Question upon (finally) finishing Leavitt's Modern Method Volume 1

[SedanDelivery2022]

Hello Friends,

I'm about to finish William Leavitt's Modern Method for Guitar Volume 1. I've been at it for a couple of years. I love it. As most of you know, there are videos out there of Berklee's wonderful Larry Baione patiently and adeptly playing through each exercise. And there are a couple of megathreads of (also wonderful) people here and others on youtube playing through these exercises too. I have found this to be invaluable to teach me both how things are supposed to sound, and what the technique should look like (which fingers to use -- where to use rest strokes, etc).

I read music now, where before I didn't. (woohoo!).

Looking ahead to vol 2, I see the methodology is somewhat different, and that videos are more scarce, though there is audio (I'm not sure there is audio for every page though).

I'm wondering if there are other books available that also have accompanying "Play along" videos. And which ones people recommend.

I'll probably look at Leavitt vol 2, Leavitt's melodic rhythms, and the Mickey Baker books. (I do see there are vids of people playing the Baker stuff).

I've also heard good things about the George Van Eps books (they're huge though!). And Joe Pass. Are there any vids of the Van Eps and Pass?

Robert Conti also seems highly recommended.

But I'm still learning the basics. I have yet to memorize the neck and any positions beyond 3rd position. So I need basics still.

I reckon I could also find an in person teacher. I think I will do that soon. Had one in college, which is how I got turned onto Leavitt.

Thanks,

Jason

[ChazFromCali]

Learn songs.
Not exercises.

[swannod]

A couple of thoughts of what to do with Volume 2.

Leavitt's classical book is good. Especially the last two Bach pieces, they are hard and cover a good area of the fretboard. The Melodic Rhythms book is also good for reinforcing all the chords and working further on reading.

But still for me it simply was not enough material.

I picked up Bach's Cello Suites (not transcribed for guitar). The really great thing about them:

* Many pieces in one key (by the time you finish Suite 1, you're gonna be comfy with G)
* Many, many, many notes
* Simple but beautiful use of accidentals (not as intense as Leavitt chord melody reading)

You do have to learn how to read the bass clef - but if you get through Suite 1 - you'll have that skill. Not everything can be played in the right octave but that also requires you to make octave transposition choices for a section and cover more of the fretboard.

Practicing triads via Will Bay's book also seems useful.

Then I went back to Volume 1 and saw the material completely different. These days, I often flip open to a random page of Volume 1 as part of my practice.

Volume 2 now also makes a lot more sense, again random access because I getting more reading materials from elsewhere.

[Jazzjourney4Eva]

William Leavitt's plectrum guitar method is great. It supports jazz guitar but is not really jazz guitar, in the pure sense. Setting that aside for a minute...

Sure, play on through Volume 2. You will cover all positions on the fretboard right away, in the key of C. First ask yourself - do you know your five CAGED fingerings for the major scale? Five little diagrams is all you need. You can learn them in a week, in fact should know them already as a result of finishing Volume 1, Section 2. In Volume 2 Leavitt uses one goofy stretch fingering instead of one goofy shift fingering from CAGED, so pick your poison or use both.

Other notes for Volume 2:

• Be patient with yourself when it comes to Leavitt's chord studies. They aren't easy. Some aren't worth much anymore (James Bond theme, the Beatles Michelle, etc. Consider the period). Warm up and stretch your hands. Don't press.
• Leavitt's method contains more focus on triad arpeggio mastery than most jazz guitar methods/studies do. Make up your mind about investing heavily in that.

Other than that:

• I would skip Van Eps unless you want to devote your life to triad playing. Why would you? Life is short. Leavitt covers triads as thoroughly as you'll likely ever need, and has some overlap with Van Eps.
• Do you like solo guitar/chord-melody playing? Leavitt has some nice solos in Volume 2. And try Wes Montgomery's "While We're Young" and "I've Grown Accustomed to her Face" chord solos from Steve Khan's transcription book. Now that is jazz guitar art. Or have a look at the Joe Pass Omnibook.
• For jazz guitar I would skip Mickey Baker. For heaven's sake, it's ancient and so many more great jazz guitar studies have been written since then, and are being written as I type this. Put Baker's books in the history bin, where they belong.

I would humbly recommend that one look at jazz guitar, improvisation, and repertoire (tunes) as different topics. Leavitt's books are a technique method, and a very musical one at that. As such, they should represent only a portion of one's studies.

[Reg]

Yea... If your wanting to play Jazz or in a jazz style. You need to get the fretboard together. Your not going to be able to play much without getting your technical skills together.

You can also learn tunes.... but you can't really play much without technical skill.

It's great that your getting your sight reading etc... together. Most don't and hit learning walls while trying to learn how to play.

I don't know Bill's book one... I'm a Berklee grad, but took all my guitar proficiencies in my 1st semester and played different instruments each semesters until I finished. Did go through all the other books, and as mentioned above went through all the sight reading material around back in the 70's.

Unless your a working musician it's really difficult to keep your skills together... especially sight reading.

Sounds like you enjoy what your doing while learning to play, if that's your goal... just keep going and start adding more technical aspects of playing the guitar. Generally the the difference between better players and amateurs... is just technical skills.

[AllanAllen]

Yea... If your wanting to play Jazz or in a jazz style. You need to get the fretboard together. Your not going to be able to play much without getting your technical skills together.

You can also learn tunes.... but you can't really play much without technical skill.

It's great that your getting your sight reading etc... together. Most don't and hit learning walls while trying to learn how to play.

I don't know Bill's book one... I'm a Berklee grad, but took all my guitar proficiencies in my 1st semester and played different instruments each semesters until I finished. Did go through all the other books, and as mentioned above went through all the sight reading material around back in the 70's.

Unless your a working musician it's really difficult to keep your skills together... especially sight reading.

Sounds like you enjoy what your doing while learning to play, if that's your goal... just keep going and start adding more technical aspects of playing the guitar. Generally the the difference between better players and amateurs... is just technical skills.

What do you mean, specifically, by technical skills? You use that term a lot and I’d like to know if I’m working on the right thing.

[rpjazzguitar]

In case this is helpful -- Reg has done a lot of youtube videos -- look for Reg523.

I have found these videos to be very helpful. You can see his hands, hear the guitar clearly and listen to his commentary.

He gets right to the point and none of it is dumbed-down.

I have to slow some of them down and rewind a few times, but it's all there.

[Jimmy blue note]

Having gone through the Berklee program, and having taught and been active in the jazz performance world, I'll say Bill Leavitt is much respected, undeniable in his contribution to the guitar world and rightfully held in a place in the pantheon of music educators. That being said, it should be pointed out that his methods and curriculum is not the be all and end all, and as a matter of fact, many at Berklee did not adhere to his methodology for good reason.
His books are one part, one small part of the integrated skill set that's necessary to just get a footing in the jazz world. He doesn't directly address things like efficient and complete fretboard navigation, diatonic and chromatic intervallic ear training, time feel, dynamic control, acquiring an expressive language, visualizing and executing a comprehensive chord/melody relationship. In short, many have found his approach, while relevant to the music of his time, a bit dated and limited for the modern and advancing guitarist. But there are many ways to learn these things, Leavitt gives you one solid foothold into some necessary areas of mastery while he undeniably assumed other areas would be covered by other teachers in different areas.

I just want to point out that one needs a very open minded approach to one's jazz music education in order to even be a competent improvising novice with a working lexicon and appreciation of syntax.

As Reg has always been an advocate of, you must not limit yourself to one method, or depend on one for the broad and dynamic education one needs to be a jazz guitarist in today's world.
Even if you wanted to only play the music of Eddie Lang, or Jimmy Raney, or Joe Pass, the Leavitt books are not the complete road to take you door to door.
I don't know if you realize that, or what you're hoping for, but all jazz methods are merely supplements for the process that is forged from playing with others, and playing over a broad and varied diet of actual tunes in real time.

If you might say "I'm not ready for that, that will come at some point in the future", you've already missed the point. People who write these books, Bill Leavitt included, took this first step for granted, so much that he assumed you wouldn't even crack open his books until you had a multi-approach system in place.

Use the Leavitt method, and grow as a musician from it but don't neglect to always expand your perspectives so you can encompass the growing playing field.
Jazz is about the individual's ability to take a huge set of abilities and integrate them into one self expressive art form. Don't mistake Leavitt methods for the big picture.

[Reg]

Wow... that was a nice post Jimmy. And great points. Yea in the end, we all come up with our approach etc... I could already play and was gigging before I went to Berklee... went there to work on all the other BS.

That being said, Allan, by technical skills, I'm talking about physical skills on the guitar. Not performance skills.

The guitar is a 12 fret repeating pattern. If you check out any of Mick Goodricks books, you'll see an approach for learning how to get your technical skills together. There are a few organizational approaches for position playing or being able to play anything anywhere on the fretboard. In the end or after you get one system together.... it's very easy to use another system. Because you know the fretboard and understand how it works.

The point is to finish one system... finish... I still personally like the 7 position approach because it allows me to to easily use others. Bottom line.... any system works and there are examples of players who use all of them.

By the time you finish one... your fingers, hands and mechanics will get together. And this will allow you to make your choices as to how you want technically play.

Think about it and I'll be more than happy to go deeper... LOL. I've had pretty good technique all my life, hasn't really made me a great player.... but it has allowed me to have the chance and play a lot of music. I still may suck... but I don't have any excuses.

[Reg]

In case this is helpful -- Reg has done a lot of youtube videos -- look for Reg523.

I have found these videos to be very helpful. You can see his hands, hear the guitar clearly and listen to his commentary.

He gets right to the point and none of it is dumbed-down.

I have to slow some of them down and rewind a few times, but it's all there.

Thanks Rick... from one old dude to another. On another note, you've played at the Baltic, right. How was it? I have a gig there tomorrow night... haven't played there for a while... Jeff told me was all new etc.. is my standard setup good?

[rpjazzguitar]

Thanks Rick... from one old dude to another. On another note, you've played at the Baltic, right. How was it? I have a gig there tomorrow night... haven't played there for a while... Jeff told me was all new etc.. is my standard setup good?

The stage is at one end (nearest the street with a door from the street right to the stage) of a long room. Real stage with stage lighting and so forth. We do our own sound so we didn't ask about a PA. I played it with my Little Jazz pointing at me (and the kb player) and a Roland JC55 pointing at the audience (not turned up very high). Drums weren't mic'ed, which worked. Vocal mics went through our kb system, which is two speakers on poles and some sufficient number of watts. Jeff said our volume and balance were fine. There were some people there, but I wouldn't call it a noisy crowd.

It seems to me that your usual setup would be sufficient. Of course, I've been wrong before.

The Baltic, by the way, has some history. I read that the back bar came from SF before the earthquake in 06 and that Jack London mentioned the Baltic in some of his writings. Apparently, there is some interesting stained glass which I'm going to take a better look at next time I'm there.

There's a parking lot in back but they asked us to load in from the street next to the stage. All of us were lucky enough to get spaces near that door.

We'll be at Chez Mansour on Friday at 7pm. Sit in for a few tunes?

[Reg]

Thanks Rick... sure, what's the time and no 7/8 samba. LOL. I have a early gig so should be able to stop by. Is the upright pn. gone... I mean is there room?

[rpjazzguitar]

gone private

[AllanAllen]

Wow... that was a nice post Jimmy. And great points. Yea in the end, we all come up with our approach etc... I could already play and was gigging before I went to Berklee... went there to work on all the other BS.

That being said, Allan, by technical skills, I'm talking about physical skills on the guitar. Not performance skills.

The guitar is a 12 fret repeating pattern. If you check out any of Mick Goodricks books, you'll see an approach for learning how to get your technical skills together. There are a few organizational approaches for position playing or being able to play anything anywhere on the fretboard. In the end or after you get one system together.... it's very easy to use another system. Because you know the fretboard and understand how it works.

The point is to finish one system... finish... I still personally like the 7 position approach because it allows me to to easily use others. Bottom line.... any system works and there are examples of players who use all of them.

By the time you finish one... your fingers, hands and mechanics will get together. And this will allow you to make your choices as to how you want technically play.

Think about it and I'll be more than happy to go deeper... LOL. I've had pretty good technique all my life, hasn't really made me a great player.... but it has allowed me to have the chance and play a lot of music. I still may suck... but I don't have any excuses.

okay I think I’m working on the right thing. I have a fingering system that I took through 12 keys in different ways, scales, melodic cells, arpeggios last year.

Now I’ll learn a melody for example, Bye Bye Blackbird and set iReal to Change keys a 4th each chorus so I’m running 12 keys that way. That’s my “hard practice” for now, the thing that gets me totally out of my comfort zone, mistakes are flying by and frustration is high.

After an hour of that it’s really nice to play a chord melody version of something slow like Misty in one key nice and slow.

[Reg]

Cool Allan... you ever post anything, I can see how your technique is working. Only take about 30 sec...or less..

The playing in all keys is almost useless until you have your mechanics solid. (or working with different vocalist...LOL).

Anyway comping is much more useful than soloing... hows that going. Feel free to hit me up... best to ya

[AllanAllen]

Hey Reg,

I sent you a private message with a recording.

I'm going through 12 keys as a combination ear training and fingerboard memorization exercise.

Comping is coming along, I can get through a song but there's little deliberate movement, sometimes I have a happy accident and copy that next time. After learning the inversions for M7, m7 and dominant7 on 6x432x, x5432x, and xx4321 stings things really opened up.

[Bach5G]

Congratulations. Well done.

[Bob65C]

I've finished William Leavitts book 1 and 2 and most of book 3. I've used both his reading studies books Melodic Rhythm studies. The classical book. Also his chord melodies. I think there's a link on this forum. I've also used Mel Bays expanded edition books 2 to 7. They are very helpful as well. Beyond that if I made a single stack of all my other books they would reach the middle of my chest. I'm 5-8.

[Abandoneur]

there are videos out there of Berklee's wonderful Larry Baione patiently and adeptly playing through each exercise

Where might one find these? I searched the Berklee Online YouTube channel and didn't find. Maybe I missed them? Any guidance is much appreciated ... I literally just started book one this week (will also check out the mega thread).

Thanks mucho.

[FwLineberry]

Where might one find these? I searched the Berklee Online YouTube channel and didn't find. Maybe I missed them? Any guidance is much appreciated ... I literally just started book one this week (will also check out the mega thread).

Thanks mucho.

YouTube playlist:

Guitar Berklee Modern Method - YouTube