Learning Jazz Guitar FAQ!

Here’s some Guitar Kitchen ideas, answers & experiences to:

Frequently Asked Questions about playing jazz, playing jazz guitar, learning jazz guitar and learning jazz!

IMHO 🙂

I’ve included links to other lessons and articles on Guitar Kitchen, plus some cool images & videos. And I’ll try to add links to other folks’ answers and guides, too!

And if you have any questions that aren’t already answered here or elsewhere on Guitar Kitchen, please contact me (and/or leave a comment below)!

Table of Contents

How do I start learning jazz guitar?

Remember – enjoy the jazz guitar journey!

It’s not all about the imagined future destination;

The real important parts really are the tunes, grooves, good times, people, experiences, and memories that you experience/encounter/discover/create along the way!

IMHO

There’s no exact right or wrong way to learn anything – but usually most people will agree they are good ways to learn something – and would include learning jazz guitar!

Here’s some more philosophical ideas to keep in mind when starting to learn jazz guitar:

  • Focus on the playing a bit each day.
  • View learning jazz guitar (or any new skillset) as a mid-to-long-term project.
  • Practice your aural imagination (hear the music in your head)
  • Seek to sing what you play and play what you sing
  • Emphasize groove. Seek to balance rhythm, harmony, melody. Most “beginners” hear all the fancy solos and forget that groove is just as important.
  • Play along with great recordings.

If you already have experience playing guitar and are starting out learning to play jazz guitar:

  • Keep playing what you already are playing in other genres (if you’d like)
  • Remember to enjoy your jazz guitar journey! It’s not the imagined destination, the real important part is the tunes, grooves, good times, people, experiences, and memories that you experience/encounter/discover/create along the way!
  • Start playing along to jazz records that you like:
    • Be patient – it’ll probably take awhile to get the hang of it
    • If you are playing more “complicated” jazz – find smaller, simple, easy things that you can practice/play with the recordings

If you are just starting to play guitar and also are learning jazz guitar:

  • Focus on your basic, fundamental techniques
  • Play along with favorite records – just play with muted strings
  • Practice hearing the music in your head

Here’s some of the main tips for learning to play guitar (of any style) from the beginner guitar course:

If you already play another instrument (but not jazz) and are learning guitar and for the first time:

  • Focus on building your guitar technique
  • Seek to learn about jazz on your original instrument
  • As your technique on guitar develops, apply your knowledge of jazz (that you’ve cultivated on your previous instrument)
  • Listen to your favorite jazz recordings and seek to sing along and/or play along on whichever instrument you’d like

If you already play jazz on another instrument, but are learning to play jazz on the guitar:

If you already have a good grasp of jazz, but are learning guitar, I would recommend focus on learning good fundamental guitar technique. And then just used whatever processes you liked most for learning jazz on your original instrument!

Of course, each instrument usually has a different role in jazz. For example, if you play jazz saxophone and are learning jazz guitar, you’ll be learning a lot more about chords, comping and harmony than you might otherwise on a horn.

But the manner in which you learn will probably be similar to your preferred learning styles that you encountered as you learned (and continued) to learn you original instrument.

How Long Does it Take to Learn Jazz Guitar?

Learning any type of music (jazz included) is a lifelong process!

Instead of focusing on the imagined end result (especially if this makes you feel uneasy, anxious, etc), focus on creating good daily habits and processes. And focus on the musical journey!

In general, to get to the point where a guitarist can navigate through a jazz standard will probably take about 6 months to 1 year, depending on where their technical and musical background when they start studying jazz.

Practice Slow to Learn Fast!

Practice Makes Progress.

Practicing (a little) Every Day Creates the Most Consistent, Long-Term Musical Progress!

Of course, like any art form, one can always find many ways to view mastery.

Mastery is a process, not a destination, so enjoy the journey!

from https://wyntonmarsalis.org/news/entry/wynton-marsalis-12-tips-on-how-to-practice-for-musicians-athletes-anyone - 1. seek instruction 2. write out a schedule 3. set goals 4. concentrate 5. relax & practice slowly 6. practice hard things longer 7. practice with expression 8. learn from your mistakes 9. don’t show off 10. think for yourself 11. be optimistic 12. look for connections
from Wynton Marsalis

Is Jazz Guitar Hard to Learn?

Conceptually jazz guitar is simple to learn – focus on groove, song structure and creating simple melodies.

But simple isn’t always easy.

A lot of jazz guitarists (myself included) immediately want to play like John McLaughlin and/or John Coltrane. Even John Coltrane didn’t ‘sound’ like (we think of how) John Coltrane in the late 50s and 60s sounded right away – practiced intensely for many years before creating/discovering his ‘sound’.

Instead:

Focus on Groove and Structure!

Play what you sing! And sing what you play!

A few learning jazz guitar challenges & their potential solutions:

  • When starting out, focusing on complicated harmonies, solos
    • Instead focus on:
      1. Simple chord progressions (the blues)
      2. Focus more on right-hand groove! Make sure you balance your practice between the strumming/picking hand and the fretting hand.
      3. Start playing along with recordings from the beginning! Don’t caught up too much in heady jazz licks and theory until you’ve build a solid groove/feel foundation.
      4. Start soloing using simple phrases, licks and scales
        1. Many great jazz musicians utilize the pentatonic and blues scales and dorian minor (Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis, Oscar Peterson, Jaco Pastorius to name a few)
      5. Focus on enjoy the musical journey! And play along with those records!
Great ways to learn music - learn from the greats, practice makes progress, play what you sing, sing what you play, enjoy the musical journey!

Where Should I Start with Jazz Guitar?

  • Focus on enjoying your musical journey!
  • Play along with (jazz) recordings you enjoy! If you don’t know the notes, just mute your strings and focus on groove!
  • Focus on groove!
  • Focus on a few, “simpler” tunes – for example, a slow blues and a modal tune.
  • Once you can play the chords to a blues, create your own backing tracks and practice with those,

Why is Jazz so Difficult?

Jazz, to the beginner, is sometimes perceived as difficult because most people think of great musicians like John Coltrane when they think of jazz. It’s like saying rock guitar is hard based on hearing an Eddie Van Halen solo or Frank Zappa song.

To play a good-sounding jazz blues is no less-easy (or hard) as playing any other style of music well. And the process of learning is very similar.

Check out the answer/ideas for Is Jazz Guitar Hard to Learn? to learn some great ways to start your jazz guitar musical journeys!

Just like any music (or anything), it makes sense to simplify the concepts and learning processes as much as makes sense.

Of course, many great, dedicated and inspired musicians have created many harmonically, rhythmically, and melodically complex music.

But the fundamentals of jazz are the same as any other music:

  • Rhythm & Groove
  • Melody
  • Harmony

What Makes a Good Jazz Guitar?

Tone, intonation and playability compose the main elements of any beautiful sounding jazz guitar. Of the three elements, tone is what usually characterizes the classic jazz guitar sound.

Of course, the hands/playing of the guitarist really create the sound of a guitar too, and the actually physical setup/makeup of the guitar (and amp) do contribute to the overall tone of the instrument.

For electric jazz guitar:

Humbucker Pickups

Humbucker pickups – unless it’s a Telecaster (like Ed Bickert) – traditionally these are P90s. They are usually found on Gibson-style guitars are create warm, rich sound with smoother, slower attack. Tonally they favor the bass and mids, have less trebles

The Hollow-Body Guitar

The classic jazz guitar is a hollow-body with F-holes (like a violin, viola, cello or upright bass). The acoustic body helps to create more sustain and warmth. Originally hollow-body jazz guitar was mostly just used for chords/rhythm (and was a sort of replacement for the banjo in the 1920s-30s).

My jazz guitar! A Joe Pass Emperor Epiphone model!

Thicker String Gauge

It’s not uncommon to use 14s on a classic electric jazz guitar. The thicker strings create more warmth and a thicker sound.

A lot of ‘classic’ jazz guitar playing doesn’t include a lot of bended notes, so having thicker strings doesn’t really come into play as much as it might in blues and rock.

In general, the common range of gauge for the high E string is 12-14. For example, if you search for D’Addario’s (or Thomsticks) jazz guitar strings, they’ll be mostly in that range.

Thicker Picks

If a jazz guitarist uses a pick, they’ll probably be using a thicker gauge pick. The thicker gauge pick usually helps to create a thicker, smoother single-note sound.

Since jazz guitarist don’t strum like folk guitarist, they don’t need picks that are so flexible.

Cleaner Amp Tones

For electric jazz guitar, most classic jazz guitarists don’t use any effects other than maybe some reverb. Joe Pass stopped using an amp at one point and just plugged directly into the PA.

Also, the amps of 50s and 60s jazz guitar all were probably tube-amps. So they usually had that same warm, (very) slightly overdriven sound.

What makes a good jazz solo?

Anything considered good in art and music is somewhat subjective.

That being said, a classic jazz solo usually contains the following important elements (imho):

  • The listener feels good and/or experiences a musical journey while listening to the solo!
  • Great groove and locked in with the band! People feel relaxed and/or excited and want to tap their feet
  • Melodic ideas that “make sense” to the listener!
  • Melodically, the solo sounds good in relation to the perceived harmonies of the song!
  • Usually some sort of melodic/musical structure – many times with themes and variation that a “casual” listener can identify almost subconsciously.

Who is the Best Jazz Guitarist?

In art, there’s really no such thing are the best.

IMHO for musicians it’s more constructive to think of someone as great, not the best.

Who are some of your favorite jazz guitarists?

Please check out some of my favorite jazz guitarists and some classic jazz tracks here:

Great Tunes and Albums (for Learning about Jazz Guitar)

Learning from the Greats - Musical Ideas, Time and Groove, Cultivate the Ear, Structure and Timing, Chops with Musicality

How Do You Practice Comping (on Jazz Guitar)?

  • Focus on your groove – mostly created with your strumming hand (right hand for most people)
    • If you don’t know the song you’re practicing, just mute the strings.
  • Practice along to great recordings
  • Practice with a metronome, set to the quarter note or the backbeat (2 &4)
  • First focus on the groove of your quarter-note comping.
    • Once you feel more solid with this (and it’s grooving), then:
  • Besides playing along with recordings, create your own back tracks. You can do quarter-note comping for the backing track. Then practice more ‘modern’ comping on top of the quarter-note comping.
  • Practice different different rhythmic themes for your comping. Try to create rhythmic themes (with variations) to your comping. This allow the band and soloist to have something to work with. And it will allow you to create more musical and consistent comping ideas!

Should I Learn Jazz Guitar?

If you feel like you should learn jazz guitar (or anything not related to survival), maybe consider rephrasing the question:

Do I want to learn jazz guitar?

I’m an optimist and I haven’t really met you – but in general I say (especially with creative endeavours that interest musicians/artists, etc – within “reason”):

Go for it!

If you do have any questions about this, please feel free to contact me and/or leave a comment below!

If you love the sound of jazz and find yourself thinking about playing jazz guitar, then (at least for me) it’s probably your “subconscious” mind reminding you that you might want to check out playing jazz guitar!

Some good reasons for learning jazz guitar:

  • You love the music!
  • You’re interested in the jazz guitar musical journeys!
  • Learning is a good thing (in general)
  • Learning a new style of music is a good thing (in general)
  • Learn new grooves/feels
  • For guitarists – there’s other ways to learn about musical stuff you’d probably learn in jazz, but a lot of that musical stuff may have basically came from (or through) jazz
  • Learn about some of the most harmonically/rhythmically/melodically “developed” music in the “Western” world (imho) that’s occurred consistently in the last 100 years.
  • Challenge and develop your musicality!
  • Expand your musical imagination!
  • Once you get some of the jazz fundamentals down, there’s a feeling of freedom when improvising/creating music that exists in it’s own way in “jazz”.
  • You’re musically curious!

For guitarists who are interested in jazz guitar as a way to develop their musicality (but may not feel much affinity for “jazz”):

  • There’s plenty of other ways to learn about cool harmonies, melodies and rhythms – check out Western Classical music, AfroLatin styles like Brasilian and Cuban, Indian Classical music, Flamenco, Bluegrass, NeoSoul, Funk, Balkan Music, etc.
  • You may just want to look further within the jazz universe – there may be music you’d love, but just haven’t discovered yet.
  • At this point, jazz stylings have been incorporated into a lot of different genres, so you may be able to find something that you relate to more.
  • Or you may already be playing something influenced by jazz without even realizing it! For example, hiphop, funk, AfroLatin, modern Flamenco, etc.
  • Or you may be playing something already that influenced jazz. For example: the blues, Caribbean music and Western classical music!

Practice Makes Progress!

Best Wishes to everyone! And thanks for checking out this FAQ!

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