Hey, all. Been a while since I've visited this sub-forum. Hope you are all well.
 
So I'm trying to get up to speed with all the jazz theory stuff I taught myself last winter and would like to work on my improvisational skills. I've created a Sonar project with a simple multi purpose swing-y type beat and am programming in various MIDI bass tracks that I loop to practice over.
 
For example the first one is just a basic ii V I progression. So if you guys have some neat progressions to share I would be grateful. If they follow a normal diatonic path the simple Roman numeral chord system (like ii I V) is fine but perhaps if you are going to throw in some Altered stuff maybe use actual chord names because I'm still trying to understand that type of thing.
 
Perhaps an odd request for an engineering forum but it would help me immensely. Thanks and have a great day.

Oh and I know all the modes of the big three diatonic patterns (Ionian based, harmonic and melodic minor) and what works over which chords as well as where the little chromatic runs should appear in stuff like the Bebop scale. Just need to work on quickly finding the avoid notes on the fly over different moving chord patterns. Cheers.

Start with any of the old standards. Also try Coltrane's Giant Steps.
Try learning how to improvise over these changes fluidly, even using basic scales this will help you develop your skills.


 

Hey Beepster - 
 
I don't know if you're familiar with the late jazz guitarist/teacher Ted Greene, but if you're getting into jazz chords then he really is the man. I learned virtually everything I know about jazz chords, progressions and voice leading from this legend. He has two books that are invaluable to the jazz chord enthusiast - "Chord Chemistry" and "Modern Chord Progressions." This guy unlocked the fretboard for me and taught me how to construct voicings for anything on the spot without having to learn a bunch of chord shapes. Anyway check those books out if you can - there is also a Ted Greene website with many of his lessons available for free download as PDF's. Be aware that these are in the form of handwritten notes and thus some of them are a little hard to understand (his handwriting is pretty far out) but there is a wealth of material here if you're prepared to decipher it. Loads of great chord patterns in the "arrangements" section as well: 
 
http://www.tedgreene.com/teaching/default.asp
 
There is a great video on YouTube of a clinic he did at MI years ago...it's just basically him sitting with the guitar, playing nice music and musing about harmony and chords. Not really a lesson as such, but if you're interested in rich jazz chords then it's a great video to watch, and he was one of the best players out there:
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZAwxpco0DE

Listen and play along with old jazz masters on their music. Another option is to get a simple copy of Band in a Box. It has something in it called "melodist" where you can choose from several types of jazz..... among them, Old jazz, smooth jazz, modern jazz,  and several others..... with the click of the mouse, you can have it generate a 3 to 6 minute "jazz song/progression" and it will display the names of the chords it chose. Change keys, change tempo, print the chord chart, and/or simply play along.
 
Here is one such song: http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=9012413  BB created the progression and "plays" the guitar chords and piano. (among other things) I throw in some live picking on the melody section. I did have to edit this song to get it to this point.
 
Here's a few others done in a similar manner, all BB creations with the melodist.
 
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=10512085
 
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=10080370
 
that should give you a point from which to start.
 
In addition, PG Music, the company behind BiaB also has some specific programs that are designed to teach jazz licks and such things.... I've not looked into them but I do see them advertised on the PG site http://www.pgmusic.com/news.htm  click on the "OTHER SOFTWARE" link for windows.
 
 

Thanks, guys. Any horizon expansion is useful. It's very hard to even figure out who the big hitters were/are in jazz as a punk/metal guy. It's not like the scene is brimming over with folks who have even a preliminary knowledge of jazz artists (one thing I've always found irksome about the whole movement... "We're individualists but YOU MUST LISTEN TO EXACTLY THE SAME THINGS WE DO!!" lol). Mainstream music knowledge isn't exactly helpful either. They steal all the old timers styles but never mention where it all came from.
 
Anyway, I'll be checking all that stuff out and anything else that comes down the pipe in this thread. Kind of got sucked back into my notes and expanding on topics that I jotted down at the moment as I realize there is gold in there but I have to decipher it and translate it to guitar. I'm basically going off the Eli Kransberg Groove3 series on jazz theory which really opened my eyes but because of the move I kind of didn't milk it all for everything it's worth. Currently I'm extracting chords from some of the inversions he talked about to give myself a little more flexibility and doing some of my own extrapolations based on that. Also working more on my 3, 5, 7, 9 stuff which is a little tricky for me after years of taking a much more linear approach to scales due to all the metal mayhem and/or following a different set of sweet/avoid notes from my blues studies.
 
I'll get this. I swear it!
 
Thanks again and if anyone's got anything else to add I'm watching/bookmarking the thread. Hope to put a little song together for posting soon. Cheers.

Another classic is Mickey Baker's jazz guitar method...this is real vintage stuff. I have an original of this back home somewhere. It's on Scribd! Really good for learning the basics of chord progressions.

http://www.scribd.com/mobile/doc/28251200

Just checking out the Ted Greene and Mickey Baker links this morning sharke and I gotta say... thank you. Way more than I was expecting when I started this thread but between those two resources alone it looks like I'll have WAY more than enough material to work on for a long time to come.
 
Again, thanks. This is extremely important to me. I used to hang out with jazz guys hoping to learn something but as amazing as they were at playing it all they really sucked at explaining it and many times didn't even seem to understand it themselves. They just did what the sheet music said and that was that. Still was good for my ears and they were cool (albeit a little weird) guys.
 
Anyway, now that I'm set back up and actually doing stuff again I may not be posting as much but I still lurk on my breaks so if anyone needs me just throw up the Beeps signal and I'll don my cape and tights and come running. Cheers.

sharke
Another classic is Mickey Baker's jazz guitar method...this is real vintage stuff. I have an original of this back home somewhere. It's on Scribd! Really good for learning the basics of chord progressions.

http://www.scribd.com/mobile/doc/28251200

 
Oh heck yeah.... !!!!  The Micky Baker books one and two were very popular among several players I knew in a town with a very active live music scene. 35+years ago.  There was 3 or 4 of us who had the books and were working through them.
 
I got both books and learned a number of chords from that book that are very useful in playing all styles of music, not just jazz but the main focus in on jazz and it's well worth having those books.
 
I recorded this back in 2008 : http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=6922964  It's a "jazzed up" version of the old church hymn called Power in the Blood. The chords are straight from the Micky Baker book first few pages.... I have actually been actively thinking about re-doing this song now that I have learned quite a bit more than I knew at the time I did this in 2008. 

Wow. Just working through the first lesson of the Baker book. These chords are hard. I'm used to twisting my hand into all sorts of wacky contortions but this is all so very different. Definitely gonna be a workout.