oft asked question: How can I learn how to play "jazz"?
Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2021 9:45 am
Some (who ask these sorts of questions) seem to view "jazz" as a trick - perhaps just one more "triple-tonguing" or "lip trills" sort of thing.
...Those people aren't going to get very far with it, needless to say.
Trumpet players must first learn the melodies to hundreds of standards (in several "jazz" genres).
Harmony players must first learn the chord changes to hundreds of standards AND (second) those songs melodies.
Tuba players must first learn the chord changes, most appropriate bass lines (ie. chord inversions), AND (just as with trumpet players) (third) the melodies to all the same songs, as knowing the melodies reinforces the learning of the appropriate chord inversions.
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To move on to "improvisation", there must first be a foundation built... some sort of "improvisation vocabulary".
With some, it's systematic, and with others, it's just "stuff that occurs to them", BUT VERY LITTLE OF IT IS EVER "NEW", whereas nearly 100% is borrowed/adapted phrases or fragments (just as it is with most all music).
Bach taught himself composition by hand-copying other composers' scores (which forced him to spend a great deal of time studying every detail of others' compositional decisions).
Improvisers may well hand-copy others' improvised solos' sound recordings (spending remarkable amounts of time writing them down from recordings), and THEN mastering the performance of them...and not just the notes, but (just as with so-called "classical" music) all the intricacies of phrasing and style.
Once a wide vocabulary has been developed, it can be accessed to develop one's own "style".
...so no: Performing jazz is not a "trick".
...Those people aren't going to get very far with it, needless to say.
Trumpet players must first learn the melodies to hundreds of standards (in several "jazz" genres).
Harmony players must first learn the chord changes to hundreds of standards AND (second) those songs melodies.
Tuba players must first learn the chord changes, most appropriate bass lines (ie. chord inversions), AND (just as with trumpet players) (third) the melodies to all the same songs, as knowing the melodies reinforces the learning of the appropriate chord inversions.
=========================================
To move on to "improvisation", there must first be a foundation built... some sort of "improvisation vocabulary".
With some, it's systematic, and with others, it's just "stuff that occurs to them", BUT VERY LITTLE OF IT IS EVER "NEW", whereas nearly 100% is borrowed/adapted phrases or fragments (just as it is with most all music).
Bach taught himself composition by hand-copying other composers' scores (which forced him to spend a great deal of time studying every detail of others' compositional decisions).
Improvisers may well hand-copy others' improvised solos' sound recordings (spending remarkable amounts of time writing them down from recordings), and THEN mastering the performance of them...and not just the notes, but (just as with so-called "classical" music) all the intricacies of phrasing and style.
Once a wide vocabulary has been developed, it can be accessed to develop one's own "style".
...so no: Performing jazz is not a "trick".