Dave Kain

Improvising over jazz standards can be a very difficult thing to do. Once you learn all your scales, arpeggios, licks etc., you may find yourself in a rut with what to do with all the harmonic knowledge you have learned. For me, an incredibly important as aspect of improvisation that is overlooked is phrase placement. Where you start and end your phrases can take your solo from a predictable, boring and safe one to a strong assertive and climatic one.

When I am improvising, I am extremely aware of what, where and when I am starting any and all phrases. Becoming conscious of this is going to be more difficult if you don’t know the tune very well. So, applying this concept may be too difficult if you are still struggling with the harmonic elements of any tune you wish to use this idea on.

Breaking The Barline-Phrase Placement is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.

The new Jimmy Bruno Guitar Workshop (also known as Jimmy Bruno’s Guitar Workshop – JBGW) increases students’ abilities to progressively customize their own coursework using a newly-designed, integrated series of lessons. 

Jimmy Bruno

Students don’t learn each area of study in a vacuum, but simultaneously combine their studies with other areas to get the most out of each, while working at their own pace. Need work on chords while advancing more quickly on a jazz standard? Good picking technique but need work on improvisation skills? Jimmy’s method allows students to concentrate on different levels of lesson material in different areas at the same time in a completely complementary way.

“I’ve seen way too many jazz guitar players get so hung up in the theory that they become paralyzed by it and can’t play. They forget that music is sound; it’s not a bunch of rules. Using my method, students learn to make melodies that go through the chords rather than over them. They learn to play music!”
- Jimmy Bruno

Jimmy emphasizes learning to “hear” and developing a musical ear as he teaches how to create melodies right from the start. No heavy theory background is required; Jimmy’s basic “Five Fingerings” are enough to get you started. Once students have begun to apply Jimmy’s method to their playing, they can submit videos and receive direct feedback.

In this way, Jimmy can follow each student’s progress and provide guidance to the next step on the way to mastering jazz guitar. This will remove any doubts as to what to practice next. Jimmy points the way, the student puts in the time, and the results speak for themselves.

The new website site is launching on March 25th, 2011. Check out www.jbguitarworkshop.com on March 25th for detailed information on how to join…

► 3 mos. for the introductory price of $50 includes 24/7 lesson availability, personal feedback from Jimmy, access to all site extras, i.e. performance videos, backing tracks, PDFs, interaction with a vibrant forum community, chat room (with regular visits from Jimmy), and more!

Jazz Guitarist Jimmy Bruno Redefines Online Learning With New Website is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.

Who has the worst biography of a musician, ever?

Sometimes a guy just has to cut through the witty banter, joking titles, and say what’s on my mind.

I have, unfortunately, just finished reading what I believe to be the absolute worst biography of a musician ever in the history of print.

The worst part is that I was really looking forward to reading it.

But alas,  I had to suffer through it.

Keep reading if you want to know which book to avoid…

Wost. Book. Ever.

I’m sorry, everyone… I simply won’t have witty commentary or engaging thoughts on this one. This is a straight up rant on a really bad purchase. The book is called Grant Green: Rediscovering the Forgotten Genius of Jazz Guitar.

Things start off badly right from the get-go with the simple fact that the author is the ex-wife of one of Green’s sons. I’m sorry, but from the first few sentences it became apparent to me that the author, Sharony Andrews Green, was trying to elevate herself just as much as her subject. Sharony spent a lot of time in the beginning talking about herself, even to the point of her plugging her 1st book! I mean, I’m sorry but I didn’t buy this book to hear about Sharony’s life. But it felt like I was going to hear just as much about her and her husband as I did Green.

This went on for quite a while. It got better towards the middle, but then the timeline got screwy. In one paragraph she was writing about Green’s life in the 70′s, and then all of a sudden we’re back to the 50′s. I had a very hard time keeping track of what point of Green’s life was being discussed.

This went on for most of the book. But the absolute WORST offense came in the section that described the death of Wes Montgomery. Sharony, as the author, had the audacity to frame the event that was Montgomery’s death as to intimate that Green was somewhat relieved “now that his competition was gone.” (My paraphrasing.) I mean, could you be any more disrespectful? I’m sorry, but no matter what you think of Grant Green as a player, he was never, EVER, any competition to Wes Montgomery. Even if that might have been the case in his own head, Sharony never met Grant and never indicated that Green said (or felt) that way towards Wes. At the very least it was an incredibly insensitive thing to say about the greatest jazz guitar player who ever lived.

And so the book goes on and on like this for a while. Very disjointed, very hard to read. The most disappointing art of the book was when she spoke about Green’s funeral. Now, this isn’t necessarily the author’s fault, but I find it very odd that no one seemed to be able to accurately describe the funeral. Some people said it was taken over by militant Mulsims, other say no. Some say it was largely attended, some say not. Some say only the family was at the cemetery, others say not. It’s more sad than anything that a guitar player as great as Green, who Sharony went out of her way to hype up (deservedly or not) as a very popular and respected member of the guitar, St. Louis, and Muslim communities, was not able to be remembered accurately even at his own funeral!

The last straw for me, honestly, was the end of the book where Sharony went back to talk to herself to mention that she divorced from one of Green’s sons. You know what? I don’t care! I mean, I’m certainly sorry that for whatever reason it didn’t work out, but what does that have to do with Grant?

Simply put, the book was poorly written. The author interjected herself into the subject’s story, the timeline was screwy, and the disrespect to Montgomery’s memory was all just too much for me to bear. I strongly recommend that you NOT buy this book. Everyone’s mileage may vary, but for me the mileage on this book was very short.

What I would love to see is someone do a much better job about the life of Grant Green. I don’t think his story has been sufficiently told, and it should be.

The Worst Musician Biography, Ever is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.

These are not the roots you're looking for.

It’s fun chord Friday here on Fretterverse! I can’t believe how long it’s been since we’ve broken out the staff paper and done some actual guitar work. I hope you had a chance to digest and start working on yesterday’s phrasing exercise. Though you should continue with the phrasing work from yesterday, today we’re going to go back to my favorite subject.

One thing that I love about jazz is the variety of tonal colors coming from the harmony instruments. A good comper will never play the exact same thing twice in the same song, very unlike rock and roll. It’s this variety that adds the spice to the soup and makes for a very tasty tune.

And so with that in mind we’re going to look at a concept that I call “root substitutions.” The general premise here is to substitute the note of a chord – in this case, the root (duh!) – with another note in order to give your comping a much more interesting sound.

How interesting? Well, that part is up to you. All I can do is give you hints and suggestions. I will tell you that these chord subs, along with a very nice looking, wide-brimmed, red velvet pimp hat, will make you the coolest player ever! Since I’m all out of hats, I’ll have to help you with the chords.

First, a few concepts. In jazz, frequently the person providing the harmony will raise the 4th note of the major chord scale in order to give a Lydian sound. So we’re going to do the same thing. Throughout the examples we’ll be playing in the key of C Major but raising the ‘F’ notes to ‘F#’ for a Lydian sound. Do not get confused! We are not playing in the key of D Major, as much as your ear and brain may want to think that way. We’re still playing in C Major but using a Lydian sound.

The basic chords we’ll be using are standard diatonic 7th chords with the 5th removed, working on the 5-4-3 string group (A, D, G strings). Here is the first chord:

As I said, no 5th. Taking out the 5th will open up the chord’s sound a bit. With this structure in mind, and taking the #11 substitution into consideration, here are all of the chords in C Major:

As you play through the examples, again, remember that we’re in C Major. The second chord is going to sound like a D7, which technically speaking it is, but you have to think in terms of C. If it helps, use a backing track to play a walking bass line in C to help get the sound in your head. You can take the root note of each chord and displace them up an octave to help avoid register clashes with the bass:

Try both of those on the 5-4-3 string group and get the sound into your ear. When you have done this a few times, go back to the first set of chords and substitute the root note of each chord with the next note of the C Major scale (keeping in mind the #11).

As you can see, in the first chord we substituted the root – ‘C’ – with the next higher note of a C Major scale – ‘D’. The next chords replaces ‘D’ with ‘E’, and the next chord replaces ‘E’ with ‘F#’. What I love about these substitutions is that the typical guitar chord intervals are changed to give us more piano-like voicings instead. I much prefer these sounds to the ones created by the typical block chord.

But, everyone’s mileage may vary. If these chords are way too hip for your elbow-patched blazer, you can displace the new root of each chord up an octave as well:

A tad bit too much on the Masterpiece Theater for my taste, but it’s better to have all of these chords available in your mental chord dictionary.

Once you’ve practiced this chord substitution for a while, you can move the entire chord structures up an octave. This may end up sounding much better when a bass player is present. Obviously, you want to be able to play all of these chord ideas in every key and in every area of the fingerboard. You can also start to add more substitutions to hip the chords up even more – especially on the V7 chords of each key.

Bottom line? Experiment and have fun!

Chord Hacks: Root Substitutions is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.

Is this how you view your playing?

I’ve decided to forgo my usual Wednesday time off today. Sometimes you get an idea stuck in your head and it won’t go away, so rather than fight it I’m just going with the flow.

At the risk of having to turn in my man card to the nearest tough-guy recruitment center, I was watching TV over the weekend, by myself… watching a romantic comedy movie. For the life of me I cannot tell you why I was doing this, but I’m going to blame it on a lack of episodes of Top Gear and soccer on the tube. Anyway, during one scene of the movie the lead actress was having another one of her several crises of confidence. She was, as she had been throughout the movie, coming up with a million reasons why she couldn’t do something, why things had to be a certain way, blah blah blah. You get the idea.

One of the other actors stopped her in mid sentence and told her in so many words that the reason why she was so uptight and miserable all of the time was because whenever she was faced with a situation (good or bad) she would immediately start putting up roadblocks and obstacles to protect herself. Her first thoughts were always of the 800 reasons why she couldn’t do it, why it wouldn’t work, and why she should just stay the course and never “go for it.”

As I watched the scene unfold it struck me that most of us – myself absolutely included, especially lately – do the exact same thing when it comes to our guitar playing and musical creativity.

I touched on this a little bit recently, and as I watched the rest of the movie it all came back to me and kicked me in the ass… hard! I think for many years now as I’ve been trying to “get” jazz I’ve been putting up my own roadblocks and obstacles. I have been mentally coming up with all kinds of reasons why I’ll never truly be able to play jazz guitar the way I want – one of my life goals, I should add.

Is reading all of these an obstacle to your success?

I’ve always been a technically-minded person. Never content with just being able to do something, I’ve always tried to understand all of the inner workings. For years now I’ve tried memorizing all of the jazz harmony and theory I could learn. I can tell you up, down, left, right, backward, and forward what you should play over a V7 chord, but I can’t necessarily play them all off the top of my head during a jam session. Why? I think it’s because I had been spending more time putting up roadblocks by thinking I needed to understand the concepts intellectually before I would be able to play them on my guitar. Even when I picked up the guitar and started to work on these concepts I think I had been too concerned with processing what I’m doing in my brain (on an intellectual level) rather than completely let my ear and inner voice take over.

In a sense, I think this was actually the easy way out – excuse-wise that is. My lack of confidence, my fear of never being able to play jazz like a pro, actually fueled the backcycle of doing the wrong things in order to perpetuate the status quo.

Here’s an example: if I showed you a door and told you that behind the door was five million dollars, what would you do? Well, the roadblock- and obstacle-minded person (like I had been) would tell  you that I couldn’t get the money because the door was locked and I didn’t have the key. That’s what I have been doing for a long time now. The “go out and do it” people, however, would kick, smash, shoulder slam, and pick the lock – whatever they could possibly think of in order to break that door down and get to that cash. Which person are you? Think about it, however; don’t be so quick to just say you’re the kind to do whatever it takes to get the money. You have to be honest with yourself before you can truly answer the question.

Well I’m on to the game now. I think it’s all becoming clear to me. In order to truly be successful at playing guitar – specifically playing jazz guitar in my case – I need to stop creating reasons why I can’t do it, and stop substituting activity for productivity. Where does that leave me? Well, to be honest I’m not really sure just yet. My epiphany just happened a few days ago. I do know that it’s going to require a whole lot more of doing the right work. Probably a lot more listening and learning solos and working things out on the guitar rather than worrying about playing in the exact right mode or scale. Probably a lot more “going for it” and falling flat on my face and being frustrated. The good kind of frustration, though.

So there it is. If you’re serious about becoming a great guitar player, or great at anything you want to do, you need to stop putting up roadblocks. Stop doing the things that are getting in your own way.

Good luck to us all!

Stop Putting Up Roadblocks to Your Own Guitar Success is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.

Jazz Guitar Harmony by Jody Fisher

I love chords. Love ‘em, love ‘em, love ‘em!

I’m one of “those” guitar players that gets off on hearing great guitar rhythm playing/comping than a great solo. Especially in regards to jazz, comping and playing the right notes and chord voicings is where it’s at. There is nothing like hearing a new chord underneath a nice melody line in a ballad that sends shivers up my spine.

Let’s be honest. Guitar solos are great. We all know that; that’s why we started playing guitar to begin with, right? Without a great harmonic background to support that ripping solo, however, it’s just not the same.

And so, in my desperate quest to try and pass myself off as a jazz guitar player (still working on it…) I purchased pretty much every jazz guitar harmony/chord book there is. We’re talking dozens and dozens of books. I think I kept the jazz guitar education community gainfully employed for a few months.

Of all the books I bought, only a few managed to stick out and stay on the top of the pile. Though most covered the same material, it’s all in the presentation. Jazz Guitar Harmony, written by guitarist Jody Fisher, is one of the books I continuously turn to time and time again.

You can tell a lot about a jazz guitar player by his chord voicings. I believe, even more so than how he solos. So there must be something about Fisher’s playing that I really like, because I love this book! All of the material you would expect and require from a jazz guitar harmony book is covered here. I think it’s the way Fisher presents the material that strikes a chord (pun intended) with me.

There is not a lot of text explanation, but there are lots of examples to play and practice. Chapter 1 – a very short chapter on triads – is the only group of pages without direct practice material. But once you quickly get into Chapter 2 you are off to the races!

It’s both apparent and obvious to me that Fisher is a very good teacher, as his book builds progressively upon previous chapters to expand your chord vocabulary and knowledge of jazz harmony concepts. But it’s not just a book of chords to learn (though I have circled many a chord voicing to make sure I add to my playing). Rather, it’s a book that gives you just enough material to immediately add to your bag of tricks but also plenty of inspiration and a pathway to work out other ideas on your own. Nothing is too far-fetched or out of place; Fisher provides you with exactly what you need to know to get better quickly and build upon the foundation in your own way.

In addition to chords, progressions, leading tones, backcycling, passing chords, reharmonization, tritone substitutions, and a whole host of other ideas are presented in the book – all with simple but easy-to-understand explanations and lots of examples. I guess I should also mention that every example is written in standard notation and tablature, so you don’t have to be a sight-reading guru in order to get a lot out of this book.

I was hoping to be able to show a few pages from the inside of the book, but for copyright reasons I thought better of it. You can, however, see some example pages from Amazon’s page, so I encourage you to check it out and see some of the material.

Jazz Guitar Harmony also comes with an audio CD in case you are one of those players (like me) who learn better when you can hear what’s going on along with seeing it on the printed page.

If you couldn’t tell already, I highly recommend this book. It is densely packed with important information but not so big that you will feel overwhelmed. A great book for both beginner and intermediate jazz guitar players.

Jazz Guitar Harmony by Jody Fisher (book) is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.

This is a list of the 20 albums, representing the past 80 years of jazz guitar, which I would consider essential to my collection. These albums cover a wide range of styles, genres and combo sizes, ranging from solo guitar to large ensemble. But what links them together is that they are, at least in my opinion, 20 of the finest jazz-guitar records ever made.

Compiling a list like this is extremely difficult, but these are the albums that I wouldn’t want to live without. That have touched me as a listener and shaped me as a performer. There are many other records, especially from non-guitarists, that have had a big effect on me over the years, but these are the 20 that I couldn’t see myself doing without.

Check out the list, there might be some albums on here you haven’t heard before and would like to have in your collection. Feel free to add your own selections in the comments section. Lists like this shouldn’t be definitive, and this one definitely isn’t, so go ahead and add your favorite records to it.

If all that comes out of this is that people are exposed to new music that affects their lives as it has mine, then this exercise has been well worth it.

Charlie Christian: Genius of the Electric Guitar

Genre: Bebop/Swing
Year: 1939-1941

Charlie Christian started us all down the path to modernizing the guitar within the jazz idiom. Being the first guitarist to be featured in a single-note fashion, in the same way that saxophones were at the time, Christian proved that the guitar could hold it’s own as a solo and comping instrument, which changed everything for those that came after him.

Though the sound of the record and the music may become dated over time, Christian’s playing has a timeless quality to it that will be enjoyed by generations of guitarists to come.

Johnny Smith: Moonlight in Vermont (Stan Getz)

Genre: Cool/Bebop
Year: 1952

One of the most successful guitarists of the late ’40s through the ’50s, Johnny Smith really hits the mark with this album featuring tenor great Stan Getz. Though Smith didn’t write the tune, “Moonlight in Vermont” has become synonymous with his name.

The arrangement features his characteristic spread chord voicings, classically based voice-leading and an ear for melodic development that is more compositional than improvisational. This is a great introduction into the musical world of one the 20^th century’s most accomplished guitarists.

Kenny Burrell: Midnight Blue

Genre: Blues Note/Bebop
Year: 1963

While a lot of the players on this list are known for their blazing chops and incredibly advanced harmonic approaches to improvisation, Kenny Burrell is included for the exact opposite reasons. Not that he doesn’t have chops, or isn’t sophisticated, but his playing on Midnight Blue is a clinic in blues-based, melodic and motivic jazz improvisation.

Burrell’s solo on “Chitlins Con Carne” is one of the finest blues improvisations on record. His choice of motive, and ability to manipulate it to create continued levels of interest, is a joy to witness as a listener, guitarist or otherwise.

Wes Montgomery: Smokin’ at the Half Note

Genre: Hard bop
Year: 1965

I know, I know, half the albums on a list like this could have been Wes’. And yes, I know his studio albums are some of best every recorded, but there’s something about this album that is unique and just draws me in every time I hear it.

Hearing Wes play with the Wynton Kelly trio, three of the finest musicians of their, or any generation, is impressive to say the least. Wes is in absolute fine form as he draws from a seemingly endless well of inspiration in his solos. It’s also a great album for those of us who didn’t have the chance to see Wes while he was alive.

Smokin’ at the Half Note provides an inside look into Wes’ approach to a live performance, and what he could accomplish when he wasn’t working within the constraints of the recording studio. This is definitely one of the best jazz-guitar records of all time.

Pat Martino: El Hombre

Genre: Bebop/Hard bop
Year: 1967

El Hombre is one of the best, and most influential, albums from Martino’s “early period.” For decades now, jazz guitarists have cut their teeth by learning Pat’s solo on “Just Friends,” and it’s now an essential and often required transcription in some of the nation’s top jazz schools.

While Martino would go on to experiment with modal music and Eastern sounds during the ’70s, El Hombre finds the young picker at his Bebop prime.

Joe Pass: Virtuoso

Genre: Bebop/Hard bop
Year: 1974

Virtuoso is an important and must have album for several reasons. It was Joe’s first attempt at a solo album, and one of the best solo records he ever made. As well, it transformed the way players conceived of the guitar in a solo jazz setting, opening the doors for future generations to explore the genre.

While his solo playing matured over the following decades, there is an excitement in his playing on Virtuoso that is absolutely engaging. If you only own one solo jazz-guitar record, this is it.

John Abercrombie: Timeless

Genre: ECM
Year: 1974

Timeless, at least to my ears, is one of the first album to redefine the jazz-guitar organ trio. This is an album that is purely modern in context. Sure, the tunes have changes and bebop inspired moments, but this album is not the typical ’60s Blue Note organ record that had come to define the genre at the time.

Stepping out and experimenting with both sound and context is nothing new for Abercrombie. His career’s work has been full of these things, but he really hit the mark with this record. His playing on tunes like “Ralph’s Piano Waltz” and the title track are some of the finest in his long and storied career.

The fact that this was Abercrombie’s debut album as a leader makes it that much more impressive. This is not only a great organ trio record. It’s a great jazz record.

Jim Hall: Concierto

Genre: Cool/West Coast
Year: 1975

Anytime you pair someone like Jim Hall with Ron Carter, Chet Baker and Paul Desmond you know it’s going to be a classic session. Though the album is known mainly for the ensemble’s lengthy interpretation of the “Concierto de Aranjuez,” Jim’s solo on “You’d be so Nice to Come Home to” has become a classic jazz guitar track. Concierto is a must have for any Jim Hall fan.

Ed Bickert: Like Someone in Love (Paul Desmond)

Genre: Cool
Year: 1975

One of the best jazz guitarists to come out of Canada, Ed Bickert turned listeners on their ears when he appeared on Like Someone in Love, led by the great Paul Desmond. Though Desmond’s name appears on the album cover, the saxophonist let’s Bickert shine on his many classic intros and extended solos.

Any guitarist wanting to learn how to perform in a piano-less quartet would be well served to spend time with this record. Bickert’s ability to comp and solo at the same time, as well as conjure up timeless chord solos, will have listeners wondering how many hands this Canuck really has.

Pat Metheny: Bright Size Life

Genre: ECM
Year: 1976

Metheny is another player who could easily fill half this list with classic solo records, let alone those he’s done with the PMG. The reason I’ve included “Bright Size Life” on this list is because it’s the record that started it all.

Jazz, and especially jazz guitar, would never be the same after countless fans heard that stairway of fifths that open the album’s title track. With a lineup to die for, Jaco Pastorius on bass and Bob Moses on drums, Metheny pulls off an album that any guitarist would love to have on their discography. To top it all off, he was only twenty-one at the time it was recorded.

Ted Greene: Solo Guitar

Genre: Cool
Year: 1977

Though he only released one album during his lifetime, Ted Greene knocked the ball out of the park with this record. With stunning arrangements, an unbelievable tone and an unworldly command of the instrument, Greene didn’t have to release a second record, he had already solidified his place in jazz history with “Solo Guitar.”

One of the most under-appreciated and undervalued players and guitar educators of the 20^th century, Greene has recently found a new generation of fans and loyal followers through a new memoir and website dedicated to his music and pedagogy. If there’s anyone on this list that deserves greater recognition, it’s Mr. Greene.

Ralph Towner: Solo Concert

Genre: ECM
Year: 1979

Beginning his musical career as a pianist, fans all over the world are grateful that Ralph Towner decided to change instruments and become the prolific guitarist and composer he is today. Sounding more like an orchestra than a guitar, this album features Towner firmly in his element, performing solo six and twelve string guitar.

The energy that Towner builds with each song is compelling, leaving the listener wondering what else this talented improviser has up his sleeve. Released on the ECM label, this record mixes modern classical and jazz in a way that has come to define not only Towner’s output, but the label itself.

Lenny Breau: Five O’Clock Bells/Mo’ Breau

Genre: Modern/Modal
Year: 1981

Lenny Breau is often thought of as one of the forgotten geniuses of the jazz guitar world. Those who were lucky enough to see him perform, or study with him, while he was alive will often go on and on about what an amazing player and human being Lenny was.

Though he never became the big-name artist that many, including long-time supporter Chet Atkins, had hoped that he would, his musical legacy lives on today in many of his classic recordings of the ’60s and ’70s.

Five O’Clock Bells/Mo’ Breau features Lenny in an intimate, solo-guitar setting, with some vocals thrown in as only Lenny could. His playing is creative, focused and technically impressive, providing one of the best representations of Lenny’s capabilities as a guitarist.

Emily Remler: East to Wes

Genre: Modern Bebop
Year: 1988

Though her career, and life, was cut short due to a long battle with drug addiction, Remler’s music will remain an integral part of the modern jazz-guitar vernacular. With a nod to one of her idols, Wes Montgomery, Remler’s playing on this album is both traditional and modern at the same time.

She has a strong command of traditional jazz vocabulary and her time feel is first rate, but she also brings to the mix a thorough understanding of modern jazz harmony and improvisation. Though she didn’t live long enough to reach her full potential, albums like “East to Wes” are as good as jazz guitar gets.

Mike Stern: Standards and Other Songs

Genre: Modern Bebop
Year: 1992

Mike Stern has had a long and illustrious career, with many considering him to be the biggest name in jazz guitar today. Starting out playing in fusion groups, including Miles’ band in the early ’80s, Stern surprised everyone when he released “Standards and Other Songs.”

We all knew he could play, his previous album “Upside Downside” is a fusion classic, but few people would have guessed that Stern had such a virtuosic command of the bebop idiom.

Any and all of his solos on this record are a treatise on how to play modern bebop. He never misses a chord change, his substitutions are dead on and he screams energy from every solo. With everything he’s done to date, this album stands out as the pinnacle in a long and successful career.

Ben Monder: Dust

Genre: Modern/Avant-Garde
Year: 1997

Though Monder had released Flux before Dust, this is often considered the album that introduced the virtuosic composer/guitarist to the world. This album is not your traditional jazz fair, and most would find that it’s more of a 20^th century avant-garde classical album than jazz, but regardless how one defines this record, it’s a must have for any serious jazz guitarist.

Kurt Rosenwinkel: East Coast Love Affair

Genre: Modern
Year: 1996

Rosenwinkel has firmly established himself as one of the leading figures in the modern jazz movement. His compositions borrow from modern rock as much as they do from modern jazz, but early in his career Rosenwinkel released two albums that focused more on standards than on his own compositions.

One of these albums is the live trio-record “East Coast Love Affair.” Kurt’s playing on this record is outstanding. Showcasing his ability to comp for himself as he weaves through single-line solos, Rosenwinkel’s playing is a study on how to play guitar in a modern trio. As enjoyable to listen to as it is to study, “East Coast Love Affair” is a must have for any fan of modern-jazz guitar.

John Scofield: A Go-Go

Genre: Modern Funk
Year: 1998

Featuring jazz giant John Scofield and funk wonder-trio Medeski, Martin and Wood, “A Go-Go” is often considered the pinnacle of the jazz-jam band genre. Borrowing from ’70s funk groups like the Meters and mixing in their own unique blend of modern jazz, these four guys rock and roll through every track on the album.

As well as being an enjoyable album to get up and groove to, the record has introduced a whole generation of young musicians to the world of jazz. Fans of funk and jam bands, who normally wouldn’t have sought out a jazz record or gone to a jazz concert, were suddenly exposed to the work of Scofield and other great jazz guitarists. For that fact alone, this album makes this list.

Joao Gilberto: Voz e Violao

Genre: Brazilian Jazz
Year: 2000

For those of you who are familiar with this record you might be scratching your head as to why an album with little to no improvised solos is included on a list like this. Jazz guitar doesn’t have to have single-line solos to be considered worthy music, it just has to be great music. Gilberto’s performance, as both vocalist and guitarist, on this record is exactly that, great: his voice and guitar come together to sound as if they are one. His rhythms are authentic yet personal and his right-hand punctuation always supports and accentuates the vocal line, never taking away from it.

With so many great soloists in the jazz-guitar genre, a rhythm specialist like Gilberto stands out for his simplistic, yet engaging, approach to the genre. If you only own one Brazilian Jazz album, this is it.

Dr. Matt’s 20 Essential Jazz Guitar CDs is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.

Barry Greene

I want to try and get some good audience participation going with today’s thread. As I’ve written about before, the hater community is very much alive and well among guitarists. So what I would like to do today is flip the script a little bit and get some publicity for those players that we love that aren’t the most well-known. Think of it as the “hidden gem” post where you get to tell everyone about players you like and want everyone else to know about.

I’m going to tell you about two guitarists that I really like and who deserve much more recognition than they probably get. What I want you to do is a two-parter:

1. Check these guys out! They deserve recognition and support. Visit their websites, buy one of their CDs, watch their videos!

2. Recommend two players of your own liking. Let’s try to stick with people that aren’t Steve Vai and Kirk Hammett, please.

Let’s spread around some guitar love!

Barry Greene

www.barrygreene.com

Florida-based jazz guitarist Barry Greene is a monster. From the Pat Martino school of playing, Barry can pretty much do it all. He’s got chops, he’s got a great sense of melody, and he swings! In addition to selling CDs on his website (check out his latest “Trio” CD – it’s great!) he also sells video lessons. The prices are reasonable, and he always packs a ton of great information into each one.

Circa Survive

www.circasurvive.com

Everything that The Mars Volta was supposed to be and more! Guitarists Colin Frangicetto and Brendan Ekstrom brilliantly play off each other to create sonic soundscapes that both mesmerize and captivate. I find their guitar work to be beautiful and incredibly creative, and their songwriting ability (the band) continues to impress me with every passing listen. Though Circa Survive is “signed” to a label, I don’t think they have nearly the amount of exposure or kudos that they deserve, so I’m including them here.

So tell me, who do you dig? Who should we show guitar love to?

Spread the Guitar Love is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.

Wes Montgomery is widely regarded as the greatest jazz guitarist of all time. His work has been dissected, analyzed, and copied millions of times. His influence as a jazz guitarist has thus far been unsurpassed and will probably remain so for a very long time. One would be hard-pressed to find a straight-ahead player who has not spent a significant amount of time learning the Montgomery catalog, octaves and all. He is, for lack of a better term, the man!

I thought I had read (and bought) everything that was out there about Montgomery and his music, so you could imagine my surprise when a random trip to my local Sam Ash music store resulted in the discovery of this little gem of a book, a transcription of Montgomery’s “Jazz Icons”  live performance DVD from 1965 called “625 Alive: The Wes Montgomery BBC Performance Transcribed” by Tim Fitzgerald.

(Jazz 625 is the name of the program in which the performance was recorded, in case you were wondering.)

Jazz Icons: Wes Montgomery, Live in '65

After a very brief introduction, the book kicks off with an interview from pianist Harold Mabern, who played with Montgomery starting in 1964. It’s an easy-going interview, but there were a few revelations about Montgomery and his playing that I had not previously heard. I’m not going to tell you what they are, so you’re just going to have to track the book down yourself if you want to know. After the interview the transcriptions start.

I have not dug through every note in the book, but the transcriptions seem accurate and careful attention was made in trying to properly notate Montgomery’s nuanced playing. Although there are only six songs, there is absolutely enough material contained within to give you plenty of years of material to work on; such was the depth of Montgomery’s playing. Each transcription is also prefaced by a quick but thorough analysis of the solo, which offers great insight into how his solos were structured.

Overall I think the book is very well done. If I had to offer one complaint, I think the way the chords were identified in each song could have been executed better. What I mean by that is, in most cases the chords named above the staff are related to what Montgomery played, not what the original chord of the song structure is. I understand why this was done, but I would much rather have seen the original chord progression written and then Montgomery’s substitutions and alterations shown in small script right below. This way the reader gets a much better understanding of what is going on.

But that’s a very minor complaint given the fact that we have a transcribed account of Montgomery’s live playing. I do recommend this book for anyone interested in jazz or Montgomery’s style.

625 Alive: The Wes Montgomery BBC Performance Transcribed is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.

My future tax return purchase

Welcome back, everyone. I hope those of you in the U.S. had a happy and safe holiday weekend. Mine was great, thank you very much. During the extended weekend I had a gig with my jazz quintet. It’s been quite a while since we’ve played together. One of the great things about playing jazz is that you don’t have to rehearse all the time if you are playing standards; all of the musicians know the tunes, so as long as you agree on the set list ahead of time (and often you don’t even have to do that, really) you’re good to go.

One of the bad things about playing jazz is that you don’t have to rehearse all the time if you are playing standards.

If you have the desire to continue to improve as a performer, critiquing your live performances are just as important as keeping a practice journal. Performances are where you test your mettle as a musician and try to incorporate all of the things you practice, but if you don’t self-evaluate, how do you know if you are improving?

Get It On Tape

First and foremost, you are most likely never going to remember everything that you played the night before, so it’s important to record your performances. Video or audio is fine, but you need something that you can listen back to. You can probably remember some things, but that’s not a very productive way to do your due diligence.

Take Notes

As you listen back, make notes of where you heard something you didn’t like. It doesn’t even have to be a “mistake” per se; just something you think you can do better.

For some reason when my quintet was playing Blue Bossa over the weekend, I kept missing the DbMaj7 chord. I have no idea why; it’s a very simple song and I’ve played it a million times. But for some reason, on this night, I just wasn’t hitting it at all. I kept trying to play EbMaj7 instead. So I made a note of it and I’ll be going back and seeing if I can find ways to fix it so it doesn’t become a permanent problem.

Listen First, Fix Second

Go through your entire performance and evaluate first, before you pick up the guitar and try to work through the issues. You may have made the same mistake throughout the performance.

Organize and Categorize

Once you have listened all the way through and taken notes, it’s time to group them into workable pieces. How you organize is up to you, but you should experiment until you come up with something that works for you. The goal here is to group your work so you aren’t flying back and forth all across the map to address similar issues.

Evaluate

Once you are organized you can dig into the actual issues and see if they are just “one nighters” or if they are indicative of something bigger. For example, if you are constantly missing a cue for coming back in, that’s something you want to work on. If you can’t seem to remember the Melodic Minor scale even though you’ve been working on it for months, then you perhaps need to refine your current practice routine and come up with a different way to review that scale. If your B string kept going out of tune, by all means you need to get your guitar looked at before your next show. (Yes, technical problems are just as important for evaluation as performance problems.)

Getting back to my Blue Bossa flub, I know that hitting the DbMaj7 was a one-night thing. I’ve never had the problem before and probably won’t again. But what it did tell me was that the chord voicings I was using for that section weren’t really working. I was trying to play richer, more full-sounding chords and it was screwing me up. So, I can decide to either play more simple chords, or try to reduce what I was playing to keep the essence the same but make it a little more manageable. I’ve determined that it’s not something I need to actively address, but perhaps working on some new chord voicings might help.

Now Fix It

Okay, so you’ve made your list (checked it twice) and gotten a feel for what’s a temporary glitch and what’s more serious. Now you can pick up your guitar and start to work on the problems. Maybe you need to modify your practice routine for a few weeks in order to make sure they are fully fleshed out and fixed. Maybe you only need to spend one session exclusively working on a solution. Either is fine; you are the best judge of what you need to do, you just have to make sure you do it.

Self-evaluation, in an honest way, can be difficult, but it is essential for your growth as a musician. You are your own best (and worst) critic, and you’ll know better than anyone where you are struggling and how you can overcome it.

Do You Critique Your Own Performances? is a post from: Fretterverse.com: Guitar Blog | guitar news & reviews, amps, effects, guitars, music theory, guitar lessons. If you are reading this on a site that is not Fretterverse.com, it's been ripped. Please come to the real Fretterverse.com.