Jazz Improvisation for Guitar - A Melodic Approach Book/Online Audio

I, like so many jazz students have a hundred books on jazz guitar (and videos also).If I burn them all and keep just one book I would keep this book (and the list I give at the bottom of page). Mr. Fewell has the finest jazz guitar sound I have ever heard, please just my just my opinon! He has the sound I want to strive for. This book has the smoothest jazz licks and shows you the importance of articulating your lines(slides, pull offs etc..) to get diffrent sounds, comping with guide tones, 3 note voicings for comping, and guide tone resolution. It's the most complete no nonsense jazz course I have seen in one book. It is mainly based on playing from triad shapes,and their extensions, and if you have a solid foundation in the caged system you will know how to fit it into the whole thing. Of course no jazz book or couse could ever cover half the topics of jazz guitar, for that you will need to dedicate your life to finding the best material, and what is the right sound for you. Buy it you won't be disapointed! Other books: caged system essential jazz lines in style of charlie parker-by corey christiensen Jazz Improvisation for Guitar by less wise

I just received this book and let me tell you that this book is the best so far when it comes learning jazz improvisation using triads. Everything is presented in order so that you start from the simple concepts and learn bit by bit until you grasp the big picture. Techniques and ideas used by jazz legends like Wes, Pat Martino, Benson and others are covered also. The book also teaches guide tones and how to use various notes in a chord rather than a whole scale to create jazz lines thus revealing the secrets of the jazz greats.

This book gives a fresh look at the subject of improvisation. The look at minor extension as a major triad built from the 7'th degree, is a great way to simplify the learning of arppegios. The minor patterns that force you to play in different possitions are great for learning the fingerboard.

Ok I'm one of those guy's that's been stuck playing solos and improvising from scales. I determine the key of the progression and then I rely on my ears to guide me through the scale. There are people who have become quite phenomenal improvising this way. I'm not one of them. Sure I can hold my own in a jam session, but I feel so limited and what about those scale notes that sometimes sound good and sometimes dont? Between self study on arpeggios and this book and can tell you that I have found the method to tonal freedom. I'm sure as heck not there yet. To be sure the principles in this book will take you years to fully ingrain...However I can already tell that once it's done the way I play guitar will forever be changed. At first glance this book seems geared only towards jazz....NOT SO! these principles can be applied in any style of music what-so-ever. In fact I am already finding that the way I solo to rock songs is changing and I'm starting to understand why some of those fancy blues licks work. If you are prepared to get back to serious study on the guitar and If your willing to put forth the time and the effort then I think this is without a doubt the best way to think of the instrument. This book is for intermediate guitarist that are comfortable with taking a concept and further exploring it on your own. It's not a book of licks...although it does have some. It's a book that presents a method of thinking about music and it shows you how to practice to become fluent with this method. Best guitar book I have ever purchased. I'll be studying form this book for at least the next 2 years.

I recall coming across a copy of Garrison Fewell's earlier jazz guitar book in the school bookstore as I made my haj to Berklee over twenty years ago. No way could I afford to study there but if I could just check the place out I might be able to take back something of that hallowed vibe that might inspire me to the upper reaches, or at least upper chord extensions a la Bird's "Cherokee". And just maybe I'd spot Mick Goodrick unloading his amp from a car trunk in need of a hand and a second guitarist on this session and, well, 'tis the stuff of youthful daydreams... What appeared to be a self-published work by Fewell just reeked of "this is the real deal" and I happily plunked down my change and bagged my latest (along with a blank Berklee manuscript pad that I do still have as a momento of the trip). To be honest, that book and its contents are long gone from my library and memory but I always remember a name so when I spotted Fewell's latest I had to have it, for old times sake if nothing else. I was pleasantly surpised to find a book full of varied and useful information much more in sync with my current way of playing than the "miles and miles of scales" approach of yore that yielded chops and dexterity, but came up short on musical invention. Fewell's approach to melodic lines is based on triads and their extensions rather than scales. A scale is a large piece of musical information with many implications to graft onto a chord change or progession. By contrast a triad is more focused, expressive of the underlying harmony and a more managable bite to handle for beginning (and experienced) improvisors. Examples "in the style of" jazz guitar masters such as Charlie Christian, Wes Montgomery and Jim Hall confirm Fewell's point that effective melodic playing emphasizes triadic chord tones from the underlying harmonies and logical extensions to those triads. This is really about perspective: the same notes Fewell derives from triads and their extensions can be found in the diatonic/modal scales traditionally taught to be played over standard changes. However, by conceptualizing this material as Fewell proposes, the player can more easily and effectively play lines that express the harmony. A unique feature of the book is a discussion of phrasing and articulation, related to picking and thumb/finger strokes. It's rare in the jazz guitar literature to find what is all too often taken for granted or along the lines of "listen and figure it out yourself". Another aspect of conceptualizing the material is understanding guide tones, their relationship to the triads and extensions and how they can be expressed not only melodically as target tones, but as two and three-note chords, providing an effective way to comp. Guitarists have tendency to segregate chordal forms, particulary larger block forms (e.g. CAGED) from lines and melodic material. The harmony lessons Fewell presents go a long way towards merging these two aspects of playing, evision