA around, you're a lifer.

I think you'll like this T'.



Cheers and pickin',

Vic

[edit on 30-1-2008 by V Kaminski]

reply to post by V Kaminski


Cool clip.
He's dead right about following his playing rather than the timing. I lost time immediately.
(Hate his sound though.) It's be much better with just a healthy dose of compression and a smidge of distortion.
Each to his own though.





[edit on 30-1-2008 by AGENT_T]

Had to add the master

He kinda proves the point that a good knowledge of jazz chords and modes makes for a superb rock style too.

reply to post by AGENT_T


Yup. Lifer!!! Hear the freedom in Mozee? Absolute clarity... makes it look so easy. Vic hangs head, puts fingers on temples and rubs... Yeah. Satriani is an alien. The good kind. I can't even think that fast let alone twang at warp... I remember the first time I heard Surfin'... the second stanza. Q107... WHO IS THAT! GOD? Damn-near.

Imagine he and Hendrix playing twin-lead like Southern-style? Oh man...

Vic



[edit on 30-1-2008 by V Kaminski]

learn theory. learn to construct 7th and 9th chords, and start listening to the greatest Jazz master of all time, Wes Montgomery.

Here's a video of Mr. Wes Montgomery, greatest jazz improviser of all time IMO.

So you're aiming more for a fusion style rather than straight jazz?


It's all in the Holdsworth.

reply to post by AGENT_T


I hear you T.

I too got tired of the penta/blues forms so I started checking out the gypsy jazz lessons on YouTube. I think it's a great way to get the Jazz roots and vibe in a hurry. Fun too!

reply to post by whaaa


Man I can't listen to that music. It makes me want to learn the violin.
My two older brothers did.. and had lessons.. By the time it came to me my mother wouldn't 'waste any more money on music lessons'.

SO of course, being me,I had to make a living out of music to teach the B*... (oops no swearing ).
She did so want me to become a teacher lol.

I wish I'd learned to read music though. It would make online lessons easier..BUT I Gotta say..

HOW GREAT ARE GUITAR TABS ????

It's just that there's too many dots to learn 'parrot fashion' in Jazz