Are You TOO DUMB For Jazz Music?
Do ya like jazz?
If so, do you sometimes fear that you ‘don’t understand’ the music that you enjoy?
Do you feel like you don’t ‘appreciate’ the finer details? That its complexity and sophistication goes straight over your head?
If that's the case, I’m here to tell you that this means you are not qualified to listen to jazz music.
It doesn’t matter if you enjoy it. If you can’t name every chord, every scale, every little component that makes up your favourite tunes, then you are not allowed to listen to it.
If you do, you run the risk of succumbing to the Dunning-kKruger effect, or in rare cases, death.
Now, you might be thinking to yourself, “that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard in my life”. And if you are thinking that, congratulations! You’ve seen through the charade.
But what you just read is not a joke. It's what several people wrote me in the past weeks! Apparently a lot of people lately are afraid that they are not "qualified" or that the are "too dumb" to listen to Jazz, and are asking my help!
(Their words, not mine. By the way, I blame social media for this - but you can blame anything you don't like in this modern world of ours...)
of course the truth - unsurprisingly - is that you can listen to whatever music your little beautiful heart desires. It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand it, can’t name the chords, can’t play it, anything.
Listen to what makes your ears happy. That’s all that matters.
To prove my points here, I got a comment on a youtube video of mine that exemplifies perfectly what I wrote above - just so you can be sure that I'm not making this up!
For the full comment and my full response to it, watch this video:
P.S. If you don't like Jazz, instead, there's no hope for you. (Just kidding!!)
Now, if you want to be able to play jazz music, or anything even close to resembling it, it's incredibly important that you understand chords! Check out my Complete Chord Mastery guitar course if you want to fully understand chords and harmony on the guitar!
Video Transcription
Hello Internet, so nice to see you! Have a nice questions about jazz. Dude It doesn't matter what you think you're like you is if it's high or low if you like the sound You get jazz If you don't like the sound you don't get jazz and there's nothing wrong about that And this is true for every other style of music.
You like the sound of it It gives you that kind of feeling you get it. You don't you don't and there's no problem now listen to me First of all There's a lot of people out there who think they have a high IQ or a low IQ based on internet IQ tests. Do not believe any internet IQ test doesn't matter who sent to the link.
Okay, that's the first thing Second it doesn't matter what your IQ is at all. There's plenty listen to this sentence and take it literally There's plenty of stupid people listening to jazz There's plenty of stupid people listening to any kind of music There's plenty of intelligent people listening to jazz and plenty of intelligent people listening to any kind of music just because There is a bunch of musicians or music critics that are able to say some intelligent sounding word After somebody has played and you don't understand what they say.
It doesn't mean you don't get jazz It just means that they are not able to communicate properly. Okay, because honestly, it's very mediator Okay, you like the sound or you don't like the sound There have been jazz players who do not know how to read, okay, there have been.
You don't need to have any kind of IQ to understand jazz. Again, you like it, you don't like it. Now, if you come to me and tell me, to imagine, I try to listen to jazz and I don't get it, then we can sit down, we can talk about it, I can show you what to listen to or what not to listen to, we can try some easy stuff, okay, and then we can get you there if you want to.
But again, this is true not only for jazz, but for any kind of music. There is really nothing special about jazz, okay, except that the people who are the critics of jazz tend to have this kind of flavor for polysyllabic words and intelligent turn of phrases, okay, but really, the music is just the music, okay.
So, first of all, don't think that you have the right or don't have the right to listen to something, okay? Then of course, counterexample. Do you really think that all intelligent people listen to jazz?
In a previous career, as you know, I was a scientist. I got to know a couple of Nobel Prizes. I'm not saying these to show off. It just happens. You are at a conference and there is a Nobel Prize and you exchange a few words with them and you get to know them, okay?
And I got to ask a few of them what kind of music they listen to. Not a single Nobel Prizes, I know, listens to jazz. I'm sure there are Nobel Prizes who listen to jazz. Some of them listen to classical music, but at least one of them, a chemist, was listening to punk.
Incidentally, what is with punk and chemist? You guys know that the singer of the band Offspring is a chemist. He's a PhD in chemistry. It's not that since something sounds intelligent and intelligent, people listen to it, okay?
Intelligent people listen to anything they like, just like stupid people, okay? So forget about this high IQ, low IQ bullshit because it's all that. Listen to what you like. Learn to play what you like. And if you're even thinking, I'm not intelligent enough to understand jazz, let me tell you guys, every kind of music is easy once you understand what to do.
And really, you don't have to have a intelligent people listen to whatever they like. Exactly like stupid people because it's not a matter of intelligence, it's a matter of what you like. And if you're thinking, I'm not intelligent enough to understand how to play jazz, let me tell you, you don't need a PhD in anything.
You just need to understand what to do and play it and ear as a big part in it. And theory is just there to help you, okay? And if you need some help in understanding what to do and how to play any kind of style, send me an email, I have courses, I have free resources, I can totally direct you in the right direction, okay?
Help you play whatever you want no problem but let's put this IQ bullshit okay to rest intelligence and style of music have nothing to do with each other and I know that in the comments somebody is gonna post those awful academic articles that there's a statistical correlation between intelligence and style of music I've already received dozens of those I've already poked all the holes that are into those articles those articles are bullshit it's not true simple as that okay. This is Tommaso Zillio for musictheoryforguitar.com and until next time, enjoy!