Video – Jazz guitar guide tone soloing shortcut (Free workbook)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FABypGMK1bc Get your Handy PDF Worksheet & Backing Track Download: Click this link to get a print friendly worksheet and backing track for your practice. It's been a while, but it's great to be back in front of the video camera. If...
‘Upgrading’ Rhythms on Your Jazz Licks
Want a quick summary of this lesson? Get your Handy PDF Download: Click this link to get a print friendly version of all the exercises in this post for your practice. Recently I put together a complete lesson series on the classic jazz standard 'Stella By Starlight....
The danger of the “free”
There's loads (loads!) of information on jazz guitar on the internet. You could download something new every day for the rest of your life, and there would still be enough to sift through 10 times over. But: Information alone is not enough to help you progress....
Are you a “Gollum” guitarist?
Remember Gollum, that creepy character out of J. R. R. Tolkien's books like "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of The Rings"? That's right. The small, slimy creature obsessed with what he calls "his Precious" - a magic ring he never uses, but instead just touches and...
Paul’s musical direction is “changed forever” (video)
Today I thought I could share with you a nice video that FretDojo Academy student Paul Flynn recorded, with a bit of feedback on his experience with my Fundamentals of Jazz Guitar Improvisation course (that re-opened this week). Here's the link to the video to find...
You have questions and I have answers – as it should be
I'm writing to you today because I've been receiving loads of questions about my online course, The Fundamentals of Jazz Guitar Improvisation, that was released earlier this week - Click here to find out more about the program. Here are the answers and what you need...
If you’re a jazz guitarist, don’t let this happen to you
You've put it off long enough. So you head along to your first local jam session, down at the pub on the corner. The stale beer smell hits you as you enter the dimly lit scene. You see the house band in the corner cutting through rhythm changes with keen jazz...
What most jazz guitarists get wrong
Many jazz guitar teachers mislead students when it comes to learning improvisation. Too much emphasis is placed on scales, modes, arpeggios, and theory. ‘Use a Dorian mode for a iim7 chord’. “Use a Dmaj7 arpeggio to highlight chord tones”. “Apply a melodic minor...
My *second* biggest thrill from music
I have a confession to make. I've had a pretty long music career now (over 25 years), but do you know what the *second* biggest thrill I've gotten out of music has ever been? It's not playing to huge crowds at prestigious venues. It's not recording albums either....
Wake up Neo – the matrix has you
One of my favorite scenes from the movie "The Matrix" is where the hero's elusive guide Morpheus says: "Neo, sooner or later you're going to realize, just as I did, that there's a difference between knowing the path and walking the path." A cool line from a movie...