Why I hate Jazz (watch until end)

[@eirikstordrangeguitar]

I strongly suggest that you watch the whole video if you intend to hate on me for hating jazz :)

[@lewisclark2686]

No, I listened to it all lad (as I do with all the videos) I'm just still strongly in that first camp. I appreciate what it has done for music, but that doesn't make it essential. How many people speak Latin? Yeah, it was important, but things move on. I love your approach to music, please don't feel bad for not liking or playing what people say makes a 'good' guitarist. I guess what I'm saying is you don't need to explain yourself.

[@collinputney2018]

Naked City is, as I call it, “Jazz for people that don’t like jazz.” 😂😂 A bunch of jazz musicians led by art-punk sax composer John Zorn, the producer of the Mr. Bungle debut. Theoretically mind-numbing, it’s more like “Jazz Slayer.” 🤣🤣

[@andriealinsangao613]

I don't hate you for hating jazz; I LOVE you for hating jazz!

[@NotAStranger2440]

Reason #1: The Bee Movie

[@brakfx]

As a music teacher in Norway, I've also been force fed with jazz throughout my education, up until the point where I just started developing a pure irrational hatred of it :P It's not even about the music anymore, these people just need to chill!

[@Kurjistaja]

John Coltrane and Wes Montgomery were the gateway for me. I love melancholy rainy day coffee shop easy listening low tempo jazz instrumental playlist while reading and writing. 4:36 the smile

[@bbdeffect]

Jazz is still a resource for rhythms and textures even if you can take or leave the harmonic interplay and sometimes notespinning. Other thing to smile about is very few of those snobby conservatory players today would be able to keep up with the players in the hard bop/modal era. This is true of almost all genres of music. The performance standards were much higher back in the 50s and 60s in that only the best performers would get to record at all.

[@jimhart1959]

Steely Dan and Chicago were my gateways into discovering jazz....I was a teen in the 70s. I took a theory class in high school, but I was the only rock guy in a class of band kids. I don't think they could figure out why I wanted to learn theory. And I played equal amounts of guitar and piano. But I tended to gravitate towards bands like Brand X later on. I really enjoy Julian Lage today, but I listen, and play, way more rock than anything.

[@Jeb_binch]

I guess I’ve been lucky. The jazz snobs I know are people who only listen to records while the players I know are all incredibly open to all music and not snobbish at all. I do love the feeling of tension and release in a good ballad.

[@SleepBeforeYouThink]

Did you take any schooling involving music? He’s saying in a music school environment, Jazz and Classical is all anyone cares about and if you like metal or hip hop or whatever you are looked down upon by the snobby jazz kids. I can confirm it’s exactly the way he described it.

[@Jeb_binch]

@@SleepBeforeYouThink I’ve never been in an academic setting, no. But I recognize the attitude from hanging out in the punk scene when I was in that 18-21 range just directed at a different object. Young people and their affects etc.

[@SleepBeforeYouThink]

@@Jeb_binch I completely agree with the elitist snobbishness of the punk community (metal as well, especially Prog Metal). I see the correlation between these two things now. I would still say that music school has way worse snobs. Punks and metalheads argue over who’s a sellout and what genre is best, but Jazz snobs in those schools disregard rock music in its entirety of all genres and act like it’s all icky and gross. On top of that a lot of them don’t even consider Rap to even be music at all 🤯 which is insane to me.

[@Jeb_binch]

@@SleepBeforeYouThink Glad I never went to music school then. I’m a jazz guy but I can’t imagine not appreciating everything.

[@freestyleshaver]

4:37 - Who is this guy?!

[@Alfgunnarp]

I don`t like the idea that I should start exploring a different genre because some people tell me that`s how it`s supposed to be. If I`m interested, I`d pick up on it myself rather than have it somewhat forced upon me. Thanks for putting this into words. And yeah, there is some jazz I like, but I am still very much generally a rock dude.

[@mourningireland4560]

In my music course I knew guys who were really passionate about jazz and couldn't stop talking about it, but they actually turned me onto jazz with their enthusiasm. They were open-minded guys though and we also listened to and played metal together over beers. Then there were the jazz snobs... the total opposite. What I will say is that the good jazz players in my music undergrad could slot into new/foreign genres better than any of the musicians playing other genres.

[@kwyatt261]

I feel like Frank Zappa and Charles Mingus can get a lot of musicians into jazz. For guitarists who want to hear what jazz is about in the most friendly way possible, I suggest something like the record Midnight Blue by Kenny Burrell. Very accessible and groovy, while also containing some good harmony and rhythms

[@yesto9676]

I'm just curious why do you think that album in particular is good for getting people that dont like jazz into jazz? It sounds like traditional jazz, which I assume people who aren't interested in jazz don't like.

[@kwyatt261]

@@yesto9676 Because it's a lot of bluesy stuff that is easier to hear, sing and play than a lot of jazz.

[@MichaelSheaAudio]

I'm not much of a jazz guy, but I played drums for the jazz band in high school for a bit, and my town has an annual Blues & Jazz festival. There are some really great bands that play that festival. I haven't attended for a number of years though. I think big band jazz is cool, and I like a certain style of J-Pop which can include jazz elements, so that's about as jazzy as I get. I like my music to be fast, groovy, and kinda chaotic and loud, so J-Pop, punk, metal, and that kind of stuff fills that position.

[@javier123454321]

I played guitar for years, but it came to a point where ALL the music I was listening to was jazz and I was like, maybe I should learn it. So I took my first guitar class at 31 and am loving it more than ever.

[@RichWordsMusic]

Really interesting pep talk. It was never forced down my throat at all, and I don't actively dislike jazz, but I've never found any pure jazz records I enjoy just listening to. That said, I love a lot of artists - like Captain Beefheart - who themselves were influenced significantly by jazz... so it kind of seeps through in that 3rd-hand way. What would be some good gateway jazz records for someone like me who doesn't really like the whole improv thing?

[@eirikstordrangeguitar]

Need to think a bit and look through my playlists! Will send over :) Hope you’re well buddy!

[@HarrisonProductions]

I am fortunate I didn't had a jazz snob in my life telling me how I should play. I had known two players/mentors who play jazz and instead of forcing me to play jazz, told how how to play with feel and getting interested in playing and incorporating jazz elements in a fun and creative way by mentioning Miles Davis electric period when he was inspired by adding rock music elements to his music. I feel guitar/music tutors make the mistake of forcing students to play/like jazz, instead of slowly adding it after teaching more accessible music to students so they don't get discouraged. then again i'm not a pro guitarist, but doesn't stop me from trying new stuff xD

[@HarrisonProductions]

my suggestion into getting Jazz is In a Silent Way by Miles Davis, simple and not too show off=y with a feel and emotion than what the teachers try to force you.

[@millennialanimal]

I completely agree with the sentiment in this video, I think I came as close to learning to play guitar in a vacuum as you can, I had no lessons but I still learned the occasional song by bands and artists I loved, but I almost exclusively kept my guitar in open C and found voicings and scales to use myself, the outcome was some pretty interesting ideas and songs, but in the last 3 years I’ve gone in the complete opposite direction and honestly I wish I had done it sooner, but I will never regret how I started out, it gave me an original sound I still tap into today.

[@petercrone3524]

I hate it because pretentious wankers listen to absolutely nothing else ever and think it makes them seem intelligent and sophisticated whereas it is just a genre of music which I as a guitarist happen to have zero interest in it. I leave feeling like there was absolutely no music played. (It’s that memorable to me). Great for elevators.

[@iceWaterProductions1]

Everyone can like whatever, but the way I was raised between my grandfather, aunts, friends, radio, collecting records, concert I really like jazz as much as death metal, blues, classical, pop,alternative, etc. it’s just music sorta like food. I can’t imagine just eating BBQ all the time.

[@lilleaton]

I think the main problem with Jazz is the same as a lot of modern metal or instrumental rock. The music is not meant to be enjoyed for musical reasons, but rather as an expression of technical or music theory skill. "Look what a strange chord I harmonized over" or "Look what an incredibly long string of single notes I played without bending even once!" The listener isn't meant to think or feel "what a great song" but instead "what a great musician". If we make a movie analogy, Pop/Rock would be Hollywood movies, HipHop would be Netflix seriald, and Jazz would be Porn.

[@jackcrook4435]

I would say for the most part youre right, especially with new modern neo soul jazz bullshit. But that statement only holds water til you get to the old classic albums and people like sun ra, miles davis or ornette coleman made me realise you can you make you feel emotions from music you never knew music could do. Jazz was also the equivalant of punk music in the early 1900s. So radical and groundbreaking and gnarly. Once recording mediums could capture it that changed the sound of it completely though, and it had to be quieter. They are classic albums for a reason, jazz or not jazz, there is incredible music out there that is totally free from music school theory bullshit and if you love music in general it is worth persevereing.. But there is also a lot of what falls under your umbrella as well that muddys the water ha ha.

[@jackcrook4435]

I just like music and dont rule anything out. Miles Davis in a silent way was my entry point though. That album blew my mind open and still does.

[@TheToneLounge]

I was always bored to death with Jazz when I first started. Everyone kept telling me that I should learn it if I was to be serious about music. I never did. I am, however, slowly starting to appreciate Gypsie Jazz lately.

[@MrVule33]

I was in the same situation. I don't have problem with jazz ( I like it, but I HATE blues. Whole my life I was/am in post punk/new wave genre and I couldn't find anyone who can help me to get there. Only blues whole the time and that ruined my muscle memory. I play now in the post punk band, but when I sit and writing the song, always something bluesy come through my fingers. P.S. I'm bored with 90% of people from guitar channels that play same blues lick over and over. That's why i LOVE your channel, something different in a good way. Greetings from Sweden.

[@ileutur6863]

I like a lot of jazz, but I don't see it as this ultimate form of musical expression like so many academic musicians do. Traditional jazz tends to fall back on those traditions too much and ends up lacking variety in its dynamic range, while the modern experimental stuff can go so far out there that musicality begins to suffer in favor of expression. I find a lot of fun in live jazz gigs, watching musicians improvise and interact, but I struggle to engage emotionally past that level

[@Nooely]

What about herbie hankock? Or Birdland, Joe Zawinul

[@wolff_]

Our Kip Kasper dont need no jazz

[@RÅNÇIÐ]

- Ya like Jazz? - No!

[@chronic_johnson_a.r.a.b]

Definitely don't need to practice a certain genre of music if it doesn't appeal to you. I love Charles Mingus' Black Saint and the Sinner Lady album though. Crazy album. A lot of good jazz out there.

[@SakuraBassandMusic]

My fundamental problem with Jazz is that the musicians are having more fun than the audience.

[@doddsalfa]

Jazz is for the chosen few I’m lucky to be one of them.From early teen I did listen 5-6 hours every day for many years but did take long breaks changing to classical music .If you would have real musical talent you wouldn’t need to learn music theory

[@AshVanGelder]

I feel like you’d prefer more of the psychedelic and heavier rock inspired UK Jazz versus the traditional jazz that has permeated the genre. I feel as though we are having a new direction for Jazz that is actually much more interesting to everyone rather than catering to a crowd of musical theory robots. Try some The Comet is Coming, Ezra Collective, and such.

[@AlbusBand]

YAZZ Flute!!!

[@sl3102]

I also hate snobbery but for me it's not necessarily connected to a specific genre. Some people just seem to think that good music can be measured and calculated like it's math. I think it's a matter of insecure people hiding behind a formula - an answer to how to music. These people have a tendency to write the most unoriginal stuff and give the most uninspiring performances. I do however believe that context is very important to be able to enjoy your place in music history. With an open mind you can pick and choose influences from all over and make it your own thing.

[@tungtobak]

My entry point was weed. While I still listen more to rock than jazz, somewhere along the way I stopped caring about learning songs and focused entirely on improvisation.

[@Mega_trav]

Using jazz chords in rock is also the next evolution. See: Dance Gavin Dance (Chucky vs The Giant Tortoise)

[@lippi2171]

Master of avant-garde, classical composer Igor Stravinsky was old enough to hear about jazz big bands in his lifetime, he used to hate on them because they weren't sophisticated enough. Then jazz evolved and they started hating on rock because it wasn't sophisticated enough. Rock has also evolved and now we hate on pop for being dumb.

[@Starch1b2c3d4a]

Snobs from every genre are super annoying...

[@AlanHAGOSHaggarty]

How about a bit of Jazz Fusion? Maybe that'd be a better entry point for you. Bitches Brew?

[@TheloniousBosch]

The worst part of “jazz” is the word itself. The second worst part is people talking about it.

[@GetBackinBlack03]

Gypsy Jazz kinda slaps though

[@mellewillems]

Jazz is definitely handy to learn but learning stuff you don’t like the sound of is a waste of time for sure :)

[@pedalpunk7876]

The Jazz elitism is what made me hate my music college back in the 90s in Sweden. And I failed it pretty miserably because I refused to conform to it. 25 years later I do listen to jazz on and off, but never guitar based jazz. I still can't stand that.

[@ChristianThoresen]

Kult å høre "historien" din. Den var veldig lik mitt forhold til Jazz.

[@ObjectiveDynamics]

That's easy for you to say! 😉

[@heartofodds]

Most jazz after 80 maybe, some before, is insufferable in some way. The language doesn't make sense to a non-jazz listener, as far as I can tell. If you can't engage a listener's sense of arc, or tension and relief, they will be amused at best, for a little while. If you don't play for musical reasons it begins to show, maybe.

[@the-np4mr]

I have accepted that jazz players are objectively better than me and that this makes me a worse person

[@kokeskokeskokes]

I too have objective opinions. Exclusively.

[@amonynous9041]

It's not about the genre, but many artists can become obnoxious pretentious fools focusing only on technicality, something like fans of Polyphia. I don't care for a book written only in fancy words pretending to be sophisticated, it's about the message it conveys, the pure energy behind it all.

[@angusorvid8840]

I love jazz, but I had the pretension of jazz culture. I noticed this at a young age, about nine years old, and really into Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea and Miles Davis. Yes, this was unusual for a kid my age, but that's the way it was. I realized the older jazz fans I knew could not understand how I could also listen to rock and new wave. Somehow it was verboten. I would listen to The Who one minute then Weather Report the next. I didn't care for these artificial walls between genres.

[@kebab_boi]

Jazz fans are the genre equivalent to TOOL fans. (If that makes sense, idk how to put it into words).

[@GuajoloteGonzales]

I like jazz, but just the more melody oriented one, most of the bop things, free jazz and jazz fusion doesn't do it for me, so if you're try to play jazz sometime, i think that a more melodic jazz is much better than the more complex and unmusical jazz that everyone loves.

[@monsirto]

Progressive rock is really basically jazz. I started with classical lessons and some jazz too but to this day I envy a lot of guitarists who are self taught so I try to approach the fiddle with some naivety these days, just to discover new sounds and "feels". We all have our prejudices, I have a lot of time for progressive jazz and Be Bop but I do still hate big band jazz and Dixie sooo much. Great video!

[@tszegvary]

I also wish I could remove some blues lick muscle memory! 😂

[@hijackcloud9]

I love jazz but learning it is so confusing lol XD

[@ROKZLEON]

I felt the same way about Jazz and Blues when I was learning guitar. Someone would way say, play a ninth chord and I'd play a Police song! ✌🏻

[@PinkAsAPistol]

I had to pause at the 4th minute to say that what I always think is the initial problem to approaches like yours is you don't seem to have ever approached jazz as music that was meant to be listened to, but rather as if it was served to you as teaching material that you have to go through in order to be a "good musician". Even in the dichotomy you're making between that and popular music it shows: jazz was meant to be popular and it's not like the rock/metal/punk records we may like are less of a relic for stuckups in the mordern world in that sense. It may be fun, energetic, cathartic, emotional, agressive, good, bad, boring, souless, just like anything else. I listen to much jazz from the late 50's to mid 60's and I have specific likes and dislikes, just like people who like every other genre - for example, fusion does nothing at all to me. So if listening, say, to Coltrane inspires me to play better guitar, then so much for the better, but listen to him because I love his music and I've never approached Corea's Spain - or anything else for that matter - as something that I have to be able to play, so I should somehow be forced like it. I don't know, maybe it's because I'm self-taught so I was never told what to play and what to listen to. Also, it's fine to be crafting a guitar part to go with a song, but how about improvisation? Is it really that unimportant in your musical world? Anyway, to me statements like "I hate jazz" sound no less sophomoric than "I hate all music that features distorted electric guitars". It sounds like too much of a generalization to be making any sense.

[@FrettedFlipper]

Long live Rockelinja🤟

[@stanncie]

I've always loved music, I listened to classical and opera as a teen lol. I also loved rock and pop of course and growing up in the 90's grunge rock and britpop was huge for me. Being latin I was always exposed to salsa, merengue, bachata and all sorts of latin rhythms. When I was younger melody was the most important thing for me and I rarely listened to anything that didn't have a beautiful melody. As I got older I naturally started to like some jazz , it all started when I heard Snarky Puppy. Coincidently my mom one day told me that she liked jazz. This is a woman who has never been really into music so it intrigued me. She had gone to New Orleans and said it just clicked for her. Since then we go to a bunch of jazz concerts and recently went to see Herbie Hancock. So I guess it just happened organically for us. I was never forced to listen to it or appreciate it so maybe that's why I was not opposed to it..

[@Paul_Lenard_Ewing]

The worship of Jazz in the context of skills is the worship of Artisans. Think of a beautiful building, using primarily bricks. Do you really want to know the name of the bricklayers which did that? They were all highly skilled Artisans ...or do you want to know the Artist who designed it. In this case it is a Architect that designed it ? _______Nearly all the great 'Artists' had a high level creativity and often not more than workman like skill of technique. Big but. They literally changed the very techniques and the approach to playing the instrument that are needed to play the electric guitar. Jimi Hendrix being a good example. I'm 75 and when I was young I indeed played in a Jazz band. I played by ear with nothing more than chord charts. I got by quite nicely. There is however a 'Need to Know'. For a start you need to realize that there are only 11 notes you can play and at any given tune you will be primarily only using 7. You do not need more to know the Blues scale, the Major and Minor scale and the Dorian to know how all 3 tie together as one. All else is nothing more than 'accidentals' to be used where one feels they serve the music. These are nothing more than the brush strokes to paint a canvas of something new and fresh to communicate to a listener. Alternatively became a musical brick layer that the listener would be wise to ignore. As for skills on the instrument it indeed is a good idea. It allows your fingers to follow your great ideas that come in your head inspired by players, styles and genres or hundreds of completely different music from all all over the globe. Jazz is great if your goal is totally re-invent it. Otherwise it is brick laying.

[@moonvals]

Very Norwegian to being told to like jazz. Greatings from Iceland 😃

[@eirikstordrangeguitar]

Lol, is that a typical Norwegian thing to do?

[@moonvals]

@@eirikstordrangeguitar hahaha well its either jazz og black metal i suppose 😃

[@moonvals]

*or

[@BrunodeSouzaLino]

Jazz is to music genres what shredding is to guitar playing. While it may sound cool the first time you see it, it becomes boring after a while.

[@vandal_dk]

3 chords and the truth. Any day!

[@davidsummerville351]

Great topic. I guess I'll just have to laugh! It's always been that way.

[@Mega_trav]

Not Jazz, but you should listen to Bilmuri. If you like Tame Impala, you might dig it

[@Mega_trav]

Midwestlawncaredads, The void approacheth, swap creatures, postalmondclarity. You'll thank me later

[@flipalha]

Ok, you rock at jazz, but can you jazz at rock?

[@Brittjones]

I love this…I’d rather sit on a knife than listen to jazz…because it’s forced!

[@Basstimewithjahooli]

You fear jazz

[@eirikstordrangeguitar]

I don’t. Watch the whole video ;)

[@Jeroen_K]

I don't like most jazz, because it doesn't evoke any other emotion than 'wow, that's an impressive combination of playing skils and musical knowledge'. Same with bands like Dream Theater. Music that sounds like finger-timing Olympics simply isn't for me.

[@DaveElwoodCutter]

My problem with jazz is quite simple: It doesn’t elicit any emotional reaction in me. I don’t hate or dislike it (in general) and some artists I do like (Wayne shorters soothsayer is incredible) but overall I find Jazz lacks expression. Especially on guitar. It just sounds flat and formulaic to me (and I took lessons from an incredible jazz player for a while hoping it’d help me “get it” but it just isn’t for me). I do however like extended harmonies, “jazz scales” and so on which is why I really like fusion. You get the expressiveness of rock and blues guitar vocabulary and sounds combined with the interesting harmonies and outsides sounds of jazz. That neo-soul/“Instagram guitar” style is another cool example of using jazz harmonies in a pop context. In Germany more and more music universities are incorporating pop and rock into their programs. Many have a jazz/pop/rock program or even a dedicated pop/rock program besides their jazz and classical programs. Holland has had dedicated pop/rock programs for decades. Hope it catches on in Norway as well

[@Hild1]

Jazz is obscene and degenerate, just like people are.

[@Juanramirez1234-u4c]

I hate jazz

[@greysuit17]

Jazz is the superior music

[@jezmez68]

But when are you going to play country music? Hell, alt-country is waaaay more fun than jazz.

[@jonesdaniel1998]

Hahaha hjelpe ikke når beste gitar læreren er broren til jazz læreren :( #trøndertun

[@eirikstordrangeguitar]

Hvem?

[@sconni666]

Never liked Jazz. Puts me to sleep.

[@loopydemos]

Actually my gateway into jazz-style guitar playing was lo-fi hip-hop with guitar in it. @aldoistaken on youtube was a huge inspiration.

[@MantasticHams]

you saved yourself starting the video like that, but that doesnt mean im watching more than 4 seconds. Hating jazz is racist. Change my mind.

[@eirikstordrangeguitar]

What about that I change your mind by you watching the whole video.

[@ileutur6863]

go complain about it on twitter