Robert Conti question

[guitarplayer007]

Anyone use Robert Conti Precision Technique. What do you think of it?
Ken

[jbyork]

I got it as a gift last Christmas, and started to work through it, but abandoned it shortly after learning Excercise One. The idea of playing exercises -- which seem be based on the Wolfhart (sp?) violin etudes, plus a few jazz-oriented pieces created by Conti himself -- to improve my technique seemed second-best to that of playing actual licks and heads to achieve the same purpose, simply because the latter are more applicable to actual improvisation.

In my opinion, "Precision Technique" seems out of place in Conti's body of materials, the rest of which fall into line with his philosophy of learning to play jazz by playing jazz. Also, I contacted his site asking for advice on a target tempo to use as a guide to know when I had "mastered" a given exercise, but lost interest in the book after I received no reply.

In all fairness to Conti, however, his other products have received many favorable mentions on this site. If you like his playing/teaching style, you can probably get the results you want by using his "Ticket To Improv" or other solo-based material. Hope this helps!

Regards,
Jeff

[guitarplayer007]

Thx for the reply, i had the Precision Technique for a while, but just said to myself i needed to inprove my picking technique. I'm wondering if i'm wasting my time or will it build super chops
ken