Jazz Guitar Theory - What is It?

Jazz as we know it now grew from a form of music that was passed directly from musician to musician without too much theory being involved. Jazz guitar theory is a collection of ideas and traditions that has grown over the decades of jazz playing.

The original jazz players did not need theory. They needed to know their guitars well enough to be able to provide part of the rhythm for other instruments in the band or to play solos if they were needed. The nature of guitar playing in jazz bands varied over the years and depended on whether the guitarist was in a big band or a small group.

Jazz guitar theory is the product of the need for jazz players to communicate musical ideas to one another. To pass these ideas on a guitarist needed to be able to read standard musical notation and, as jazz playing became more sophisticated, he needed the technique to play the exotic barre chords that became the norm in jazz guitar music.

A part of jazz theory is what we could loosely call traditions of jazz - ways of approaching music that have become standard practice for jazz players. None of these traditions is set in concrete, but the use of the electric archtop guitar has become widespread over the years as is the use of barre chord voicings rather than open chords.

If you learn jazz guitar theory you will learn to rely on the seventh and third notes of a chord and how interest can be added by the use of the ninth, eleventh or thirteenth notes. These notes may be totally foreign to the original melody the guitarist is improvising over, but jazz players have the work of guitarists from previous generations to draw on when they make use of these unusual voicings.

A big part of jazz guitar theory is the types of techniques used to express musical feelings. Jazz guitar players have their own strumming patterns and chord progressions that may vary greatly from the ways of playing the original genre they might be interpreting. Also, although rock and blues guitar players of the past thirty or so years have left their mark on jazz, there is a tendency among jazz guitarists to use electronic effects rather sparingly.

To examine the basis of jazz guitar theory we need to be aware of the founders of modern jazz playing, like Wes Montgomery, Jim Hall, Barney Kessel, Joe Pass and Herb Ellis as well as the founders of guitar tradition like Django Reinhardt and Charlie Christian. Jazz guitar theory has been shaped by modern players who have departed from tradition, such as John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola and Pat Metheny.

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Learn to Play Jazz Guitar - Practice Tips You Can Use in Jazz Guitar Playing

If you want to learn to play jazz guitar, you have to learn both the basic and revolutionary methods of guitar playing to become a master player.

Actually, learning to play any guitar at any level is not an easy thing to do. There are more techniques to familiarize and it requires a bunch of focus, patience and commitment to achieve it. But there are abundant resources and tips available to make it easy for you. If you are really eager to learn to play jazz guitar, you should prepare yourself in dealing with a lot of musical challenges that will come your way.

The best sources of basic jazz and improvisation lessons are the guitar books that will teach you different lead licks in different styles. Videos and CDs are also great tools to help you master this guitar style. You can also learn to play jazz guitar from local community colleges and from those who have mastered the art of playing jazz music on your guitar.

To effectively learn to play jazz guitar, you have to get an effective teacher or trainer as well. They will teach you the right attitude in learning all the aspects of guitar playing in addition to the guitar lessons you need to master. When searching for a good teacher, you have to consider if you and your teacher will like each other aside from just looking at their musical expertise or talent for teaching and guitar playing.

And as a student or a striving guitar player, you also have to do your part in practicing what is being taught to you. You have to put great value in your practice time and improving your skills. As they say, practice makes perfect. But only quality practice will keep you in tiptop form.

When it comes to the technical side of playing the guitar particularly the jazz, as a beginner you have to familiarize yourself with the basic jazz playing styles like comping and improvising. Comping is about playing the chords under the melody of a song or the solo improvisations of another musician. With improvisation, guitarists use the scales and modes related to the chords in the chord progression of a tune to improvise.

The approach to jazz improvisation has also changed since the early days of jazz guitar. Instead of reworking the melody, some jazz guitarists tend to improve on chord-scale relationships. But today, one unique approach to jazz improvisation is as simple as playing what you hear. This will allow you to play melodies anywhere on the guitar and will give you more musical freedom.

In learning these guitar playing technique, you have to start learning to play the minor chords. And it begins with understanding that major chord triads are based on the root. The minor chords on your jazz guitar should be played by lowering the third tone.

You also have to learn the important musical ingredients in playing jazz guitar like harmony and melody. Remember, that your knowledge on jazz theory and harmony will help you produce jazz chord voicing. Also, different chords are performed over the scope of different chord progressions. If you are interested in doing a solo, it can be made by integrating the basic patterns of scales and arpeggio into balanced melodic and rhythmic phrases.

Keep in mind too that if you want to learn to play jazz guitar, you have to give time and attention as well as patience to learn the tricks to guitar playing.

Carolyn Anderson a music lover and loves to share great guitar playing techniques she has learned. If you want to know the best-kept secrets to playing the jazz guitar, check out Play What You Hear. If you acre interested in learning the blues guitar as well, visit Guitar Mojo, a great website where you can sign in for a membership and learn blues guitar playing easily. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Carolyn_Anderson