Jazz band guitar?

I tought myself rock guitar for a while. Im pretty good at it. CAn do basic solos, and almost all melodies for songs(like a7x, b.b, and others). Well, I want to try out for the middle school jazz band. Is there anything i should learn before i try out, and do you think they would be tabs??? I can read sheet music, but not for guitar :P i dunno where the notes are for the guitar. So bassickly what techniques should i learn and should i learn where all the notes are on the guitar? finally, how hard do u think the music i will get for the audition woill be(im in 7th grade)compared to what i play now (a7x mostly now, but not a lot of there solos, just some, and some canon rock)

You should learn some 7th chords. Most likely the sheet music will be in standard notation and you would be concerned with a chord chart. It has been my experience that jazz bands in middle or high school use arrangements that are quite complex, especially for the guitar. You should find a guitar teacher who can show you how to substitute chords and find key centers for improvisation. Thus simplifying the tune.

I definitely agree that you should learn your 7th chords (dominant) and also major and minor. Get comfortable with your fingerings and maybe start listening to some big band jazz. If you're interested in jazz guitar listen to Pat Metheny. I would also recommend getting a private teacher. He/she will get you really playing and ready for a jazz band. Considering you are only in 7th grade you have a lot of time to practice and the music you play is generally not very hard so talk to your band teacher and ask him if he thinks where you are at right now is good enough. In my high school jazz band we have two guitar players that aren't that good but still play with us. Usually middle schools aren't that competitive. So good luck.

The guitar parts in a big band setting are mostly rhythm chords. There are very few solos, and only the occasional notated single line part. The chords will be jazz chords most likely in flat keys. For example, C7b5 F9, Bbdim, Eb9#11 etc. It seems to me that the first thing you need to know is how to simplify these chords into something you can grab onto. Secondly, you need to be listening to how jazz rhythm guitar sounds. Freddy Green, Eddie Condon, Karl Kress, Allan Reuss, George Van Eps are the big names here. These chords come in rapid succession, so you will be well advised to investigate what can be left out. Most guitar parts contain too much, and you end up getting in the way of the rest of the rhythm section. A good teacher will be indespensible. And there is no tablature for these things. A chord dictionary is useful.

Chords, chords, and more chords.

Learn all the funky extension chords. In a traditional Jazz band (like what they will likely have you doing in middle school) you will be playing liek a part pf the rhythm section. - so chords, chords chords.

There will be no tabs, but there will be 'charts' or 'lead sheets' - in which they just notate the rhythm and write the chord name on top.

ABSOLUTELY LEARN HOW TO READ THE NOTES! Too many guitarists teach themselves guitar off of tabs just so they can learn to play their favorite songs. but if you ever want to be a good actual musician, the ability to read music is CRUCIAL. Familiarize yourself with the placement of the notes by learning and practicing scales. but dont learn the scales by memorizing the finger patterns, learn them by understanding the relationship between the notes in the scale. The formula for a major scale is: Tonic note-W-W-H-W-W-W-H(tonic note); W=whole step, H=half step.

Also definitely bone up on basic triads and 7th chords. You should know how to barre major, minor and dominant 7th chords all the way up the neck.

For a middle school audition piece, I'd say there's a decent chance they'll throw a blues piece at you. so if you don't know how to play a basic 12 bar blues progression, you need to learn that too. For example, the chord progression for standard 12 bar blues in C would be as follows:
C | C | C | C |
F | F | C | C |
G | F | C | C |

There are lots of variations on blues progressions, but that's the most basic one. Download just about any version of "C Jam Blues" (originally by Duke Ellington). This is a very simple but well known blues piece that you should be able to use the above progression to practice with. Also, practice improvising over a blues progression. These are all things that you will probably be asked to do as a member of a jazz band.

"Chord Chemistry" by Ted Greene

It's more than you need immediately, but has tons of guitar chord charts for Jazz. Tons.

I remember going through the same thing at your age. When you see jazz band chart it is going to have a lot of altered 7th chords and diminished chords. That's what makes jazz jazz!

No tab. Just chord symbols.

Learn these chords in the E and A shape of the chord. (That is where the root is either on the E string or the A string)
7'th flat 9
7'th sharp 9
7'th sharp 5
7'th sharp 11
13'th
Sus
m7 flat 5 (half dim)


But when you learn them, try playing just the important notes. The notes that are important are the third and the seventh. Get those two notes and then add whatever else is convenient. The trick is to know what interval each finger is playing. That way you can raise or lower that tone to alter the chord.

Get used to playing without sounding the root. Let the bass player do that. Just focus on the 3'rd and 7'th third first and then add the other unique notes to the chord.

You will start to find some neat tricks, like for the 13'th chord, the important notes are the same as the sharp 9 chord when you move the root up a flat 5.

So as you can see you have to practice your intervals and make that intuitive.

wow , jazz band would be very cool. first learn the notes on the fretbard.. that will help you to be able to locate your chords or scales.. take a look at www.all guitar.com/guitarscales . ever thing you could ask is there at that site just try to learn the pentatonic minor scale first. once you learn it you can learn the other patterns off of what you know. practice every day ...