What to practice on guitar for Jazz band?!
Question: I might see if I can play guitar for jazz band. I play mostly rock (old) and am halfway familiar with jazz chords. I am just starting to play by ear though. I am ok in improvation but need some training to find the key. i play penatonics alot, what other scales could I work off of
Answers: I might see if I can play guitar for jazz band. I play mostly rock (old) and am halfway familiar with jazz chords. I am just starting to play by ear though. I am ok in improvation but need some training to find the key. i play penatonics alot, what other scales could I work off of
Jazz guitar playing styles include "comping" with jazz chord voicings (and in some cases , walking basslines) and "blowing" (improvising) over jazz chord progressions with jazz-style phrasing and ornaments.
Comping: When jazz guitarists play chords underneath a song's melody or another musician's solo improvisations, it is called "comping", a contraction of "accompanying" and complementing. Jazz guitarists use their knowledge of jazz theory and harmony to create jazz chord "voicing," which are usually rootless and which emphasize the 3rd and 7th notes of the chord.
Jazz guitarists need to learn about a range of different chords, including Major 7th, Major 6th, minor 7th, dominant 7th, diminished, half-diminished, and augmented chords. As well, they need to learn about chord transformations (e.g., altered chords, such as "alt dominant chords), chord substitutions, and re-harmonization techniques. Some jazz guitarists use their knowledge of jazz scales and chords to provide a walking bass-style accompaniment.
Jazz guitarists learn to perform these chords over the range of different chord progressions used in jazz, such as the II-V-I progression, the jazz-style blues progression, the minor jazz-style blues form, the "rhythm changes" progression, and the variety of chord progressions used in jazz ballads, and jazz standards. Many guitarists also learn to use the chord types used in 1970s-era jazz-Latin, jazz-funk, and jazz-rock fusion music.
Improvising: When jazz guitar players improvise, they use the scales, modes, and arpeggios associated with the chords in a tune's chord progression. Jazz guitarists have to learn how to use scales (whole tone scale, chromatic scale, etc.) to solo over chord progressions. Jazz guitar improvising is not merely the recitation of jazz scales and rapid arpeggios. Jazz guitarists need to learn to use these basic building blocks of scales and arpeggio patterns and integrate them into balanced rhythmic and melodic phrases that make up a cohesive solo.
Jazz guitarists often try to imbue their melodic phrasing with the sense of natural breathing and legato phrasing used by horn players such as saxophone players. As well, a jazz guitarists' solo improvisations have to have a rhythmic drive and "timefeel" that creates a sense of "swing" and "groove." The most experienced jazz guitarists learn to play with different "timefeels" such as playing "ahead of the beat" or "behind the beat," to create or release tension.
Another aspect of the jazz guitar style is the use of stylistically appropriate ornaments, such as grace notes, slides, and muted notes. Each sub-genre or era of jazz has different ornaments that are part of the style of that sub-genre or era. Jazz guitarists usually learn the appropriate ornamenting styles by listening to prominent recordings from a given style or jazz era.
Some jazz guitarists also borrow ornamentation techniques from other jazz instruments, such as Wes Montgomery's borrowing of playing melodies in parallel octaves, which is a jazz piano technique. Jazz guitarists also have to learn how to add in passing tones, use "guide tones" and chord tones from the chord progression to structure their improvisations, and create "chord solos" by adding the song's melody on top of the chord voicing.