Jazz Guitar 101

Study the styles of some of the most influential jazz guitarists, and learn the basics behind the jazz language: chord/scale usage, building melodic tension, and improvisation techniques.

While it's important to have an understanding of the licks and runs that top jazz players use to define their own style, it's essential for any guitarist who wants to succeed in the genre to know the chords, scales, and harmonic language that these great players are actually referencing. Jazz Guitar 101 provides the basics behind the jazz language: effective chord/scale usage, reharmonizaton, approach notes, arpeggio substitutions, melodic tension through the manipulation of harmony, rhythm, and melody, and improvisation techniques over jazz chord changes. Through the use of transcriptions and slowed-down examples, you'll study the styles of some of the most influential jazz guitarists over the past 50 years (including Grant Green, Wes Montgomery, John Scofield, Mike Stern, and Pat Martino). The course utilizes video, MP3 tracks, and written notation to infuse these techniques into your playing as quickly and thoroughly as possible.

Author: Bruce Saunders