I've been taking a jazz guitar class and it's pretty overwhelming. As most of you guitar players know, it's been mostly about 7th and flatted chords and ripe with arpeggios and scales/modes. Not easy stuff and lots of theory mixed in with it.

I want to try to convert some of this madness into a usable song or several to work on applying what (little) I've learned.

I'd love to hear some suggestions of relatively simple songs using these kinds of themes.

TIA!

Maybe one of these? The first is a moderate tempo, the second more sedate. There's some insane fast stuff like Pat Martino's Lean Years, but that's probably pretty challenging.

OD, I think our definitions of relatively easy are quite different! Give me a few more years....if ever to play those things. Very nice though!

All demystified right here:
https://www.amazon.com/Mickey-...Guitar/dp/0825652804

There are more in the series.

Also, this guy has some very good simple jazz arrangements with instructional videos and tabs available very inexpensively.
http://guitarcollege.com/

Example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1aOsCm5d_0

Thanks Crom. That looks very helpful with great reviews.

Mickey Baker was also the absolute epitome of "cool".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWmgQcYypcw

Melancholy Baby

(you have to be pretty old to know the musician's joke)

well I just looked up a dozen songs on you tube,
then I looked up a dozen non-jazz guitar songs.

for some reason when you leap in to the "Jazz" spectrum , stuff gets very complex.

so I got nothing, even moderately simple

quote:

Originally posted by 6guns:
I've been taking a jazz guitar class and it's pretty overwhelming. As most of you guitar players know, it's been mostly about 7th and flatted chords and ripe with arpeggios and scales/modes. Not easy stuff and lots of theory mixed in with it.

I want to try to convert some of this madness into a usable song or several to work on applying what (little) I've learned.

I'd love to hear some suggestions of relatively simple songs using these kinds of themes.

TIA!

Autumn Leaves, a traditional Jazz standard.
Relatively easy to learn.
The tempo leaves plenty of time to set up for chord changes and arpeggios.

the opposite of jazz
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ubdeQW-LQM

Summertime is all I can think of

If you like smooth Jazz, Peter White is someone you may wish to try. Some say he is like George Benson at half speed. You can get as complicated as you like, but here is one with a bit of his easy personality in action.



Here is another musician breaking down a version of the chords:


For a more detailed guitar interpretation, you may find something in this live version:


It would help if you get a cool sax player or a smokey singer if its not in your range. Even if you transpose it, that would be valuable for you in learning other fingerings for the same chords.

You might also like a classic chord book by now deceased Ted Greene titled, "Chord Chemistry." Here it is on Amazon

quote:

Originally posted by Steve 22X:
Autumn Leaves, a traditional Jazz standard.
Relatively easy to learn.
The tempo leaves plenty of time to set up for chord changes and arpeggios.

+1

" when you say "jazz standards" and "guitar" in the same sentence, only one things immediately comes to mind..."All The Things You are". That is the classic. Just give a listen to Joe Pass playing it.

Well, if you tackle a Joe Pass example right off, you'll probably find something familiar about your guitar.

The ES-175 is much like the Heritage H-575 made in the original Kalamazoo factory when Gibson was there.

Many Gibson custom shop folks stayed when Gibson moved - as you know.

Night and Day ...

Have you learned "the lick" yet?

Check out the book "Blues in All Keys" for fun jazzy tunes to get you going.

"Satin Doll" was the first one I learned to help understand secondary dominant.

Thanks for the comments and suggestions, folks! You all think I'm much better than I am. Maybe I can live up to that one day.