Product Description

For guitarists, the technical learning curve for improvisation is fairly steep. For this reason, it is important to find multiple uses for the musical structures that you learn to execute. This approach decreases the learning curve considerably. Jazz Guitar Structures shows you how to expand your improvising vocabulary by combining small, easily identifiable melodic ideas (structures) into longer, more complex lines. In standard notation with companion CD.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #56694 in Books
• Published on: 2004-08-03
• Released on: 2004-08-03
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 136 pages

About the Author
Andrew Green is a freelance guitarist in New York City. A professional musician since the age of 15, he has played with such jazz luminaries as Donald Byrd, Joanne Brackeen, Billy Hart, George Garzone, Winard Harper, Willie Smith and John McNeil, among others. In addition to performing, Andrew is a faculty member at Jazz In July at the University of Massachusetts and the Mile High Jazz Camp at the University of Colorado and conducts clinics throughout the US and Canada. He is the author of Jazz Guitar Technique and Jazz Guitar Structures.

Excerpted from Jazz Guitar Structures by Andrew Green. Copyright © 2002. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
INTRODUCTION

For guitarists, the technical learning curve for improvisation is fairly steep. For this reason, it is important to find multiple uses for the musical structures that you learn to execute. This approach decreases the learning curve considerably.

It?s easy to learn and remember structures since they form recognizable ?shapes? or patterns on the fingerboard, and playing parallel structures is something guitarists do naturally (a Minor 7 arpeggio moved up or down a fret is still fingered the same).

Structural thinking provides a relatively easy way to generate more complex lines. It increases the number of ways to play over a given chord, and helps you find new paths through familiar chord progressions. It also helps you create interesting, unexpected movement from chord to chord.

A structural approach makes it possible to see relationships between unrelated chords, a must for improvising on modern, non-functional harmonic progressions. Using similar structures also provides cohesiveness and makes it easier to play motivically.

Since a book detailing the use of every structure would be unreasonably long, I present three structures in detail to provide some insight into this way of thinking. You will then have the ability to identify and use structures of your own.

Learning to improvise can be a confusing experience. You are asked to deal with a large number of seemingly unrelated musical entities, then fashion them into coherent solos. On top of this, you hear the great players spin long, complex melodic lines that sound as if they were created from the 17th mode of the cryptophrygian harmonic major scale. They aren?t. These lines are actually made up of small, simple, easily identified structures these players have combined in interesting ways. This book will help you do the same.

Customer Reviews

Clever and clear
Very clever book, I never read the notions explained here anywhere else,
or maybe it was because it wasn't clear enough. The material is precisely
organized and the examples sound great. This gave me another way to hear
bebop, recognizing some structures.

You have a lot to work on this stuff to make it comes naturally, but the
challenge is really worthy, so good luck !

peace

A comprehensible approach for the advanced player
This book, though limited to just a few melodic structures, gives a very good insight to what improvisation is about: telling your own story, using coherent and consistent melodic structures. It goes to the basis, and because it doesn't overwhelm you with all possible modes/scales/structures but just sticks to a few powerfull tools, enables you to understand and implement. A must for the advanced guitar player.

boost your soloing with these structures
This book has been the stepping stone I need to get to applying arpeggios all over the neck and combining different sounds with them. I've only gotten through the 1st section (minor arpeggios) and I'm not only more able to connect arpeggios over the neck but also able to substitute them in over other chords. For instance, before this book I didn't know how to substitute and play only minor arpeggios over a ii V I progression. Now I know multiple ways and can very the sound depending on degree of the chord I build off of. There is a lot of information and so much to get out of the book. The other sections that I haven't even gotten to yet covers in the same way how to use and apply major triad +2 and minor tetrachords.

The best thing about Andrew's two books I have (Comping is the other I have) is they way he presents things. The examples he gives allow you to understand the concept and then later know how to easily apply it. So many books give too few examples that are so easily applicable outside the book.

To get a better idea of the contents of the book, check out Andrew Green's website at www.[...]com. This along with his Comping book have been two of my favorite books in a while. Know that both of these books require reading skills (no tab) and they are not aimed at beginners.