PLAYING GUITAR IN JAZZ BAND Practical Guide Students Teachers Sinclair LIBRO CD TABLATURE

PLAYING GUITAR IN JAZZ BAND, A Practical Guide for Students and Teachers. David Sinclair. CD GUITAR TABLATURE

LIBRO METODO DI MUSICA JAZZ, CON CD. 

SPARTITI PER CHITARRA CON:

ACCORDI, GRIGLIA DEGLI ACCORDI, PENTAGRAMMA, NOTE, TABLATURE. 

MANUALE, STUDIO, DIDATTICO, 

PER IMPARARE A SUONARE LA CHITARRA IN UNA BIG BAND.

Format: Book & CD

Instrument: Guitar

Playing Guitar in Jazz Band is for beginning to intermediate guitarists who are interested in playing in a jazz big band. Playing this style of guitar can be challenging, as the chord changes are often complex, yet the guitar parts should remain simple enough to avoid detracting from the overall sound of the band. This book breaks down that process by substituting difficult chord shapes with more flexible voicings that are designed to sound good on the guitar. Learn a wide variety of rhythmic patterns and work with authentic chord charts that are exactly like the ones you will encounter in real-life situations. This is the perfect crash course for students who have just joined their first jazz band and the ideal companion for music teachers who want to better understand the role of the guitar in their ensemble. A CD demonstrating the examples in the book is included. 

Introduction

So, you've joined a jazz band (sometimes called a big band, stage band, or jazz ensemble). Even if you've been a guitar player for a while, you're probably finding some of this music quite different from anything you've played before-a lot of chords going by kind of quickly-right? That's because the sound of big band jazz comes from the cool harmonies generated by the horn sections. Even when the individual horn parts are quite simple, the combined harmonies can be quite complex, making the guitar and piano parts a bit of a challenge. This book is designed as a practical guide for playing in a jazz band. The emphasis is on shortcuts that work in the real world, not complicated theory. You'll learn how to simplify complicated chord charts to suit your current level of ability and chord knowledge. To get the most out of this book, it will be helpful (but not absolutely necessary) to be able to read standard music notation. You need to know basic skills such as tuning the guitar, fretting notes and chords with your left hand, and picking and strumming with your right hand. There are two parts to this book. Part 1 will try to make your life a little easier by presenting some chord voicings and shortcuts to help you get through the musical charts. Part 2 shows you how to add to the basics as you get more comfortable with the pieces you are playing. You may find that these voicings and shortcuts sound better with the band than the fuller voicings you might use in a smaller group. The chord voicings used in this book, particularly in Part 1, are based on the technique used by legendary guitarist Freddie Green of the Count Basie Orchestra. Some band directors encourage guitarists to play chord voicings in a higher register and stay away from the bass. While this is certainly a valid approach-and one that is very effective in small jazz groups-it puts you in'the range of the horns and piano. This makes it necessary to play the extensions and alterations in the chord, as well as eliminate the root of the chord or place it on middle strings. For the novice player, the method in this book will be a lot easier to grasp, since the root will generally be on the bass strings and easier to find, and the shortcuts will enable the player to keep up with the band. Unlike playing in a rock, folk, or country band, the role of the guitar in a big band is primarily to work with the drummer to set up a solid groove, rather than establish the harmonies (which are being played by horns and piano). For example, instead of letting the chords ring, we damp them between the strokes for a more percussive effect (see Chapter 7 for more details). This book deals with the rhythm guitar aspect of stage band playing, or chording, which is mostly what you will be doing. To learn the lead guitar aspect of jazz, refer to a book such asTom Dempsey's Easy Soloing for Jazz Guitar (Alfred/National Guitar Workshop #28246).

How to Use This Book

I suggest you go through Part 1, learning the material in each chapter. If you spend 15 minutes a day, you should be pretty competent in two or three weeks. Then, have a look through Part 2 so you know what's there, but don't try to learn all the chord voicings at once. Gradually, add a few voicings at a time as you encounter them in the pieces you are playing with the band.

About the Author

David Sinclair is a guitarist from Vancouver, Canada who has toured and recorded with many artists, including Sarah McLachlan, k.d. Lang, Matthew Lien, Amy Sky, Michael Buble, Daniel Powter, Rita MacNeil, Paul Janz, Valdy, Susan Jacks, Terry Jacks, Prism, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Irish Rovers, Holly Arntzen, Leon & Eric Bibb, Gary Fjellgaard, Leonard and Sample, Straight Lines, and Body Electric. As a member of Sarah McLachlan's band, and with k.d. lang, David toured North America, Europe, and Asia. He has appeared on television shows 'including The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, the Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, The Arsenio Hall Show, Saturday Night Live, The Larry Sanders Show, Good Morning America, The Rosie O'Donnell Show, MTV Unplugged, VH1 Storytellers, The Grammy Awards Show, and the Canadian Juno Awards. David has written and performed music for films and television, played with the Vancouver Symphony, the Opera Orchestra, and the Vancouver Chamber Choir, as well as pit bands for musical theater productions and shows. He has taught at Capilano College in North Vancouver, at the California and Toronto campuses of the National Guitar Workshop, and the Vancouver campus of Guitar Workshop Plus. He has also recorded solo acoustic guitar CDs

Acknowledgements

Thanks go to Joe Sallay, Mike Gillette, Frank Ludwig, Rob McLeod, Blair Fisher, Fred Stride, Bob Buckley, and my family: Christine, Taryn, Jaime, and Zak.

A compact disc is included with this book. This disc can make learning with the book easier and more enjoyable. The symbol shown to the left appears next to every example that is on the CD. Use the CD to help ensure that you're capturing the feel of the examples and interpreting the rhythms correctly. Example numbers are above the symbol. The track number below the symbol corresponds directly to the example you want to hear. Track 1 is a tuning track that will help you tune your guitar to this CD.

Contents:

About the Author

Introduction

How to Use This Book

PART 1

Chapter 1: Getting Started

Tablatu re (TAB)

Chord Diagrams

Learning Notes on the 6th String (Low E)

Chapter 2: Reading Chord Charts

Chapter 3: Major Scale and Chord Theory

The Major Scale

Chords

Chapter 4: Flexible Chord Forms

Chapter S: Extensions, Altered Tones, and Shorteuts

Extensions

Altered Tones

Chapter 6: Diminished 7th Chords

Chapter 7: Rhythms

Straight Eighth Feels

Latin Feels ;

Rock Grooves

The Swing Feel

Four to the Bar

Rhythmic Variation

PART 2

Chapter 8: More Chords

9th, 11th, and 13th Chords

Altered Chords

Various Altered Chords

2 Chords and Add 9 Chords

6/9 Chords

Slash Chords

The 5 Chord

Chapter 9: Tunes

Swingin' on the Loop

Plan B

Appendix

Time Signatures

Chords with Different Names

Getting the Right Sound

Conclusion