Anyone gave The Art of Jazz George Benson

guitarplayer007 · #1 10-21-2011, 08:14 AM

And if you do is it worth it, can you really learn alot from it?
Thx
Ken

guitarplayer007 · #2 10-21-2011, 08:38 AM

Does it come with a booklet with transcriptions?
Thx
Ken

jmstritt · #3 10-21-2011, 09:28 AM

It does come with a booklet. I have the DVD, but I will tell you that if you are an experienced player you will probably find it more entertaining then valuable as a learning resource.

Just because someone is a great player doesn't make them a great teacher. He talks about blues, Wes style octaves and how he adds a 4th or a 5th in between. He spends some time talking about singing and playing at the same time. It is good stuff, but you could find this information a million other places and probably better organized.

The thing I liked about it was the very personal nature of the video, hearing George play at his home, and talk about different points in his career. He talks about meeting Wes Montgomery, discovering how he sings like a Welshman, and the arrangment for On Broadway. That was worth the price of the video to me.

guitarplayer007 · #4 10-21-2011, 09:51 AM

Thanks Jmstritt,
Do you know of any books that really have his type of licks, like mixing blues and bebop lines
Thx
Ken

jmstritt · #5 10-21-2011, 10:24 AM

If you look on Matt Warnock's website he has a ton of licks on there. Also there is a book from Mel Bay, Essential Jazz Lines in the Style of Wes Montgomery, I've had that book for a while and I think you could just as easily call it Essential Jazz Lines in the Style of George Benson IMO. That is a really good book. I think if you get a really deep understanding of Wes Montgomery, your ears will take you the rest of the way.

setemupjoe · #6 10-21-2011, 12:01 PM

Also check out Best of George Benson by Wolf Marshall. It's from Hal Leonard. It has transcriptions of a lot of his best work from the early years up through Breezin' and Affirmation. It comes with a CD.
Also the George Benson DVD you mentioned is very cool and worth getting but you're not going to become the next Benson from watching it.

guitarplayer007 · #7 10-21-2011, 12:06 PM

Ty i appreciate the info setemupjoe

Sandor · #8 10-21-2011, 03:01 PM

You can find clips if not the whole thing on youtube to check it out before you buy. I myself was not impressed. Not that it isn't enjoyable, but there are much more useful learning tools.

jmstritt · #9 10-21-2011, 03:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sandor

You can find clips if not the whole thing on youtube to check it out before you buy. I myself was not impressed. Not that it isn't enjoyable, but there are much more useful learning tools.

+1

That is what I was trying to say, it is enjoyable but not a great learning tool.

Philco · #10 10-21-2011, 07:51 PM

The Pat Martino transcription site & the Grand Central homepage

Here you will find transcriptions of many Benson, Martino and Wes solos.
He seems to pick all the good ones and I have not found any mistakes in the transcriptions. He has also done some sort of a thesis on Martino.
I've spent some money on that site!
He also will note what arpeggio or scale the runs are derived from.

djangoles · #11 11-08-2011, 07:10 PM

I love George and I have the video, but as others have said he's not a great teacher. Also from what I remember, he plays with his fingers the entire time???? The main reason I bought it was see his picking closeup, but no such luck!!!! Still worth though, just not really what I was hoping for.