"West Coast Blues" [Guitar Masterclass]

Randy Johnston teaches "West Coast Blues", Wes Montgomery's classic jazz blues in 3/4 (6/8) time, putting his own twist on it rather than attempting a note-for-note Wes copy. You'll learn the chord changes — including how the melody changes and the trickier solo changes differ — plus Randy's personal strategies for soloing on the tune with single notes, octaves, and block chords.

What's covered

• The melody changes vs. the solo changes, including Wes's trademark tritone-substitution ii-Vs and the 1-6-2-5 turnaround with tritone subs
• Ideas for simplifying ii-V single-note lines, including sequences over the descending ii-Vs
• Minor vs. dominant vs. blues-scale ideas — and why the blues scale works as a "trump card" over these changes
• Visualization techniques for Wes-style octave solos, with fingering shapes for each string set (plus Larry Coryell's alternate fingering)
• Block chord soloing basics: drop-2 voicings, inversions, and replacing chord tones with upper partials (9th for root, 11th for 3rd, 13th for 5th)
• Which chord fingerings work better on which string sets, and why
• Two arrangers' techniques — diminished approach and chromatic approach — to imitate the big band sound

These are the ideas Randy actually uses when he plays, presented so you can navigate this tune with more confidence at your next gig or jam session. Full video is 1 hour. Includes 3 pages of PDF materials in standard notation.