This article is a preface for a curriculum Ive developed for my private students over a 20-year period. It is meant to help give the guitarist an outline for how to structure his or her practice time while reflecting on some key things before getting to the actual work. Practicing is a personal endeavor and varies from one player to another. I find that focusing on fundamentals, technique and ear training is paramount before getting into the more creative areas that lie ahead. Though creative right brain approaches should be included early on in a players development, it makes sense to begin getting the instrument and ear under better control through structured left brain type of exercises that stress fundamentals, technical issues...
It has become increasingly common these days to see an electric jazz guitarist playing fingerstyle .The great jazz-country-meets flamenco guitarist Lenny Breau was instrumental in showing that fingerstyle technique could work nicely on a steel-string electric for nimble single-note runs. Before him, early jazz guitarist George Van Eps was playing ingenious chord solos (first pickstyle and later fingerstyle) but rarely engaging in single-note soloing. In the late 1960s while Lenny Breau was playing fleet single-note passages with his fingers, or a thumbpick, Joe Pass was perfecting his right-hand technique to the point where he could virtually play an entire solo gig fingerstyle. Pass bebop-oriented single-note lines sounded quite horn-like with his frequent use of left-hand slurs. The left-hand slurs (pulloffs, hammer-ons, glisses) work well for the electric fingerstylist making it possible to execute legato rapid phrases...
Creating memorable melodies can be challenging, especially in the midst of an improvised solo. I get a great deal of inspiration from the master composers of American popular song, drawing from the solid compositional principles inherent in these tunes. One example, when Im improvising over a tonic minor chord for several bars, I might use the solid architecture of a guide tone line starting on the tonic and descending chromatically, to add motion to my line. Yes, this is the same descending line used in the opening changes to "My Funny Valentine" and even "Stairway To Heaven" and thousands of other tunes. If the improviser practices this sequence melodically weaving in other notes, the result can be a complex line that has a solid substructure...
We all know how important fundamentals are. But are they mastered to the point that they can be called upon at any instant during performance? For instance when a guitarist comps, he/she must be able to put any note of their choosing on the top of their voicing quickly and accurately. Without knowing at least the common chord voicings in all of their inversions ones comping may fall short of the mark. When soloing, having complete command of chord scales and arpeggios in a variety of positions is crucial. Getting serious about really knowing ones fundamentals allows the musician to focus on the business at hand: music making...
George Van Eps set his goals higher than most solo jazz guitarists. He enjoyed discovering new ways to turn a phrase in the moment and often going to the woods and having to find his way back, inventing most of his journey. He would often tell his audiences that he found it hard to believe that they found his noodling interesting. Granted he had his comfortable material to fall back on like any improviser, but he insisted on trying to improvise a string trio arrangement on the guitars fretboard. His use of an extra low seventh string helped him get closer to a pianos wider range.
A couple of months ago I was approached by Mike Gellar, a fine Maryland guitarist/computer whiz, about teaching online masterclasses. I had been thinking that it was only a matter of time before someone got this type of project in action. Kudos to Mike for following through! He enlisted some of the best jazz guitarist/educators such as Jack Wilkins, Sid Jacobs, Tony DeCaprio and Sheryl Bailey with more to follow...
A Modern Guitars reader recently asked me to talk a bit about the seven-string guitar, why I chose it and what keeps me playing it. My introduction to the seven-string was hearing the recordings of the great George Van Eps. The first time I heard about Van Eps was in high school at the school's library. They had a good supply of back issues of Guitar Player magazine one of which had Van Eps on its cover. What high school library today would have something like this? I learned so much about jazz guitar and other guitar styles from reading GP back when it was less concerned with what was popular. So, before heading to Berklee I knew quite a bit about Van Eps and Johnny Smith courtesy of Guitar Player...
Ted Greene left this world all too soon last week. I still canât believe heâs gone. Knowing that he was there in his Encino apartment all day teaching his many students was a comforting feeling. Most things in the world change so abruptly but there was Ted doing what he loved and werenât we all the better for it! Dropping into town for a few days one may have been fortunate enough to...
Every guitar student I coach is encouraged to memorize a handful of standard tunes. Iâve found that most students will first go to a fakebook in attempting to learn a new tune. Iâd like to suggest a more natural approach that makes memorizing tunes easier, is more thorough, and great fun at the same time...
As a teacher I get the most pleasure in helping a student realize the special qualities they possess and working together to further develop them. These abilities are the things that really stand out in their playing and can be strengthened with a little encouragement...
Most of us know what itâs like to sit down and practice the all-important fundamentals like technique, theory, ear training, sight reading, tunes etc. for many hours at a time. Sometimes itâs easy to lose sight...
The great guitarist Joe Pass used to say to his students, âPlay me an idea.â This was often met with a blank stare. Many times the uninitiated would pile into a barrage of notes often pentatonic licks or a quick run up or down a scale. Next thing Joe would say was âsing me that.â Of course they couldnât sing it like they had...