Return-Path: crispen <@ada3.ca.boeing.com:crispen@efftoo>
X-Envelope-To: ALLMUSIC@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.allmusic
Date:         Tue, 18 Aug 1992 16:06:54 CDT
From:         crispen <crispen@EFFTOO.BOEING.COM>
Subject:      RE: Jazz Beginner
X-To:         ALLMUSIC@ada3.ca.boeing.com

At the risk of being too low-level, let me offer some suggestions to the
jazz beginner.

First, learn on the piano or your favorite keyboard, unless you absolutely
can't play.  Since chords are so much of (beginning) jazz improvisation,
it's a good idea to have an instrument that can play all the notes of
the chord.

Second, get some sheet music of songs that you like.  The sheet music
has to have both written-out parts (melody and chords) and chord
symbols.  Play the written-out parts until you master them.  Then
use the chord symbols to re-voice the chords.  Ideally, you want the
melody mostly in the right hand and the accompaniment mostly in the
left hand.

If you don't know what the chord symbols mean, learn them.  Maybe
you want to invest in some lessons (probably better than buying a
chord book, but you know best what works for you).  It's certainly
possible to learn what the chord symbols mean by referring to the
written-out chords in the sheet music, but you're probably going to
need a more formal method.

Now, using the same sheet music, add some passing tones or twist the
melody a little.  You're improvising!  Don't worry if it's baby
steps and you're mostly playing the melody as is.  You've got plenty
of time.

Now go on to the harder stuff.  Get a fake book (I recommend
_The_Ultimate_Jazz_Fake_Book (about $35 at Book Star)) and play some
of the songs.  You've got a melody and chord symbols, but you had
those already with the sheet music.  The only thing you haven't
got is the written-out chords, but if you mastered the first few
steps, you don't need them.

If you have a synthesizer or a tape recorder, you can play the chords
of the song over and over again so you only have to worry about one
thing at a time, but the downside of this is that you can get lost.
You're going to have to worry about improvising and playing chords
at the same time eventually, so you might as well do it now.

Now it's time to stretch out.  After playing a chorus with the melody,
play notes that are within the chord in any old order (e.g., in a
Cma7 you have C, E, G and B-natural).  Keep the chords changing
in your left hand just as you would when you're playing the melody.

That will sound a little sparse, so add some passing tones from the
"scale of the chord".  That is, for a C7 chord, the scale is
C, D, E, F, G, A, Bb and C.  For a Cmi7 chord it's the same except
that the E is flat.

In the beginning, you'll probably play the root of the chord on the
downbeat or the chord change.  Later on you'll play the third or fifth
of the chord on the beat.  Still later you'll play a higher degree
or passing tone (e.g., if the chord symbol says C -- probably meaning
Cma7 -- a D is both a passing tone and the 9th of the chord).  For
example, if your chord is C but you play on a D-major scale, you're
playing on the 9th, 11th and 13th of the C-major chord.  Depending
on the style of music you like, this is perfectly acceptable.

The last step is the hardest of all: playing over the chords and
listening to what you're playing at the same time.  When you can do
that, you can start playing a melody of your own over the chords.
You'll almost certainly stay within in the scale of the chord
more closely than I was just talking about, but your melody needn't
be chained to the main notes of the scales.

Anyhow, what I described is precisely the way I learned, so I know
it works.  I will leave it up to others on the net to say why that's
too complicated and to show easier ways.  All I can offer is something
that worked for me.

Bob
crispen@foxy.boeing.com
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU