How to Play Smooth Jazz

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Play Smooth Jazz

Jazz music has long captured the hearts of many people. The creativity and freedom of jazz musicians have been romanticized by a culture obsessed with cool. Smooth jazz takes this concept of cool and stretches further by drawing on R&B and funk music influences to create a seamlessly smooth and uniquely laid-back sound. Learn how to play smooth jazz and breathe creative life into this cool genre.

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Instructions

1Start by learning the basics of jazz playing. Become well versed on the traditional big band jazz standards and learn about other jazz genres as well to help delineate between different kinds of jazz music.

2Find some smooth jazz recordings and note that it is often called "adult contemporary" as well. Find a song that you really enjoy and listen to the differences between the way it is played compared to big band jazz or ragtime.

3Learn basic music theory so that you can learn jazz theory and begin applying these theoretical foundations to your music playing. Locate a jazz teacher or music teacher that can help you learn these foundations if you are having trouble mastering these basics.

4Master the usage of jazz scales, arpeggios and blues scales, and learn the art of smooth articulation no matter what your instrument. Become very well versed in controlling your volume and dynamic changes. Smooth jazz is often played in a dampened down quiet tone, which takes immense control and understanding of breath control.

5Practice with an ensemble or group of friends interested in jazz. Pick a song that might not be thought of as smooth jazz. Then attempt to play in this smooth, cool style by lowering the dynamics, changing the articulation and playing with improvisation and modal modification.

Tips & Warnings

Practice basic music theory at least thirty minutes every day.

Always memorize your music before performance. Jazz musicians must have an intimate relationship with the music and know it backwards and forwards as it is written before they can modify the music.

Related Searches

Resources

Listen to smooth jazz to get a feel for the genre. Visit various smooth jazz artists websites and resources.

Read more: How to Play Smooth Jazz | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_2157129_play-smooth-jazz.html#ixzz2LmaX5zGzTo learn how to play smooth jazz guitar you will need:

An electric guitar

An amplifier

CD player

Jazz CDs

Book of jazz chords & scales

A guitar pick

An instrument cable

1. Plug the electric guitar into the amplifier and adjust the tone controls accordingly. A suitable jazz tone is warm and bright but without the sharp attack associated with rock and blues. Adjust the treble tone control and the bass at halfway on the amplifier controls. If there is a middle tone control, set this to less than halfway. On the guitar if there is a pick up selector set it to the neck pick up for that warm bluesy tone. If you have a 5 way selector similar to a Fender Stratocaster you can set the pick up selector to position "2" or "4" for an out of phase sound. To achieve this on any other model, roll the guitar tonal controls to 3/4 from maximum.

2. Open the jazz chord and scales instruction book. If you are beginner this is a good opportunity to get familiar with the voicing of certain chord shapes and scale positions. Warm up by fingering chord positions and practice changing from chord to chord. This applies to both beginner and skilled players as it is good practice to warm up the hands before playing. Finish the warm up by performing some simple scale runs.

3. Play along to a CD. Select a song where you know the fundamentals such as the chord changes and the key of the piece. Play along to the piece, listening to any inflections the guitar adds to the music. This is where you begin to develop your own style and way of doing things, so try to add something new to the piece. If there is an instrumental break, try to play along but do not worry if you are not accurate note for note. You can add your own notes and embellishments as you begin to develop your own voice.

4. Listen carefully to the player's tone and pace. An important part of jazz guitar is the smooth tone that is associated with it. In jazz guitar there is very little in the way of effects and most guitarists keep it to clean simple sound. Depending on your ability,listen to a player that you can learn from. If lightening fast runs are not your style, listen to how other players phrase their notes and whether a simple 3 note solo is more effective than an 8 bar instrumental.

5. Play along to a variety of songs at different skill levels. Whether you are playing along to a CD of jazz songs from an album or to a specially designed backing track CD that is focussed on practice, try to play along to numerous styles. Choose some songs that you are already familiar with and then try to play along with some slightly more difficult ones so that you can develop and improve your playing.

6. Learn to improvise. Improvisation is a major part of a lot of jazz songs and players like Django Reinhardt and John Schofield are known for their great improvisational compositions. Improvising means playing freely without planning out the piece. It is a good way to speed up the development of your ability and a great way to discover new techniques. Try to improvise on a daily basis for a set period of time.

ReferencesManhattan School of Music

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