Jamie Taylor

So called “four to the bar” rhythm guitar is a multi-faceted art. A lot of it has to do with good time-keeping but, besides that, how did players like Freddie Green, Jim Hall, and Bucky Pizzarelli managed to create that fantastic moving counterpoint behind soloists, whilst still swinging like the proverbial barn door? Although there are certainly times when a simpler accompaniment is quite sufficient, one only need listen to Jim Hall’s rhythm work behind Bill Evans on “My Funny Valentine” (from their famous “Undercurrent” duo album) to realise the creative possibilities of the role. A great contemporary exponent of the style, James Chirillo, has said that the role of the rhythm guitar is to supply a tenor part to the line played by the bass player. It’s a description that certainly resonates with me, and so the focus here is more on the harmonic side of things i.e. how to actually generate these more mobile rhythm parts in the first place. Whilst some focused metronome work will probably sort out your timing, how to create and combine the shapes themselves can be a more elusive subject. Perhaps the most significant aspect of all this is knowing how to elaborate a basic progression, and convey the resulting chords on a limited number of strings. If we’re able to do this, then the shapes we use will be easier to grab, and the texture will be light enough to allow other players (including pianists) to work around what we’re doing. In this 50m session: We take two familiar progressions (“Minor Swing” and Autumn Leaves”) and create accompaniments for each using one, then two, and finally four shapes per chord. In the process, we learn how the more elaborate versions are derived from the basic ones. Every chord played in this session is fretted using only the 6th, 4th, and 3rd strings. You can even do without the 6th string in the presence of a bassist. We also discuss some general principles of rhythm guitar. It’s not all about chord shapes; time, sound, and ensemble awareness are just as important. As always, the class is linked via on-screen captions to an accompanying PDF booklet, in which everything heard is transcribed using a combination of notation, tab, and chord diagrams. No music reading is required and there shouldn’t be any need to try and work out where I’m putting my fingers from the screen; virtually everything I play is written out for you. Level-wise, this is potentially a class for all takers, I think. The simple accompaniments we start with should be very accessible for inexperienced players, but it may also appeal to more developed guitarists who perhaps haven’t yet looked at this area in much depth. The elaborate ‘one shape per quarter note’ stuff might be a bit daunting for the less experienced jazz player, but there’s no time like the present for putting the principles in place at least. Basic / Intermediate Running time: 50 minutes 13 Pages PDF Included

Aural awareness may not be a totally level playing field at the outset but, whilst some people may be born with more natural facility, anyone can develop it with the right methods. Even perfect pitch can be acquired, although its usefulness is probably open to debate. The particular focus of this session is the acquisition of relative pitch , and how this can help you identify the real music that you hear on the bandstand. You may have heard the idea that you can recognize intervals by relating them to famous songs e.g. by equating an augmented 4th to the opening notes of the theme from The Simpsons. However, whilst there’s nothing wrong with that as a way of getting started, it’s unlikely to get you past the first basic steps. That’s because, just as in navigation, measuring a distance between two points doesn’t actually tell you where you are! The augmented 4th in The Simpsons only sounds like it does because of how that interval relates to the overall context. A different augmented 4th in the same context probably wouldn’t invoke Homer and Marge at all. A much better way of learning to recognize intervals and sounds is by considering the natural gravity that pitches are subject to in a piece of tonal music. This class explains that concept, and shows you how you can use it to identify even quite advanced jazz harmonies by ear. "I can't stress this enough though, the importance of those first fundamental steps. If anything in the class feels too challenging at the moment, go back to those major triad inversions. I promise it will bear fruit in the long run." ~ Jamie Taylor Relative Pitch vs Perfect Pitch It is important to distinguish relative pitch versus perfect pitch. Relative pitch is the ability to distinguish the difference in pitch between two notes. Within tonal music, this is especially important. Perfect pitch in contrast is the ability to identify a pitch regardless of its relationship to other notes. The purpose of this course is not to develop the ability to identify a pitch without context. Instead, the ear training within this course will provide a reference tone and then work to improve one's ability to identify intervals, fourths, fifths, sevenths, etc. based off the initial tone. This is one of the most effective forms of playing by ear especially on the bandstand. Developing Relative Pitch for Guitarists Although relative pitch is particularly important for most musical instruments, this course is specially designed to enhance a guitarist's relative pitch capabilities. The step-by-step approach will take you from understanding the tonal gravity implied by intervals to then further recognizing intervals through practice and repetition. In the full 53m class we: Discuss the benefits and limitations of the “famous melody” approach. Identify which pitches exert tonal ‘gravity’ and why. Learn how to recognize these as absolute points, from which distances can be measured. Practice this together with a wide range of on-screen examples that you can use as ear tests. Explore how even complex altered dominant sounds can be recognized with this method. Demonstrate a rigorous relative pitch ‘workout’ exercise, using tonic sol-fa This time, the class includes a 20-page PDF booklet , referenced throughout with captions, and synchronized on-screen notation. In terms of level, this material could be of assistance to players with a wide range of experience. A beginner can benefit from getting into good aural awareness habits early on, and there may well be much more advanced players who wish to explore this area as well. Whether singing or playing, your ability to identify relative pitch will greatly increase upon taking this course. If you’re really confident that in a blindfold test, you’d always know a G7b13 from a G7b9 or a Cmaj7#11 from a Cmaj7#5, then you probably don’t need to take this class. If not, though, let’s get started right away! Aural awareness is not a level playing field. Yes, some people are born with more natural facility, but anyone can acquire aural awareness with the right methods. Even perfect pitch can be acquired, although its usefulness is probably open to debate. The important thing is not to imagine that you aren’t ‘musical’ if you find this a difficult skill to master; the great majority of musician do!Unfortunately, so many people allow fear of ‘failure’ (and its perceived implications) to put them off even attempting to develop it, with predictably self-fulfilling results.

Outcome - Improve reading from the treble staff. Q: What do you call two guitarists reading the same line? A: Counterpoint. Q: How do you get a guitarist to turn down? A: Give them the sheet music. …and so on! We’ve all heard the jokes, and it’s true that the guitar can be a difficult instrument to read on. That being said, though, it needn’t be the headache it’s often made out to be, and there’s certainly no reason why a functional level of single-line reading should be any harder for guitarists to acquire than other instrumentalists. It should go without saying that learning to read requires a big pile of sheet music and a fair amount of patience. Some notated material is included here, but you’ll need plenty more - you can’t learn to read from a tutor video alone. Nevertheless, a bit of friendly advice can go a long way to making sure that we’re doing this in a way that’s as effective and efficient as possible - that’s exactly what I’m trying to provide in this class. Over the years, I’ve noticed that some of the existing reading methods for guitar treat the instrument as though it were a trumpet. They seem to reserve the upper registers for advanced study, and prefer to take the student gradually through multiple L.H. positions, from the bottom of the instrument up. In the long term this may well be the right strategy but, to me, it’s always seemed a slightly topsy-turvy way to get started, particularly for electric guitarists looking to eventually play single lines in the jazz style. In this session, therefore, I start by sharing what I’ve found to be the most practical way to look at the instrument, to make the fastest possible progress. From there, we move onto various other aspects of the process. In the full 1 hour and 25 minutes of class, we: Establish an order of priority for learning the fret board, based purely on what is most practical. Identify the best kinds of sheet music for guitarists to seek out. Examine an ingenious method for rhythmic recognition, used for many years in classical music pedagogy. Play a Baroque canon in two different tempos. Examine the difference between guitar pitch and concert pitch, and use this to our advantage. Explore the concept of ‘quick study’, and the various ways that our wider knowledge of the guitar can help us when it comes to reading. Employ different techniques for sharpening up our pitch recognition. Review some of the existing literature on the subject, including some unusual ways to use the classic texts. Reflect generally about the particular challenges of reading on guitar and why it’s worth the effort to tackle them. This time, the class includes a 40-page PDF book, referenced throughout with captions, synchronized on-screen notation, and multiple camera angles during complete performances. In terms of level, if you’re already reading Charlie Parker transcriptions etc. there may not be very much here for you this time. However, if you’ve made start on your reading but are finding it slow going, or if you have always wanted to learn but never got around to it, this material should be of assistance. Sub-topic 1 Creating a 'road map' that prioritizes the most practical areas of the fret board. Sub-topic 2 Learning a technique for recognizing rhythmic shapes. Sub-topic 3 Connecting our wider knowledge of the guitar to the task of reading. Class Categories: Chord Voicings Practicing Rhythm Technique INTERMEDIATE / BEGINNER

Class Aims: Learn to play an iconic solo from one of the early greats, on an essential standard selection. Develop technique, time, and aural awareness in so doing. Increase our improvisational vocabulary and awareness of jazz guitar styles. Learn how great players modify and/or elaborate standard song progressions. Mike suggested I take a look at this solo, and I’m very glad he did, as I’ve learned a huge amount in the process. The combination of one of the most iconic jazz standards (“ Body & Soul ”) and one of the electric guitar’s greatest early pioneers (Oscar Moore of the King Cole Trio), makes for an absolutely fascinating study. In the class, I share my findings, and also some tips I’ve picked up down the years with regard to examining the great recordings. The focus is mostly on this particular solo, so this isn’t a “how to transcribe” class as such, but I have tried to share a few ideas on the subject along the way. In the full 46m class: We set the scene with a brief discussion of early electric guitar styles in context. I play the solo along with the original recording, now using two different camera angles, to help you see as much as possible. We then go through it phrase by phrase, analyzing various aspects of harmony, rhythm, reference to the original melody, and articulation. In the process, we see how Oscar and the trio find unusual alternative chord pathways through this familiar song, and even include some really adventurous “outside” playing. After we deal with the solo itself, we move on to a discussion of transcription in general, its potential benefits and some of the pitfalls to avoid. Synchronised ‘Soundslice’ notation/tab ensures that you know exactly where you are in the transcription at all times. A lead sheet of the standard song is also included. In terms of difficulty, nothing in the solo is likely to prove prohibitive to most players, so this should be a fairly accessible class. Having said that, though, even the most advanced student should find plenty here to enjoy – this really is a fantastic passage of playing, which demonstrates how incredibly advanced the early electric guitarists were.

Class aims: Assist with memorization of the melody and sequence Start to develop the necessary harmonic ‘close control’ to improvise on the tune Develop technique and fretboard awareness, via two purpose-built etudes based on the chord progression At time of writing, this iconic piece by John Coltrane is almost sixty years old but, much like Everest and Kilimanjaro, it remains a perennial attraction for those in search of a challenge! Technically more of a jazz original than a standard, it’s a must know tune nevertheless. This new, shorter, class is based around two purpose-built etudes of mine, and designed to develop thought processes and fretboard awareness that should help you get started on this tricky tune. Perhaps we could think of it as ‘first steps’ to “Giant Steps”! (Note that this class clocks in at just over 30mins duration. I will still be producing the full-length classes in future as well, but flexible session lengths enable me to cover a wider range of topics. Do get in touch if you have any suggestions! JT) As if it wasn’t tricky enough, musicians have played it in all keys and in virtually every kind of time signature and feel. Some, like Kenny Garrett, have increased the harmonic intensity even further; others, like Bill Frisell , have transformed it in to a more contemplative selection. Whilst it’s probably not a tune to tackle until we have a few simpler standards under our belt, it needn’t be feared either. If you can play “ Have You Miss Met Jones? ”, you’re certainly ready to have a go at this one. In the full 30m33s class: Two bespoke etudes are demonstrated at different tempos, then broken down into specific line constructions. We discuss harmonized scales as a means of improving fretboard knowledge. Pointers are given on how to memorize the progression and melody. As always, everything we discuss is fully notated and tabbed in the 11-page PDF that accompanies the class. Synchronized on-screen captions ensure that you can always see exactly what you’re hearing. For the first time in this package, I’ve also been able to create synchronized notation, so you can see a cursor traveling through the etude transcriptions in sync with my video performance. Level-wise, “Giant Steps” isn’t the easiest piece, and you probably need to have a few simpler tunes under your belt before starting to tackle this one. Having said that, there’s certainly no need to be put off by its reputation - the emphasis here is very much on first principles. The class is mostly aimed at the intermediate player who knows a few tunes and feels ready for the next challenge. Read Editor Az Samad's Detailed Review

Something slightly different this time - four of my original pieces for acoustic guitar, presented with full notation and tab, along with videos/mp3s of the pieces in performance and some analytical discussion of how they work. “Little Owl” “Song For The Listener” “Lost Hearts” “Wednesday’s Child” I would obviously be delighted if anyone out there felt that they wanted to have a go at playing the pieces themselves. Moreover, I would be very pleased if any aspect of this package encouraged you to compose pieces of your own, or helped to facilitate this in some way. We all love playing the classic standards but, arguably, it’s only when we start writing our own tunes, that we really start to know ourselves as musicians. Not only that, it’s a really fun thing to do! The music presented here is not strictly jazz as such; the pieces do have that influence in some of the harmony, but also reference some country and folk styles as well. The 17-page transcription booklet uses a mixture of standard notation, tablature, and chord diagrams, to ensure that the compositions remain pretty accessible, even if you don’t read music. For the first time in this package, Jamie has also been able to create synchronized notation with soundslice enhancement , so you can see a cursor traveling through the transcription in sync with the video performance. Learn better and faster by seeing exactly what is being played in real time.

Class aims: Learn to internalize songs quickly Learn to lay them out effectively on the guitar Learn to personalize the song on the fly, with a range of substitute progressions that might also generate intros and endings. How is it that some musicians seem to be able to pick up a new tune in no time at all? Even if, initially, they don’t seem all that familiar with a song you’ve called, they only sneak the most cursory glance at the changes, if they even do that. A few moments later, they’re playing the piece with creative flair and total confidence. Not only that, when the time comes, they’re ready to put the perfect intro and ending on it as well. Were they just kidding? Maybe they knew it all along! Perhaps it’s just luck that they have ‘those ears’…? Well, there could be a little of that involved sometimes, but experienced jazz musicians really can internalize tunes incredibly quickly, and that’s because there’s a knack to it. What’s more, it’s the same skill set that allows them to deliver seemingly endless variations that always remain compatible with what everyone else is doing. It’s also knowledge that can boost aural awareness and, finally, from a guitar standpoint, it’s a huge part of what enables us to generate complete sounding renditions of a song by ourselves. In the full 1hr08m class: We break down the original chords and melody of Frank Loesser’s “I’ve Never Been In Love Before ”, so that they’re easy to remember and treat creatively. After going over some essential first principles, we then look closely at a solo guitar rendition, starting with a really simple ‘block-out’ of the basic chords and melody. The basic rendition gradually evolves towards a more complex setting, that includes 12 different harmonic variations within the basic road map of the tune. These also give us some ideas for appropriate intros and endings. Everything we discuss is fully notated and tabbed in the 28-page PDF that accompanies the class. Perfectly synchronized on-screen captions ensure that you can always see exactly what you’re hearing, even on a bar-by-bar basis at the full performance tempo. As usual, I’ve tried to accommodate learners at different levels of experience. Someone relatively new to standard repertoire will learn some very important first principles, and shouldn’t have too much trouble with the basic solo guitar setting of the tune. The fully expanded rendition may be more aspirational at this stage but, even then, the concepts behind it should be easy enough to understand. Meanwhile, experienced players should find themselves able to deliver all the material without too much trouble, but even someone familiar with the general principles involved may well have their eyes and ears opened to new possibilities. For both groups, the over-riding aim is that the student takes away transferrable ideas that will inspire self-directed study in the future.

Jamie Taylor is a jazz guitarist based in the North of England. He maintains a busy performing schedule, having been privileged to work along the way with some wonderful musicians across a range of styles, such as Baptiste Herbin, Roni Ben-Hur, Tori Freestone, Steve Fishwick, Laura Jurd, Sebastiaan DeKrom, Richard Iles, Alan Barnes, David Lyttle, Tom Harrison, Steve Brown, Neil Yates, Gary Potter, Richard Hawley, The Pigeon Detectives, and members of Cinematic Orchestra. Jamie’s latest project is “ Perpetual Motion Machine “, a jazz-rock six piece featuring Sam Dunn, Riley Stone-Lonergan, Ben Lowman, Garry Jackson, and Steve Hanley. The group completed a 15-date UK tour in September 2017 – you can watch it in action here . FREE FOR MEMBERS

Composition + Improvisation = ‘Comprovisation’! Over the years as a teacher, the question I’ve probably been asked more than any other is: “What can I do to get more vocabulary into my solos?”. Meanwhile, another very common enquiry is: “What’s the most efficient way to go about transcribing?”, which implies a similar sort of overall aim. Even students who know their theory (and are already engaging in transcription tasks) sometimes express frustrations like “it still doesn’t sound like jazz when I do it” or perhaps “it takes so long for any of it to actually come out in my own playing”. There’s no magic wand, of course, but nevertheless I do think there are ways to speed all this up, so that we can quickly assimilate the sounds we hear, and avoid wasting time. After all, it’s perfectly possible to spend weeks transcribing a long solo, only to look back a year later and realize that virtually nothing has stuck. The advice I generally give is that, if we want “vocabulary” to appear in our improvised solos, we have to spend time consciously creating it in the practise room. However many scales we know, and however many solos we’ve transcribed, the things we’re hoping to hear aren’t just going to fall out of our instruments. Instead, we may need to think a little bit more like composers, and consider the musical architecture of the ideas we’re going to play; whether these are of our own making, or taken from a recorded source. How is the new phrase structured? How could we develop the idea, and where might it fit in with our existing ones? If it’s someone else’s, how can we make it feel like it’s ours? None of this is to say that we want our solos to consist entirely of pre-meditated licks or that we shouldn’t aspire to hear spontaneous melodies in the moment of delivery. It’s just that our musical engine needs more specific fuel than a bunch of scales and arpeggios (even the really clever ones) can provide. In the full 1h15m class: • We look at nine different melodic ideas from diverse sources such as Oscar Peterson, Joe Henderson, Dizzy Gillespie, and John Coltrane. The ideas reference both mainstream and contemporary styles; some are also taken from famous composed melodies. • We analyze the structure of each one and consider how it might be expanded beyond its original context. • Using well-known tunes as “test beds” for the resulting vocabulary, I demonstrate how I might end up employing the ideas, in contexts that may be quite different from the original source. • A selection of the resulting lines are then transcribed (and tabbed out) in the accompanying PDF booklet. • Synchronized on-screen captions and timecodes mean that you can always cross-reference between the video and the written materials.

Jazz Time Feel- with UK jazz guitarist Jamie Taylor Amazing time and fantastic feel is the constant factor that unites all the jazz greats in history, from Louis Armstrong to Kurt Rosenwinkel. I’m always surprised that it isn’t discussed more often, and there are certainly a lot of myths surrounding the topic, such as “feel can’t be taught”, “jazz quavers are really triplets” (at best, a massive over-simplification!), or the contrasting and equally misleading tenet that “jazz quavers can’t be notated”. Of course, the truth is that feel can be analyzed and worked on just like anything else, and a little bit of focus on this topic can produce really dramatic improvements in your playing in a short time. Sometimes what we need to do as musicians is not to get new things into our playing, but to deliver our existing vocabulary better. That well-worn II-V-I lick you’re so tired of can suddenly sound like a million dollars when you get it right in the middle of the pocket! This lesson includes: • Analysis and demonstration of different kinds of jazz quaver feel • Exercises to develop your relationship with the time – play deliberately behind the beat, then snap back up against the pulse! • “Gear shifting” exercises to improve your rhythmic accuracy. • A wide range of metronome exercises to really benefit your improvisation and comping. • A highly flexible “phrase chart” exercise, that helps you to develop complete variety and control in your phrasing and articulation over familiar forms. • Advice on preparing to play repertoire from either end of the tempo spectrum. • Suggested listening to help you identify the different types of delivery employed by the jazz greats. • Synchronized on-screen captions so that you know exactly what you’re hearing, as you’re hearing it! • Neatly presented written examples of all exercises in PDF format. View a clip from Jamie's class

Does any of this sound familiar? You’re building a repertoire of jazz tunes and you’re starting to feel comfortable playing the heads and getting around the changes when you solo. You know which notes fit over which chords and you’re developing a nice collection of voicings for accompaniment. It’s all working fine, as far as it goes. But there’s just one problem - you’re starting to notice that it sounds a little bit ‘square’. Maybe you’re getting trapped in four-measure phrases, or you feel as though the bar lines have become like a prison? Perhaps you tend to fall into repetitive patterns when comping? If only it all sounded a little bit more ‘hip’ rhythmically… Rest assured - we all know that feeling! Almost all my intermediate to advanced students tell me a version of this story at some stage, and it’s something I’m always trying to work on myself. That’s why this lesson is designed to equip you with a host of exercises and ideas to get your phrasing onto the next level; I hope it also demystifies some of the rhythmic things that we all love on our favorite records. It’s not about playing everything in 5/4 or 7/4 (although I may well explore that in subsequent classes, if people would like me to) – it’s about achieving maximum rhythmic interest and variety in 4/4 and 3/4 time. Although this is a stand-alone lesson in its own right, it builds to some extent on the material covered in my ‘ Jazz Time Feel ’ class; the two are certainly complementary to each other. That lesson was about giving our sense of time a real workout, whereas this one is about being rhythmically creative. The lesson includes: • Exercises to help you start and end phrases anywhere within a 4/4 measure. • Polyrhythmic exercises that superimpose 3/4 against 4/4 time. • Polyrhythmic exercises that superimpose 4/4 against 3/4 time. • Exercises to help you feel 4/4 as 12/8, to open up phrasing possibilities. • Explanation and demonstration of metric modulation. • Exercises that employ uneven melodic and rhythmic groupings against a regular 4/4 pulse. • Synchronized on-screen captions so that you know exactly what you’re hearing, when you’re hearing it. • Neatly presented transcription of all materials in PDF format, cross-referenced with the on-screen captions. View a clip

A ‘Two-Speed’ Approach To Rhythm Changes It’s probably the second most called tune in the repertoire, after the blues, but the famous “ Rhythm Changes ” (i.e. the many variants of Gershwin’s “ I Got Rhythm ”) always presents a challenge to musicians at every level of experience. As we study this tune, we should be aware that it’s simultaneously the most complex and the simplest piece in the book; hence the ‘two-speed’ approach. This lesson has been carefully designed to offer something to everyone: on the one hand, it includes a wide range of chord substitutions, lines and progressions we can add to the basic form, whilst on the other hand, we deconstruct the song and reduce it to its barest essentials. This jazz guitar lesson includes: Advice on creating lines over a static major tonality. Advice on breaking down the difficult A section into a simpler (but still convincing) progression. Simple lines to negotiate the full A section changes, broken down into their component parts, so that you can create similar ones of your own. Thorough discussion and demonstration of several different bridge progressions. Thorough discussion and demonstration of many different harmonic substitutions, including ideas relating to the playing of great saxophonists like Sonny Stitt and John Coltrane. Advice on how to get “outside” the changes in your lines. Clear and detailed PDF containing many written examples. Synchronised on-screen captions, so that you know exactly what you’re hearing at any given moment. Every concept discussed is broken down slowly, and then performed at tempo with rhythm section backing, so you can hear it in a performance context.

Advanced Jazz Guitar Lesson: A Guide To Practical Comping – Part One: The art of jazz guitar accompaniment , and the study of chords in general, can be daunting topics, especially if you’re new to the style. That’s why this lesson dives straight in with the essentials; it’s full of devices that you can go out and use on your next gig. The focus here isn’t on complicated harmonic theory; it’s all about getting stuck in to the basic changes of well-known standards, and giving them a sprinkling of the magic dust! During almost 90 mins of easily digestible material, we learn all sorts of tips and tricks that the pros use to make their accompaniments sparkle. Even if you’ve never comped a set of jazz chord changes before, this video gives you all the tools you need to emulate greats like Joe Pass, Freddie Green, Bucky Pizzarelli, and Martin Taylor. No need to worry about struggling to keep up either - every concept we cover is broken down slowly and notated fully (including tablature) on the accompanying PDF. There’s plenty to keep the more experienced player occupied too… Topics covered include: Quickly build a rock-solid foundation of basic jazz shapes . Add passing chords to basic progressions to keep them moving. Introduction to moving inner parts. ‘Freddie Green’ style 4-to-the-bar comping. What shapes to use, what technique to use, how to get that sound! Martin Taylor/Joe Pass style bass line comping. The class includes a complete chorus of this over “All The Things You Are”, played slowly and fully tabbed out on the PDF. Voice leading through common progressions – all over the guitar. Combine voicings with scales, to make exciting chord/melody phrases. Finally, the class comes complete with a 13-page PDF booklet (including standard notation and tablature), plus synchronised on-screen captions, so you know exactly where you are at all times.

A "Two-Speed" Approach to Blues Following on from a customer suggestion (thanks Ray!), this class utilizes the two-speed approach previously applied to Rhythm Changes , to deal with another essential jazz progression , from first principles through to advanced variants. Players at all levels should find something beneficial amongst nearly 1hr 50mins of detailed material. Class features: Discussion of the essential blues vocabulary . Forget the so-called "blues scale" – there’s much more to the sound than that! Demonstration of the classic "Kenny Burrell" sound, over a simple I, IV, V chord progression. Learn how the standard " jazz blues " changes differ from this, and how to bring out the crucial changes in your solo lines. Learn how to use a variety of harmonic techniques to get “outside” the changes and create real tension in your blues lines. Analysis of ten different variant blues progressions, as recorded by the jazz blues greats. A close look at two brand new blues-based compositions, which show how the essential format can still be manipulated into an infinite range of variations. Synchronized on-screen captions. Detailed PDF, including transcribed examples and lots more. Running Time: 1hr 50min

This jazz guitar class builds on the foundations established in Part One of a guide to practical comping , to expand the vocabulary to the point where we can comp with total melodic freedom over any almost any kind of harmonic situation. The advanced player may wish to take this class as a standalone lesson in its own right, but when combined with the first video, it supplies a pretty comprehensive approach to fret board harmony . The main focus here is on combining our chordal repertoire with our knowledge of scales, so that we are able to produce accompaniments that are as varied and interactive as we would want our solo lines to be. During almost 1hr50m of material , we examine a huge range of harmonic possibilities, whilst relating everything back to something familiar. If you've ever had the feeling that you understand the theory but find it difficult to apply, this class might have some practical solutions. Topics covered in this jazz guitar lesson include: Quartal voicings for the major scale and all its modal applications How to apply this to appropriate pieces from repertoire Extended modal voicings to facilitate more complex textures How to see and hear these in the context of something familiar Discussion of simple and more complex triad applications Quartal and modal voicings for the melodic minor scale Specific application of these to appropriate standard repertoire A simple, accessible guide to diminished and whole-tone harmony Specific application again to appropriate standard repertoire Some general practical advice from the bandstand The class comes with a 14-page PDF booklet (including tablature) cross- referenced with a series of synchronized on-screen captions.

Over many years of working with jazz guitar students, I’ve noticed that memorizing, retaining, and delivering standard song melodies is a very common area of weakness. Student players often seem to be in a great hurry to get stuck into their solo, to such an extent that they sometimes haven’t learned the melody at all, or else they are only able to deliver it in a rather stiff fashion, ‘context-locked’ to a particular key or area of the fingerboard. This has a number of detrimental effects – it makes it very difficult to remember tunes, it makes it unlikely that our solos will sound particularly musical, and it can mean that listeners are inclined to draw negative conclusions about our playing before we’ve even begun to improvise. On the other hand, if we take a more careful and thorough approach to learning heads, we can sound convincing from the very first measure, with some of the 20th century’s greatest composers doing most of the work for us! Not only that, but when we then come to improvise, we can continue to follow the melodic signposts that have been left for us in what they wrote. The great Jim Hall once said “I don’t want my solo on All The Things You Are to sound the same as my solo on Stella By Starlight” which seems to suggest that he based his improvisations on the total song, rather than reducing everything down to a series of chord progressions. As for the class itself: • We look at the melodic structure of two very well-known standards, with a view to being able to understand and access them in a flexible way. • We consider how these melodies relate to the underlying chord progressions, with suggestions for how we might see this relationship on the fretboard and also understand it aurally. • We work on a task that combines the written melody with improvisation, to help generate a symbiotic relationship between the two. • We look at an example setting of “Just Friends” which provides strategies for avoiding the rigid ‘chord melody’ approach that tends to compromise the momentum of the music. • We look at a layout of “Solar” which transforms very simple chord shapes into a piano-like interpretation that carries the melody, implies the harmony, and maintains a rhythmic drive. • We engage in a detailed analysis of “Donna Lee”, by way of extending the techniques to cover more complex heads, which are always more difficult. • Finally, we create two “mash-ups” by combining transposed elements of “Donna Lee” with other tunes, to show how these phrases might have a life outside their original context. • Includes a detailed 21 page PDF booklet with analysis, notation, and TAB. • Synchronized on-screen captions. Again, hopefully there’s something there for everyone – look forward to seeing you in class! Jamie Taylor Video is 1hr 10min Includes 22 pages of PDF material

After going to hear a recital of baroque music recently, I was reminded of the way that composers over the centuries made such harmonically beautiful music despite drawing on what, in jazz terms, could appear to be a rather limited palette of quite simple chords. Of course, these long-established harmonic principles also formed the vocabulary for the Great American Songbook classics that we all love to improvise on. In my view, this stuff really isn't as complex as it's sometimes made out to be. It would seem logical that the same devices used to create these tunes, decades ago, could be used to inform our attempts to solo over them. It’s never really made sense to me when we try to explain Cole Porter songs in terms of a analytical language that he almost certainly wouldn’t have recognized. Over the last fifty years or so, we have seen the emergence of " jazz theory " as a discipline in its own right. I don't intend to add to the debates that already exist about the merits of various approaches - all these things can have great merit when used in the right context. Nevertheless, the aim of this session is to try and explain the very simple infrastructure at work in jazz standards, and to show that there are times when a very literal 'match the scale to the chord symbol' approach may well confuse matters by leading us into poor note choices. If you understand major and minor keys, you know everything you need to get started, and shouldn't go far wrong. Maybe we can put away those huge textbooks filled with terrifying mathematical concepts that make our brains ache – at least for a while? I like wrestling with all that stuff sometimes too, but there must be easier ways to get started… IN THIS CLASS For the Less Experienced For the less experienced player, I aim to offer some understanding of how standard songs work, so that you have some ideas about how to quickly find effective note choices against changing chords. If you’ve ever wondered why that textbook Mixolydian scale doesn’t sound right over the dominant 7th you’re playing over, the answers can be found here. For the Experienced Improviser I hope to offer some perspectives that might not have occurred to you, even if you already solo pretty fluently over chord changes. There’s a good chance that there might be easier ways to think about some of those awkward harmonic corners in your favourite tunes. This class includes: A detailed 22 page PDF booklet with analysis, chord symbols, standard notation, and TAB. Synchronized on-screen captions. Explanation of some centuries-old harmonic concepts which shed light on why the chords in standard songs do what they do, and offer an alternative to some of the really daunting jazz theory concepts such as diminished scales and altered modes etc. Analysis of two well-known standards, contrasting older and more recent ways of looking at what’s happening. Example lines notated and tabbed – not only mine, but some from great jazz recordings too! Running time: 1 hour 27 minutes Hopefully there’s something here for everyone – look forward to seeing you in class! Jamie

After going to hear a recital of baroque music, I was reminded of the way that composers over the centuries made such harmonically beautiful music despite drawing on what, in jazz terms, could appear to be a rather limited palette of quite simple chords. Of course, these long-established harmonic principles also formed the vocabulary for the Great American Songbook classics that we all love to improvise on. In my view, this stuff really isn't as complex as it's sometimes made out to be. It would seem logical that the same devices used to create these tunes, decades ago, could be used to inform our attempts to solo over them. It’s never really made sense to me when we try to explain Cole Porter songs in terms of a analytical language that he almost certainly wouldn’t have recognized. Over the last fifty years or so, we have seen the emergence of "jazz theory" as a discipline in its own right. I don't intend to add to the debates that already exist about the merits of various approaches - all these things can have great merit when used in the right context. Nevertheless, the aim of this session is to try and explain the very simple infrastructure at work in jazz standards, and to show that there are times when a very literal 'match the scale to the chord symbol' approach may well confuse matters by leading us into poor note choices. If you understand major and minor keys, you know everything you need to get started, and shouldn’t go far wrong. Maybe we can put away those huge textbooks filled with terrifying mathematical concepts that make our brains ache – at least for a while? I like wrestling with all that stuff sometimes too, but there must be easier ways to get started… Running time 60 minutes 33 pages of written material including transcriptions and examples in standard notation and TAB