In this next podcast, Carl Orr interviews the very accomplished guitarist, Damien Cooper.

Damien is a freelance London based guitarist who has held the Guitar 1 chair on Thriller live since 2009, and has been a member of Dr Hook from 2015.

Originally from Australia and after 20 years of playing and touring around Australasia with acts covering styles from jazz to rock to cabaret, Damien relocated to London. Since then he has been an in demand player on both the London scene and abroad. Theatre credits include Jesus Christ Superstar (Scandinavian tour), Hedwig And The Angry Inch (London), Godspell, Dancing In The Streets (UK and European tour), Never Forget (London dep), Top Hat (London Dep), The Book of Morman (London Dep)Tina the Musical London Dep and various shows at the London Palldium including Bill Kenwright’s Dream On and Magic Fm’s Christmas show.

Damien has also toured, recorded and worked with a variety of different artists including Denise Pearson, Jimmy Somerville, Dr Hook, Kim Wilde, Beverley Knight, Lemar, Anastacia, The Shires, James Morrison, Ronan Keating, Andrea Triana, MC Mystro, Rick Astley, Gabrielle, Alfie Boe, Boyzone, Macy Grey, Peter Andre……and more.

This episode highlights the importance and discipline of rhythm guitar, which is a huge strength of Damien’s and a real tribute to his success as a working musician. There are also some great tips shared by both Carl and Damien about improvisation in a live performance setting.

If you want to join my online jazz guitar academy with a complete pathway of step-by-step courses to improve your jazz playing, take a look by clicking here: https://www.fretdojo.com/signup-offer/

Here’s some ways you can develop your jazz guitar playing:

For jazz guitar beginners: Check out my 30-Day Jazz Guitar Challenge: https://www.fretdojo.com/30-day-jazz-guitar-challenge/

For my complete collection of courses for a low monthly fee, go to this link: https://www.fretdojo.com/signup-offer/

On today’s podcast, Carl Orr shares an insightful interview with one of Australia’s stars on guitar, Bruce Mathiske!

Bruce has been touring the world and composing for the guitar for the last thirty years. He has studied Classical and Jazz guitar and received his Diploma of Music in improvising, arranging and composing. He has been described by the Sydney Morning Herald as “The Authentic Guitar Virtuoso”.

His use of the guitar to become its own orchestra, and his unique style of playing bass, rhythm and melody simultaneously has led to standing ovations and sell-out concerts all over the world.

Bruce’s recording catalogue includes 25 predominately solo/original albums and he also composed the music score for the Australian Geographic documentary series “The best of Australia” as well as numerous television productions for ABCTV and various other documentaries.

You are going to love this episode with Bruce. He shares some real gems such as his theory of athletics and pure creativity on guitar and also some great practical examples of solo guitar arrangements during the show.

If you want to join my online jazz guitar academy with a complete pathway of step-by-step courses to improve your jazz playing, take a look by clicking here: https://www.fretdojo.com/signup-offer/

Here’s some ways you can develop your jazz guitar playing:

For jazz guitar beginners: Check out my 30-Day Jazz Guitar Challenge: https://www.fretdojo.com/30-day-jazz-guitar-challenge/

For my complete collection of courses for a low monthly fee, go to this link: https://www.fretdojo.com/signup-offer/

In this fantastic session, Ant shares some tips and inspiration for jazz guitar players of all levels and lets us in on his unique way of playing with his guitar tuned in 4ths!

Ant’s been described as “An innovator” and “A gamechanger” by The Guardian. Based in the UK, Ant lives in London where he leads the Ant Law Quintet. 

In 2013 their debut album ’Entanglement’ was released to great acclaim, followed by ‘Zero Sum World’ (with Whirlwind Recordings) in 2015 and ‘Life I Know’ (withEdition Records) in 2018, receiving 5 star reviews and airplay across the UK, Europe, and Australia. 

Ant plays in Tim Garland’s band with Jason Rebello & Asaf Sirkis, featuring on various albums including ‘ONE’ which was shortlisted for a Grammy and won the Jazzwise Best Album award. He has worked with other notables Cory Henry, Thomas Gould and is featured from time to time in “Total Guitar”, “Guitar Techniques” & “Guitarist” magazines. In the latter he recently made a list of “10 Astounding Virtuosos”. Ant’s fourth album was just released this year on July 24th the sleeper wakes. 

Show notes: https://www.fretdojo.com/podcast019/

If you want to join my online jazz guitar academy with a complete pathway of step-by-step courses to improve your jazz playing, take a look by going here: https://www.fretdojo.com/signup-offer/

Here’s some ways you can develop your jazz guitar playing:

For jazz guitar beginners: Check out my 30-Day Jazz Guitar Challenge: https://www.fretdojo.com/30-day-jazz-guitar-challenge/

Find out more about Ant Law here:
FB live streams on FB artist page: https://www.facebook.com/AntLawGuitar/live
NEW ALBUM: https://orcd.co/sleeperwakes
Other albums, sheet music, backing tracks: https://antlaw.bandcamp.com/
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAy_Wjp5adEDQMsNVDyX8fQ
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/antlawguitar/

In today’s podcast, Carl Orr, FretDojo’s current Artist in Residence, interviews one of the most fascinating and original guitarists on the planet today, Nicolas Meier.

With his unique style that is a blend of Metheny-esque jazz and Turkish inspired world music, Nicolas has toured extensively around the world with his band the Meier Group. This wonderful band (featuring sax maestro Gilad Atzmon and Dave O’Higgins) won the overall prize for ‘best band’ at the Juan-les-Pins jazz festival!

His recent album Kismet is a wonderful heady mixture of Flamenco, jazz, Latin and Middle Eastern music. His prodigious jazz talent is matched by his other great passion: playing heavy metal guitar in his scorching group ‘Seven7’.

For the last three years, Nicolas was the guitarist in guitar supremo, Jeff Beck’s band, with whom he toured all over the world, performing at major venues and festivals. He has recently recorded a stunning album with the A-lister rhythm section of Jimmy Haslip (Yellowjackets) and Vinnie Colaiuta (Sting, Frank Zappa etc).

You’ll really love this episode with Nicolas not only sharing his story but also talking about his compositions, how he wrote them and the compositions by other musicians who influenced him.

If you want to join my online jazz guitar academy with a complete pathway of step-by-step courses to improve your jazz playing, take a look by clicking here: https://www.fretdojo.com/signup-offer/

Here’s some ways you can develop your jazz guitar playing:

For jazz guitar beginners: Check out my 30-Day Jazz Guitar Challenge: https://www.fretdojo.com/30-day-jazz-guitar-challenge/

For my complete collection of courses for a low monthly fee, go to this link: https://www.fretdojo.com/signup-offer/

In today’s podcast, Carl Orr, FretDojo’s current Artist in Residence, introduces us to incredible guitarist, Ian Date.

Ian is originally from Australia and has played on more than 70 albums either as a sideman or a leader. He has performed and recorded with people such as multi-instrumentalist James Morrison and legendary guitarists Tommy Emmanuel and Martin Taylor. Ian has played at festivals and events all over the world, from the South Island of New Zealand to Iceland via Asia and South Africa.

Firmly rooted in the jazz tradition and equally at home on the acoustic or electric guitar, critics have described his playing as, “endlessly inventive, lyrical and always swinging.”

Ian currently lives in County Cork, Ireland where he continues his musical journey.

You will really get to know Ian in this fantastic interview where he shares his humble self-taught beginnings on guitar, his well-rounded background in a wide range of musical genres and his unique perspective on jazz improvisation as an art form.

Also during the show, Ian shares some of his most loved tracks ‘You Don’t Know What Love Is’, ‘Bouncin’ with Bud’ and ‘Royal Garden Blues’.

In today’s podcast, I’m sharing with you a fantastic session where my good friend and current FretDojo Artist in Residence Carl Orr interviews Nigel Price, one of the hottest jazz guitarists in the UK scene.

Nigel Price has a career spanning more than 25 years has become widely acknowledged as one of the hardest working musicians in the business.

Starting his professional career after a spell in the British infantry in his early 20s, Nigel toured Europe with various reggae and funk bands before settling on a solo career and turning his attention to jazz. With early influences include Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Nigel honed his craft by attending gigs and sitting in with the players of the time.

Nigel has played on more than 50 albums including 7 as a leader, spent ten years with acid jazz outfit The Filthy Six, was a member of James Taylor’s band, JTQ, for 3 years and performed with the legendary David Axelrod.

I think you’re really going to enjoy this interview, where Nigel shares some real nuggets of wisdom when it comes to not only improving your skills as a jazz guitarist, but also about being on the road as a working musician and some skilful ways to balance the demands of his musical career and family life.

On today’s podcast, Carl Orr gets us behind the scenes with one of jazz guitar’s hottest young players, Rob Luft.

Rob is an award-winning 26-year-old jazz guitarist from London whose virtuosity has been compared to that of six-string legends John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola & Paco De Lucia. Praised by The Times for performances with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra in 2015, who said he was destined ‘to achieve great things in the future’. Rob was subsequently the recipient of the 2016 Kenny Wheeler Prize from The Royal Academy of Music in association with Edition Records, and he also received the 2nd Prize in The 2016 Montreux Jazz Guitar Competition at the Montreux Jazz Festival.

His debut album, “Riser”, was released on Edition Records in 2017 to widespread critical acclaim from the European jazz media. John Fordham wrote in The Guardian that it’s a
“very sophisticated debut, but given Luft’s old-soul achievements since his early teens, we should have heard it coming”.

On the back of the success of his first album, Rob was nominated for a string of awards – Breakthrough Act in the 2018 Jazz FM Awards, Instrumentalist of the Year in the 2018 Parliamentary Jazz Awards & Instrumentalist of the Year in the 2019 Jazz FM Awards.

In May 2019, Rob was selected as BBC New Generation Jazz Artist 2019-2021, an accolade granted to “some of the world’s most exceptional young musicians”.
“Guitar virtuoso makes enticingly vivacious debut” THE GUARDIAN (UK)

In this relaxed yet captivating interview, Rob shares his beginnings, the importance of versatility and what it’s like playing with some of the world’s best! During the show, Rob shares a couple of his latest tracks from his new album, Life Is The Dancer. I think you’re going to love this one!

Podcast episode URL: https://www.fretdojo.com/podcast015/

Check out Rob’s newest album ‘Life Is The Dancer’ here: https://robluft.bandcamp.com/

To get instant access to a structured online curriculum for learning jazz guitar that features courses by Carl and other top guitar instructors, go here: https://www.fretdojo.com/signup-offer/

*For more jazz guitar lessons, tips and free stuff, visit https://www.fretdojo.com