In college, I was constantly chasing the “next thing” that would improve my jazz guitar playing – another chord voicing, a new improvisation concept, the one simple trick that would make things easier.
But eventually, I ran into a wall. Things weren’t getting any easier… in fact playing jazz was just getting more complicated the more I learned. It felt like I was just spinning my wheels
Eventually, I discovered that I needed to take a step back and build up my foundation. I had spent so much time working on learning advanced concepts that I had neglected some pretty basic areas of my guitar playing.
Once I actually started to work on some very basic jazz guitar skills, everything changed. I was finally looking at the big picture, not every little detail as I had done in the past.
I was discovering how simple playing jazz guitar could be… if I let it be that way. Throughout this period, jazz guitar became easier to play, and a lot more fun too.
Here is what I learned:
Jazz Guitar is a Set of Skills You Can Develop.
A lot of us want to jump into jazz guitar and sound good right away. While it’s understandable, this approach makes things a lot harder. It’s true that you can get started on a minimum of information: Your major scale, a few chord shapes, and that’s it.
But to really dive in, you need to know your jazz guitar scale and arpeggio shapes, understand jazz guitar chords, and know the notes on the guitar fretboard like the back of your hand.
It might seem like a tall order… but if you chip away at it piece by piece, you’ll have all the basics down in no time.
One of the best things I ever did for my playing was back up a step, and make sure I really knew what I was doing.
And the good news is we can all do this… if you take a few minutes when you pick up your guitar to polish up some fundamentals before you start playing tunes.
Learn Your Tunes.
It really is helpful if you learn the tunes you like to play, instead of reading them. I’m not talking about memorizing tunes through sheer mental effort, or anything like that.
I’m talking about playing the tunes you like over and over again. And bit by bit, trying to see if you can remember the progression without looking.
I’m talking about getting the melody stuck in your head, and getting it under your fingers in the different scale patterns you know.
If it’s a song you like, this should be a fun thing for you to do… not a chore. When you really know the tune, and aren’t reading or trying to remember the next change, that’s where the magic happens.
Don’t Think So Hard.
The real goal here, and the thing that will really make it easier for you to play jazz guitar is this:
“Get to where you don’t have to think about where your fingers are going next.”
When you’re not calculating your next move, your ears can do some amazing things. You’ll be able to pay more attention to the people you’re playing with. You’ll be able to pick up on ideas that someone else played, or come up with something new yourself on the spot.
It all boils down to some simple stuff:
- Know your scales, chords, and arpeggios
- Know the song you’re playing (melody and chord progressions)
Get to where you can do these things without thinking, and you’ll be in a pretty good spot.
Conclusion
Making jazz guitar easy to play doesn’t mean oversimplification, and it doesn’t mean using watered down concepts or techniques.
It means getting your basic skills together so that you can play the guitar more easily, and learning your favorite songs so that you know them by heart.
It’s a pretty simple thing put that way, but so many of us are so good at making things harder for ourselves because “jazz is complicated.”
Let it be easy for you. Learn your scales. Learn your chords and arpeggios. And learn your tunes you like to play.
Is jazz guitar easy for you, or hard? Let me know in the comments.