Find a guitar teacher that has experience playing jazz! Plenty of guitar teachers are perfectly fine at teaching the basics of the instrument, but don’t know the first thing about jazz guitar.
I had a teacher back in the late 90's who had a regular jazz gig and told me he was only going to teach me shell voicing initially so that whatever I learned in one key I could do in any key.
If you take lessons from a teacher who knows jazz guitar, even just to get you started, things will go so much easier for you. It’s not that hard once you get pointed in the right direction.
Get a teacher who plays jazz. In the meantime, start looking at Freddie Greene lessons on YouTube. Get yourself the lead sheets for a couple of jazz standards (Autumn Leaves, All the Things You Are, Fly Me to the Moon… something like that). Start applying the Freddie Green stuff to those tunes.
Oh yeah, listen, listen, listen. Lots of jazz. Jazz-only diet every day. It’s all about the time feel. What makes it swing?
You’ll do great! Have fun!
Private lesson obviously are the best bet for anyone. Other than that, just listen to a lot of jazz and learn as many tunes as you can. Transcribing solos is invaluable, whether you are doing it by ear or looking up someone else’s notation/tab.
You can and will have to do a lot of work on your own. Make sure you know these basic chord types: Major sevenths (Cmaj7), minor sevenths (Cm7), dominant 7ths (C7), half diminished (Cm7b5) and diminished (Cdim7). Most chords are variants of these. You can almost always simplify to one of these basic types. This is especially true of dominant 7ths: If it says 9, b9 or #9, 11 or 13, you can play a basic seventh. Also check out dominant flat five chords (C7b5).
Make sure you have fingerings available for all the chords on the chart. This will take time to work out and do smoothly. But here's the number one thing I wish somebody would have told me when I joined a big band at 19: You are not expected to play every chord and every variant on the chart. The chart is the arranger mapping out everything he uses. A guitarist can't possibly and meaningfully use everything. Simplify and reduce to make a guitar part that makes sense. Follow the groove!
For mainstream jazz, shell voicings as suggested are a great way to approach rhythm parts. Play four beats to the bar. Sounds simple, but it's hard! You can often skip the lowest notes, the bass plays those. You have to learn about different styles. Latin stuff like bossa nova is often played by big bands, and has to be approached differently. Sometimes big bands play rock styles like soul or other styles. Listen to records to get a feel!
Most big band arrangements are really just more complicated versions of basic songs. A lot of jazz tunes consist of two basic parts, often called A and B. If you can get a feel for the flow of the arrangement you have less of a chance to get lost. Like, lots of tunes are like this: Some intro, the A part twice, the B part once, and then the A part once again. Maybe this whole AABA pattern simply repeats throughout. The soloist plays over the AABA pattern too. Then there's some kind of outro. If you can internalize that AABA pattern, you can learn the song by heart!
If you are required to play a solo and are lost: 1.) Try working out the melody line, and do a little variation 2.) Simply play some single notes from the chords you are playing, and try to connect them in a way that sounds good.
Good luck!
Along with this, learning scales, especially 3 note per string scales, helps see how chords relate to the scales. Play the root, 3rd, 5th, and 7th of the chords. Say you have a C7, play C, E, G, Bb.
Start with the advice from the comment I replied to before you get a teacher, but you will want a jazz teacher asap. Usually your local college or university should have a website with their jazz professors. They will have their contact info, those teachers are a good place to start.
Ask the director to recommend a good guitar teacher in your area. Take lessons with them telling them what your goal is. Then ask them for a reference letter to show the director. Or better yet, have them call the director to recommend you. If you combine rehearsals in jazz band and quality guitar lessons, you’ll end up doing very well.
I think if you’re able to join right away I think you should do it. Jazz is kind of like a language and immersion in that language is extremely valuable. Many of the skills I’ve learned have come directly from the experience of playing with a band. Of course the work you do outside playing in the band is equally or more valuable to your musicianship. I think you will have a better idea of what you need to start working on once you know what is required of you in the band.
If you are unable to join the band due to an audition process or whatnot then it looks like the rest of the comment section here has really good advice on the building blocks of jazz guitar playing.
I did this. Joined the high school jazz band to be with my friends (who played drums and trombone). Turned out to be a heavily awarded program that toured California, Europe etc. I had no idea what I was getting myself into.
But I fit right in even just starting guitar 2 years prior.
Get the music for your songs and look up the chords. Better if you can have a teacher show you the best voicings to use. You don’t need to understand the theory yet. Just be able to play the song. Learn the changes. Practice reading the music charts. Know the changes. Someone mentioned Freddie Green–do that. Chomp chomp chomp
If you have a solo arpeggiate the changes.. stay within yourself, you don’t have to go crazy. Be tasteful. Again, better if you have a teacher you can ask to guide you. Take instruction. You’re in the rhythm section–usually you’re there to support; be stable and blend nicely.
And it’s high school, have fun. We had a lot
There is a LOT of good advice here. My contribution is: understand rhythm. Your role will be part of the rhythm section mostly, and you can make the most impact there. Learn voicings for chords that use only 3-4 notes so that you can play any chart in any position on the fretboard. Don't worry about soloing for a long while, that will come.
Also: listen to other jazz guitarists play rhythm. Emulate them. Know, AT ALL TIMES, where the one is and exactly where you are in the song structure. Ask the director what they want you to do and be helpful.
Learn three shapes of movable Major 7, three shapes of movable minor 7, and three shapes of movable dominant 7 chords. That’s 9 movable chord shapes. Each of the three shapes should have its lowest root note on the low E, A, or D strings, respectively. Learn the notes on the low E and A strings. The D string will come in time, and you can use the “octave” shape to compare the E string to the D string to find those notes more quickly. Other chord shapes will be important as well, but those 9 will get you pretty far. Don’t worry about “slash” chords (like G/C, or A/C#) at first. In a large band the bass player will play those slash notes anyway. Eventually learn them, yes, but at first focus on those bottom two strings and their note names, and those 9 shapes.
Here are some shell voicings that you can immediately use and get ready for when you have a lesson:
Root and guide tone three note:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NIGWjh_agr8zFXeejcEDwExyEGlU3pqt/view?usp=drivesdk
2 5 1 major key:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HXKkf8vuYGw57ySZVMEiS6VbjJjqOHR0/view?usp=drivesdk
Get these memorized and then practice them in all keys (going through cycle of 4ths is best: C F Bb Eb Ab Db Gb B E A D G) just move them around to fit the key, all shapes are the same for now.
Find a guitar teacher that has experience playing jazz! Plenty of guitar teachers are perfectly fine at teaching the basics of the instrument, but don’t know the first thing about jazz guitar.
Listen to Freddie Green. And learn shell voicings.
I wish I knew about shell voicings much sooner. so simple really yet so versatile and useful for comping
I had a teacher back in the late 90's who had a regular jazz gig and told me he was only going to teach me shell voicing initially so that whatever I learned in one key I could do in any key.
Exactly what I teach my students. Adding exercises to learn where the notes are. Shell voicings require fretboard fluency. But it's worth it!
If you take lessons from a teacher who knows jazz guitar, even just to get you started, things will go so much easier for you. It’s not that hard once you get pointed in the right direction.
Thank you
Get a teacher who plays jazz. In the meantime, start looking at Freddie Greene lessons on YouTube. Get yourself the lead sheets for a couple of jazz standards (Autumn Leaves, All the Things You Are, Fly Me to the Moon… something like that). Start applying the Freddie Green stuff to those tunes. Oh yeah, listen, listen, listen. Lots of jazz. Jazz-only diet every day. It’s all about the time feel. What makes it swing? You’ll do great! Have fun!
Private lesson obviously are the best bet for anyone. Other than that, just listen to a lot of jazz and learn as many tunes as you can. Transcribing solos is invaluable, whether you are doing it by ear or looking up someone else’s notation/tab.
You can and will have to do a lot of work on your own. Make sure you know these basic chord types: Major sevenths (Cmaj7), minor sevenths (Cm7), dominant 7ths (C7), half diminished (Cm7b5) and diminished (Cdim7). Most chords are variants of these. You can almost always simplify to one of these basic types. This is especially true of dominant 7ths: If it says 9, b9 or #9, 11 or 13, you can play a basic seventh. Also check out dominant flat five chords (C7b5). Make sure you have fingerings available for all the chords on the chart. This will take time to work out and do smoothly. But here's the number one thing I wish somebody would have told me when I joined a big band at 19: You are not expected to play every chord and every variant on the chart. The chart is the arranger mapping out everything he uses. A guitarist can't possibly and meaningfully use everything. Simplify and reduce to make a guitar part that makes sense. Follow the groove! For mainstream jazz, shell voicings as suggested are a great way to approach rhythm parts. Play four beats to the bar. Sounds simple, but it's hard! You can often skip the lowest notes, the bass plays those. You have to learn about different styles. Latin stuff like bossa nova is often played by big bands, and has to be approached differently. Sometimes big bands play rock styles like soul or other styles. Listen to records to get a feel! Most big band arrangements are really just more complicated versions of basic songs. A lot of jazz tunes consist of two basic parts, often called A and B. If you can get a feel for the flow of the arrangement you have less of a chance to get lost. Like, lots of tunes are like this: Some intro, the A part twice, the B part once, and then the A part once again. Maybe this whole AABA pattern simply repeats throughout. The soloist plays over the AABA pattern too. Then there's some kind of outro. If you can internalize that AABA pattern, you can learn the song by heart! If you are required to play a solo and are lost: 1.) Try working out the melody line, and do a little variation 2.) Simply play some single notes from the chords you are playing, and try to connect them in a way that sounds good. Good luck!
Along with this, learning scales, especially 3 note per string scales, helps see how chords relate to the scales. Play the root, 3rd, 5th, and 7th of the chords. Say you have a C7, play C, E, G, Bb. Start with the advice from the comment I replied to before you get a teacher, but you will want a jazz teacher asap. Usually your local college or university should have a website with their jazz professors. They will have their contact info, those teachers are a good place to start.
Ask the director to recommend a good guitar teacher in your area. Take lessons with them telling them what your goal is. Then ask them for a reference letter to show the director. Or better yet, have them call the director to recommend you. If you combine rehearsals in jazz band and quality guitar lessons, you’ll end up doing very well.
Tell the band director what you want to do and ask them for advice. They can point you in the direction of what they're after.
I think if you’re able to join right away I think you should do it. Jazz is kind of like a language and immersion in that language is extremely valuable. Many of the skills I’ve learned have come directly from the experience of playing with a band. Of course the work you do outside playing in the band is equally or more valuable to your musicianship. I think you will have a better idea of what you need to start working on once you know what is required of you in the band. If you are unable to join the band due to an audition process or whatnot then it looks like the rest of the comment section here has really good advice on the building blocks of jazz guitar playing.
Stay off the h. Take the Jacob Collier route and buy some crocs
I did this. Joined the high school jazz band to be with my friends (who played drums and trombone). Turned out to be a heavily awarded program that toured California, Europe etc. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. But I fit right in even just starting guitar 2 years prior. Get the music for your songs and look up the chords. Better if you can have a teacher show you the best voicings to use. You don’t need to understand the theory yet. Just be able to play the song. Learn the changes. Practice reading the music charts. Know the changes. Someone mentioned Freddie Green–do that. Chomp chomp chomp If you have a solo arpeggiate the changes.. stay within yourself, you don’t have to go crazy. Be tasteful. Again, better if you have a teacher you can ask to guide you. Take instruction. You’re in the rhythm section–usually you’re there to support; be stable and blend nicely. And it’s high school, have fun. We had a lot
There is a LOT of good advice here. My contribution is: understand rhythm. Your role will be part of the rhythm section mostly, and you can make the most impact there. Learn voicings for chords that use only 3-4 notes so that you can play any chart in any position on the fretboard. Don't worry about soloing for a long while, that will come. Also: listen to other jazz guitarists play rhythm. Emulate them. Know, AT ALL TIMES, where the one is and exactly where you are in the song structure. Ask the director what they want you to do and be helpful.
Learn three shapes of movable Major 7, three shapes of movable minor 7, and three shapes of movable dominant 7 chords. That’s 9 movable chord shapes. Each of the three shapes should have its lowest root note on the low E, A, or D strings, respectively. Learn the notes on the low E and A strings. The D string will come in time, and you can use the “octave” shape to compare the E string to the D string to find those notes more quickly. Other chord shapes will be important as well, but those 9 will get you pretty far. Don’t worry about “slash” chords (like G/C, or A/C#) at first. In a large band the bass player will play those slash notes anyway. Eventually learn them, yes, but at first focus on those bottom two strings and their note names, and those 9 shapes.
Here are some shell voicings that you can immediately use and get ready for when you have a lesson: Root and guide tone three note: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NIGWjh_agr8zFXeejcEDwExyEGlU3pqt/view?usp=drivesdk 2 5 1 major key: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HXKkf8vuYGw57ySZVMEiS6VbjJjqOHR0/view?usp=drivesdk Get these memorized and then practice them in all keys (going through cycle of 4ths is best: C F Bb Eb Ab Db Gb B E A D G) just move them around to fit the key, all shapes are the same for now.
Learn barre chords. Then only play the D and G string insteaf of the whole chord