I want to learn how to play jazz guitar

Question

What are some equipment required? obviously a guitar but what kind? I never played guitar before in my life and want to learn. Do i need the amplifier to play jazz guitar, if so what would you recommend?

Answer 1

Most jazz guitar you hear on recordings is played on an electric guitar, so you'll want to get an amplifier along with an electric guitar.



If your goal is to emulate the same sounds you've heard other jazz guitarists use, which is that fat, clean, mellow and bass-y tone, then you'll be able to achieve that with a variety of guitars and amps, but the "classic" jazz guitars have always been the hollow bodied, (or semi-hollow bodied) guitars from Gibson, like the 175 (the ultimate jazz guitar) or the 335. Makers, like Epiphone, offer affordable copies of these guitars which are very nice in and of themselves.



For an amplifier, you have a lot of choices. If you wanted to walk into one of Greenwich Village's jazz clubs in New York City and play a gig, you would probably show up with your Gibson 175 guitar and a Polytone amp. I do not use a Polytone, but they are very popular with working jazz guitarists. They are compact and portable, I will grant you that. You could comfortably take your guitar and amp on the subway and show up to play a gig just about anywhere. But a Polytone amp is rather expensive and you don't need to spend that kind money on your first amplifier. Any decent combo amp (meaning with the speaker and amplifier built into the same box) that has a good clean channel will definitely suit your purposes. I would make sure that your amp has at least a 10" speaker. I have the very 1965 Fender Princeton Reverb (http://www.ampwares.com/ffg/princeton_reverb_bf.html ) that was used by jazz great Wes Montgomery himself and that amp only puts out around 15 watts into one 10" speaker but it sounds great! I don't know what your budget is, but if I were starting out today, I would probably get one of the smaller Fender combo amps.



You can play jazz on just about any guitar, the ones I mentioned, the Gibson 175 and the 335 are really the favorites and people are used to seeing jazzmen play these instruments, for whatever that is worth, but really, almost any guitar will do. You would look funny showing up at a jazz gig with some guitar that was designed with an aesthetic geared more for shredding and heavy metal, but really, there are so many other guitars that would be appropriate for jazz. Les Paul, who has a very well known guitar named after him, is a fine jazz guitarist and the Les Paul guitar is a solid body instrument. Lenny Breau, one of the most amazing guitarists ever, played a solid body. There are even some Fender Telecaster players who are so attached to that instrument who will insist on using them for jazz (The Telecaster crowd is fanatically attached to that guitar for everything. I should know, I'm one myself). If the sky's the limit, money is no object, and you really love the instrument as well as the jazz music you can play on it, maybe you'll commission a custom Eastman guitar to be built for you (one guy I play with has one, beautiful instrument), or seek out a classic D'Angelico or D'Aquisto hollow body jazz guitar.

Answer 2

Captain Obvious pretty much nailed it there.



I've been taking Jazz Lessons from a pro for just over a year, it really is like learning to speak a language, it takes ALOT of time and practice. I still pretty much stink the house up on a daily basis.



Get an instrument that you can afford and that is comfortable to you for starters. I personally use an Ibanez AS103, pretty nice sound and retails at right around 1100 (I bought the Burled Maple Limited edition cuz it's pretty!), I actually paid about 800 plaus tax. I use a Fender Dynatouch III 100 watt combo amp (same one I use for my barband gigs).



With Jazz you gotta learn the language from the start, the scales, chord patterns, modes, the cliche' stuff; this could take up to a year or more to get down solid. It's not like rock and roll where you pick out 3 chords and turn it way up, there are many litle nuance things in there that you need to pick up.



Plan to practice long hours and make sure you find an instructor that really knows what they are talking about, a bad habit could take years to get rid of. (I support my pinky finger on the pickguard) so you gotta learn correct from the start.



Good luck man!

Answer 3

Look for a hollowbody electric guitar like an Ibanez AF or AG or a Hagstrom HJ of HL.

A decent amplifier with a very good clean channel (so no crunch, distortion, and other effects).

A Vox AD or AC would make an excellent choice.



Originally jazz was played with acoustic guitars, but the electric guitar was originally invented for jazz musicians to get heard over their brass sections so it's really well suited to the genre.

Answer 4

Please people an instrument is just tool for sound. Dont worry what kind of guitar to play cause chances are you do not possess the ability yet to fully understand optimizations made for professional guitar. Hence student model instruments versus professional model.



Having a professional model instrument isnt going to hurt you in anyway, but for learning purposes (and financial purposes) you might want to buy a cheap used electric guitar and amp off of craiglist from somebody and start there. It the same principle of buying a ferrari for 15 year old kid with a learners permit.



There are 3 parts to be a musician, period: the mental, the physical, and the instrument itself.



The mental aspect of jazz (really ALL music) is learning theory and knowing it like the back of your hand. This means learning all scales, chords and abbreviations, meters, and appropriate resolutions. I would personally buy a notebook on manuscript paper (music staff paper) and write out scales and chord like your being punished just so they are engraved in your brain. I call this mental practice. Playing jazz or any other type of improvised music is like learning how to speak a language. You need to know the vocabulary first before you can create an intelligent sentence or hold a meaningful conversation. Also in jazz there are "catch phrases" or "cliches" just like speaking a language that everyone knows. Learn some. Another huge factor is knowing who to listen too. What you want to sound like is ultimately up to you, however, people tend to fall in traps by listening to a specific person and before you know it you sound exactly like them. Me personally I wouldnt want that, but for learning purposes try to emulate someone for a while just to get an understanding of the style, but eventually you need to ween yourself from listening to others so you can develope your own sound



The physical, to me, is the second to least important. Practicing. Practicing is EXACTLY like going to the gym. You pick a specific area that you want to work on, and you sit there and workout. Dont think, just do. If you have a good mental understanding of what your trying to accomplish and such as knowing (all scale appegiations from writting them out all time like I just said). Also the more your workout (effectively that is) the stronger you become, literately, you'll be able to play hours on end.



The instrument is the least important aspect of being a real musician. Most professional musicians can play on the crappiest of instrument and still make it sound there own. Like I said before the instrument is just a tool to produce sound, but the music comes for you.

Answer 5

there are no rules man, you dont have to sound like benson with his hollow body or pass with his ultra clean sound.



some kind of guitar is all you need to play jazz guitar, from there, be creative.