first learn how to read chords. and learn all the root position and inversions of the chord. then study all the tensions (normal chords are 1+3+5, now you learn how to add 7th, 9th, and later on, 11th and 13th). they have those sound character, you should learn how to identify the chords by their sound than trying to figure out in numbers and figures.

about songs, you can try standard jazz, and 12 bars blues.

songs like blue moon, blue bossa, autumn leaves, satin dolls, girl from ipanema, fly me to the moon (and so many more) are easy to learn and nice to listen/play.

cool...now there's a jazz thread.....not really a hard core jazzer but i tend to infuse some jazz elements into my playing,so it gives a little bit of twist and tension to the song,but overdoing it will ruin the song....hahaha

this is my experience with jazz,there is this one moment i'm so fascinated with jazz guitarist like joe pass,martin taylor,tuck andress etc etc....so i bought some good books,watch lots of video lessons...jazz theory,melody faking,modes...u name it.....the more i read about it the more confused i am...so i kinda follow what joe pass said in one of his video lesson,juz keep things simply....juz remember there's only three types of chords....major,minor,and dominant 7.....with these 3 types of chords u juz need a add in the tension that suites ur ear or sharpen or flatten a certain note to create various chords....yup it needs some theory background....and now i can actually play some jazz phrase without knowing what chord progression i'm using.....another important factor is must listen alot of jazz music,once ur ears adapt to the tensions and added notes of jazz chords,u can pretty much make up ur own chords rather easily....

that's why. learning jazz is about learning by ear. no matter what kind of books you read, you'll never learn it real.

it's also true to any music genre. for example, classical music. even you have the score, you can play all the notes perfectly, doesn't mean you can play it nice. those who can really play it good, because they open their ears to listen what they're playing, use their ear to understand the harmony, melody, their tone, their techniques.

well you could start by stating what instrument you play and what kind of genre you normally play.
from there you will have to listen to a lot of jazz songs and not only listen to them but also get the feel of it. The feeling is very important to get into "the zone"
But regardless of what people say, i still think theory -to some extent- is important for you to understand the logic behind all of it else you will be hammering random notes >.>

7th isn't really a tension btw... its a chord.. only 9th 11th and 13th are tensions.. >.>

description doesn't matter.

hi guise. any jazz recordings that u guys can recommend?
cuz i kinda wanna study how the drum groove goes into jazz music. haha.

if you already know how to play blues and rock its easier to learn jazz.

thanks, this should be helpful. but i don't want to just learn songs, i want to create. like during jamming sessions, can play jazz style. no matter how random i goreng, i'll always tend to sound bluesy. sigh.

and is guthrie govan considered jazz? i like that style.

i play the guitar and bass, mostly rock. very little knowledge on theory. still learning now =)

This post has been edited by edge85: Dec 24 2008, 04:17 PM

depends... instead of giving you jazz recordings, i suggest you study the different styles of jazz if you want to get the groove of it.
Some obvious ones being Swing, Bossa Nova, Waltz and one of the most difficult groove to get imo is probably samba...

yeah thats why i said you gotta listen to alot of jazz stuff to get the feel of jazz. then try experimenting on the fretboard and either learn jazz licks from the net or make your own ones.
the reason you sound bluesy is probably because you don't get the jazz feel yet...
i've just checked out guthrie govan - fives and it sounds like fusion to me
if you like fusion you should really check out hiromi uehara

jazz is hard to play in drums..i've been playing drums for 4 years but i'm not near close to it..

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Added on December 27, 2008, 12:58 amand i suck badly at scales

This post has been edited by vassili: Dec 27 2008, 12:58 AM

i just watched this.

well to be able to play like this and jam like them, i couldn't imagine one without perfect pitch can play like this. seriously, i doubt relative pitch can do this, such an amazing jamming. ask 2 local jazz pianist and jam together, they can clash all of the time...

lol!!
@littleice
Its about the soul man!! they're playing from the soul haha
Btw, thats a very bad example of jazz because those two together... does not define the word "human" at all xD
Instead of being inspired to play jazz, i think most people would feel more discouraged to play it after listening to them haha
Pianists would feel like chopping their fingers off lol

As long as you keep the ride it's ok. Just don't mess the ride up whatever you do .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gk9al9JksSE

for fellow jazz bassist

i know, it takes more than just the word "talent" to perform like that. their techniques and musicality far exceed even what we consider as "great" jazzer here.

but hey i think fusion really need perfect pitch to "understand" them huh? i can never understand even by just listening to them. i remember my jazz piano teach told me people play fusion because they want to "satisfy" themself. but i don't really think so, fusion has got so much colour to explore, it's really not "normal" people can play.

Well you can't really say that. Fusion is such a broad genre. It's basically what i like to refer to as the rubbish bin of music. Basically anything you can't classify as rock, jazz, classical etc... you dump into fusion. Sure there's a lot of complex fusion, but alot of them are really simple pieces. Doesn't really take perfect pitch to understand. Many fusion pieces can be broken down so you do see the sections and progressions. So it's really not inhuman to play fusion. How do i know? Because i'm a fusion player. And i'm pretty much under average. But i guess fusion bass is a lot easier than the other instruments. But still, most of the people i play with are normal too.

Although there's one thing that's true. Fusion players play to satisfy themselves. Because nobody likes to listen to it . But if you take some time to look into the music, and figure it out, it's not really that complicated. I still think jazz is weirder and harder in terms of harmonies.

And Chick Corea plays some sick drums too. I didn't know that

This post has been edited by Bassix: Jan 5 2009, 05:02 AM

eh i don't think fusion is like rojak la. just like 20th centure classical music such as impressionism expressionism atonal music.

what amaze me is that, the video i posted, they actually play something i feel "right". i've heard quite a lot of so-called fusion band around here, although they might be able to play some deep stuffs but as a whole (band or ensemble) it doesn't sound well together. it's like, i play mine, you play yours.

there's also a video of hiromi playing "sakura sakura" in fusion style, that is really some nice one, i'm sure even non musician will also appreciate it because it sound very artistic.

i guess, it really take some special talent to be able to understand the fusion. from what i heard, what differ a great fusion player from an average fusion player, is how artistic they can deliver from the colour pallate. a great fusion player will give you a "wow" factor, while average one will give you "what kind of rubbish is he/she playing??". you gotta find the right harmony to go with the right outline in order to sound "right".

imagine those expressionism arts we often saw that we often say "cheh just take a bunch of colour and randomly apply on the canvas" but the fact that some real artist can make it look so special which an average joe cannot copy the "feel" at all.

Well in that case, that really applies to any type of music. Even a classical pianist playing one of Bach/Chopin/etc can sound really great with the "wow" factor and all that, or he can sound crap even though he graduated from some renowned music school.

And i think you misunderstood what i meant by rubbish bin of music . I just meant a lot of music is classified under "fusion". So it's a very colourful palette as you call it. And like any genre you will have those rubbish "i play mine you play yours" wannabes that give it a bad name. Don't get me wrong Uehara and Corea are both brilliant musicians and their rendition of summertime is really great but my main point is fusion is not always that complex and doesn't really require perfect pitch to understand. Because, yes there are non musicians who do appreciate it as well. And the average fusion player can give you a wow effect as well, if he/she knows how to use whatever they can play and blend them in to a piece properly be it solo or with accompaniment. Not necessarily always "what kind of rubbish are they playing?".

haha maybe it doesn't really need a perfect pitch to understand well about fusion. but my initial thoughts about the perfect pitch thing was how they jam together. it's just amazing, it's completely random (to my ears), and yet they can sambung each other's playing without hiccup.

Bringing this post back up...my goal is pretty musch the same...to expose more jazz music...but i prefer jazz fusion style since you have steady rhythm/energetic feel mixed with extreme improvisations