Beginning Jazz Guitar: The Complete Jazz Guitar Method: Beginning-intermediate-mastering Chord/Melody-mastering Improvisation Review

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(More customer reviews)I've played guitar for more than thirty years and have focused on straight ahead jazz for the last 15 or so.All that time I've absorbed bits and pieces of musical knowledge from method books, lick guides and transcriptions as well as from the experience gained playing with others. No resource that I've encountered offers the degree of fundamental understanding that one can gain from this series of books.

Unlike most other method books, "Beginning Jazz Guitar" starts from chapter 1 with a dual track instruction mode of chord and scale studies mixed with a moderate dose of musical theory AND the author wisely limits the first volume to just the major scale.Too many other finepublications insist on bedeviling the student with a bewildering array of scales and modes in rapid fire succession.This volume shines when it comes to supplying answers to real world questions as the student might actually encounter them.Additionally, Jody Fisher presents scales in a format that encourages horizontal rather than vertical playing (one of the most important and most overlooked aspect of improvisation).As a matter of fact, more experienced players may have to relearn scale positions to work through the etudes and excercises in this book since they are fundamentally different than those normally found in most instructional texts.

Likewise, for a beginning book, the text does a credible job in presenting harmony and chord progressions with just enough theory to understand how progressions are structured and how to extend and alter chords. Most books present chordal theory in the first part of the book and then take up lead playing in the second half as if they bore no relationship with one another.Again, the author scores with the dual track approach.

Finally, the information contained in the "Coda" at the end of the book is worth the price alone.One could spend half a lifetime studying jazz guitar and not stumble over some these gems of info.

As a companion to this book I might also recommend "All Solos & Grooves for Jazz Guitar" by Jim Ferguson (Mel Bay) which serves up major scale studies along with more advanced solos utilizing similar techniques.As a matter of fact all of Ferguson's books would fit in nicely with this series.

All in all, an excellent resource for the determined student.

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Product Description:
Anyone with a knowledge of basic chords and guitar scale fingerings can dig right in and start learning to play jazz right away.Spanning from the major scale and basic triad theory all the way up to extended chords and the modes, this book features a full-length etude or song to go with every new concept introduced.Beginning Jazz Guitar breaks the age-old tradition of dry, intimidating and confusing jazz books, and provides an actual step-by-step and enjoyable method for learning to play in this style.

Clearly organized into easily mastered segments, each chapter is divided into separate lessons on harmony or improvisation.All music is shown in standard notation and TAB, and the CD demonstrates the examples in the book. 96 pages.

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A Simple and Direct Guide to Jazz Improvisation (Jazz Book) Review

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(More customer reviews)I have used this book often. It is a slim volume,but if one does the written exercises jazz improv becomes possible and easier.
All exercises are in all keys and the explanations for them are reasonable and clear.

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Helps musicians know what to do with specific chords in specific contexts. Lays out clear and objective guidelines on how to turn scales and chords into real music. Perfect for a college or high school improvisation class!

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Legends of Jazz with Ramsey Lewis, Volume 3 (DVD/CD) Review

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(More customer reviews)These series of Legends of Jazz DVDs is a collection to have for all Jazz enthusiasts. I can watch these collection over and over again, without getting bored. I particularly liked the Brazilian series and the Jazz singers with Kurt Elling and Al Jarreau.

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Hosted by Ramsey Lewis, this DVD/CD set (the third of a three volume series) features the biggest stars of jazz and is presented on one of the most dazzling audio/visual recordings of the year. The four episodes featured on the DVD include: "The Tenors wi

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Jim Hall (2005) Review

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(More customer reviews)This DVD was very interesting. I thought I was getting a concert - but what I got was a mini concert with instructional filler between each groove. Jim Hall is a gentle genius. He's very melodic and adds complicated arpeggios around each melodic line. This is what makes Mr. Hall one of a kind. He doesn't give us a lot of scales andmodes between each line - he doesn't slap you w/ a barrage of notes. You get the melody with a few thrills. His choice of notes is what makes him unique. Anyway, I thought I was getting a concert, but Mr. Hall stops between each groove and tells you what he did in each song - step by step. For example: I played a G minor here and a C7 there. I found using the remote to fast forward the filler helps. All I wanted to do was relax and hear Mr. Hall play. As you can see, I gave Mr. Hall five stars, anyway. His music is one of a kind.

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In several complete and live performances of his most notable compositions, Jim discusses and demonstrates the key components of performance and improvisation: picking and fingering techniques + creating chord melodies + providing accompaniment + analyzin

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Bebop Guitar Bk/Cd (Book & CD) Review

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(More customer reviews)I pre-ordered this book some months back with an expectation that a book calling itself "Bebop Guitar: Basic Theory and Practice for Jazz Guitar in the Style of Charlie Parker" would, of all things, discuss the practice of guitar playing. I am an intermediate level player with a few chords scales and riffs under his belt--no beginner by any means, but not a pro either.

I am not exaggerating when I say there is not one mention of the guitar as the instrument in question in any of the main chapters. The author does explain early on that the examples have been written in the key of G to make things easier for guitarists, but that's it! No tab, no fingerings in the notation. No position suggestions. Nothing. It's all theoretical explication of the melodic devices used by Parker in his solos. Not a bad thing in itself, but I don't see any reason for it to be a book targeted for guitarists. It could very easilty have been packaged as a book for oboists or kazooists without changing one word of the text.

Weirder still is the 64 track CD. Instead of the examples being played on a guitar, the least you would expect from a book shouting "Guitar" in very large, Art-Deco lettering on its front cover, you get examples recorded from a midi. But it's not even a midi using a guitar voice. It's a saxophone voice (and not a particularly good one at that!) If you just want to hear how the phrases sound, it works okay for that, but I should think that the target audience for this book would really haved liked to be convinced that these phrases can be made to sound good on a guitar. That would seem to be the point of a book entitled "Bebop Guitar."

I think my biggest complaint is the lack of any references to actual solos. It might say "He plays this line over a dominant." But there are no references to the names of the solos or recorded performances from which the lines were taken. At the very least a couple of representative solo transcriptions (with guitar tab or fingerings!) would have been nice too. By contrast, Stan Ayeroff's "Swing To Bop" collection of Charlie Christian transcriptions has all of those things--theoretical analysis of the melodic lines AND performance charts. Even if Parker's saxophone fingerings cannot be reproduced on the guitar, some recommendations on which positions to use under which conditions would have been helpful.

Also, the author has very odd credentials for someone taking on the task of explaining an alto saxopone player's style to guitarists. Most of his writing has either been for renaissance and baroque plucked instruments, or for banjo and flatpicked guitar. He has written one other jazz book, Charlie Christian Chord Shapes, and while his classical and early music background certainly qualify him to speak to the melodic theory involved, that's not necessarily what one expects to be the thrust of a book entitled Bebop Guitar. That doesn't mean his analyis isn't valid. It has just been mispresented and packaged badly by the publisher. This may not have been the author's fault, but someone clearly dropped the ball on this one.

Obtain a library or advance copy first before buying. It might be something worth keeping on the shelf for future reference, but you won't be playing KoKo anytime soon on the strength of this book alone.

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Product Description:
This book/CD pack shows guitarists how to transform basic jazz improv techniques into bebop figures in Bird's famous "with strings" style by making chromatic and rhythmic alterations. Includes many musical examples, most in the user-friendly key of G major, to accommodate players not well versed in jazz flat keys.

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David Baker's Jazz Pedagogy: A Comprehensive Method of Jazz Education for Teacher and Student Review

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(More customer reviews)I love the book, except chapter 1. Now some of the information in this chapter is good, but, a little on the racist side.

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This volume was the first published jazz teaching method. One of America's greatest musician-teachers, David Baker, shows how to develop jazz courses and jazz ensembles, with lesson plans, rehearsal techniques, practice suggestions, improvisational ideas, and ideas for school and private teachers and students.

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The Joe Pass Collection (Artist Books) Review

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(More customer reviews)I really just wanted the sheet music to Pasta Blues but this contains an amazing collection of Joe's work.The sheet music is as accurate as anything I've seen.The TAB supplied is very good as well, although in a number of places I can find fingerings for the same passages that work much better for me.As always, if you can read music treat the TAB as a guide.I've been happily working through this book for over a month now.

Note that some of the songs you can't get as audio clips online, so you'll need to buy some old CD's of Joe's.

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12 songs from the jazz legend, including: Blues for Basie * Blues for Hank * Cheek to Cheek * Dissonance #1 * Happy Holiday Blues * I Got Rhythm * In a Sentimental Mood * Pasta Blues * Satin Doll * The Song Is You * The Way You Look Tonight * Yardbird Suite.

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Great Jazz Standards Anthology for Guitar (Popular Jazz) Review

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(More customer reviews)I have a couple books and the "Fretboard Roadmap" DVD from this author, (Fred Sokolow), and I love them but I found the arrangements and chord voicings in this book a bit off of what is common in Jazz Guitar.The arrangements are such that the chord voicings use quite a few open strings which in turn leads to some difficult to get to fingerings.It just didn't work for me.Sorry Fred!

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Fred Sokolow is a prolific performer, educator, author, transcriber and arranger, whose books and videos have covered a wide range of styles including jazz, blues, rock, country, bluegrass and even 5-string banjo. This anthology provides you with solid, clear and accessible solo arrangements for 14 of the of the most memorable jazz standards. Every song is presented with the guitar part, written in standard notation and tablature, combined with the lead sheet for analysis. All arrangements are demonstrated on the included CD.

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Guitar Secrets: Symmetrical Scales Revealed (Dimished & Whole-Tone; Book & CD) Review

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(More customer reviews)This book displays the ideas of how to apply the melodic minor scale, through the means of scalar sequences, static chord vamp, ii-V applications, arppegio superimpositions, pentatonic fragments, etc. From learning these ideas, one should be well equipped for further exploring into the study of this scale, which is essential in jazz music.

In terms of technique, to be able to play the phrases, particularly the wide intervallic ones in full speed that Don demonstrates on the CD, obviously requires good technique, or at least will lead to the development of your alternate/sweep picking technique so as to accommodate some unusual runs within certain phrases. In this respect, the licks and phrases in this book can at times be quite advanced.

The most useful units in the book have to be the four usages (2nd, 4th, 5th, and 7th mode of the scale) or substitutions, though the 6th mode is briefly showcased as an alternative to the harmonic minor scale in a minor ii-V progression. The demonstrated licks fuse together in general a traditional jazz sound (e.g. the "Gone but not forgotten" lick frequently appears, cf. Jerry Coker's Elements of the Jazz Language for the Developing Improvisor), arpeggio superimpositions, modern runs in 4th/5th, and wide intervallic jumps. The licks are inspiring and should help build a good foundation for developing the usages of this scale.

Interested guitarist may also want to check out Don's Artful Arpeggios: Fingerings and Applications for Guitar (REH Pro Lessons), Joe Diorio's Intervallic Designs for Jazz Guitar: Ultramodern Sounds for Improvising and Steve Khan's Pentatonic Khancepts for furthering the study of these areas which the current book has presented on different levels.

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Learning how to play and use scales has always been a large part of every guitar player's practice schedule. Written from a player's perspective, this book doesn't get too in-depth into the history and classical theory of the scales, but focuses on their uses in contemporary styles such as blues, rock, fusion, and jazz. Includes tons of diminished and whole-tone lines, licks, and music examples; soloing and scale substitution from a player's perspective; and new sounds and ideas. Written in standard notation and tab.

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1001 Jazz Licks: A Complete Jazz Vocabulary for the Improvising Musician (Guitar Educational) Review

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(More customer reviews)Yes there are actually 1001 'licks' in this book and they are all numbered and loosley categorized in the index.Most of these musical phrases are 4 measures in length. Since they are grouped together by similarity, you get a slightly different idea with every 4 measure passage. The harmony chords are given. The phrases that I've learned are very melodic and centered around the aeolian mode and harmonic minor scales which are often used in tandem in jazz. It would be a lot of effort to memorize everyone of these phrases and the author does not recommend it. He says to pick out your favorites and make them your own. To say Jack went the extra mile on this book would be an understatement. I especially love the licks inder Cmaj7#11 because they're challenging and translate so well.

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Product Description:
This book presents 1,001 melodic gems played over dozens of the most important chord progressions heard in jazz. This is the ideal book for beginners seeking a well-organized, easy-to-follow encyclopedia of jazz vocabulary, as well as professionals who want to take their knowledge of the jazz language to new heights.

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