Taking Lessons From Carol Kaye - Jazz Guitar

[rennurx]

Mark,

Carol's reading book is similar to the one she did for bass except its for guitar. Its a beginners reading book , with an CD (the CD shall be available this week or sometime this month). I originally learned to play pop, rock and folk music by ear from records. The book starts with basics music lessons as most books at this level, demonstrates the basic rhythms and them has reading exercises in the critical keys for jazz players. This book would be to difficult for tab reader person, better for a you young beginner or a serious adult beginner who wants to become a more rounded player by reading, certainly has opened up a who world, I hate tabs they are like breaks (blinders) to the learning process.


Historically I have been able to read very slowly, or I thought. What I didn;t have down was the rhythm part of the reading, I was interpreting the notes on the sheet and playing the rhythm by ear, thats what has changed by using this basic book. Sort of reprograming to the basic read the rhythms not play them by ear. By doing this there is not so much memorization. In addition once the rhythm (critical ones) are learned correctly in time as marked on sheet these start to become internalized correctly. Its tough stuff to learn even from a real basic jazz reading study like Carol has put out.

Long story short, I was having trouble learning Joe Pass work book exercises because of my inability to read the rhythms, I could figure the notes out, but in difficult passages one must know how to read if you are studying at a Pass or Benson level. I shall post some of Joe Pass Guitar Style book examples I am working on in the next couple of days to demonstrate.

Best Regards,

Steve

Mark,

This is an example from Joe Pass Style Book Pg 41 first 6 lines at 66 bpm Fmaj7 I have been working on. These lines have a lot of changes. Not perfect yet now working to do it faster. The reading book helped me nail down the rhythms.

[MarkRhodes]

The book came this afternoon. Looking forward to getting to work in it.

[rennurx]

Great, let me know how it goes, its a good tool. If you want to share videos of the exercises let me know they are all valid and progressive in how they teach you.

[MarkRhodes]

Great, let me know how it goes, its a good tool. If you want to share videos of the exercises let me know they are all valid and progressive in how they teach you.

Sure. Let me get through the basics before I start with the etudes and make sure I have the fingerings right.

[rennurx]

No hurry, I am still working the basics also, these are a preclude to being able to do the eludes more efficiently and correctly, from page 3 on. This was not that evident to me at first until it was brought to my attention. I found the the basics easy to read the notes ultra slow through, yet its the timing and rhythm of each phase which is is what I am needing work on in the basics. I am however excited about it.

[rennurx]

On the very first line page 3, at first thought got this, then after working it for a while i discovered it was an excellent warm up for both left and right hand and also left hand stretch doing the line without shifting the left hand and not looking and following each note on the page without looking at the left hand, this was a major discovery for me.

[edh]

What is the name of this book you(rennurx and Mark) are using?

[rennurx]

Guitar Sightreading Studies by Carol Kaye (carolkaye.com)

[edh]

Great, I'm going to order it.

To make sure it's the rainbow colored book. It's blue, light green, and a purple-ish cover, correct?

thanks guys.

[rennurx]

Yes sir that is the one it also has a CD which can be purchased with it.

[MarkRhodes]

Yes sir that is the one it also has a CD which can be purchased with it.

That's what I did, but I haven't listened to the CD yet.

By the way, for those who have some of Carol Kaye's older material, this book on sightreading is a much better quality of book than, say, "Jazz Guitar", which was reduced-size with a paper cover and the musical examples were hand-written. Yet it's still cheap....

[edh]

Great! Thanks guys.

[rennurx]

That could work. I just ordered the book from Carol's site. I needed a change of pace this month and it looks like this will be it. (I don't expect to finish the book in a month; rather, I need a break from what I've been doing and this is something I need to improve upon, so it's a great time for me to work on this material.) I'll let you know when I get it.

Mark,

Haven't forgot about this, still working the front part of book, trying to make it as good as muscle memory. This takes time, doing the exercises however have helped every aspect of my playing.

Steve

[MarkRhodes]

Hey, Steve,
I'm working in that book too. Right now I'm on the "C" and "G" pages. It doesn't come fast as I would like but day by day, my reading is better. (I notice this when playing from other books as well.)

[destinytot]

Carol can sight reading ANYTHING and that is a big part of why she was on so many things in the 60's and 70's. When Q stopped writing out every part he switched from using Ray Brown and Carol Kaye and went to Chuck Rainy, Louis Johnson, and others.

Just ordered her (new) Guitar Sightreading Studies.

[rennurx]

Great, it is helpful to have the cd which you may or may not have gotten with the book. I found the first 12 pages very beneficial before jumping into the etudes.

Best Regards,

Steve

[destinytot]

Great, it is helpful to have the cd which you may or may not have gotten with the book. I found the first 12 pages very beneficial before jumping into the etudes.

Best Regards,

Steve

Yes, I did order the CD.

[MarkRhodes]

Good to see this thread popping back up.

I'm working with the "Jazz Guitar Workshop" DVD this weekend. Spent the earlier part of the week reviewing the material from "Jazz Guitar."

Next, I'll hunker down with "Pro's Jazz Phrases" and the Sightreading book.

[lawson-stone]

I've popped for a few of the guitar books too. CK will probably wonder what's happened that suddenly a little up-tick in sales has occurred.

Maybe she could come on the site and check out her new customers?

[MarkRhodes]

I've popped for a few of the guitar books too. CK will probably wonder what's happened that suddenly a little up-tick in sales has occurred.

Maybe she could come on the site and check out her new customers?

I don't expect to see her here, though I'm sure she is happy so many of us work with her materials. She seems to always teach and talk the same way. Her posting here would be like her posting on her Facebook page or on her website or in her books or on her CDs/DVDs. She's like a biblical prophet: she stays on message and the message never changes.

[Dave70]

Yep I liked the material in "Jazz Guitar" and the phrases book. So... The workshop, and jazz soloing dvds will probably arrive at my door Monday.

[MarkRhodes]

Yep I liked the material in "Jazz Guitar" and the phrases book. So... The workshop, and jazz soloing dvds will probably arrive at my door Monday.

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More and more, I think the "Pro's Jazz Phrases" book is Carol's goldmine. The "Jazz Guitar" booklet gets you up and running but the "Phrases" book has so much material in it. Doesn't look like a lot--such a thin book--when you learn the phrases and how to use / vary them and move them around, you realize you've got a lot at your disposal.

[jazzuki]

Mark et al .I'm in too ! CK books/cd's are great for any level of guitar player. No nonsense straight ahead teaching.

[MarkRhodes]

I wonder how many here have worked in Carol's "Pro's Jazz Phrases." I'm working through it again. Wait, that is not quite right. I have gone through the first 8 pages a few more times, but some of the latter pages I'm just getting through for the first time. Slowly.

Anyway, I wonder who else is working with this. I think this thin booklet contains many good lines and helps develop one's "chordal sense."

[Dave70]

I got the book and played through some of it, but got distracted with some arrangements... lol. I plan on getting into it more soon. I didn't get the cd, did you?