Welcome to Lesson 1, Part 1 of Jazz Theory. The following lessons will hopefully give you, if nothing else, a basic understanding of Jazz and the various parts thereof. After each lesson (with the exception of this lesson) there will be a short quiz: without a demonstrated mastery of the basics, one can never progress to the more advanced techniques and styles.
This first lesson details the various instruments used in Jazz. Jazz is a very versatile style and almost any instrument can be used to play it, but a few instruments tend to dominate the style.
No Jazz ‘Combo,’ or group, has a predetermined instrument set. Jazz can be played with one instrument or ten.
Many styles have such a set; rock is typically 1-2 guitars, a bass guitar, and a drum set. Metal, or heavy metal, typically has up to 3 guitars, a bass, drums, and maybe a synthesizer for effects. Classical often requires a huge number of instruments, covering every class of instrument. Jazz is unique, and requires no such set. Here follows a, by no means complete or comprehensive, list of instruments commonly used in Jazz.

  • Strings

    • Piano - The piano, and it’s cousins the harpsichord and the synthesizer, can all be used for Jazz. Pianos can play leads or rhythms, solos or chords. Some jazz variants such as rag use piano almost exclusively.
    Guitar - Guitars, both acoustic and electric, are well suited to Jazz. Like pianos they can play any part, lead or rhythm. Bass - This includes the more standard (for jazz) stand up, full size bass and the bass guitar. While the bass is more suited for a background rhythm, bass solos are not unheard of and can be interesting to play and listen to.
  • Brass

    • Trumpet - The trumpet, made famous in Jazz by Louis Armstrong and his ensembles (Hot Five and Hot Seven) is a staple of both old and modern Jazz. It can play a rousing Jazz piece all by itself, and work equally as part of combos made up of other trumpets o any other instrument.
    Trombone - Although mainly a backup instrument, the trombone is frequently used in big bands as a solo instrument.
  • Percussion

    • Drums - A standard drum set, or trap set, is not essential but adds a nice background to any combo. The drums can play background and often are even used as solo instruments as well; not soloing in the usual sense of playing over a background but literally playing alone. An accomplished drummer with a good set adds a lot to any Jazz piece, improvised or other.
    Bongos - Bongos (or any tonal set of drums) are not terribly common but can add an interesting complement to either a standard drum set or any combination of instruments.
    Xylophone - The xylophone and it’s stringed cousins, despite being tonal, still fall under percussion. This truly unique instrument can be a really entertaining in the hands of an accomplished musician. It’s poorly suited to rhythm but it can be used to perform solos ranging from mellow to hyperactive.
  • Winds

    • Clarinet - The clarinet is a good addition to an ensemble and makes great slow jazz.
    Saxophone - While not as ubiquitous as the trumpet, the sax remains another centerpiece for Jazz and is an equally versatile instrument.
    Flute - The flute is not the most common instrument in a jazz group, partially due to the ease with which it’s overpowered, but the flute remains an interesting if quiet instrument for jazz.

    This list, as already stated, is not complete; almost any instrument and combination of instruments can be used. The determining factor is the type of sound you want: mellow or brilliant, slow or fast, the instrumentation as well as the musicians determines this. Now that you’re acquainted with the instruments sued in music in general and jazz specifically, you can move on to lesson 2: the scale.

    Learned this material? Take the quiz and finalize it!

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