I have had two teacher, one who has his PhD in Jazz from a highly
regarded institution and is an active player in his local area. The
second a 40 year veteran of jazz touring and performing who learned his
trade on the bandstand from the tender age of 18 (he did study music in
grade/high school). Both teach very different methods, but have
similar results as measured by their current playing abilities.
Method 1: Heavy emphises on Jazz Theory, learning all scales/modes in
all keys (as well as related arpeggios). Soloing based primarily on
utilizing scales/modes over appropriate chords (this does not
necessarily mean that you change modes with every chord change, but
sometimes it does).
Method 2: Only learn the major scale and the minor scale (Jazz Melodic
Minor). Heavy emphises on arpeggios vs. scales. Heavy emphisis on
transcribing and playing by ear. Learn Eb, Bb, F and C as well as
learning tunes in the keys they typically are played in.
Both emphisise ear training in different ways. Both emphisise the
ability to sing (If you can't sing it, you can't hear it).
I am attempting to merge the aspects of both methods that seem to get
the best results for me.
Any advice for a jazz newbie is greatly appreciated. I do not want to
practice ANYTHING at this point that is "nice to know". I only want to
work on things that are MUST knows. Once I get through that I can
focus on the nice to know things.
Mike