#1.  PRACTICE YOUR ii7 V7 I COMMON CHORD CHANGE/CYCLE, COMMON IN ALL STANDARDS:

Say your "Cycle" out-loud for awhile, so you automatically get it, it's easy to do!

On guitar, start on 10th Fret with Dm7 - G7 - Cmaj7 C6 chords, your common ii7 V7 I Cycle Chords....basis of most tunes = resolving on Cma7 C6 on 8th fret....then.... starting with Cm7 do it again (ii - V7 - I): Cm7 F7 (or F9, or F7b9 both good too) resolving to Bbmaj7 Bb6 fret 6....on and on Bbm7 (or Bbm9) to Eb7 (or Eb13) to Abmaj 7 Ab 6 (or Ab 6/9).....and again Abm7 to Db7b9 (same as Do) or Db+ (aug.) to Gbmaj 7 and G6 ....notice how each chord can be changed a little for more tighter resolutions....

Doing this exercise (practicing) in the Cycle like that, is closest to what you will play (and improvise on) your whole fretboard doing the most common chord changes in Standards (and Jazz) tunes.....

Get your ear used to it (most-common chord changes) and practicing this simple Cycle - most-common ii-V7-I chord changes in tunes - it will train your ears to SOUNDS....this is what you're also hearing when listening to real (and good) Jazz! It's EASY TO DO!

Remember, music is not a science to learn with your "brain", but its sounds your ear needs to learn......you, the pilot of the airplane, then can easily be dictated to by your ear which quickly learns these sounds! And the plane flies itself with you enjoying the ride! You see why those "scalies" later ignorance (who tried to invent a "new system" LOL) are barking up the wrong tree -- they'll never get off the ground!

Relying on your ear like this kind of practice, trains you fast and easily to learn the real playing of real musicianship! LIBRARY: https://shop.carolkaye.com

#2.  CHORD SYMBOLS THEORY

© 1971, 2006 Carol Kaye USA  www/carolkaye.com

SYMBOLS
R indicates Root of the Chord (also is "1" in thought) Triad: R 3 5
+ indicates both an augmented chord (#5), and plus a sharped note: G7+ Augmented chord repeats every 4 frets, and you can use the 2 frets in-between too as passing notes.
- indicates a minor chord (with the b3)  C-  and also w/added notes like C-7, C-9 
o indicates a diminished chord (R b3 b5 bb7) - notes repeat every 3 frets.
Chord notes are usually stacked numerically every other note of note-scale, especially Dominant Chords which has 3rd b7th (and including 9th, 13th).
sus is used to show an unresolved dissonance, 4th is usually used.
maj 7 is not a 7th chord (which has a b7) but has next note up on the Major chord: R 3 5 7
maj 9 is R 3 5 9 - another Major chord.  Put in a b7th and you have a 9th chord (like G9) same with 13th (like G13)  --------
7th chord (w/b7 in the chord), 9th, 11th, 13th chords are all called Dominant Chords, with 3rd and a b7 in them, 7th chord: R 3 5 b7, maj7: R 3 5 7
0 zero with slash through it indicates a m7b5 chord, a minor chord, but sometimes erroneously called a 1/2 diminished chord - it's not, it's a m7b5.
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MAJOR CHORDS - All Major chords have a capital "I" to indicate Major.  Small i indicates minor.
I R 3 5 (Triad, basic 3 notes needed to form a chord with)
Imaj7 R 3 5 7
Imaj9 R 3 5 9
I6 R 3 5 6
I6/9 R 3 5 6 9
I7 R 3 5 b7
I9 R 3 5 b7 9
I11 R 3 5 b7 9 11th
I13 R 3 5 b7 9 11, 13th
I7b5 (or I7-5) R 3 b5 b7
I7b9 (or I7-9) R 3 5 b7 b9
I7b5b9 (or I7-5-9) R 3 b5 b7 b9
I9b5 (or I9-5) R 3 b5 b7 9
I13b9 (or I13-9) R 3 5 b7 b9
I sus4 R 4 5
I7 sus4 R 4 5 b7
I+ R 3 #5 - same chord notes every 4 frets, passing notes every 2 frets in-between = I+ and I+7 mean the same augmented chord.  

On the 7th chords, you don't have to use all the chord notes to commonly use 7th chords, but you must have the 3rd, and the b7 (and usually the 5th or Root) also.
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MINOR CHORDS - All Minor chords are indicated with a small dotted i.
i R b3 5 basic Minor Triad
i7 R b3 5 b7
i9 R b3 5 b7 9
i7b5 (or i7-5, aka "1/2 diminished"- it functions as a minor chord with b5 .....it doesn't function as a diminished chord - usually resolving to the V7 chord (and maybe to I chord): R b3 b5 b7  remember, it's not a dim. chord, it's a minor chord!  Diminished is R b3 b5 bb7.
i7b9 (or i7-9) R b3 5 b7 b9  rarely used.
i7b5b9 (or i7-5-9) R b3 b5 b7 b9  very rarely used.
imaj7 R b3 5 7 (sometimes sounds like an augmented chord)
i6 R b3 5 6
i6/9 R b3 5 6 9
i add maj7 R b3 5 7 (same as imaj7)
io or io7 - Diminished chord: R b3 b5 bb7 notes repeated every 3 frets for all diminished chords.
io9 R b3 b5 bb7 9th = i.e. Cdim. 9..... the 9th is added to a dim. chord  usually used as passing chord.

#3.   Jazz CDs to Listen To

...this is Educational.I get so many questions asking what Jazz CDs to buy. There is a need to learn to cultivate your ear into more different styles of music for Jazz. It's a fun-thing to do, here's some of my suggestions for educational purposes:

Oscar Peterson's "We Get Requests" w/Ray Brown on bass, Standards that were recorded at their peak careers in 1990's....

Buy the Sonny Stitt recordings that have the following fine standards in them. He was a great sax man out about the same time as Bird but didn't get the recognition as a "buzz-word" yet like Bird, Miles, etc. have. Anything with Star Dust, Lover Man, Just Friends, The Gypsy, There Will Never Be Another You, Autumn In NY, etc. But also, this unique recording.... Charlie Parker is great with his Charlie Parker With Strings CD....you can learn a lot from it as the threads and patterns are very distinct tho' still very fast in tempo.

Hampton Hawes especially in the 1950s, greatest pianist on west coast, and Miles' favorite. Also buy his "Northern Windows" which has yours truly on it (recorded Fantasy in 1974). And......especially you'll find all the great pattern uses by Charlie Parker (Bird) in his exceptional "Charlie Parker With Strings".....very fine recording - I'd highly recommend this, you hear what you're studying on in my tutors in this excellent record.

The usual Miles Davis All Blues, Bird's fine older recordings, Dizzy Gillespie, Bill Evans, Joe Pass, Wes Montgomery....my all-time fav for new listeners to real jazz tho' is Sonny Stitt....he's not quite as fast as Bird and plays more cohesive soloing you can actually grasp easily when you're sort of new to the real jazz - great to learn how to create "threads" of communication in your jazz soloing. All his years are great up through the 1970s, and up to his time of passing. Oscar Peterson's fine recordings as well as Hampton Hawes too are a good bet.

Once you cultivate your ears, getting used to listening to good jazz it's not only enjoyable to listen to, but does something to your brain, which I think increases stamina and brain power  ....anyway, it sharpens your sensitivities to real music creating. 

For now, stay away from Coltrane for a long time. That's playing solos on the stacked triads, and back-cycles as well as b5 subs....

if you don't know what those are, than save your money for later after you've discovered all the great music of the above...takes time to enjoy listening to far-out stuff to get in the "zone"....of those styles - for initial listening of jazz, that will turn you completely off.

Start with the 1950s jazz, aside from the "usual" mentioned above, I especially like the Hampton Hawes Trio Vol. I and II to begin with also. "The Sidewinder" Lee Morgan album with "Ceora" in it is a winner even tho' it's fairly simple 8/8, as is "Movin' Wes" w/Wes Montgomery, and for guitar players, anything with Barney Kessel, Joe Pass, Howard Roberts, especially are excellent! You don't learn real jazz by listening to rock records! Have it playing a lot in your home, your ear/innate learning processes learn faster esp. as you practice your 1 hr. a day. And YES, if you can play jazz, you get the better private gigs with fine prof. musicians!

Tip #4 Playing Guitar Behind Piano Players

Guitar Working With Piano Players..... Carol Kaye

That takes a special kind of great experienced and good-ear player on guitar to work with pianists. Knowing when to lay out, or how to mesh with a pianist's special way of comping takes a special ear, plus taste of what to play. 

Even breaking out in a bongo-type of playing is OK sometimes (listen to Barney Kessel records on how to do that) - make sure your sense of time is PERFECT, practice with metronome on 2 and 4 like we all did in the Jazz years of late 1950s. You sure don't want the pianist to get angry at you, sometimes just a simple clipping on small-voiced chords on an of "2" and an of "4" (the less the better) is good. As I illustrate on my "Jazz Improv Soloing DVD Course" and new "Jazz Workshop DVD".

Aside from playing good soloing, there's a real art to knowing how to mesh well with the pianist which is crucial to such fine pianists like George Shearing.....the pianist essentially is "boss" in any group FYI....so I put a chapter of that in my JAZZ GUITAR WORKSHOP DVD especially addressing that need for guitarists who don't know how to play with pianists, and stay out of their way while playing some right stuff to mesh in good..

Note: A few pianists do rush some, but you have to learn to 'go with them', and smooth out the time best you can without being in the way.....it's your job to compliment the pianist no matter what.  The pianist is the boss!

It also is important to get the right sounds, just the opposite of rock n roll and country.....learning to play softer more rich sounds while turning up your amp (keeping volume at only 2/3 at most on your instrument) to enable you to get the right full sounds (turning down o your instrument output) as well as buying the finest flatwound elec. strings  -- I use the George Benson flats with 12's on the top, playing like having 10 on top E), along with great neck pickup (you don't use bridge pu in standards & Jazz), and learning how to pick with a good solid pick (not thin, not thick) - with love - at end of the neck for thicker nicer sounds like Tony Mattola does it, Joe Pass, Howard Roberts, George Benson, Barney Kessel, all the jazz guitarists of the 1950s, get that "organ" sound, and you can still be aggressive when you want to with your soloing with the right softer approach to sounds, an opposite technique to playing rock.

Chording? never more than 3-4 voice chords works the best, punctuating the beat, whether it's the chug-chug 1-2-3-4 Freddy Green style of comping (w/Count Basie - yes hold chords for a short time, then lift those LH fingers with each chord) or the interspersed real clipped comping backing the soloist...it's critical to know how to play with the right sounds, technique and how to play with the piano player as well as what when - it's an easy round sound you're looking for on guitar, not the rock sounds.

Working with the "Jazz Guitar Workshop DVD" proves invaluable for it shows how to solo, how to comp and what to do with pianists to get the best sounds for the whole group. See CATALOG on website, and it's on the DVDs & CDs Menu page, and it's good for soloists on all instruments for soloing too, everyone benefits from it. The case of guitarists working with pianists is a very special topic. Sometimes you have to play "bongos" on guitar strings to give comping a rest too - just make sure your sense of time is of the most-crucial perfection too, otherwise, don't attempt it until you practice your time-sense....

Listen to how Barney Kessel sometimes did that with pianists.

Once you listen to everything around you, and know your comping, you'll find it easy and a good challenge to play with an excellent pianist, knowing how to stay out of the way but adding some great comping and/or licks here and there to make everyone sound good while complimenting the piano player with good tasty comping....remember, you don't have to fill "every hole" - playing with taste is critical - sometimes just laying out is a good idea.
 Also, be sure to be prepared, know your Jazz chords, and tune-up your ear by practicing some good Jazz patterns (Pro's Jazz Phrases etc.), and chordal movements, phrase and pattern tutors for real jazz are in my Catalog....you'll be glad you did!
 Carol Kaye www.carolkaye.com/