Modern Jazz Guitar: Complete Series | Tom Lippincott

Guitarists with unprecedented virtuosity and originality have driven the instrument’s rise in prominence and have established a new “modern sound” that is becoming part of the jazz vocabulary.  Players such as Kurt Rosenwinkel, Ben Monder, Jonathan Kreisberg, John Stowell, Gilad Hekselman, Adam Rogers, Lage Lund, and Nir Felder are inventive, ingenious, and forward-thinking while still managing to maintain a strong connection to the tradition.  If you have heard these and other modern jazz guitarists and wondered How do they get that sound?, then this series of classes is for you.

The Modern Jazz Guitar series was created for the intermediate to advanced jazz guitarist who already has a basic command of traditional jazz vocabulary including the basics of improvising over chord changes, comping/chord vocabulary, and knowledge of standard chord progressions.  This multi-part series examines the modern jazz guitar style in systematic detail and is divided into five classes that cover melody (single note improvisation), harmony (using chords for  comping, chord soloing, and self-comping), rhythm, and tone/equipment. An informative introductory class examines the roots of the modern style and includes a discussion of the right and left hand techniques that many of the modern players use.

Numerous musical examples, including specific licks, phrases, and chord voicings in the style of several modern jazz guitarists, are demonstrated during the classes and provided in the written materials in traditional notation, tablature, and/or chord grid form, but the lessons have been designed to be open-ended enough that you will be encouraged to find your own path and work toward developing your unique musical voice.

Modern Jazz Guitar Part 1 covers:

• an overview of the roots of the modern jazz guitar style and a discussion of how modern players’ styles evolved along a direct line from their predecessors
• brief surveys of the styles of Charlie Christian, Wes Montgomery, Grant Green, Jim Hall, Pat Metheny, John Scofield, and Bill Frisell
• analysis of specific elements of the styles of the above players that influenced the modern players
• discussion of use of single note lines as well as chords/harmony from each player, with examples
• discussion of technique with emphasis on achieving relaxed and fluid movement from note to note and efficient use of energy
• overview of the basics of alternate picking, economy picking, and fingerstyle, with examples of each
• suggestions for exercises using one, two, three, and four notes per string
• discussion of hammer-ons and pull-offs, with examples and suggestions for practice
• pick and fingers techniques for playing chords and single note lines
• backing MP3 play-along tracks used in the video for all examples available for free download at www.tomlippincott.com
• running time: 106 minutes
• includes 18 pages of written examples and exercises
  

“Well-structured, detailed course with many inspiring examples. Lots of material to chew on, including many concepts I hadn’t seen covered in any other guitar instructional videos. I recommend it!”

“These classes are loaded with useful concepts that can open up new doors in a musicians development.”

Modern Jazz Guitar Part 2, Melody, covers:

• in-depth analysis of modern jazz guitar single-note soloing techniques
• examination of a standard chord progression (chord changes from “All the Things You Are”) and brief overview of basic chord/scale analysis techniques and common substitute sounds
• practical 2-notes-per-string arpeggio fingerings for increased range when outlining chord tones and substitute sounds
• use of three-part-4th or suspended triad structures for generating new melodic material, with exercises for gaining fluency
• use of four-part-4th or 7sus4 chord structures for generating new melodic material, with exercises for gaining fluency
• other multiple interval structures, with exercises applied to major, melodic minor, and diminished scales, plus ideas for generating your own licks and patterns from the material
• arpeggio and melodic patterns using odd-numbered groupings of notes, with exercises for gaining fluency taken diatonically through the major scale
• examples of triad pairs and discussion of uses
• in-depth exploration of the augmented scale, including scale fingerings and intervallic patterns for gaining fluency
• discussion of three-note and four-note chords contained within the augmented scale with examples of licks generated from these structures, as well as ideas for generating your own material
• in-depth discussion of the harmonic major scale, with examples of the basic harmonies with their upper extensions and the harmonies they create
• multiple exercises that take material from previous examples and convert them to harmonic major, with ideas and suggestions for musical application
• discussion of pentatonic scales, including major, minor (1,2,b3,5,6), and pentatonic b6, with suggestions for ways to use them
• multiple etudes using “All the Things” chord changes that demonstrate the musical application of all the material discussed
• examples of licks and patterns in the style of several modern jazz guitarists including Kurt Rosenwinkel, Jonathan Kreisberg, Ben Monder, and John Stowell
• backing MP3 play-along tracks used in the video for all examples and etudes included
• running time: 119 minutes
• includes 28 pages of written examples and exercises

Modern Jazz Guitar Part 3, Chord Voicing & Harmony, covers:

• survey of modern jazz guitar chord voicings and harmony
• discussion of three different approaches to harmony:  tonal, modal, and polytonal
• ways to use some of the basic major-scale-derived voicings you may already know to get a more modern sound, with example voicings
• examples of melodic minor-derived drop 2 and drop 3 voicings and ideas for reharmonizing basic chord progressions with them, including a brief overview of the modes of melodic minor
• use of four-part-4th or 7sus4 chord structures for generating new harmonic material, either as substitute chords in a tonal context or in a modal context, with systematic presentation of voicings
• overview of the five possible four-note chord types contained within any seven-note scale, with an explanation and discussion of each, with examples
• examples of creating new voicings of the above chord types based on changing one or two notes of commonly known basic 7th chord shapes
• explanation of drop 2&4 and drop 2&3 voicings, with examples and discussions of each
• ideas for generating new voicings based on the above chords
• exploration of unusual, more dissonant, or “wrong” color tones added to basic shell voicings, with examples
• discussion of two- and three-note chords derived from four-note voicings, with examples
• using modern harmonic vocabulary for self-comping during a single note solo
• application of polytonality to playing over standard chord progressions, with both quartal and third-based chord voicings
• examples of chord voicings and chordal phrases in the style of several modern jazz guitarists including Kurt Rosenwinkel, Jonathan Kreisberg, Ben Monder, John Stowell, and Lage Lund
• backing MP3 play-along tracks used in the video for all examples and etudes
• running time: 107 minutes
• includes 18 pages of written examples and exercises

Other videos from this Modern Jazz Guitar Instructional series :

• Modern Jazz Guitar part I: Overview and Roots
• Modern Jazz Guitar part II: In Depth Examination
• Modern Jazz Guitar part III: Chord Voicing & Harmony
• Modern Jazz Guitar part IV: Rhythm Exploration
• Modern Jazz Guitar part V: Rhythm Exploration Cont.

• exploration of rhythms used in modern jazz
• discussion of odd groupings of notes in 4/4 time for polyrhythmic effects
• examples of odd groupings by interval, by accent, and by articulation
• application of odd groupings to melodic patterns from Modern Jazz Guitar Part 2, Melody
• discussion of applying the odd grouping concept over chord changes and typical four-bar phrases
• in-depth exploration of eighth-note, quarter-note, and half-note triplets, with both melodic and harmonic exercises for gaining proficiency with each of these rhythms
• explanation of displaced quarter-note and half-note triplets, with examples and exercises
• examples of melodic patterns from the Melody class applied to odd groupings of triplets and displacements for polyrhythmic effects
• exploration of the three different combinations of two eighth-note triplets within one beat, with example
• examples of odd rhythmic groupings of chords over a standard chord progression for applying the above concepts to comping and chordal phrases
• explanation of the basic “claves” for 5/4 and 7/4 time
• examples of ideas for “breaking out of the clave prison” in 5/4 time in order to achieve freedom and rhythmic variety when soloing and comping in that time signature
• exploration of polyrhythms and odd groupings in 5/4 time, with examples and demonstrations
• backing MP3 play-along tracks used in the video for all examples and etudes, as well as 5/4 and 7/4 practice groove tracks
• running time: 104 minutes
• includes 13 pages of written examples and exercises

• exploration of rhythms used in modern jazz, continued from Part 4
• examples of ideas for “breaking out of the clave prison” in 7/4 time in order to achieve freedom and rhythmic variety when soloing and comping in that time signature
• exploration of polyrhythms and odd groupings in 7/4 time, with examples and demonstrations
• discussion of converting songs written in common time signatures into 5/4 and 7/4, with examples of both short and long form for both meters
• chord changes to Ben Monder’s unique arrangement of “All the Things You Are” with performance example
• explanation of true polyrhythms and their uses in metric modulations
• exercises for gaining facility with metric modulations between all different meters in two parts, first tapping out the rhythms, then playing them on the guitar
• examples of applying different metric modulations to single note lines and comping on a one-chord vamp, as well as on a standard chord progression
• suggestions for using the MP3 play-along 5/4 and 7/4 vamps for practice
• advice on playing at fast tempos, with demonstration
• discussion of equipment used by various modern jazz guitarists , including guitars, picks, amplifiers, and effects, with a guided tour of Tom’s pedal board and demonstrations of effective use of each pedal
• list of suggested representative modern jazz recordings by various guitarists and non-guitarists
• backing MP3 play-along tracks used in the video for all examples and etudes, as well as 5/4 and 7/4 practice groove tracks
• running time: 73 minutes
• includes 6 pages of written examples, exercises, practice tips, and listening lists