Understanding the Characteristics of the Jazz Guitar Style
What is the jazz guitar style?
The easiest way to begin is to describe what is not the jazz guitar style. Power 5 chords, simple open chords, steady strums, static chord progressions, a lack of key modulations, heavy bending and vibrato, slinky thin strings, distortion, excessive volume, huge amplifiers … these are a few characteristics that say that the music is probably not the jazz guitar style.
Read MoreThe Art and Science of Picking for the Jazz Guitar
Contrary to popular opinion, picking is the most difficult technical skill on the jazz guitar. Since the fingering hand is visually impressive, most guitar players think more and work harder on the fingering hand than they do on the picking hand.
Let’s break down picking into its most basic components. There are only 2 pick strokes – a down pick and an up pick. This is a fact but it’s not too useful. What is useful however, is the fact that there are four picking pairs:
- 1) down – up
- 2) up – down
Leah R Garnett Interview on the New Album “Freefall”
Chuck Anderson’s new album ‘Freefall’ establishes him as a major force in jazz guitar.
Chuck Anderson is part of an elite group: world-class jazz musicians who focused their careers not on performing, but on passing the baton to others. Like the late Dennis Sandole and Charlie Banacos before him, Chuck spent his career focused on educating and mentoring students, many of whom went onto illustrious careers.
Now at 62, Chuck Anderson has returned to his roots as a performer, and in his new CD Freefall, you can hear Chuck playing some of the best guitar of his life. Freefall contains 12 original compositions, 10 performed with the Chuck Anderson Trio. Music After 50 talked to Chuck about the new album, and why he was out of the public eye for so many years.
Read MoreMarketing : A Way of Life
No matter what your involvement is in music, marketing needs to be a way of life. This is true more for the musician seeking to make a living in music but it generally applies to anyone with goals other than pure aesthetics.
What is marketing? Marketing is the entire range of activities that involve increasing your exposure in the market that you have chosen. This exposure then needs to lead to sales. These sales might be for CDs, DVDs, digital products, books, concerts, merchandise etc. It includes but is not limited to advertising, promotion, public relations, sales, endorsements, articles, interviews, establishing contacts etc.
Read MoreTalent: What is it? How do I know if I have It?
Talent is a topic that is difficult to pin down. The fact is that talent is a fact in retrospect. After you’ve developed it, it becomes obvious that you have it. The problem is that talent itself is a lot like oil. You’re not sure it’s there unless you drill for it. Drilling for oil in musical terms is studying and practicing – your instrument or your voice. As your potential unfolds, you’ll see what’s there…
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Read MoreJazz Improvisation – Just a Conversation Between Friends
Improvisation is at the heart of jazz. Too many people consider it a mysterious art that they can’t appreciate.
In reality, this art form is simply spontaneous conversation between friends. A listener no more has to understand the intricacies behind it, than they have to understand the details of brush strokes to appreciate a painting.
Just listen to what the music is saying. It’s saying something different to each person. Unlike songs with lyrics, instrumental jazz allows the listener to form unique images, feelings and stories. Listen and enjoy!
Read MoreIgnore Everybody and 39 Other Keys to Creativity by Hugh MacLeod
Thoughts and Observations
My first observation was more of a feeling than a thought. The words coming from the pages evoked a feeling of familiarity – not the words themselves but the feelings that came out of the words. The visceral sense of loneliness when you’re conceiving of and pursuing a creative idea which is neither understood nor accepted by the outside world. The sense of unfairness that we all feel when our careers don’t go as far as fast as we would like. The inequity that we often feel when we compare where we are to where others are. It’s clear that the feelings, emotions and attitudes surrounding creativity are universal and applicable to many people and situations.
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