Learn Jazz Standards is a blog, podcast, and videos all geared towards helping you become a better jazz musician! Our RU-vid channel features weekly jazz lessons, tutorials, and advice. We also have 240+ jazz play-alongs for you to practice with. Whether you want to learn more about jazz theory, improvisation, learning jazz standards, or how to practice, you'll find it here.
This is great info, but I can't help but be distracted when you play. Given that this video is already two years old, you might have resolved it by now, but I've spotted the problem in several of your videos from around this time and you're using a different guitar in newer videos. It sounds like your guitar needs a good set-up. Several of the notes sound tinny with reduced sustain, where the string is catching the next fret and buzzing slightly. This is typically caused by a worn fret. It sounds like you either need a light fret dressing (that would be my guess, since it's only certain notes), or you need to raise the bridge slightly and/or add more relief to your truss rod. It's not major surgery, so a decent guitar tech should be able to fix it quickly (and cheaply). Alternatively, you could learn to do it yourself, but you do need some specialist tools to do it properly. You may not be consciously aware of it, but when you play the same phrase a second time, you avoid the buzz by pressing harder, which does stop the buzz, but it also makes the note slightly sharp. Pressing harder works because it bends the string in a way that effectively raises the action for that one note. It's not the right solution though because you've got that slightly sharp note, and pressing harder is more likely to give you RSI.
Working on Blue in Green and Old Folks, so will try with both of them. I think this process is the way most great jazz musicians approach performance ... but walking back to the melody to finish.
The most difficult thing to me is to take advantage of the roman numeral system to help me memorizing jazz standards progressions (keeping in memory complete chord-by-chord progressions seems to be literally impossible). Since there are so many jazz standards with several key changes, secondary dominant chords that do not belong to the actual key signatures, etc etc, in the end I haven't found yet a reliable method to get rid of the lead sheets... Anyone could please give some ideas to improve on this particular subject?
Glad you found it helpful! We have a great masterclass as part of our Jazz Theory Breakthrough digital workshop that goes over diminished scale and it's uses (link in description).
Some suggestions: - “The Blues & the Abstract Truth” - Oliver Nelson. A hard bop masterpiece...all blues. - “Mingus Ah Um” - Charles Mingus. A kind of swing/bop fusion. - “Birds of Fire” - the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Fusion that’s hard as nails. - “Songs for My Father - Horace Silver. A bebop extravaganza. - "Getz/Gilberto" -- Stan Getz/Joao Gilberto & "Wave" -- Antonio Carlos Jobim. Started the bossa nova craze. - "Under the Missouri Sky" -- Pat Metheny & Charlie Haden. Hardly a seminal recording for either but it's folky & very relaxing. - "Mysterious Traveller" & "Sweetnighter" -- Weather Report. Transcends "Bitches Brew" by a mile. - "Django Reinhardt & Stephane Grappelli: Le Quintette Du Hot Club De France - 1934-1940". Swing at its finest. You didn’t mention any vocalists so I’ll suggest one: - “The Complete Billie Holiday & Lester Young 1937-1946”. Just sublime.
Thanks for this lesson, it helps a lot! I have been a member of your LJS community and eventually will join it again. The way you explain things is easy to follow, despite the difficulty of some of the concepts discussed. I still have issues when I find a chart of a jazz standard with many altered or "weird" chords, but at least I am not afraid of trying to make an analysis of it. As a bassist, I can always play the root note and may be the third to get out of the trouble, at least! 😅
Brent: super helpful, and it’s great that you share these videos with all of us. But please take this as constructive viewer feedback: Use. Fewer. Words. Like, a lot fewer.
george benson's THIS MASQUERADE , paul hardcastle JAZZMASTERS GREATEST HITS, ronnie laws FRIENDS AND STRANGERS, roy ayers Everybody Loves the Sunshine, grover washington Mister Magic
Pretty standard list. Thumbs up. Couple of issues. Giant Steps is great, but I don’t know if GS is that influential or important to Modern Jazz as Love Supreme, Village Vanguard, or Ascension. Then nothing over the next 50 years that & yes controversial: Rosenwinkle’s DS? KR, Brad M, & Redman, scream mediocrity! Anyway, no CT Silent Tongues or Berlin? Evan Parker? Brotzmann? Braxton CMO76? AEC FullForce/NiceGuys? But Kurt Rosenwinkle?
for the melody of black orpheus you should be playing G# B E in the second bar and G B E in the sixth bar to stay truthful the original melody. also it just sounds better, more melodic
You missed an important one: relate the notes in the solo to the chords - which chord tones are used, which scale tones and therefore which scale/mode is used against the chord. Here, "chord" really refers to the degree of the chord, e.g. if it's a minor chord, is it functioning as a ii, iii, of vi
I like what you have to say, but please drop the background music so we can focus on what you're saying. It's really distracting having you noodling away in the background, doubly so having the video going as well.
I did learn jazz on guitar first with ''The Complete Jazz Guitar'' and fred Sokolow. In this book every tune was analyze as like this great video. Very good instructor here. Has also used Van Manakas on Hot Lick and Joe Pass Video and books. Also PG music like ther DVD's and programs about Jazz guitar has also been a great learning process. Greetings from Norway.
So now we’re calling Bach’s minor scale the “melodic minor”? Interesting… But when we want to talk about the real melodic minor scale, with the raised sixth and seventh only when ascending, what exactly are we going to call it to make sure we understand each other?
Very helpful analysis. Question about tritone subs. Id always been taught that a tritoe sub is where you sub a dominant 7th chord for a dom 7th a tritone away. D half dim has a (weak) dominant function in the relative major, but in C minor it has a predominant function, so I think of the Ab7 in the Ab7->G7 sequence as more of a chromatic passing chord. Am I totally mistaken about trtone subs? Can you take *any* diatonic chord and reharmonize it with a dom 7th a tritone away? Thanks
Great choices. Mastering these three will be a full blow to progress in jazz playing for beginners that can keep chord changes. Love them all. Very good advise. Thanks and keep up!
Cara... acho legal quando as pessoas contribuem com algo palatavel... Não precisa ser complexo pra explicar algo... mas Jazz.... não tem como você recortar um trecho de uma obra prima e explicar ela toda... você só mostra o recorte ... faça um vídeo de uma música completa ... tocando e explicando cada trecho... e você omitiu informações importantes como os modos gregos... em muitas das estruturas ... sei que tem que vender seu curso... mas se contribuir... faz o seu melhor em algo mais direcionado ... em vez de pegar apagados demasiados ... isso é arte... não recorte ela! Boa sorte! 👍🏽
The Jazz Messengers was a great group, but you forgot to mention that The Quintet: Jazz at Massey Hall had next to Bird and Dizzy, Charles Mingus on bass, Buddy Powell on piano and Max Roach on drums. IMHO if there was ever a jazz supergroup that's one right there. Maybe only Miles' 1959 sextet was greater.
