It’s always an interesting story (at least to me) when it’s about how someone learns what their passion is. That moment when it occurs to them what they’re crazy about and will probably end up obsessing over for the rest of their life.

I started playing guitar when I was about 13, and of course my goal was to play as much Aerosmith, Kiss and Led Zeppelin as I could each day (of course at an impressive volume). But, I still didn’t realize it was something I would want to pursue that seriously.

My moment happened when I was 15 years old. By then I was starting to play more R&B, groove stuff. Earth, Wind & Fire, Tower of Power, Chic, Parliament, etc… Then I was home one afternoon at my parents house in Anchorage, Alaska trying to find something to watch on television. I think we had a whopping 5 channels to choose from! I stopped on the local PBS channel when I saw three guys playing jazz guitar.

It was Herb Ellis, Charlie Byrd and Barney Kessel. All wearing their blazers and slacks (of course Barney Kessel was sporting a snazzy ascot). They were playing tunes like Polka Dots and Moonbeams, Green Dolphin Street and There Will Never Be Another You.

Man, I was hooooooked!

I had never really heard that kind of stuff before. My household was not particularly a musical household while I was growing up. My folks listened to an “easy listening” station in the mornings and I remember my dad listening to country music in his truck. My older brother, Mike played guitar, but not jazz and he was pretty much moved out before I was ever really conscious of anything in life. My older sister, Vicki listened to the current pop tunes at the time, so I’m not sure how, at 15 I would be naturally drawn to jazz.

When I heard these guys playing, I loved the phrasing, the lines, the changes, the colors and the textures. I loved the way the guitars looked and I even thought, “These old guys look cool in their jackets playing this cool music with these awesome guitars!”

That’s what I want to do!

Over the past 30 years I’ve played pretty much all styles of music professionally, but jazz is still my first choice and the only music I really care to keep studying (as it’s an endless joyride).

What’s Your Story?

This story isn’t particularly amazing and I don’t see it being made into the next Clint Eastwood movie, but I like stories like this and I would like to hear your story. When did you find your passion? What was it like? Still waiting to find yours?

There are a few really good jazz resources out there. For those of us who can’t get enough, I want to make sure you know about a jazz podcast that features interviews with current jazz artists that are out there in the trenches keeping the music alive and growing in new and different directions.

The podcast is called The Jazz Session. The show’s host is Jason Crane and you couldn’t ask for a more humble, funny, articulate and very well informed interviewer. The conversations are relaxed and entertaining. It provides great insights on what a lot of the current jazz artists are going through from gig to gig.

Over the past few months I’ve heard some great interviews with artists like Sonny Rollins, Bobby Broom, Terence Brewer, John Abercrombie, Gene Bertoncini and others. Great stuff!

If you haven’t already checked this podcast out, zoom on over to TheJazzSession.com. There are several different ways you can listen to and subscribe to this podcast and you can learn more about it on Jason’s website.

How About You?

What are some other resources out there that you like? Share some other good resources out there that you know about!

This is really a great app for your iPhone or iPad. It’s like having a RealBook in you pocket. Maybe your at a rehearsal and someone calls a tune you’re not familiar with. Just pull out your phone and go to the tune you need.

At first I thought having a chart on an iPhone screen might be a little to small to read, but it’s not! Also you can invert the colors so you can either have a white background with black writing, or a black background with white writing. That can make it easier to read if you’re using it in a darker setting.

One of the really nice features is the Transpose function. With a couple clicks you transpose any tune to any key. This is really nice if you’re working with a vocalist.

If you’re wondering what songs are included, you can read a complete list here.

I haven’t used it at a gig, but I’ve frequently used it at rehearsals and I definitely recommend it. One thing I should mention is it only provides the changes of the tune, no melody. Still, a very helpful tool.

Check the iTunes Store or visit www.iRealBook.com for more information.

As we all know, guitarists are not generally known to be the best sight readers on the planet. Of course this is a huge generalization, but for the most part it’s true. Guitarists have so many options that make reading seem unimportant. However, being able to sight read music can do amazing things for your playing and your musicianship. This month I’ve just listed several points for you to consider if you are thinking about weather or not you need to learn how to read music.

Knowing how to read music enables you to:

• have access to the huge source of written materials out there. There’s a lot of incredible learning information that you can use in learning guitar that is written for other instruments. For example, I doubt you’ll ever find the Charlie Parker Omni Book written in TAB, but if you can read music, it offers you a great learning source.
• be able to write your music so that musicians, other than guitar players can play your charts and tunes. For example, if you know how to read and write standard notation, you can write out charts for everyone in your band – keys, bass, horns, etc… so they can be able to play your stuff the way you intended it to be played.
• be able to take gigs that require reading – Big shows, pit orchestra work, studio work, etc…
• increase your overall confidence as a musician, knowing that you can read and write using the “Standard” notation of your craft. You can walk into a situation, and if someone puts a chart in front of you, you don’t have to make up excuses. You can just play the gig.

Theoretically Speaking…

One of the most important aspects of being an intelligent musician is knowing music theory. Know all your keys backwards and forwards. Know your major keys, know your minor keys and know how they relate to each other. Know the chord progressions of those keys. Knowing that kind of information will help you know what chords will work in a given situation, and what chords won’t. You’ll know what extensions you could add to those chords to add more color without making an ugly sound.

Know your scales and arpeggios. These will be the resources from where you develop your solos and melodic ideas. Know which scales work over which chord progressions, which scales or arpeggios will work over specific chords. The more you know about this, the more easily you will know how to develop great, melodic, interesting solos. The more you know about this, the better you’ll be able to solo on the fly, even when you haven’t had time to go over the material.

Develop Your Ear…

Eartraining is invaluable. Being able to hear and recognize intervals, chords and scale tones will really increase your abilities as a professional musician, making you a more valuable player to have around. If you haven’t spent a lot of time on this, do it now! Start with testing yourself on being able to recognize intervals. Then move on to chords. It helps if you can have someone else drill you on this kind of material by playing a chord, or interval and then you listen to it and tell them what it is you are hearing. Spend a lot of time on eartraining. This will get easier the more you do it.

Be A Reader…

Guitarists are generally known to be the worst musicians when it comes to reading music. There are several reasons for this, but the main one is that most guitarists can learn a lot about the guitar without reading music. Where the problem comes in is when you start working with musicians who DO know how to read. Say you walk into a rehearsal and everyone is looking at charts that the sax player has written out for everyone. He hands you the guitar chart and there are some lines that you need to play that are written in standard music notation. If you know how to read music, this will not be an embarrassing situation for you. If you don’t know how to read music, you’ll have some explaining to do. Why should other players have to explain parts to you, just because you are a guitarist. It can be embarrassing to you, possibly cost you the gig, and just gives guitarists, in general, a bad name.

Where To Look…

The more you study music, the more you’ll find there is to study. But it’s not difficult to get a good handle on these things. Resources are everywhere. Check with your local high school, community college, local private instructors. There are hundreds of books available to help you, look for the ones that make the information easy for you to absorb. And last, but certainly not least, the web is an incredible resource to find online sources of any and all of this information.

Being an educated guitarist will make you a better player and musician. It will earn you respect, and make it easier to communicate your musical ideas with other musicians. Being an intelligent guitarist will get you the gig you really want.

Over time I’ve discovered one trick that brings me back into really focusing on what I’m playing when I start to drone a little bit. As a solo approaches I’ll start to imagine that I’m recording this solo, and I’ll think to myself “What would I want to hear when I’m listening back to the tape?” This has a way of making me really focus on every aspect of my playing. I’ll work on the intro of the solo, then focus on the building of it, the dynamics, everything. It can actually make the gig more fun for me, and when I’ve shared this little technique with other players they’ve told me it works for them too.

There are a lot of little tricks like this out there to keep you from getting into a rut. Try this on your next gig or rehearsal and see what you think. Keep in mind this is just something to use when you’re working on your playing. Ultimately, during performance a general rule is “The less thinking, the better.” However the more you practice good habits like the one mentioned here, the more it just naturally becomes part of the way you play.

Dynamically Speaking…

Varying the intensity and volume level of your playing can really breath life into your music. It can draw your audience in and really make them want to hear what you have to say, musically. Starting a solo at a lower volume and building to a more intense finish is a typical, yet highly effective use of dynamics. It lets the audience and the other musicians follow along with you as you form and build your solo. For another use of dynamics, try playing along at a fairly hard driving level of intensity and then back way off, then gradually build back up to your ending, really pulling the audience into what you’re doing.

Use dynamics when you’re playing rhythm. Listen to what the rest of the band is doing and be sure to blend with them in volume and intensity. This will help blend things together and make the song a lot easier for the listeners to feel.

Another rule of thumb regarding dynamics is, when the singer starts to sing, back off a bit. For example, you may have an intro that is fairly aggressive so go ahead and play it that way, but when the singer comes in and starts the verse, bring your volume and intensity down a bit. Don’t make it too whimpy, but make sure the singer has the spotlight, and not the guitar player that’s playing too loud. Use your discretion.

Think Melodically…

Riffs and hot licks can be exciting but if that’s all you do it can also get a little boring. Try to play melodically in your solos. Phrase your lines as if they were an actual written melodic line in the song. This can give your playing a lot of strength and can make it easy for your listeners to enjoy your playing.

Lock Into the Groove…

When you’re playing rhythm in a band, listen to, and lock into what the other players are doing. Start by listening to the drummer. Listen to what he is playing on his hi-hat. This will often be a great source of sixteenth or eighth note subdivisions that make the music easier to feel. Try to lock your playing into these subdivision and accents. Listen to what he’s playing on his bass drum and snare drum. If you use the hi-hat, bass and snare drum as a reference for the groove, you can help to create a strong groove. If you do this you’ll definitely be helping the audience, and the other players in the band get into what you’re doing.

Make sure your part fits with everyone else’s. If several of the other players have really busy parts you might want to see about playing a more simple part to add contrast and a solid foundation for the rest of the parts to lay on. Sometimes a fairly busy part may be needed to make the song work. Just make sure that all the rhythm’s that your are playing help to make the groove stronger. Make sure nothing in your part clashes inappropriately with another players part.

Are You Sensitive?

Overall, just be very sensitive to what you’re playing; how it fits with the other players parts, the mood and style of the song, along with what you’re trying to say musically. If you are always conscious of these points, you’ll be more successful at helping your audience and the other players “Feel” what you are doing.