Jazz Improvisation for Guitar - A Melodic Approach Book/Online Audio

Folks I gotta tell you, this is a book that actually matters. We've all heard the "play ii on V" thing, a la Pat. But if you're anything like me, it ends up like "yeah, it's basically the same scale, I get it", and you end up back in the same place. This is materially different, actually gets you thinking in terms of those triads built on the tones in the parent chord.Perhaps more importantly, it will break you out of position playing. At first I'm ignoring the tabs (i.e. the author's fingerings), just reading through the notation. Then I realized that *everything* is aggressively horizontal, and every note and phrase is there for a reason, which is to get you up and down the neck -- seamlessly, in ways that actually matter in terms of how the lines sound.I've been playing a long time, and I have the big shelf full, most of which didn't really make a dent. If this rings any bells, then you need this book.

I too, have many Jazz Instructional books and DVDs. I have been a self-taught guitarist for five years and was seriously considering getting an instructor to help me put together all the theory and knowledge I have acquired. Listen, I know all kinds soloing and rhythm techniques used in Jazz but I can't tell you how to put it all together in a consistent way, and I really don't have a lot of time to practice these ideas so I have to be very "surgical" and realistic in my approach. Buying this book has helped me hold off on getting an instructor and is giving me a great starting point for foundation for Jazz improvisation.After utilizing it for around three months, I now see the fretboard very differently. I can see how chords relate to one another and how you can use triads to build, for instance, a Dom 13 chord or I can see how a min7 b5 can be built on the third of a major triad to yield chord tones for use building a Dom 7 chord, and by adding a min7 chord built on the 5th of the original major triad you can spell out the chord tones of a dom 7(9) chord. So now I have greater awareness of chord tones and where they lie on the fretboard and can "see" things coming as well as hear some of the licks that have become cliche in traditional Jazz.Part of this fretboard awareness comes from the books ability to teach you to divide up the fretboard in triads on the middle three strings. For instance, I can start with a minor triad, and then alternate major and minor triads, building them on the flatted third, fifth, and flatted seventh, and this will eventually yield the upper extensions of the ninth and eleventh (the book identifies the 9th and 11th as the common upper extension tensions on a minor triad although we all know you can go on up to 13ths).The book is really good about giving you some points on technique (articulation and rest strokes) that will allow you to exploit the use of triads. I especially like the well placed "mini-sweeps" of triplets that give can help give that traditional "Jazz" sound to one's solos. There are many "licks" patterned after greats such as Grant Green, George Benson, Johnny Smith, Kenny Burrell, Pat Martino, and especially Wes Montgomery, that illustrate the use of these techniques. And, while I am on the subject, the author takes great pains to explain the related music devices the Jazz masters used, such as Montgomery's use of minor lines over functioning dominant chords. This is something that, as the author points out, Pat Martino does as well. In fact, the author does a great job of tracing the lineage / history of the use of triads and their upper extensions, starting with Charlie Christian.As a result of this book, I have put a lot of my other guitar pursuits on hold to allow me to fully internalize what this book is trying to teach. This is just one approach to Jazz improvisation but I have had enough exposure to Jazz over the last few years to know this is part of the sound I am looking for. I am learning the licks and using the many backing track solo-less tracks to create my own solos. I am already developing an ear for it after listening to the great CD that comes with it.I still have not made it to the chapter in which leading tones are discussed. It begins with some progressions using only two notes of a chord and probably the most important - the 3rd and the 7th (of course one or both will be flatted, depending on the type of chord). This section is meant to teach good voice leading and leads into another section in which you add notes to these leading tones, such as ninths, or fifths. Peeking ahead I believe this section will contribute to ones understanding of harmony and good voice leading, and will also give assistance in soloing over the various traditional Jazz progressions such as the iimin7-V7-Imaj7 or the iimin7-V7-Imaj7-VI7 as well as the simple one chord vamps.There is also a section on soloing over altered chords but I have not gotten that far yet either, still it also looks promising!This is one of my top 5 Jazz books out of around 25 or 30 that I have, and as I said before, it has a little bit of everything my other books have and has allowed me to fashion a way of learning Jazz improvisation that has thus far been very effective and satisfying.

This is one of the best books I have come across on learning how to play guitar solos. Although the emphasis is on Jazz, the knowledge contained in this book is of universal application. If you want to break out of playing the pentatonic scale, this book will be a tremendous help to you. The author sets out what you need to learn. He then explains the theory behind it. He then shows you how to practice the materials. In the end, he shows you how to apply what you have learnt to real music situations in the context of songs. Every example in the book is crystal clear, his writing absolutely precise and to the point. This book is a major contribution to the study of Jazz guitar improvisation.The one thing to note is this book is not for beginners. You need to be up to intermediate standard to fully appreciate the materials in this book. The author sets the concise theory relevant to each of the subject- matters. But knowing the fundamentals of harmony, chord theory, arpeggios and scale theory would be a tremendous help. I say again this book is not for beginners. All in all this is one fantastic book. I wish every music book was written and presented like this. This book is worth its weight in gold.

Garrison's guitar playing and understanding of what he's doing is top notch as you would expect from bona fide professor of jazz guitar at Berklee College of Music. However the organisation of this book is terrible—This is very much a Book/CD type product where the written text is supported by an audio CD. I had terrible trouble matching the contents of the book with the CD although they're both excellent.I had to re-organise the whole thing on my computer. Very boring and tiresome but at least now I can use the product and enjoy it...

Reaches out to a beginner and is not intimidating or overwhelming. Need to spend time to progress with each concept

Looks very comprehensive. No tab only music. Comes with cd.

Un approccio all'improvvisazione tramite TRIADI e ESTENSIONI.Con uno stile semplice ed immediato, il libro spiega la teoria necessaria e la correda di moltissimi esempi.Il metodo e' molto semplice da seguire, aiuta soprattutto in una migliore conoscenza della tastiera e nel rendere piu' cantabili i nostri assoli.Lo stile chiaro di scrittura, la doppia notazione musicale e in tablatura, la possibilita' di ascoltare tutti gli esempi su CD ne fanno un testo imperdibile per qualsiasi chitarrista (a qualunque livello) che voglia avvicinarsi al jazz (e non solo).Personalmente devo dire che e' uno dei pochissimi testi che mi ha fatto fare un vero balzo in avanti.

Points positifs.-Pour ne pas perdre beaucoup de temps, il faut avoir une certaine connaissance préalable de la théorie musicale en l'harmonie moderne avant de commencer à improviser. Le premier chapitre démarre par reviser l'essentiel, sans application sur l'instrument.-Le livre vous permet de comprendre ce qui se passe dans la tête des artistes jazz pendant beaucoup d'improvisations.-La méthode est claire et simple. Les exemples et exercices vous permettent de pratiquer et utiliser la matière immédiatement.-On peut arriver à des résultats après relativement peu de temps. Quand on maîtrise aussi les gammes principales, ça suffit. Les méthodes élaborées de p.ex. George Van Eps ou Ted Greene demandent presque une vie sans nécessairement donner un meilleur résultat.Points faibles-À mon avis, les explications pourquoi certaines phrases fonctionnent sont susceptible d’amélioration. Pour vraiment arriver à une bonne vision de ce qu'on est en train de faire pendant les harmonies et substitutions plutôt complexes il faut étudier l'harmonie plus en détail dans un livre indépendant de l'instrument.