Gitarre und Jazz

Brazilian Jazz Guitar: A Musical Legacy
By the early Sixties, the nylon-stringed guitar had lost its prominence in U.S. Jazz - even the electric guitar was losing favor with the big bands. In 1962, the gentle sounds of the acoustic guitar revived the instrument. It was a natural accompaniment to the melodious and rhythmic new sounds which blended North American jazz and the bossa nova. This new sound was called Brazilian jazz - or, sometimes, simply the bossa nova.
The bossa nova craze came on the world scene like a tornado and was gone by the end of the Sixties. In the aftermath, it left its mark on the musical landscape: an exceptional, rich music source for the guitar - both for solo performance and ensemble work. Composed in Brazil by accomplished guitarists, the music is as fresh today as it was at the height of its popularity. The bossa nova may have been only a craze, but it is a music of substance - not just a fad - and, as such, will prove to be as timeless as, say, a Gershwin melody.

Manual Summary
To understand and play Brazilian Jazz requires special musical skills and tools necessary.

The following summarizes what you should know in order to play Brazilian jazz - with confidence:

How chords are structured and how they progress
How to play Brazilian rhythms (hands-on)
How to master new Brazilian jazz music
How to personalize music

Let's look at each topic in detail.

Chords
In jazz, you come across some strange-sounding chords like Amaj7 or G7b5. What do they mean? My intention is to take the mystery out of these. There is no reason to f eel intimidated by the seemingly complex names. After all, they simply follow basic rules of harmony - they are not the domain of a 'chosen few'. Feeling comfortable with chord construction often helps a player to find the melody which is usually within the bounds of the chord.
How do chords normally succeed each other in jazz or other types of music, such as blues, is covered in chord progressions. Knowing how chords generally flow helps provide a musical compass in navigating new songs - as well as for enabling the player to appreciate the creative task the composer/arranger faces in coming up with novel chord-to-chord flows. It also helps in memorizing a given score: each chord serves as a musical landmark which the melody passes.

Rhythms
In order to put the jazzy chords into proper motion for Brazilian jazz, the player must set them riding on rhythmic waves of syncopated beats. Because understanding rhythms is so essential for playing this music, it? s important to start out with an elementary coverage of rhythm and to discover the important Brazilian dance rhythms: the choro, samba, and bossa nova.

Learning New Brazilian Jazz Music
Guitarists not familiar with Brazilian jazz music may feel a little overwhelmed by its exotic notation. Quite often, rhythm and fill-in embellishments are included along with the melody line. My intention is to help you to form a strategy for cutting through the extraneous notes and getting to the basic melody/chord structures - a process referred to as 'de-composition'. Once at this basic level, you learn to make sense out of the music and internalize it. You also get tips on memorizing as you master a new song.

Personalizing Music
How do you take an arrangement and truly give it your personal touch? Most musical scores are written or arranged in a style that expresses the writer's taste and experience. They may also be written for an entirely different instrument in mind - such as the piano - or in a key you don't care for. You may also have more than one arrangement and want to merge them into a single best solution for you. I? ll help you to take various material and process it into a personal product that matches your particular style, taste and musical goals.