Haven’t played drums in a while so I strung together a bunch of metronome exercises to do on my practice pad. I really want to keep the speed between my left and right hand balanced out. To be frank, I haven’t received any formal drumming training so my names for rudiments might be off; the … Continue reading Exercise Combination – Balancing Hand Speed
Fender Jazz Bass Special 1984-87
Just look at it! It’s got some chipped paint Some dents in the finish around the J Pickup Little scratches More scratches on the finish Some dents and scratches on the backside You can see where the previous owner(s) wore down the finish of the neck. This bass has been played a lot and I … Continue reading Fender Jazz Bass Special 1984-87
Day 170: Trying to Learn Autumn Leaves
So this is Week 2 of the Jazz Guitar Crash course, I’m supposed to learn Autumn Leaves. I’m familiar with the song because I learned to play bass to it for a few gigs, but I encountered a hiccup: I don’t have any of these new chords memorized! Imagine my surprise as I sat down … Continue reading Day 170: Trying to Learn Autumn Leaves
Day 167: Why We’re Even Doing This
Congratulations! We've made it to Friday in the first week of the Jazz Guitar crash course! We've gone over what makes up the major 7, dominant 7, and minor 7 chords, and we've gone over certain chord variations. To really drive home the point, let's talk about intervals and scales in more detail. The terms … Continue reading Day 167: Why We’re Even Doing This
Day 166: Variations
The point of learning all of these chords is to help visualize where the notes are on the guitar's fretboard. If you look at all of the chord charts next to each other, and count the strings from right-to-left (this is common practice with guitar notation), you'll see that the D chords (and FM7 in … Continue reading Day 166: Variations
Day 165: Minor 7 Chords
Here’s yet another set of chord voicings to learn. If you know the minor chords on guitar, we’re omitting the octave note and flattening it one full tone, or two frets. Normally, I would like to use the A minor scale as an example when talking about minor because it has the same natural notes … Continue reading Day 165: Minor 7 Chords
Day 164: Dominant 7 Chords
More interesting chords today. If you know the major chords, you turn it into a 7 chord by taking what would be the 7th note in the scale and flattening it by one semitone, or one fret. In contrast to the notes in the “major 7” chords from yesterday, we’re flattening what would be the … Continue reading Day 164: Dominant 7 Chords
Day 163: Major 7 Chords
These chords are interesting. If you know the major chords, major 7 chords just take out one of the octaves and “flatten” it by one semitone or one fret. Just like all the other chords, muting strings is also key to a clean sound! The C major chord is a great example because all of … Continue reading Day 163: Major 7 Chords
Day 162: Guitar Study – Week 1
Alright... So we're doing this! Jazz guitar crash course week 1 is memorizing chord voicings that are very common in jazz (and pop): Major 7 chords, Dominant 7 chords, and Minor 7 chords. I should confess: before researching, I didn't know that "7" chords (like C7, D7, E7, etc.) are the same as dominant 7 … Continue reading Day 162: Guitar Study – Week 1
Day 161: Guitar Study
I saw an interesting lesson plan on reddit for studying jazz guitar in 3 weeks. I’ve played electric bass and drums in a jazz band before, and I’ve listened to a bunch of jazz music. But, I’ve always been too intimidated to play jazz on guitar. Now, I can’t really tell who posted this comment … Continue reading Day 161: Guitar Study
