Jazz

["Keith Freeman" <keith.freeman@xxxxxxxxxx>]

> Are there any particular scales I can learn to get started? 
Well, there's the jazz minor (melodic minor ascending), dorian, mixolydian, lydian, 
lydian dominant, bebop dominant, diminished (aka symmetrical, octatonic)... More 
important than scales, though, are the arpeggios of the basic jazz chords: ma7, ma6, 
mi7, mi6, mi#7, mi7b5, dom7, dom7#5, dom7#4, dom7sus4, diminished. It seems to 
me that once you have those in your ears and fingers, finding suitable notes to link the 
chord notes and create a scale, or part of a scale, shouldn't be a problem.

> learn some standards like autumn leaves?
Yes.

> In terms of phrasing, I listen to a lot of jazz but I don't really
> understand how you make something sound jazzy. Anyone have any  real
> basic tips for this aspect. Are there certain notes to emphasize?
> timing?, ...
Get yourself a copy of Jamey Aebersold's free handbook, or download it from the web 
(www.jazzbooks.com). To get the jazz feel, play along with recordings of the masters. 
Observe how they accent certain beats (or offbeats) to create rhythmic patterns. You 
might want to try Jamey Aebersold's playalong Vol. 1.

Hth,
- -Keith