Live Lesson: April 10, 2018 Jazz Guitar Mastery with Howard Alden!

[Steve Krenz]

Tuesday April 10th, 2018

Topic: Jazz Guitar Mastery with Howard Alden!

7pm Central Time US

You can watch the lesson HERE.

Tremendously excited to announce the great New York Jazz guitarist, Howard Alden will be joining us for this live lesson!

Howard is one of the best jazz guitarists on the scene today.  One of DownBeat Magazine's "Top 75 Guitarists", Howard is one of the most respected jazz guitarists in the world.

Here are a few clips...

 

 

Great Music, laughs, giveaways and more!

Watch on our Guitar Gathering YouTube Channel HERE

- Steve 

[NeilES335]

WOW Really looking forward to this one! I well remember Howard who was on the LL program a couple of years back  (woah I cant believe it was almost 5 yrs ago!) ... a great artist and gentleman. (If you think 6 strings is enough, watch Howard play 7 strings :-)

Thank you Steve for bringing us superb guest artists!  

 

Edited April 7, 2018 by NeilES335
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[Steve Krenz]

If you have any questions for Howard on Jazz Guitar, 7 string guitar or anything else, please let me know.

- Steve

[Dave White]

I'm on the road and will miss this one - I hope it is a great show!

[Aussiemuso]

I'm also away Steve but I would love him to explain the backing guitarist chords and rhythm? The camera is never on the backing guitarist. Such as in the clip 'Deed I do' that you posted.

Thanks for having such wonderful guests.

Aussiemuso

[V7#5b9]

I’ve watched the previous LL with Howard Alden more than once. I’ll gladly watch tonight’s show as well. I don’t really have any questions, but I thought Steve’s tips might go well with tonight’s live lesson. I got them from the old forum some time ago. They may prompt more questions from the viewers. @Steve Krenz, you may want to put these up on your new blog. 

SK’s Tips For Learning Jazz Standards

“Jazz music has a core group of common songs called “standards” that all Jazz musicians need to be familiar with. These are the songs you’ll hear when you go to listen to Jazz at a club or restaurant.  As a player, these are also the songs that you will play all the time.  Most of these standards can be easily found in songbooks like “The Real Book”.  Here are a few tips for learning these classic Jazz standards. 
These songs are more than simply catchy melodies. If you pay attention, they can also be the best learning tools you will find for understanding how Jazz works and how you can create great sounding improvised solos. 

1) Start by Focusing on Three Classic Jazz Standards – a Medium-Tempo Classic, a Slow Ballad, and an Up-Tempo Tune.  Eventually, you will know dozens of songs but the thought of this can be intimidating at first.  So, start by learning three. Great medium tempo Jazz songs to start with would be songs like “Autumn Leaves” by Johnny Mercer or “Satin Doll” by Duke Ellington.  Some good ballads to learn are “Misty” by Erroll Garner or “In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning” by David Mann.  “I’ve Got Rhythm” by George Gershwin or “There Will Never Be Another You” by Harry Warren are great up-tempo songs to know. 

2) Think About How the Chords Move. Jazz standards aren’t just random songs – they are classic studies in what makes a great chord progression.  Analyze the chords that are used.  What chord does it start out with?  What chord does it end with and how is that ending approached by the chords that precede it?  Identify the ii-V changes used to resolve to various chords within the song.  Think carefully about how each chord is working within the song.
In Jazz, every chord means something – it is either leading to another chord or being resolved to by something else.  Understanding how these chords are functioning is a major step in knowing how to solo over them. 

3) Learn the Melody. Be able to play the melody stylistically correct without much embellishment.  Too often, inexperienced Jazz players treat the melody as a mere “suggestion” as a platform for their solo rather than giving it the importance it deserves as a melodic line that has stood the test of time.
Notice how the melody moves and where it peaks in the phrase.  Knowing the words of the song will help you to phrase the melody more musically. 

4) When Soloing, View the Chords in Four Measure Segments. Most Jazz standards can be broken down into four measure phrases.  Chords within these four measure segments are often relating to each other.  Many times, players will solo based on one chord as it comes by, then solo over the next chord as it comes by rather then looking at a group of chords and trying to weave a line through each of the chords.  As you solo, think of lines that weave in-between the changing notes of the chords in a phrase.  This will create a much more musical solo.
Learning Jazz standards is the core activity of the Jazz musician.  As the great guitarist Tommy Emmanuel says, “People don’t want to hear you play scales or exercises, they want to hear songs.”  If you’re familiar with and can play these timeless melodies then you’ll never be out of demand as a player.” 

SK’s Tips For Understanding The Real Book Volume 1 Play Along Tracks 

“The Real Book Play-Alongs are formatted a bit differently from standard play-alongs.  They are designed to be a bit more like backing tracks to perform with.  So often times there is an intro and a few variation in the chords from what is strictly notated in the written music. There doesn't seem to be a standard number of times that it goes through the song but they do follow a typical jazz form.
 
INTRO (they may or may not have a 2 or 4 measure intro)
 
MELODY OF THE SONG (Here you would play the melody of the song completely through the form.  Typically this is an AABA form.)
 
SOLO SECTION (Here you would solo over the chord changes for the entire form of the song.  The background accompaniment gets a bit looser to feel more like a solo. This section, still over the entire AABA form, can be repeated several times.)
 
MELODY OF THE SONG AGAIN (Then you go back to the main melody of the song - again, through the entire AABA form.)
 
OUTRO/VAMP (The song might just end, or they may include a short outro or vamp section to the song.)”

[NeilES335]

QUESTION FOR TONIGHT'S LIVE LESSON WITH HOWARD ALDEN;  2 PARTS;

A. WHEN APPROACHING A NEW SONG,( POSSIBLY ONE NEVER HEARD BEFORE, HOW DOES HOWARD LEARN AND MEMORIZE THE SONG? DOES HE READ NOTATION, THEN PRACTICE /PLAY IT OVER AND OVER UNTIL IT'S MEMORIZED?  DOES HE ALWAYS PLAY THE SONG NOTE FOR NOTE, OR IS MUCH OF IT IMPROVISED?

B. DOES HOWARD HAVE TO TRANSPOSE OR RE-WRITE /ARRANGE A SONG WRITTEN FOR 6 STRINGS TO ACCOMMODATE THE 7 STRING GUITAR? 

THANK YOU HOWARD FOR SHARING YOU KNOWLEDGE WITH US!

[NeilES335]

That was an amazing show tonight! Thank you gentlemen.