Hey John,
Some classical guitarists can and do improvise. I'm not just
talking about throwing in an ornament here and there either. I had
a master class with Roland Dyens and he improvised while I was
playing (and in the style). His point was that most of the great
composers were great improvisers and that to be a good classical
player you should be able to improvise. There is a book (I forget
by whom) for classical guitarists for learning to improvise in three
voices! If somone sits down and improvises a fugue (on any
instrument) they have my respect. Now granted, improvising
classical guitarists are by far the exception and not the rule but
they do exist and those cats can play! Later.
Jason
--- In jazz_guitar@..., John Amato <jamato316@y...>
wrote:
--- kuboken1 <kuboken1@y...> wrote:
--- In jazz_guitar@..., "kuboken1"
<kuboken1@y...> wrote:
The big mistake that I made and many people make
is that in jazz
there is this 'hurdle' in terms of knowledge and
skill you need to
achieve before you can play jazz...
Ken,
The reality of learning jazz guitar is a subset of
learning jazz, ...a subset because the instrument has
certain limitations and blindspots that other
instruments may not have ...
...having said that, not as an excuse, but as a
reality .. learning jazz on the guitar is the highest
form of the instrument (and to me the hardest form of
guitar) because of onemain thing: IMPROVISATION ...
Hear me out ... what we do requires extra
specialization ... it requires a high degree of
intellectualization (not be misconstrued with
"intellegence," as well as feeling, emotion, and all
gooey stuff we call "FEEL" ...
The closest form of instrumental virtuosity on the
guitar, I would say, is Classical Guitar (a subset of
that would be Flamenco) ... but, in classical guitar
the study of dynamics would be the closest they would
come to "improvisation..." But there is absolutley no
comparison to what they do and what a jazz guitarist
has to learn in order to play "Jazz Guitar".
I studied some Classical -- I love lassical guitar,
but it's not me ... I have a great respect for
classical guitarists ... their's is a hard road ...
but it's not "Improv"..... The Flamenco players do
employ improvisation, but not the degree as in
Jazz....
...why is jazz guitar so sweet...because it is so
hard...because it is such an art that requires
dedication and one thing that makes jazz guitarists
maybe a step beyond (not above) all the other genres
of guitar playing is this: DISCIPLINE & DEDICATION ...
....w/out Discipline anything worthwhile in life will
never come to any achieveable height ...
...many young players have to learn discipline --
either before, during, or while they are studying ...
there is not such thing as "discipline" after an
achieveable goal because the goal will never be
reached ....
The greatest thing about discipline is this: it gives
you a hunger and thirst for the thing you are being
discipline in..."
...yep, it's like a circle, the more you pratice and
get betterm the more you want to play, and the more
you play, the better you get ... and more
discipline...etc...etc...
John Amato
Music blows the dust off your soul...
Isa.55:11
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