Sex, drugs, and Christmas carols

by | Dec 15, 2017 | Articles

Sex, drugs, and Christmas carols

Here’s a summary of quite an interesting article I was reading on Music Radar today – rock and metal musicians revealing their favorite Christmas carols.

I found some of their answers pretty surprising:

* Joe Satriani – Silent Night

* Alex Lifeson – Little Drummer Boy

* Steve Vai – Christmas Time Is Here

* Joe Bonamassa: White Christmas (Bing Crosby version)

* Zakk Wylde – I’ll Be Home For Christmas

*Jon Petrucci – O Holy Night

And my personal pick:

* Steve Morse (current guitarist for Deep Purple): Christmas Secrets by Enya

As you can see, even hardened rockers have a soft spot for Christmas Carols (not to mention the rest of us.)

Anyway, if you’re keen to get a solo jazz guitar set list happening this Christmas, my new book, A Chord Melody Christmas, could be just the ticket. Not only does it have carefully notated jazz guitar arrangements of Christmas carol favorites, the new book also includes bonus recordings that are exact note-for-note-renditions of each arrangement. You can use the recordings as a useful study tool or simply as some nice relaxing guitar music to set the scene at home during this holiday season.

If you happen to have Steve Vai over for dinner this Christmas, now you know how to make him happy…

 

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The jazz police are coming to get you

by | Dec 7, 2017 | Articles

The jazz police are coming to get you

In the jazz scene you’ll run across people whose job seems to be to tell you what jazz is, and what it isn’t:

“You can’t ever bend the strings when improvising jazz!”

“I’m sorry – but you’re completely incorrect. You said it was a G7#5 chord, but technically it should be a G7b13”.

“You can’t play jazz on a solid body guitar!”

These are known as the Jazz Police. Strutting around with their trusty jazz theory and history books at hand, ready to pounce on any offender that dares to be a culprit of Jazz Heresy – (gasp) the most appalling and heinous crime.

Ugh.

This kind of attitude annoys me. Music needs to evolve and grow, rather being stuck in a dusty institution like some sort of museum exhibit.

Now, let’s get something straight – it’s important:

To get to where you want to be as a jazz player, reading a load of theory books and stuffing your head full of “rights” and “wrongs” will not help you. You need to get your hands dirty. Learn a bunch of jazz standards, mingle with other jazz players, and actually start playing music with real people – this is the real way to build your jazz skills.

So take that, Jazz Police. 

Greg O’Rourke,

Founder, Fret Dojo

World Leader in Online Jazz Guitar Education

P.S – By the way, Ed Bickert, one of the greatest jazz guitarists who ever lived, played jazz on a solid body Telecaster. Even with a single coil pickup at times. So there.

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• Beginners Jazz Guitar Improvisation
• Chord Melody Guitar Basics
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Video: Stompin’ At The Savoy

Video: Stompin’ At The Savoy

by | Dec 5, 2017 | Performance Videos

Video: Stompin’ At The Savoy

I recorded a new Youtube video, check it out here:

This video is a chord melody rendition of Stompin’ At The Savoy.

It’s the exact version you’re going to learn for this month’s featured tune in my new jazz standard learning group, the FretDojo Academy Club.

You’ll also get a grab-bag of soloing approaches, comping ideas, and loads of other cool stuff along the way.

If you’re like most jazz guitar players, it’s probably about time to get a new tune under your belt.

Especially with Christmas coming up and all.

Common scenario after Christmas dinner:

“…So we’ve heard from your wife that you’re learning jazz guitar. Well, come on and play us somethin’ jazzy now!” (An eager family member places a guitar in your unsuspecting hands).

Be alert – not alarmed. It’s up to you to decide how that story unfolds…

How to get access to the new lessons on Stompin’ At The Savoy?

Easy – Just by going to the link below and get instant access now:

www.fretdojo.com/club

Now the exciting bit:

If you're keen to have a structured, step-by-step approach to learning jazz guitar, it might be worth checking out my online learning system, the FretDojo Jazz Guitar Academy.

Here's what you get when you join up:

  • Detailed step-by-step video lessons on new classic jazz tunes and essential jazz guitar skills added to the club website each month. Includes listening recommendations, demonstrations of the melody, analysis of the harmony, and detailed explanations on how to solo over the tune.
  • Key improvisation concepts and techniques for soloing, and classic licks and example solos that relate to each tune, so you can continue to expand your jazz vocabulary and have more options when it comes to soloing.
  • Detailed comping ideas to suit the style of each jazz standard covered
  • Lessons on how to make chord melody and solo jazz guitar versions of tunes featured - play a complete jazz standard completely on your own like Joe Pass!
  • Members only forum - A worldwide community of jazz guitarists from all around the globe.
  • Regular workshops, masterclasses, and Q & A Sessions - get direct answers from me on anything holding you back in the practice room. Replays of all sessions are available to access for all members even if you can’t make it live.
  • Massive searchable database of jazz licks and soloing concepts - the ultimate idea "grab bag" for your solos.
  • Optional monthly challenges where members participate to get feedback on their playing, reach new milestones and be eligible for cool prizes.

The best part:

You can access this all of this and more for just $1 by signing up to a 14 day trial. Go here for more info: https://www.fretdojo.com/signup-offer

I’ll see you on the inside…

Greg O’Rourke,

Founder, Fret Dojo

World Leader in Online Jazz Guitar Education

Complete Range Of Jazz Guitar Courses

Maximize Your Potential With Our Step-By-Step Programs

Join Courses


Get Your FREE Guitar
E-Book Bundle

Three Must Have eBooks:

• Beginners Jazz Guitar Improvisation
• Chord Melody Guitar Basics
• Guitar Speed Building Secrets

Instant access - completely FREE!

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Why jazz makes you better at all styles of guitar

by | Nov 9, 2017 | Articles

Why jazz makes you better at all styles of guitar

Recently I got booked to play a classical wedding gig.

Ouch. I haven’t done that for a while.

So I dusted off my neglected classical guitar and tried to remember some of the ol’ Bach and Albeniz I used to play years ago.

This is when I noticed something weird – and very cool.

Even though I hadn’t touched that sort of music for years (having become completely obsessed with jazz guitar in the meantime)…

I was BETTER at these classical tunes then way back when I was dedicating hours on classical practice.

Musically, I found it easier to get into the flow of the music.

Rhythmically, it was more secure.

Technically, I was more accurate and found it easier to play fast runs (thanks, Charlie Parker).

And I could comprehend the harmonic structure of the music, and how this related to the fretboard, with much more clarity than before.

I couldn’t believe it.

In that moment, I realized something:

Studying jazz guitar not only gets you better at playing jazz, but other styles of guitar as well.

Why?

Jazz advances you, on all musical fronts, to a much higher level. Studying jazz guitar enables you to understand the nuts and bolts of what makes up the music, and relate this to the unique, complex layout of the guitar.

And if you understand something, the easier it becomes.

So even if jazz guitar isn’t your main musical interest to study, it’s important to think about studying it for this very reason:

It could directly improve ALL the other musical styles you like to play on guitar, and give you a framework to better understand music in general.

Complete Range Of Jazz Guitar Courses

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E-Book Bundle

Three Must Have eBooks:

• Beginners Jazz Guitar Improvisation
• Chord Melody Guitar Basics
• Guitar Speed Building Secrets

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Video: All The Things You Are Easy Chord Melody

Video: All The Things You Are Easy Chord Melody

by | Nov 2, 2017 | Performance Videos

Video: All The Things You Are Easy Chord Melody

Here’s a little video I recorded recently of a chord melody version of All The Things You Are. Check it out (it only goes for a minute or two):

Now that you’ve watched it, let me ask you a question.

Does this arrangement look complicated?

Yes?

Hehe…I knew you were going to say that.

But – What if I was to tell you that…

This was actually quite easy to play?

Well – it is easy to play. (I’m not just saying that).

In fact, even newbie jazz guitar students I’ve taught have been able to quickly put together a version of All The Things You Are like this without much hassle.

How?

Well, my apprentice, through using some special chord voicings that you only need two fingers to play. This frees up your hand from those big chunky chord voicings that ‘strap’ your hand down with no room to move.

In fact, some of these voicings have only two notes (the 3rd and 7th), yet fill out the harmony nicely.

Chord melody can be very simple. In fact, the simplest approaches are often the BEST approaches.

Now, listen up:

What if I was to tell you that you can learn this exact arrangement of All The Things You Are on the above video, with handy diagrams, charts and a complete end to end video walkthrough showing you every secret I used?

In the first public month of my (until recently top-secret) FretDojo Academy Club, you get exactly this – instructions on how to build this arrangement of All The Things You Are, step-by-step.

That’s along with the other lessons on this tune such as playing the melody, comping, analysis, single line soloing approaches – you basically get the whole kaboodle.

Now the exciting bit:

If you're keen to have a structured, step-by-step approach to learning jazz guitar, it might be worth checking out my online learning system, the FretDojo Jazz Guitar Academy.

Here's what you get when you join up:

  • Detailed step-by-step video lessons on new classic jazz tunes and essential jazz guitar skills added to the club website each month. Includes listening recommendations, demonstrations of the melody, analysis of the harmony, and detailed explanations on how to solo over the tune.
  • Key improvisation concepts and techniques for soloing, and classic licks and example solos that relate to each tune, so you can continue to expand your jazz vocabulary and have more options when it comes to soloing.
  • Detailed comping ideas to suit the style of each jazz standard covered
  • Lessons on how to make chord melody and solo jazz guitar versions of tunes featured - play a complete jazz standard completely on your own like Joe Pass!
  • Members only forum - A worldwide community of jazz guitarists from all around the globe.
  • Regular workshops, masterclasses, and Q & A Sessions - get direct answers from me on anything holding you back in the practice room. Replays of all sessions are available to access for all members even if you can’t make it live.
  • Massive searchable database of jazz licks and soloing concepts - the ultimate idea "grab bag" for your solos.
  • Optional monthly challenges where members participate to get feedback on their playing, reach new milestones and be eligible for cool prizes.

The best part:

You can access this all of this and more for just $1 by signing up to a 14 day trial. Go here for more info: https://www.fretdojo.com/signup-offer

 Greg O’Rourke,

Founder, Fret Dojo

World Leader in Online Jazz Guitar Education

Complete Range Of Jazz Guitar Courses

Maximize Your Potential With Our Step-By-Step Programs

Join Courses


Get Your FREE Guitar
E-Book Bundle

Three Must Have eBooks:

• Beginners Jazz Guitar Improvisation
• Chord Melody Guitar Basics
• Guitar Speed Building Secrets

Instant access - completely FREE!

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