learn jazz guitar

That was money well spent. This guitar plays beautifully now. It has great acoustic tone for a hollowbody, and sounds from gutsy to earthy and from mellow to screaming when played into my little Tascam trainer. Sat down to test it tonight and did not look up for an hour! Very nice playability – I can play new things, and feel like I’m learning.

Find yourself a good luthier. I’ve spent £220 total and got a guitar playing 95% as well as one costing £2k.

Really looking forward to Sunday’s workshop now.

So I contacted Richard the luthier, and took him the Ibanez for a fix up. He grabbed it and played some intricate jazz tunes, and said it had a high action. I agreed wholeheartedly, as I had deliberately set it high! It will need neck adjustment and fret dressing, and he will fix the bridge. Floating bridges are just a bad idea when it comes to restring time.

I discussed with Richard what sort of guitar is good for playing jazz on. In most of my prior research I have seen archtops described as the ultimate guitars for jazz. But I also couldn’t help observing that most gipsy jazz guitars are flat-top acoustics. He was of the opinion that the best sounding guitars are pure flat-top acoustics, and that archtops are over-rated (besides costing a fortune if properly constructed). It’s interesting that he has played the types of jazz I want to learn, and arrived at this conclusion. Especially being someone who can fundamentally design and build their ideal instrument.

So I got him to show me the guitars he keeps for himself to play on, and had a play. Very gorgeous instruments

with enormous tonal quality. Very slick to play; small-bodied so easy to hold & balance. Interesting sounds acoustically and when plugged into a Fender valve amp. (My Takamine does not sound great through my little Champion 600)

Now all I have to do is save up £2000 to buy one.

He still occasionally performs, and might be available for some lessons, which could prove really useful.

Good progress here:

Bought myself a lovely Ibanez Artcore hollowbody electric guitar – needs a fret dressing, but sounds great and plays well.

Had one lesson so far with a young guy starting out as a professional jazz musician. I have a ton of scales to practice, and am curiously enjoying it.

Next job: buy an amp!

！

Just gonna include this under my Practice Guitar Every Day goal. Not given up :-)

Just bought a Selmer/Maccafferri copy to practice the gypsy style. Now I really have to practice!

This is geeky

But I’ve no time or room for much practice and principally I need more chord knowledge. So I’m trying Guitar Jam on Nintendo DS as a compact and easy way to try new chords in sequences and learn the sounds and names. This should translate onto real guitar when my house is better organised and I’ve time to mix with real musicians! So goes the theory! :-D

So next I dare say I will:

• Learn the name of every fret position, by rote, without having to work them out.

• Understand & remember 4 new “jazz” chords and practice them in context.

I would like to be able to play jazz, as I feel it would take me to a higher technical level of skill and hopefully open up some musical opportunities for my songwriting.

Just ordered a DVD by Andy Summers. Been out for years, but I only just discovered it. Sounds like it will be very educational and jazzy! I don’t always like his playing but I think he has a big brain, so I remain in awe! :-D

Now, where did I put my guitars?

J.