Chord melody

Turbocharge Your Jazz Guitar Playing And Learn The Harmonic Vocabulary Of The World's Greatest Chord Melody Players!!

I have a brand new cutting edge program that will skyrocket your jazz guitar playing!

Chord melody jazz guitar
Hi there,

In "Jazz Guitar Video Masterclass Volume 1" I presented a rigorous program dedicated entirely to single line, solo jazz guitar playing. In other words, a detailed masterclass on playing over changes.

In this, "Jazz Guitar Video Masterclass Volume 2" I want to show you how to play jazz guitar, chord melody style. I believe I have a truly groundbreaking method and the program is focused 100% in this area.

So what exactly is chord melody?

Well, much like the piano, the guitar has the ability to produce more than one note at a time. Horn instruments produce one focused note at any one time. So as guitar players, we can play a single focused line too, but we have the capability to harmonize that note, and because we are jazz guys, there are any number of ways we can harmonize that note.

So in essence, chord-melody is an approach to playing a melody on the guitar, let's say using the top two strings of the guitar, but with some sort of harmonized accompaniment, let's say using the lower four strings of the guitar, played all at the same time.

Chord melody is usually played in a solo jazz guitar context, or duo (with bass) or trio (with bass & drums). When a piano comes into the mix, things can get a little messy where harmonies are concerned, so most extremely proficient jazz guitar chord melody players prefer a scenario where the guitar is the only chordal instrument.

Probably the most famous of all the great chord melody players is Joe Pass. He played in many different ensemble formats but when he decided to perform solo, he became a staggeringly good chord melody player and of course we are lucky enough to have a good number of his solo guitar recordings to refer to.

Other great chord melody players of note are Ted Greene, Jim Hall, George Van Epps and Lenny Breau. There are plenty of new generation players in this style too, but these are probably the most renowned.

And for this masterclass program I will refer mostly to Joe Pass' style of chord melody playing.

In my research on the internet I found a great deal of transcriptions of chord melody solos, but next to nothing as far as any focused step by step comprehensive system.

I believe I have a truly groundbreaking 'extra-simplified' system to get you improvising jazz guitar chord melody in the fastest possible time!

There are two things we should understand about chord melody on the guitar. First, we can simply arrange an entire piece, much like in the traditional classical sense, where we get to spend time coming up with the strongest harmony, best fingering and so on. We then write it out and it is considered an 'arrangement' where we perform the same thing everytime. This is a perfect scenario in a solo guitar context.

But there is a second approach, and that is to improvise in chord melody style. In order to do this, we need to be able to draw on harmonic ideas, and we need to have some chord melody vocabulary so we can improvise ideas at the drop of a hat.

And it is this second idea, the improvisation part, which I want to really focus on. In that way, you will learn a ton of harmonic vocabulary so you can arrange a song specifically, or you can pull off chord melody ideas anywhere on the fretboard and in any key, in an improv setting...

I am going to give you a ton of chord-melody ideas you can use and I will perform everything I show you in a real improvised setting, on camera, complete with transcription, TAB and exact fingerings, as I played it.
Hello Chris. - I think JGVM volume 2 is great! I've been looking for something like this for a long time. Way ahead of anything else. Take care. James Werth Virginia Beach

Hi Chris - I thought that JGVM vol 2 really hit the mark. It's the kind of instruction that makes playing guitar fun. I've always leaned toward playing the standards; in particular ballads. The tunes you provided and the treatment afforded each was just right for someone like myself. Nice job! - Bob DeVivo.

Hi Chris, I love the new Masterclass...I am working on lesson 4. I have incorporated the first three lessons into my playing, and feel a new kind of freedom of expression as my musical vocabulary continues to grow! - Stanley Nelson

Hi Chris, I like the new masterclass a lot so far. I am not nearly finished with it, but what I have tried is very useful. The ideas are laid out so they are easy to actually remember and use (and expand) in a playing situation. I tend to use the book more than the videos but still the videos are also helpful and inspiring. You recomend using classical right hand technique but I find it very easy to adapt the excercises to my preferred combination af flatpick and fingers.- Poul Bjørn Berg

Chris, I like it. The examples are easy to follow. Both left and right hand action is easy to duplicate. The instruction is clear and very understandable. You use instructive language well. I also like the upbeat and positive manner in which you encourage the student. - John Dunn

Hi Chris, I'm enjoying the Jazz Guitar Video Masterclass V2. I love the way you start the lessons by building up your chord vocabulary and immediately using them. It's very easy to follow and the use of the chords with the melody is awesome. Thanks - Eddie Rivera

I am really impressed with JGVM volume 2. It is what I have been looking for: clean, clear, simple with an emphasis on melody. - Doug Tegrt

Chris - I simply love your method. That was exactly what I was looking for. I am a
classical guitar player, I tried jazz several times, but I never found the
right approach. What I like in your method is the right balance between theory, to
understand the concepts, and the examples, to immediately hear the sound
of it. Thank you. - Romain Hennion

Hello Chris. I have had a quick glance through the programme and I can honestly say that it is brilliant. It is exactly what I was looking for and full of great information. Your analysis of augmented and diminished chords makes perfect sense and makes it easier to think of ways of improvising around those chords. The next 6 months are going to be exciting for me. I would really like to thank you for all the work you have put in to it. It will be invaluable to me! - Michael Watters

Dear Chris - I find both master class courses to be the best that I’ve ever come across. Your information allows me to actually use chord inversions effectively for the first time. Perhaps I’m a slow learner, but I find Jazz the most challenging genre of music. I am now able to take my fragmented knowledge of scales, chords and modes and play some cogent music. Of course I have a long way to go but now I can see where I’m going! Thank you so much for the great effort in creating these master pieces of information. I am looking forward now! - Gene King

Back in the day, I really looked forward to my guitar lessons and I would practice as hard as I could so I could go to my weekly lesson and give what I thought was a performance to the best of my ability. Sometimes I played well, sometimes my teacher (knowing that I was very ambitious) would slay my performance. This was often a little daunting to me, but he knew what I was capable of and wanted me to step up my game as far as I could. But what inspired me so much was seeing HIM play, with such finesse and dedication. It was truly inspiring!

 Today, we have the internet, we have resources, we have video. These are truly luxurious things at our disposal. We simply did not have these back when I was growing up. We had to get on a bus with a guitar and go and see a real live person to learn.

And by the way, I still heartily recommend this, for all the reasons I have mentioned. But what is truly great about today's world is that we do have the world wide web which allows me living here in the USA to connect with someone living in China or Australia or England for example.

And the very inspiration that I always got from my guitar teacher can now be translated in a similar way using video, which is why this has become such an important tool for me.

So I am going to show you just about everything I know about chord melody jazz guitar and everything I show you will be transcribed with the exact fingerings I used when I played each example or song.

Needless to say, this program is not for beginners. A basic knowledge of fingerstyle playing will be needed and a fundamental knowledge of jazz and harmony on the guitar. If you are presently studying my existing programs ("Play What You Hear", Masterclass Volume 1") then this program will be ideally suited for you.

Let's have a look at the lessons:

PART ONE
Lesson 1: Warm Up Exercises
Three great warm up routines to get your fingers moving.

Lesson 2:
Three Simple Chords. I talk about how we can think of every chord as being related to one of three simple chords. Joe Pass talked about this back in the day as he liked to reduce everything to keep things simple. He was clearly on to something!

Lesson 3:
The Two Chord. I will show you how to think of minor chordal sounds, the various practical forms across the fretboard and how to play melodies on top of those chords effortlessly. I will show you tons of melodic examples to get your teeth into!

Lesson 4:
The Five Chord. We will discuss the dominant chord and all its possibilities across the fretboard, and I will show you tons of example chord melody you can steal!

Lesson 5:
The One Chord. Here I talk about the major chord family, showing all the practical usable forms across the fretboard along with example chord melody ideas!

Lesson 6
2-5-1 examples. In this in-depth lesson I show you example 2-5-1 chord melody ideas, along with ways to spice up our dominant sounds harmonically. I talk about diminished and augmented melodic ideas too, and how they can be used over dominant sounds. I give you tons of on-camera examples, where every note I play is transcribed and fingered as I played it!

Lesson 7
Altered dominants. In this lesson I talk about more ways to tweak our ears with surprise harmonies, particularly on the dominant chord. I will talk about the melodic minor scale and how to effectively use it in chord-melody style.

Lesson 8
Relative minor 2-5-1. Here I focus on the minor key and how we can generate strong chord melody. I also talk about the melodic minor scale here too.


 PART TWO
In part two you will see me perform three songs in front of the camera. We will study the following:

Lesson 9: Body & Soul
Lesson 10: What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life
Lesson 11: Days Of Wine & Roses


Every single note you see me perform on camera is transcribed right in front of you!

In fact the notation is right underneath each video, all viewable from your internet browser, so you can pause the video and look at that particular bar, analyze it and see exactly how I performed it. I have notated the music using traditional music notation and TAB underneath that. The TAB, as much as all professional musicians hate to see it, actually came in useful as it enabled me to show you exactly where I performed the notes on the fretboard.

But that's not all...

The program has a ton of play along tracks in different tempos throughout. These tracks can be streamed (and looped) within the program.

The entire program can also be printed out from a super high rez pdf file so you will see notation (and TAB) in beautiful definition so you can practice away from the computer. I have provided the option to order a spiral bound printed edition that I can send you if you choose.

Take a look at one or two screen shots of the program. (Note: Exact size is larger, about 15 inches across or 1095 x 927 pixels)





Let's have a look at an example video snippet so you can see how it looks:





Your "Nothing to Lose And Everything To Gain" Guarantee!
Play jazz guarantee When you buy "Jazz Guitar Video Masterclass Volume 2", I personally guarantee that your guitar playing will take on a whole new level. Otherwise you can return the program and I will refund you 100% (including your shipping!) I make this guarantee for the 99% who are honest, (but naturally skeptical) -- not the 1% who'll take advantage of me.


I have spent many years figuring out how to articulate music information in the clearest most concise way. I'm convinced this is some of the most straight forward information you will find anywhere!

If you were to have private lessons with me, or anyone else for that matter, the information you are about to hold would cost you thousands of dollars. Now I would never discourage private music instruction, in fact I think it is a fantastic thing, especially if you have technical problems in certain areas. But it is not cheap. And you cannot go back to the same lesson over and over. Not only can you study these videos time and time again, but I'm going to make it all extremely affordable too!

I have set the price of this video masterclass at just $79.95. I believe this is truly groundbreaking stuff!

Take care,






For all Windows and MAC operating systems

 

Please note: This program is no longer a standalone download, you will be given instant online access.