How to strum jazz style...

[RunGuy17]

Hey guy,

I'm trying to play some jazz standards (i.e. Misty, Autumn Leaves, etc)...but I'm have a lot of trouble making them sound jazzy rhythm wise. All my strums are just kind of blah...anyone know of a pattern I should try?

[OutlawSteph1975]

You should be chocking the chords after every beat. Don't use bar chords too much and no open strings. Just try a straight 4/4 rhythm at first and then you can add some syncopation.

[Roli]

You can go Freddie Green style "4 to the floor" or "staccato 4 feel" (video here): http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance...-basie-quartet

You can hear it goes like chunk-chunk-chunk-chunk, 4 identical downbeats.

The chord voicings he used: http://www.freddiegreen.org/technique/FGchordforms.html You can also check out swing chords here: http://www.geocities.com/bourbonstreet/3573/swing1.html

You can try the gypsy/hot jazz style too, it's a 2 feel, goes like boom-chick boom-chick:

[Leon Grizzard]

Four downstrokes to the bar, as they say, or the "Charleston" type rhythm:

[jazztele]

well, if you're playing ballads, i'd avoid "strumming."

when i comp, i use a pick and fingers combo. striking the notes simultaneously gives me a more even attack, without the inherent clickiness of a pick.

as for rhythms, think like a drummer, and listn to jazz drummers. listen to the way they brush a snare, and mime some of those patterns on the guitar. listen to a piano players left hand. listen, listen, listen.

[Joe-Bob]

What those guys said.


Ballads can often be a great time to play your chords in half notes, especially for a t-bone solo or something like that. Also, don't be afraid not to play. Not every arrangement has a guitar part.

[drewsblues]

The tricky part is to play 1-2-3-4, but make it swing. Try to keep it loose. My teacher (shout out to the mighty Will Brady!) used to tell me to let the beat "drag you along." Practice with a metronome at various settings. Once you get it down, you're golden.

[RunGuy17]

What do you mean by swing? Also, this might be a stupid question, but what's a ballad?

[black_doug]

A jazz ballad is a love song that is slow, sentimental, and intimate. Misty is a good example, or My Funny Valentine. Swing rhythm needs to be heard. Listen to Sinatra in his mid '50s period. Or Count Basie. Can be fast or slow.

[jazztele]

swing is a triplet feel. so, instead of counting 1, 2, 3, 4, think four triplets to the bar...count them saying tri-pl-et tri-pl-et tri-pl-et tri-pl-et...a shuffle "swings."

ballads are yes, slow tunes, love songs.

[ac15]

The two main rhythms for this style are one stacatto strum per quarter note (where you release the left hand each time), and the other is the same except you release the left (chording hand) on the 1 and the 3 beat. Sorry I can't post an example, because I'm sure my explanation is confusing. But it's not that hard. And also as previously mentioned, you have to know what the "proper" voicings are for jazz guitar. Some of them are different than typical bar chords (i.e. they rarely double notes and there are some commonly used voicings where the root is not in the bass).

[ac15]

Originally Posted by jazztele

well, if you're playing ballads, i'd avoid "strumming."

when i comp, i use a pick and fingers combo. striking the notes simultaneously gives me a more even attack, without the inherent clickiness of a pick.

Good suggestion. I've been doing a solo gig for 10 years where I sing and play standards and I don't even bring a pick. For those gigs I play "Joe Pass" style accompaniment, with the thumb playing bass lines and the fingers picking out chords.

[RunGuy17]

On another note, can anyone recommend a good jazz instructional book? I have a pretty good understanding of reading music and translating it to the guitar...just takes me a while if it's a piece with complex rhythm.

[Leon Grizzard]

Originally Posted by RunGuy17

On another note, can anyone recommend a good jazz instructional book? I have a pretty good understanding of reading music and translating it to the guitar...just takes me a while if it's a piece with complex rhythm.

I'll bet a few people will second my suggestion of Mickey Baker's Complete Course in Jazz Guitar, book 1, first published in 1955. Straightforward reading; chords, melody, rhythm changes, riffs, vamps.

[ac15]

Originally Posted by RunGuy17

On another note, can anyone recommend a good jazz instructional book? I have a pretty good understanding of reading music and translating it to the guitar...just takes me a while if it's a piece with complex rhythm.

I've got a few books including the Mickey Baker series and one by Joe Pass, but I think "The Complete Jazz Guitar" by Fred Sokolow is most straightforward as far as giving specifics regarding which scales go with which chords etc., and demystifying the process. Having said that, I stopped (for the time being) using any of these books in favor of getting a great jazz guitar teacher. A jazz player I know told me that those books make a lot more sense after you've studied jazz with a good teacher first. Based on my experience with that teacher so far, I'd have to agree.

[Flat357]

Originally Posted by Leon Grizzard

I'll bet a few people will second my suggestion of Mickey Baker's Complete Course in Jazz Guitar, book 1, first published in 1955. Straightforward reading; chords, melody, rhythm changes, riffs, vamps.

I played around with this book by Mickey for a while .
Few mistakes here and there , but a pretty good book all the same .

[Neill Levine]

Originally Posted by RunGuy17

I'm trying to play some jazz standards (i.e. Misty, Autumn Leaves, etc)...but I'm have a lot of trouble making them sound jazzy rhythm wise. All my strums are just kind of blah...anyone know of a pattern I should try?

Stay away from the one

If you think drums - snare is on the two or four a lot

Listen to a piano player comp chords - Bud Powell, Wynton Kelly. Stay away from Oscar Peterson and Bill Evans because they are scary guys!

Try to play it different every time, mixing short and long

Not swinging: think lazy, after the beat - or leave changes out completely

There don't be patterns for bebop - it just happens after listen study play listen study play

When it works you feel like this

Good luck and remember to enjoy the listening that you do - you keep the art alive by doing that.

Neill

[poirier]

A lot of jazz--especially be bop--is based on the chord progression of George Gershwin's I Got Rhythm, from which we get the term Rhythm Changes. It's a fairly straightforward 32-bar progression.

This link shows how to play them in the style of the great Freddie Green:
http://freddiegreen.com/technique/igotrhythm.html

[tiktok]

Your Freddie Green four-on-the-floor chunk will cover a LOT of ground. And your swinging chunk-a-chunk will cover a lot more. After, that fingerstyle plucking on the ballads is good. If you're playing in a combo you don't have to provide everything.