Musical ingredients Jazz guitar

1 musical ingredients

1.1 rhythm
1.2 harmony
1.3 melody
1.4 improvisation

musical ingredients
rhythm

jazz rhythm guitar consists of textural, odd-meter playing includes generous use of exotic, difficult-to-fret chords. in 4/4 timing, common play 2.5 beat intervals such on 2 , half beat or , after 4. jazz guitarists may play chords ahead of beat, playing chord swung eighth note before actual chord change. chords not played in repetitive rhythmic fashion, rock rhythm guitarist play.

harmony

jazz guitarists use knowledge of harmony , jazz theory create jazz chord voicings, emphasize 3rd , 7th notes of chord. more sophisticated chord voicings include 9th, 11th, , 13th notes of chord. in modern jazz styles, dominant 7th chords in tune may contain altered 9ths (either flattened semitone, called flat 9th , or sharpened semitone, called sharp 9th ); 11ths (sharpened semitone, called sharp 11th ); 13ths (typically flattened semitone, called flat 13th ).

jazz guitarists need learn range of different chords, including major 7th, major 6th, minor 7th, minor/major 7th, dominant 7th, diminished, half-diminished, , augmented chords. well, need learn chord transformations (e.g., altered chords, such alt dominant chords described above), chord substitutions, , re-harmonization techniques. jazz guitarists use knowledge of jazz scales , chords provide walking bass-style accompaniment.

jazz guitarists learn perform these chords on range of different chord progressions used in jazz, such ubiquitous ii-v-i progression, jazz-style blues progression (which, in contrast blues-style 12 bar progression, may have 2 or more chord changes per bar) minor jazz-style blues form, i-vi-ii-v based rhythm changes progression, , variety of modulation-rich chord progressions used in jazz ballads, , jazz standards. guitarists may learn use chord types, strumming styles, , effects pedals (e.g., chorus effect or fuzzbox) used in 1970s-era jazz-latin, jazz-funk, , jazz-rock fusion music.

melody

jazz guitarists integrate basic building blocks of scales , arpeggio patterns balanced rhythmic , melodic phrases make cohesive solo. jazz guitarists try imbue melodic phrasing sense of natural breathing , legato phrasing used horn players such saxophone players. well, jazz guitarists solo improvisations have have rhythmic drive , timefeel creates sense of swing , groove. experienced jazz guitarists learn play different timefeels such playing ahead of beat or behind beat, create or release tension.

another aspect of jazz guitar style use of stylistically appropriate ornaments, such grace notes, slides, , muted notes. each subgenre or era of jazz has different ornaments part of style of subgenre or era. jazz guitarists learn appropriate ornamenting styles listening prominent recordings given style or jazz era. jazz guitarists borrow ornamentation techniques other jazz instruments, such wes montgomery s borrowing of playing melodies in parallel octaves, jazz piano technique. jazz guitarists have learn how add in passing tones, use guide tones , chord tones chord progression structure improvisations.

in 1970s , 1980s, jazz-rock fusion guitar playing, jazz guitarists incorporated rock guitar soloing approaches, such riff-based soloing , usage of pentatonic , blues scale patterns. guitarists used jimi hendrix-influenced distortion , wah-wah effects sustained, heavy tone, or used rapid-fire guitar shredding techniques, such tapping , tremolo bar bending. guitarist al di meola, started career return forever in 1974, 1 of first guitarists perform in shred style, technique later used in rock , heavy metal playing. di meola used alternate-picking perform rapid sequences of notes in solos.

improvisation

when jazz guitar players improvise, use scales, modes, , arpeggios associated chords in tune s chord progression. approach improvising has changed since earliest eras of jazz guitar. during swing era, many soloists improvised ear embellishing melody ornaments , passing notes. however, during bebop era, rapid tempo , complicated chord progressions made increasingly harder play ear. along other improvisers, such saxes , piano players, bebop-era jazz guitarists began improvise on chord changes using scales (whole tone scale, chromatic scale, etc.) , arpeggios. jazz guitar players tend improvise around chord/scale relationships, rather reworking melody, possibly due familiarity chords resulting comping role. source of melodic ideas improvisation transcribing improvised solos recordings. provides jazz guitarists source of licks , melodic phrases , ideas incorporate either intact or in variations, , established way of learning previous generations of players.