Steve Giordano

This video is an intermediate master class based on ear development introducing some concepts that, in Steve's opinion, are not emphasized enough in the instructional world. These concepts, although diatonic, will help the jazz player to learn standards harmonically and open up some sensitivities for more interactive playing experiences.

1 Hr - Private live video lesson with Steve Giordano.

A Look Into Reharmonization Complete 3-part course included "Exploring Stella" Reharmonization is one of the most sought after, yet complex musical subjects in modern music. Guitarist Steve Giordano shares his insights, both philosophically and practically, with a complete walk-through of his very unique re-harm treatment of jazz standard “Stella by Starlight”. The video opens with a full blown live performance with trumpeter Bob Meashey, as the duo interactively explores their way through this intriguing re-harm offering. In Part Two, “Why Re-Harm?”, Steve gives a thorough explanation on the vague subject of reharmonization. In Part Three, “Aesthetic Choices”, Steve walks the viewer though the piece, explaining in depth, the choices and how they relate to the original harmonies.

This class takes an in-depth look into accompanying (comping) other musicians in playing jazz. The goal of this class is to free the player up and broaden the common view of comping from role playing/responsibility, to an interactive, creative experience. The concepts here are not just limited to guitarists, as they are applicable to any instrument. Some of the topics covered are: the use of space over time, voice leading, dynamics, implication, tempo variety, harmonic choices, and texturing. Included also is a duo performance exemplifying these concepts. The class runs 72 minutes. View a clip

As a jazz guitarist, it took me a while before I realized most of what I played was coming from my guitar neck and not necessarily from my head. One night at a gig a jazz vocalist sat in and sang the blues. Although she didn't know a whole lot about musical theory, or even what notes she was singing, I realized her solo was more thematic and melodic than mine. It was at that point I started to use my voice and scat my ideas and make my guitar express what I was singing/hearing. This opened up a new world for me and a deeper level of improvisation. This class is about learning to be in the driver's seat and in control of what you play. It's about making your instrument become your voice from the inside out. I would say the level is intermediate to advanced. I use a simple vehicle of Blue Bossa to demonstrate, and designed this class for interactive playing with me. The last stage opens up the harmonies and expands the stock changes to a new level without losing the integrity of the piece. In this re-harmonization part, I explain what I did which should give insight to the viewer's harmonic vocabulary. The video is approximately 95 minutes in length.

One of the most difficult issues for a jazz artist's development is prioritizing their practice time. "How should I best invest my time?" University students never have time to think about things like this because they are always given piles and piles of work to do in keeping up with their grades. In today's world, there is a saturation of methods of "how to" do this and that. This can be overwhelming to the point of frustration for the serious jazz musicians seeking guidance on how to best spend their time. My inspiration for making this video series comes from the many questions that my students have asked me over the years of teaching. Questions like: "how can I obtain better ears" or "how can I get better time" just to name a couple. I will say up front that the content on this video is not traditional nor is it chock filled with numerous technical exercises. It is rather filled with my personal take and belief on how to best develop the tools needed to grow as a jazz player. It is geared, like all my videos, toward personal development in a non-dogmatic manner. It is a video of tips and suggestions that point toward inner self-development, rather than how to "fit in" with the crowd, so to speak. It has multiple segments and chapters, each in response to the most FAQs I have encountered over my many years of teaching. I started out thinking I could achieve this in one 90 minute video, but once I began, I soon realized it was a bigger project than I thought. I certainly did not want to skimp or cram things in, or worse yet, leave out things that need to be said. "Quality Practicing Jazz" Part I is already over 100 minutes long. I believe every jazz musician will benefit from this series in some way. Even the seasoned players will get a kick out of how some "untouched" subject matter such as "does a jazz musician with perfect pitch have an advantage over one who does not?" get addressed in a fresh way that is common-sense oriented and sometimes humorous. Steve Giordano View a clip of the class

One of the most difficult issues for a jazz artist's development is prioritizing their practice time. "How should I best invest my time?" University students never have time to think about things like this because they are always given piles and piles of work to do in keeping up with their grades. In today's world, there is a saturation of methods of "how to" do this and that. This can be overwhelming to the point of frustration for the serious jazz musicians seeking guidance on how to best spend their time. My inspiration for making this video series comes from the many questions that my students have asked me over the years of teaching. Questions like: "how can I obtain better ears" or "how can I get better time" just to name a couple. I will say up front that the content on this video is not traditional nor is it chock filled with numerous technical exercises. It is rather filled with my personal take and belief on how to best develop the tools needed to grow as a jazz player. It is geared, like all my videos, toward personal development in a non-dogmatic manner. It is a video of tips and suggestions that point toward inner self-development, rather than how to "fit in" with the crowd, so to speak. It has multiple segments and chapters, each in response to the most FAQs I have encountered over my many years of teaching. I started out thinking I could achieve this in one 90 minute video, but once I began, I soon realized it was a bigger project than I thought. I certainly did not want to skimp or cram things in, or worse yet, leave out things that need to be said. "Quality Practicing Jazz" Part I is already over 100 minutes long. I believe every jazz musician will benefit from this series in some way. Even the seasoned players will get a kick out of how some "untouched" subject matter such as "does a jazz musician with perfect pitch have an advantage over one who does not?" get addressed in a fresh way that is common-sense oriented and sometimes humorous. Steve Giordano

" My seventh master class offering, I cover many guitar rhythms that I have developed over my years of playing various genres of music using my own personal right hand guitar techniques that combine the use of a pick and/or fingers. This 104 minute video is broken up into multiple segments – each focusing on a particular style of playing. Each segment begins with a short melodic improvisation over a particular style, followed by a detailed explanation of the rhythmic technique used. The segment listing are as follows: 1) Introduction 2) Jazz Waltz 3) Basic Samba 4) Up Tempo Swing 5) Slow Samba 6) Medium Swing 7) Fast Samba 8) Funky Swing 9) Ballad The following tunes are used to demonstrate techniques: "When Sonny Gets Blue" "Triste" "Satin Doll" "Estate" "Walkin' the Dos" "Blusette" "Along Came Betty" by Benny Golson The materials included are: 1) MP3 loops of each example to practice with or solo over 2) PDF files of all the chord changes used in this video

As a jazz player, I didn’t have a strong desire to compose music. My creative challenges were in the world of jazz improvisation. Upon hearing more challenging tunes to improvise over, I was intrigued by the non-diatonic harmonic relationships and what made this music work. How did it achieve such character in “non-standard” structures? My musical vocabulary was based mostly on playing over jazz standards. I wanted to hear more. Although I will always love playing jazz standards, I had a strong desire to find fresh sounding music within myself; thus my journey began. This was not so easy because everything I came up with sounded too familiar to me and musical composition (the art of creating new music) had to be deeper than finding new melodies over familiar territory. When I listened to progressive jazz or impressionistic classical music, I wondered how did Joe Zawinul, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea and Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Samuel Barbe, escape the power of diatonic predictability or familiarity without entering in a world of cacophony or avant garde. This video is about sharing some of my most useful techniques for composing new music. It is, like all my videos, open ended and made to inspire musicians who are thinking about composing, or, are stuck in a rut in the search to discover new music within themselves. Included in this 90 minute video is the start of a composition that I do on the fly and invite the viewer to continue or even finish it, along with one of my linear compositions and how I arrived at its creation. A PDF chart of this composition is included as well. View clips from this class

A soli is a composed/arranged improvisation based on the harmonic structure and form of a musical composition. The most common use of a soli is found within a big band arrangement as a variation of the head. Although a soli is based on the harmonic structure of a piece, there is plenty of creative room for re-harmonization. “Soli for Guitar” is basically composing a chord melody variation over a musical composition. In this master class example, I will be showing and explaining my soli over the Clifford Brown composition, Joy Spring. I strongly suggest learning this tune in order to fully comprehend the harmonic treatment I incorporate in this soli. I will include the chart of the basic harmonic structure of Joy Spring and, in the master class video, explain everything I am altering with each chord voicing. It is my belief that creating a soli on guitar is a great way to increase harmonic vocabulary as well as developing fluidity in spontaneous chord soloing. Included in the class: The 50 minute video A PDF chart of my Soli in notation and chord symbols A PDF of the original chart of "Joy Spring"