Chord Melody Masterclass
Heads, You Win!
“I believe I have downloaded all of Jamie's classes now. His lessons are practical and applicable to the jazz genre. With this new addition "Heads, You Win!" you now have…”
About this masterclass
Jamie Taylor tackles a very common weakness among jazz guitar students: memorizing, retaining, and delivering standard song melodies. Players in a hurry to get to their solo often barely learn the head, or can only deliver it stiffly, locked to one key or one area of the fingerboard — which makes tunes hard to remember and solos less musical. Learn heads carefully and thoroughly, Jamie argues, and you sound convincing from the very first measure, with some of the 20th century's greatest composers doing most of the work for you.
"I don't want my solo on All The Things You Are to sound the same as my solo on Stella By Starlight." — Jim Hall
What's covered
- The melodic structure of two well-known standards, approached so you can access them flexibly
- How melodies relate to the underlying chord progressions — on the fretboard and by ear
- A task combining the written melody with improvisation, building a symbiotic relationship between the two
- An example setting of Just Friends with strategies for avoiding the rigid chord-melody approach that kills momentum
- A layout of Solar that turns simple chord shapes into a piano-like interpretation carrying melody, harmony, and rhythmic drive
- A detailed analysis of Donna Lee, extending the techniques to more complex heads
- Two "mash-ups" combining transposed Donna Lee phrases with other tunes, showing how these ideas live outside their original context
Video is 1 hour 10 minutes, with synchronized on-screen captions. Includes a detailed 21-page PDF booklet with analysis, notation, and TAB. Hopefully there's something here for everyone — see you in class!
Lessons in this masterclass
Lessons
- 1Heads, You Win!1h 10m
Reviews & Ratings
"Insightful is an understatement!!!!"
Thank you, Jamie, for the wonderful course! Everything is done very well and your explanations and teachings are beyond my expectations! You gave me the very best analysis of Donna Lee that I have ever learned --and, sad to say, I have been playing that song for over 40 years. Your course demonstrates your expertise in musical understanding and performance; however, it is also a clear demonstration of your tremendous teaching ability. Thanks again!
"Essential viewing "
Superb. Hard to know what else to say. This guy is just a great teacher. Get this lesson.
I believe I have downloaded all of Jamie's classes now. His lessons are practical and applicable to the jazz genre. With this new addition "Heads, You Win!" you now have the tools to interpret and embellish the Jazz repertoire with confidence. Along with Jamie's other lessons and dedicated practice, you can develop a credible performance repertoire to gig with. After studying this music and attending gigs, the most important thing that I have learned is that the Jazz Fan is astute in how the standards should be performed (they know these tunes-Trust me!); as a musician you can't cheat it.
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