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.

Jazz Guitar Comping by Andrew Green

Any and all guitar players should be concerned with their rhythm playing. Concerned in the sense that it’s just as important (if not more so) than being great at soloing. I have always been much more impressed with the ability of guitarists to play with the band rather than how well they stand out.

Especially in the world of jazz, comping (“accompanying”) is a very elusive beast and requires lots of practice and hard work. When done well, however – just listen to Jimmy Bruno, Jim Hall, Steve Herberman, Joe Masakowski, or a host of other great players and you’ll understand what I’m talking about.

The problem is that there isn’t really a set formula for being a great comper. I mean, I can give you a certain set of scales, arpeggios, and pentatonic licks and you can probably sound pretty good after a while, but being good at comping goes way beyond just what chords you play. It’s also knowing when to play, what rhythms to play, and how to best back up the soloist.

That’s where Andrew Green’s book Jazz Guitar Comping comes in.

I’ll tell you up front that you have to have at least some background in being able to read music, as well as some understanding of jazz harmony, to get the most out of this book. That being said, this book covers a very broad range of comping suggestions and scenarios for you to dig into. Everything from two- and three-note voicings, upper partials, rhythms, multi-use voicings, and quartal harmony is discussed.Voice leading is also discussed at length, which is perhaps the most important aspect of being a good comper.

Green’s writing style is easy to understand and uses musical examples (more so than text) to really drive home what he’s teaching. There are tons and tons and tons of examples to play through (and listen to on the included CD), and it will take you a long time to work through and internalize all of the information. That’s a good thing!

Green’s website – Chops Factory – has samples from the book, as well as some of the best information about jazz in general. For a few years he was writing a chord of the week thread that I absolutely loved. Though I don’t believe he updates it anymore, you can still view the archives on his site.

I don’t want to write too much about the book because I believe it truly speaks for itself. If you have any interest at all in being a good rhythm guitarist – jazz or otherwise – you can learn an awful lot by buying this book and making your way through all of the examples. I recommend this book as a “must-have” addition to your library.

Jazz Guitar Comping – Andrew Green (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.

Not that kind of scale, knucklehead!

There are two primary schools of thought when it comes to scales and improvisation. The first is to treat each chord as a separate entity and improvise using certain scales/modes over each one individually. I like to think of this as “vertical improvisation” as the player deals with each chord individually.

The second is to think more linearly – “horizontal improvisation” – by finding the cadence patterns and chord progressions that fall under a certain scale/mode, and then adding certain alterations to spice up the lines.

Both ways work, but does one necessarily work better than the other?

Is there a secret method or special trick you can use to master the scales and chord progressions and be able to become the fiercest soloist on the block?

First and foremost, let’s answer the question:

No, there is no trick!

Hey, it's cheap...

C’mon folks, if you thought there really was a trick then I have some land to sell you. There are no tricks, no matter what people tell you. Both methods require hard work and lots of shedding, so let’s dispel any notions to the contrary.

Vertical Improvisation

As I mentioned previously, vertical improvisation deals with each chord as a separate entity. Surely, you would identify certain progressions such as ii-V-I’s as a single unit, but the overarching principle is to look at each chord on its own. For example, let’s take a ii-V-I in the key of Ab Major:

Bbm7 / / /  |  Eb7 / / /  |  AbMaj7 / / /  |  / / / /  |

A typical vertical improvisation approach to this progression would go like this:

Bbm7 = Bb Dorian mode
Eb7 = E melodic minor scale
AbMaj7 = Ab Major or Ab Lydian mode

This is obviously not the only way, but it is perhaps the most basic for vertical improvisation.

Improvising this way requires the player to first memorize all three of these scales and, secondly, know how to play them in all areas of the fingerboard.

Horizontal Improvisation

Let’s take the same ii-V-I in Ab:

Bbm7 / / /  |  Eb7 / / /  |  AbMaj7 / / /  |  / / / /  |

Jimmy Bruno

Using the Horizontal Improvisation approach, you would think of this whole section as being all in the key of Ab Major. In this way you really only need to learn one set of fingerings or scale (for lack of a better term). However, this in and of itself is going to sound very stale and boring. Jimmy Bruno, as an example, teaches in his Guitar Institute that you make certain alterations to address certain sounds in the progression – he calls them “outside notes.”

This approach requires the player to have all of the fingerings for the key figured out on the entire fingerboard, as well as knowing where all of the altered/outside sounds are within the larger framework. When playing a b9 during the Eb7 you essentially need to know where all of the ‘E’ notes on the guitar are, but you need to know these as b9′s and as the note names. It’s a lot harder than you think.

The Hybrid

Pat Martino

There is a pseudo third school of thought which I think of as something of a hybrid. Pat Martino comes to mind in this method. In his approach, everything is reduced to a minor sound. (It’s really more of a Dorian mode sound than a regular minor one.) His concept is similar to Bruno’s in that he thinks of everything as minor (as compared to Bruno thinking in Major), but all of the alterations are already included in Martino’s lines. If you study Martino’s approach you will see that it’s not just a “Dorian” sound but a highly chromatic/altered concept within a tonal center. The lines themselves inherently teach you all of the alterations and color tones by simply learning his approach to playing. There is no analysis or specific identification of one note being the b9 or this or #5 of that; it’s all about the sound.

Which Way is Better?

Well that’s the million-dollar question now, isn’t it. To be honest, I can’t definitively answer that. It’s really up to you to decide what works best for you. I have had great amounts of success with both. Bruno’s system filled in many holes I had in my fretboard knowledge in a very short amount of time. My knowledge of the guitar is 1000% better thanks to his method. But I’ve also had success with the vertical approach (and I’m studying Martino’s approach currently).

My suggestion, however, is for you to try all of the approaches and see what works for you. I recommend you work one at a time so as to not confuse yourself. Start with one and milk it for as long as you can. When you’ve gotten all you can out of it, move on to the next. It will probably take you a very long time in each one before you switch, so be patient.

Most importantly, have fun!

Learn the Modes, or One Big Scale? 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.

Al Di Meola - alternate picking master

I thought I would take some time today to talk about some of the different ways guitar players pick when playing. It seems to me that many beginners may not have a complete understanding of these techniques and how to use them. Since I think it’s of the utmost importance for us “seasoned” players to help bring up the younger, less experienced players, I figured a primer on picking was in order.

In my mind there are three primary types of picking styles: alternate, economy, and sweeping. Let’s break down each one and get an understanding of what makes them unique and why you really need to know how to be able to do all three to become a truly versatile guitarist.

Alternate Picking

First up is the picking method that all new students will learn – alternate picking. The idea behind alternate picking is that each pick stroke is the exact opposite of the one before it. You can start with either a downstroke (you pick the note down, towards the floor) or an upstroke (you pick the note up, towards your head), and every next note you play is the opposite of the one it proceeds. I realize that’s a very academic explanation, so let’s rock ‘n roll it up a bit:

down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up

Better?

Alternate picking creates a very distinct sound and, if done correctly, really highlights the passage being played. John Petrucci, Al Di Meola, and Guthrie Govan are great alternate pickers. Having control over your alternate picking is of the utmost importance here, because you need to be able to play every note with the same dynamic as well as have the control to make certain notes pop out in a phrase when you want to.

The hard part for alternate picking – and one of the reasons why I suck at it – is when you have to move to another string. This is especially troublesome when moving from a low string to a high string. My recommendation? Come to love your metronome! Start slow, take your time, and be patient. It’s going to take some of you a while before you’re comfortable with it.

Economy Picking

Jimmy Bruno is an excellent economy picker

This is my personal bread and butter. I don’t remember how I latched onto it, but I’m most comfortable when doing economy picking. The concept here is that, when faced with moving from one string to the next, you continue your pickstroke to the next string without alternating. In other words, if the last stroke you made on one string was a downstroke, you continue the downstroke and play the next note on the next string with a downstroke. This allows you to smoothly maneuver across the strings and creates a somewhat smoother sounding line than with alternate picking.

A word of caution here; many players tend to replace the word “economy” with “lazy.” Just because you’re not picking every single note alternately doesn’t mean you should let your picking hand wander all over the place. With economy picking you need to be even more careful about the precision of your picking hand. Keep it consistent; don’t angle the pick awkwardly or dig into the string more to try and compensate.

Sweep Picking

Yngwie and Frank Gambale basically put sweep picking on the map. You would be hard-pressed to find a younger guitar player nowadays that likes heavy rock/metal and can’t play amazing sweeps. They are certainly impressive as hell to hear (and see).

Frank Gambale - sweep monster from Down Under

In sweep picking, you generally play an arpeggio with one note per string. You literally sweep your pick across the strings in the same direction. When playing from low to high you sweep the pick downward, and when playing from high to low you sweep upwards. The last string played in the sweep will generally have a turnaround of sorts (usually two or three extra notes) that allows the player to sweep in the opposite direction.

As with economy picking, when sweeping you really need to be aware (and careful) of the placement of the pick. You want to keep your wrist straight and the pick perpendicular to the strings. Bending the wrist or allowing your pick to slide around is going to sound bad and also present problems for you when trying to exit out of the sweep to another phrase.

What About Legato Playing?

Allan Holdsworth - legato phrasemaster

I know this question is going to come up, so I’ll quickly address it here. Legato playing is not a picking technique, it’s a fretting-hand technique. Yes, Holdsworth is impressive beyond belief, and I would absolutely give someone else’s left testicle to be able to play like him. But, it’s just not a picking technique, sorry.

I will certainly cover legato playing and Holdsworth in particular in other blog posts, fret not. In the meantime, you’re just going to have to practice the three picking techniques I mentioned.

Why Are All Three Important?

In a nutshell, because all three offer unique benefits, sounds, dynamics, and concepts. You can certainly specialize in one (that’s your “style” after all) but if you can’t at least do a little bit of all three then you are severely limiting yourself. Now, if you’re a blues player you are probably thinking that sweep picking is dumb. Remember, however, that sweep picking (as an example) doesn’t have to be a three-octave daedecaphonic hexatonic arpeggio; a simple three-string minor triad can also be pulled off with sweep picking.

Don’t limit yourself. Get a metronome and practice all three techniques. You’ll eventually gravitate towards one more so than the other two, and that’s perfectly fine. Just have enough tricks in your bag to pull them out when you need them.

Enjoy!

Picking Styles 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.

Nick Carver - No Idle Frets

It’s very hard to argue that the single, greatest benefit of the Internet is the seemingly endless (and complete) exposure one can get to whatever they may be interested in. As I was first getting interested in learning to play jazz, I completely immersed myself in whatever I could find. Every book, CD, magazine, and backing track was bought, and obviously I spent hours and hours scouring the Internet for every website devoted to jazz guitar I could find.

When I stumbled upon Nick Carver’s No Idle Frets jazz guitar podcast, it was like manna from heaven. Here was a guy spending countless hours not only putting together a podcast that exposed people to jazz guitar, but here also was someone who gave virtually every jazz guitar player a chance to shine and start making a name for himself. With so many players out there all fighting for the same piece of pie, it’s very hard to get your name out there and be noticed. Nick has, thankfully, created a fantastic resource for players and jazz guitar lovers alike.

As it seems the players get all of the kudos and recognition, I thought it would be nice to turn the spotlight around for once and talk to one of the guys behind-the-scenes that is pushing the music forward. We all owe Nick a great debt of gratitude, and hopefully this interview (and exposure to his podcast) is a small way of paying it forward.

Tell us about your music/guitar background.

Musically speaking, I played piano as a kid (not well), but was a band geek. I played oboe, bass and contra-bass clarinet and the various lower saxophones (bari and bass). I also dabbled on the bassoon.

When did you first get interested in jazz?

In college (circa 1974) I got into audio equipment and started reading Stereo Review magazine. I read the record reviews and they had great jazz reviews at the time. I didn’t know anything about jazz but I started picking up jazz records. One of the first ones I bought was “Bad Benson.” It was a complete revelation. I didn’t realize guitar could sound like that or be played like that! I started analyzing my music tastes and realized that I really loved guitar, but especially players like Carlos Santana, Steve Howe, and Clapton and groups like Steely Dan (still a big fan). So, I realized I was really more into jazz than pop/rock and started buying more and more jazz albums.

How did you come up with the idea for the No Idle Frets podcast?

I first read about podcasting around Valentines Day, 2005. The reason was that the local newspaper (Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel) ran an article about this couple, Dawn and Drew, who did a podcast out of their house in Wisconsin. I had done sound reinforcement stuff over the years, so I had some recording equipment and knew how to handle the technical side. So, in March of 2005 I started a podcast where I just talked about stuff that interested me: movies, theology, coffee and jazz. I did a three part “introduction to jazz guitar” podcast, complete with Amazon.com lists with CDs.

Well, some guy in Taiwan did a search on Podcast Alley looking for guitar podcasts and found my podcast and emailed me. He told me that I seemed to be knowledgeable and passionate about jazz guitar and I should think about putting together a podcast where I played music. I had been part of the Google Group rec.music.makers.guitar.jazz and I knew there were a lot of guys on that group that had music I could probably play so I decided to try it.

In the beginning, was it an easy sell to the guitarists to send you their songs?

The guys on the RMMGJ group were very willing to have me play their music. In many cases I already had their stuff in my iTunes library since I had gone to their websites and downloaded free music. In some other cases I actually bought CDs from them as a way to “encourage” them to let me play their stuff.

The big break for me came when I sent a 1 minute promo mp3 to Adam Curry and he played it on the Daily Source Code, which may have been the largest podcast out there at the time. He also was doing a weekly show on Sirius that highlighted various podcasts and he featured No Idle Frets on that as well. My listener base went from about 100 to 800 in one week! So, then when I contacted a guitarist I could tell him/her that I had 800 listeners each week. Virtually every one I’ve ever contacted has told me I could play his/her music.

How about now? Do you still have to actively seek content, or do the guitarists come to you now?

I get some that come to me, but mostly I seek them out. I read Down Beat and look for ads and reviews, but most of my artists come from Just Jazz Guitar. This magazine comes out four times a year and if I read a review or see an ad in that I just contact the artists and tell my story and they usually send me CDs or I have them upload mp3s to a site.

Plus, now that I’ve been doing this for five years, many of the artists that I’ve played on the show are putting out their next CD, so I’m getting those in the mail (just got one from Pat Kelley today!).

How do you decide what tunes make the cut each episode?

If someone sends me music I try to play it. If I think it is a little off of what my listeners really like, I will make sure to surround it in the show with some great stuff. That being said, I really see my job as trying to introduce my listeners to new artists; sometimes hearing something you don’t like is as important as hearing something you do like.

Have you ever included one of your own songs in the show?

No. I want more listeners, not fewer!

Ever involved in any payola scandals? [This is a joke!] Anyone ever beg you to put them on NIF?

Beg? Like I said, as long as it has guitar that is kind of jazzy, I’ll play it. As you know, I’ve played stuff that is more in the folk realm and even classical. Pure rock stuff can be had anywhere, so I’m not going to use that.

Was there any guitarist that you considered a real high point in getting their permission to use one of their songs?

Jimmy Bruno is a monster player and I wrote him and asked him if he had anything I could use. Most of his stuff was released on Concord, so I couldn’t use it. I said “How about something from a live gig or something where you don’t really state the melody but just improvise.” He came back to me and sent 3 mp3s with titles “Track 3″, “Track 6″, “Track 8.”  He said “Here are some tracks that I don’t even have titles for yet. I think they’ll be on my next CD.” They were, in fact, on “Maplewood Avenue” released in 2007, but the first time anyone heard them was on No idle Frets.

Any special plans for 2010, or just keep going as you have been?

I have to say that some weeks I think “Maybe I should just quit doing this.” I’m not in it for the money, obviously, so it can be a little burdensome at times. But then I get a great email (or someone sends me a list of questions for their blog!) and I decided this is great. Plus the free CDs is a nice benefit.

Interview with Nick Carver, No Idle Frets Podcast 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.

Gibson J-45 Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar

My First Electric Guitar

Well, before too long a few friends of mine put together a band, so I naturally needed an electric. Luckily, a friend of my dad’s was looking to sell a late 50′s Gretsch anniversary model plus amp, for about $150. Ah, the good old days. Playing the Gretsch with its flatwound strings was like entering another world. Here was an instrument that wasn’t fighting me, and I loved it. Well, you guessed it, the love didn’t last too long, because my friends were soon off to college, the band dispersed, and I began looking for an acoustic. Enter a 1967 Gibson J-45 dreadnought, probably one of the instruments I owned for the longest time….about 20 years. …until it had an unplanned fall and suffered a cracked bridge. I was referred to John Monteleone’s shop for the repair, and John gave me an estimate of $250 to make a completely new rosewood bridge. Since I had only paid $165 for the guitar new, this seemed a bit much, although, looking back, it was probably pretty reasonable. And, at least I got to meet  Mr. Monteleone, maker of some truly unique instruments. I finally did have the original bridge repaired, but the job wasn’t anything to write home about. For quite a few years, I barely picked up the guitar, mostly to sing for my young son.

I don’t know when the urge to pick up the guitar again hit me, probably sometime in the mid-eighties, but I do recall making many trips to the local Sam Ash music store to check out all the shiny new instruments hanging on the wall. Each one beckoned to me to become “the one” that would not only make my playing better (or at least “sound better,”)  but would fulfill that sense of “something’s missing” from the previous guitar I owned. Well, you can imagine where this line of thinking led me. Guitars shuttled in and out of my closets like locals arriving at a train station. Among them, guitars by Gibson, Fender, Rickenbacker, Guild, Yamaha, Takamine, and Taylor.  At one point there were guitars in 3 closets, and none of them was “the one.”

Time to Step It Up

Well, fast forward to 2004, when I thought I had truly found the instrument of my dreams: a D’Angelico New Yorker reissue. I first saw it at a local guitar show, and finally found a New York city dealer that had one in a natural blond finish. Heaven, and all for only $3,000.  I should stop a minute to add that I did sell several other guitars to purchase this one, and if ever there’s a lesson to be learned it’s this: Give up on the idea that a guitar is a good investment & you will actually make some money on a resale. It never happened. In fact, I’ve lost money on every instrument I’ve ever sold. Maybe if you’re lucky enough to own an original D’Angelico you’ll make a profit, but not on a mass manufacturer’s instrument.

So, here I was with my latest “must have” guitar, happily playing it for a year when I began to realize that it was way too big for me and not all that comfortable. Hmmm …what to do? Risk my marriage by telling my husband this expensive guitar he had just bought for me was not filling the bill either? So, I did nothing…..I’m a good wife. Finally, I did tell him, and being a great husband, he agreed to stop by Mandolin Brothers to see what they might have, with the understanding that I’d trade in the D’Angelico. Much to my delight, I found a smaller bodied D’Aquisto reissue that had all the attributes I was looking for. So, the deal was made for another $3,000 guitar, and I soon sold the D’Angelico on eBay…more or less. That long saga of criminality is enough to fill an article of its own.

The Sadowsky Jimmy Bruno Signature Guitar

Finding the Guitar of My Dreams

So, I thought I was done with buying guitars…so did my husband…….until 2005. We attended the Classic American Guitar Show on Long Island, NY, as we always did, and through our friend, the brilliant guitarist Jimmy Bruno, we were introduced to master luthier Roger Sadowsky. As luck would have it, this was the year that Roger unveiled his new Jimmy Bruno model, a small-bodied (14″ at the lower bout) laminate guitar. As we visited with Roger at his booth, he handed me the guitar to check out. Now, I knew how dangerous this was, even if my husband didn’t. First, it was aesthetically stunning, with workmanship second to none, and it bore the name of my favorite player of all time. So, I graciously took the guitar in hand and sat down to check it out. Even unamplified, this was the guitar of my dreams, the one I had been searching for from the beginning. But, what could I do? Just the year before, my husband had bought me the D’Aquisto. I had to just grit my teeth and walk away. But, the guitar never left my thoughts, especially since I was involved with Jimmy’s new interactive website, JBGI, and saw Jimmy play it every day.

Finally, the 2006 guitar show rolled around and there we were back at Roger’s booth. I’ll never forget Roger’s first words when he saw us: “Are you back to kick the tires?”  We still joke about it. No, I wasn’t back to kick the tires, I knew this was the guitar I had been looking for for over 40 years. I had never played an instrument with a neck that rivaled this one; so smooth, so comfortable, such fast action, with the most incredible fretwork I’d ever seen. I’ve often described the difference between other guitars and Sadowskys as being the difference between driving a truck and driving a sports car. It may sound like an exaggeration, but to me, it’s dead-on accurate.

I’ve owned my Jimmy Bruno model Sadowsky for almost 4 years now, and a few months ago, added another Sadowsky to the family: a stunning natural finish semi-hollow body, based on the body size of the JB. I love them both, and for the first time in years, I can finally say that I play all of my guitars now, which is what it’s all about, isn’t it?

My 45-Year Quest for the Perfect Guitar 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.