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jazztele · February 2nd, 2012, 08:23 PM

So to offer some completely unsolicited, likely unwanted advice concerning learning jazz...

Sometimes, us folks who like music theory, make things more complicated than they need to be...now, I NEVER advocate "anti knowledge," but the truth is, you can play a hell of a lot of jazz (up to about 1959, so that includes 100's of "standards") with little or no "theory," just good old fashioned understanding of basic major scale harmony, chord building, and fretboard knowledge.

Being able to analyze a chord progression is a useful tool...but the truth is, all the information you need to know to blow over a few hundred jazz standards is located right in the chord names themselves. The chords tell you what notes to play...and they don't tell you to play scales or worry about what key a chord comes from...

February 2nd, 2012, 08:23 PM	#34 (permalink)
jazztele Poster Extraordinaire Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: chicago Age: 33 Posts: 8,218 22 Photos	So to offer some completely unsolicited, likely unwanted advice concerning learning jazz... Sometimes, us folks who like music theory, make things more complicated than they need to be...now, I NEVER advocate "anti knowledge," but the truth is, you can play a hell of a lot of jazz (up to about 1959, so that includes 100's of "standards") with little or no "theory," just good old fashioned understanding of basic major scale harmony, chord building, and fretboard knowledge. Being able to analyze a chord progression is a useful tool...but the truth is, all the information you need to know to blow over a few hundred jazz standards is located right in the chord names themselves. The chords tell you what notes to play...and they don't tell you to play scales or worry about what key a chord comes from... __________________ Jeff Matz, Jazz Guitar: http://www.jeffmatzguitar.com