Jazz up your wedding
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Whether a bride wants to walk down the aisle to a touching melody or dance to a swinging tune, jazz musicians can deliver both and more. Jazz musicians are unique because they can adapt jazz music to each wedding ceremony, wedding reception, cocktail hour, luncheon, dinner and more. This also saves money for couples because they can use the same band throughout the day so they don’t have to hire other musicians for different aspects such as a string quartet for the ceremony. The jazz musicians can do the wedding ceremony too.
Here is how Jazz Musicians can add live to your wedding:
Ceremony
String quartets are the number one requested music group for weddings and especially wedding ceremonies, according to Judkins. However, Judkins believes that a jazz quartet can perform just as beautifully for a wedding ceremony and can add an extra dimension because of the variety of instruments to select from.
A string quartet will have the same instruments forever, two violins, a viola and a cello. But jazz quartets can be varied with a trumpet or a saxophone or even a flute or clarinet.
Receptions
Jazz bands can have as little as three musicians and go up to a 17 piece big band.
No matter the size though, jazz bands can be flexible to what a bride and groom want for the reception music and their first dance whether it be swing music or a romantic song.
Cocktail Hour
Another feature of a jazz band or jazz quartet is that a singer can be added easily and usually at a minimal cost.
Luncheons or Dinners
Jazz musicians are breathtaking featured performers, but they’re also astonishing in the background. When playing for wedding luncheons or dinners, Jazz musicians play loud enough to be heard but soft enough so that conversation can continue without straining.
No matter your wedding event, whether it be a wedding ceremony, wedding reception, cocktail hour, luncheon or dinner, jazz music is no doubt an amazing choice for brides and grooms.
Learn Jazz Piano Chords
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A jazz piano chord is much the same as any other piano chord. This means that when you learn the basics of piano chords and theory, you will be able to play any type of music, be it gospel or jazz. Many people enjoy the jazz style of music and will benefit from learning those chords that are most often used in jazz music. Once you learn these chords, you will be able to play a wide variety of music because you’ll comprehend the backbone of notes and scales that are the key to playing music on any instrument.
Any pianist who wants to learn how to play jazz needs to have charts they can reference frequently. You will first learn the basic intervals and how chords are built. You’ll also learn how these chords are used differently in each song you play. Once you have mastered the basic intervals of jazz chords, you’ll then be able to move on to advanced chords such as 9ths, 11ths, 13ths, drop voicings, and blues chords.
An online piano course will teach you all the functions of chords including clusters, polytonal clusters, and substitutions. You’ll be provided with numerous charts that you can use for help during practice or when you need to quickly reference a certain jazz piano chord. When you learn to play these jazz chords, you will also learn how to play with more harmony, variety, and passion.
The piano is a wonderful instrument full of history and culture. If you’re interested in learning to play the piano, look into taking some lessons to help you learn the basics of all chords, including the most popular jazz chords. No matter where you decide to play the piano, you’ll be ready to play any song once you have the theory basics solidly behind you. You may find that family and friends are asking you to play more often!
Jazz Guitar Amplifier
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Whilst it could be stated that there is “no jazz amp” there are a number of considerations for the jazz guitarist when selecting a guitar amplifier. Firstly it is important to determine the playing style and sound that you wish to attain. Traditional jazz guitarists often select amps that can produce a clean sound which compliment acoustic archtop guitars. For this sound solid state amps produce a nice clean tone.
For a more distorted sound a tube amp might be more applicable. There are lots of popular amps that are used by Jazz guitarists for example - try experimenting with a Fender Pro or a Polytone Another stipulation may be on board effects this may range from easy reverb to an overdrive channel - again this will depend on the style your trying to achieve.
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Jazz Guitar
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Getting the right Jazz guitar used to be costly. Jazz masters such as Wes Montgomery and Joe Pass might have played pricey Gibson Semi’s but these days there are a variety of entry level guitars that are suitable for getting a jazz tone.
For an authentic jazz tone, you should have a semi-acoustic hollowbody electric guitar. Models such as the Gibson ES-175 or the Gretch Tennessean can run into thousands of dollars but there are also excellent entry models such as Ibanez Artcore line of guitars. Guitar manufacturers such as Yamaha or Guild also make entry level semi-acoustics similar to the more expensive Gibson 335. There are also numerous Epiphone hollowbody guitars that’ll also be suitable and come from the Gibson stable. Explore your local music store and try out what they look for something that’s comfortable to play and can produce a tight clean tone with plenty of sustain.
Hollow body guitars will provide a suitable mellow tone and most will be fitted with two humbucker pickups allowing you to vary your sound accordingly. Most guitars will be fitted with tone controls. Practice rolling the treble off your tone and experimenting - Jazz guitarists often play with a less trebly sound as it produces a rich mellow resonance that is suitable for the style.
Top 5 Jazz guitars
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Traditional Jazz requires a fairly specific Guitar sound. Usually a very clean dry tone, with tiny to no effects. But a hint of reverb is okay. The neck pickup is used with the resultant sound required to be clear enough to pickup the subtle nuances and articulation of the playing. Jazz Guitarists need to carefully think about their Guitar.
Jazz has been around for many years, so there is a wide selection of instruments available. Traditionally Jazz Guitars are hollow body semi acoustics and these have tended to favor P90 or Humbucker style pickups to produce the required sound. Here’s the list of the 5 classic Jazz guitars favored by Jazz Guitarists around the world.
1 Gibson ES150
Made famous to the jazz community by Charlie Christian the ES 150 became his guitar. The ES150 became one of the world’s first commercially available electric guitars. With its single coil pickup fitted at the neck and its acoustic shaped body with f holes - the 150 has that sweet warm jazz tone that became a world favorite.
2 Gibson L5
Another of Gibson’s Jazz power trio (the others are the ES150 and the ES175) - the L5 features a huge resonant body. With a history that goes back nearly 90 years the L5 has changed a little over this time and has featured different pickups (from P90’s to Humbuckers). As the prestige rhythm guitar it has been played by a variety of greats including Wes Montgomery.
3 Gibson ES-175
With it’s stylish Florentine single cutaway - the ES175 represented a departure for Gibson from their usual design - Debuting in 1949 - the 175 has been associated with a variety of Jazz greats from Herb Ellis to Pat Metheny.
4 Gretsch Country Gentleman/Nashville
While Gretsch are not considered jazz guitars per se - both the Country Gent and the Nashville are able to produce both versatile and authentic jazz tones. Both guitars offer a range of controls for adapting the tone of the guitar and can produce some versatile jazzy results - whilst the FiterTron pickups produce something that’s unlike it’s Gibson counterparts.
5 Fender Telecaster
With it’s sweet and mellow neck pickup tone the telecaster offers something a tiny different that the usual Jazz fare - Traditionally a country guitar the telecaster has been featured with Jazz artists including Ed Bickert and Mike Stern.
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