That Jazz - Monkey Max Music and File Download

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Part I: All That Jazz: A Tour of the Basics
Finding inspiration in melodies
A series of single notes makes up a melody. Most people refer to the melody
as the tune of the song. Even without knowing much about theory, a musician
can begin improvising around a simple melody. This approach is something
you can try by using your voice.
Think of a favorite song that you know well. Sing through the first verse, then
start making up a new melody. You can use the original words if you want or
invent nonsense scat-singing sounds to go with your melody (Chapter 6 has
more info about scat singing). If you concentrate on the mood of the song
and its melody, you might be surprised at what you come up with.
All of us can create reasonably cool melodies that sound similar to other
melodies. But few of us could come close the beautiful, complex solos
invented by jazz’s improvisers. That’s because their knowledge of chords,
harmonies, and scales gives them an array of hundreds of options, and they
know those options so well that they select from them by instinct to create
beautiful new music on the spot.
Chords, harmonies, and scales are really just elements of a system that dictates
how notes fit together. Here’s a simple explanation of those elements:
� Chords: Chords combine three or more notes together harmoniously.
Pianists and guitarists are the only jazz musicians who can play chords.
Some arrangements call for several instruments to play the notes of a
chord together.
� Scales: Scales are series of notes differing in pitch according to a certain
scheme. A scale consists of eight notes, stepping up from the starting
note to the ending note an octave higher. Each jazz song has its own
chords, and the chords determine which key it’s in. Each key has its own
scale. A jazz musician knows scales in many keys, so when it comes time
to solo, he uses scales that fit the chords.
� Harmony: Harmony is sound of several notes together — such as chords
or combinations of notes played by band members. On a basic level, a
jazz soloist uses the right scale, or series of notes, to fit with a chord.
Harmony could be as simple as one note from a guitar combined with a
different note from a bass. Or it could be as complicated as a jazz big
band, where a pianist plays chords with his left hand and melodies with
his right, while other instruments each play a part of a chord, and some
of the players carry the melody and create solos.