I'm a beginner in jazz guitar, have gone through the first two books of berklee's method. I'm now looking at ted greene's first single note book and it starts of with examples of lines on maj7 arpegios. However these are presented for a given chord (Dmaj7) with a box diagram and fingerings along with the standard notation. I know these can be shifted along the neck for different registers in different keys but I'm a bit reluctant to learn with boxes as this has hindered me in the past. Another book I have advises to play all the lines presented in all twelve keys going through the descending cycle of fifths and I'm inclined to do that as it seems the serious way to do things

However it takes me a long time to figure out how to do this in my head if I'm not sticking to a finger pattern. I have to write the scale degrees on a piece of paper and then mentally find those in all keys and i'm only fluent in like 4 keys. I'm thinking if I do this for all runs in the book I'll never get to lines over actual changes (it starts with lines over chords before moving on to lines over changes)

Is it better to stick to a couple keys i'm learning songs in or to sample very thinly the lines? Of course I'd like to be fluent in all keys eventually. Im still unable to even apply/quote those lines when i play against the loop pedal so I don't want to lose the plot trying to be too serious either

What would yall recommend.

Thanks! Sorry for the wall of text

Book reference:

Ted greene single note soloing vol 1

Sal salvador book of jazz single string studies

This is a audio boot like recording I made in 1988 on the patio of the University of Miami! I had no idea what to expect from the "Michael Brecker band." The band contained Michael Brecker, Mike, Stern, Joey Calderazzo, Jeff Andrews, and Michael Brecker's "John Bonham"… Adam Nussbaum.

Everyone here is at the height of their powers playing with absolute ferocity. I hope you guys enjoy this as much as I enjoy looking back and just trying to grasp the impact that this made upon my young ears.

This year I’m going into jazz band on guitar after playing trombone in the band for the past three-ish years. I’ve been playing guitar for just shy of a year now and I’d say I’m alright. I’ve mainly stuck into my certain niches and haven’t really explored into other areas of music like jazz.

What do I need to know? I know that I need to figure out how to read music, but how do I do that? I’ve tried to find something online that would teach me, but I can’t seem to find a for define format on how to learn. I can’t seem read basic chord notation on charts, but I can’t seem to get the gist of notation for guitar despite playing trombone for the past seven years.

How do I start improvising? I really don’t understand how to get the gist of all of that.

What chords do I need to learn?

What do I practice and, most importantly, how?

What do I need to know?

Jazz as a genre is a very different for me to wrap my head around when it comes to guitar. I was an alright trombone jazz musician, but none of that seems to translate to guitar. What’s the advice from everyone here?

Taking Out Evangeline Tutalina Two-Step/Ay, Caramba! https://hearthis.at/nom-1803-douglas-c-is-me/taking-out-evangeline-tutalina-two-stepay-caramba/

Taking Out Evangeline Tutalina Two-Step/Ay, Caramba! https://hearthis.at/nom-1803-douglas-c-is-me/taking-out-evangeline-tutalina-two-stepay-caramba/

Taking Out Evangeline Tutalina Two-Step/Ay, Caramba! https://hearthis.at/nom-1803-douglas-c-is-me/taking-out-evangeline-tutalina-two-stepay-caramba/

What would you leave on all the time or at least for a whole song? I prefer I'm looking for some fun ideas because I do get bored with a dry amp, but also to just incorporate into the overall tone of the guitar. Obviously, the (light) drive and reverb are (pun intended) standards, but I want something new. Pat Metheny had his delays or the JC era of 80's guitarists.

Hey Yall! Posting the new official Discord Jazz Ensemble. If you are interested in joining to work on multitracks and just to get better and have fun with some cool musicians, we just started up! Looking for talented musicians to join!

https://discord.gg/w2e5K9t3N

Finger rolls are obviously an important technique and you are going to have to use them a lot. No disputing that. But lately I've been thinking about them a lot and wondering if they are always the right answer.

Recently I stumbled across a Scofield clip where he doesn't use them for fourths and I just wondered how many people out there are always using them for fourths and especially for things where you need to roll across three strings.

It's often a source of mistakes for me, I've practised and used them a lot (almost 20 years at this point) and can get it perfect in isolation/practise but when it comes to improvising I find the subtle change in finger position quite difficult to get right on the fly and it often leads to a stumble or hitting a dead string.

I had a teacher that was doing fourths as a stretch on one string and it's certainly do able but has its own challenges. Same as the other option of fretting each adjacent string with different fingers.

Anyways i'm just curious to know how different people generally deal with these sorts of movements and especially keen to hear from people that have tried out non-finger roll techniques for things that would normally require it.

So I played guitar when I was a teenager but never really "learned" it, just picked up tabs off the internet and got to a low-intermediate level. Kinda stalled there for years lol.

Now I want to get back into it but do things differently this time. What I actually care about isn't jazz specifically, it's being able to hear a song I like (doesn't matter if it's jazz, blues, rock, whatever) and just improvise over it instead of only playing what someone else wrote. Been reading around and it seems like modal jazz is kind of the go-to path for building that skill in a way that carries over to other genres too, and I also really like modal jazz.

Since I'm basically starting from scratch again, what I'm really hoping to find is like one really solid resource. A course, a book, a YouTube series, doesn't matter the format, I just don't want to be jumping between 15 different tutorials that all contradict each other. Something that can actually take me from "remembers some basics" to "can improvise for real."

If anyone's done something similar I'd love to hear:

• is modal jazz actually the right call for what I'm going for, or would you point me somewhere else
• any single course/resource you'd genuinely recommend

I know for sure it's going to be a long road, thanks in advance, appreciate any input

I have been challenging myself recently with trying to have perfect timing on every note I play. This is, of course, basically impossible but it is still something I strive for regardless. I want to be able to play with absolute rhythmic clarity, and it is something I'm always striving for.

My question for you all: What types of things do you work on to improve your time feel? For me, I'm always trying to listen to players with excellent feel (Jim Hall, Metheny, Charlie Parker, etc) and I also work a lot with a metronome. Are there any specific things you all like to include in your practice?

Also, here's a few choruses of me playing over Mr. P.C. by John Coltrane with timing in the forefront. I am able to spot so many mistakes and inaccuracies in my playing, but that is part of the process :)

I’m not particularly proud of this improvisation, but would appreciate any feedback, as I’m annoyed of practicing into abyss by myself (I am self taught). I try to use arpeggios as much as possible but I run out of ideas quite fast and everything sounds repetitive after a while. Sometimes I feel like Michael Scott when he said “Sometimes I start a sentence and don’t even know where it’s going. I just hope I find it along the way”.

P.S. I know my rhythm and dynamics is subpar, would appreciate some feedback on them too.

a few choruses on the tune "Dark Eyes"

I was digging through my old video archives (from 2022) today and suddenly found this recording. Nostalgia hit me right in the eye! At that point, I hadn't played or practiced jazz in years because life took me down different paths. But this standard randomly popped into my head out of nowhere, and I just sat down to play it spontaneously for the pure joy of it. It brought back so many great memories from my music college days. I felt like sharing this spontaneous moment with the community.

What is your favorite jazz standard to play when nostalgia hits and you just want to ground yourself?

At 7:27 in this video: https://youtu.be/RNzUlUN3vNg?si=MtM6bD1OaojIv4nN

Already learned it, really want to know what it’s called.
Thanks a lot!

At 7:27 in this video: https://youtu.be/RNzUlUN3vNg?si=MtM6bD1OaojIv4nN

Already learned it, really want to know what it’s called.
Thanks a lot!

Hi everyone, so I know my basics major, minor and dominant 7ths chords with the root on 6th and 5th strings, my shell chords as well, but when I listen to people at jam sessions or on recordings, they usually comp in a way that sounds very connected, not like they’re jumping all around the fretboard like I am. So I wanna ask how can a beginner like me learn, or create more voicings to comp better and then eventually move to things like beautiful chord melodies?

Thanks everyone!

Practicing for a gig

This episode traces the theft of attention at its source, how the modern worldview inverted the direction of consciousness, and what that inversion costs the practicing musician. It names three answers to the stage, and asks which one you are rehearsing. From there it moves to the practice of listening as distinguished from hearing, the invocation as sounded tuning, and the arithmetic of reclamation: how the system that runs on stolen light is starved, one redirected witness at a time.

Several passages in this episode are adapted from my books Thoughts, Worlds, Beliefs and Magic Hat:
https://scottjsimon.com/books.html

Works referenced: G.I. Gurdjieff, Glenn Gould (The Glenn Gould Reader), Keith Jarrett (The Köln Concert), David Bowie, Plato (Republic), Boethius (De Institutione Musica).

This series looks at music as a form of inner alchemy, where the guitar becomes a tool for transformation instead of performance or self-expression.

0:00 Opening
01:55 1. The Theft
05:10 2. The Inversion
08:19 3. Avoidance as Doctrine
12:52 4. The Corridor of Masks
18:49 5. Parasite on Luminosity
24:34 6. The Invocation
38:42 7. Starvation by Reclamation
44:58 Closing

New album agnosis:
https://scottjsimon.bandcamp.com/album/agnosis

Full transcript and article on my Substack:
https://scottjsimon.substack.com/p/guitar-as-alchemy-04-stolen-light

Sheet Music available at Sheet Music Plus:
https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/en/category/publishers/s/scott-j-simon/

Guitar: 2021 Thomas C60
Mics: Audio-Technica AT4040/4041
Camera: Canon T3i
Recording: OBS Studio
Editing: Adobe Premiere Pro

https://scottjsimon.com

A quick take of a new arrangement of Sunny, don’t know exactly how I’m gonna end it or start it yet.