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PS: Say hi to Jimmy Bruno for me. His recording of Giant Steps keeps me going!
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04-02-2014 02:15 PM
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And when I do, will he recognize you by your moniker of "West LA Jazz"...?
Originally Posted by West LA Jazz
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I don't know Jimmy. I am just one of many happy customers who bought his book. I assume a random fan who used and absorbed what he conceived (or thought might be useful as a book) will be more satisfying to him knowing that he touched someone out there with what he was/is trying to communicate. Originally Posted by jasaco
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Jimmy Bruno is one the greats.
His Five Fingerings are really just the standard box positions of the major scale.
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Very true with regards to standard positions. Originally Posted by Drumbler
Being a 98% self taught guitarist, what he did for me before I found Conti was affirm that what I was learning on my own was the way to go.
He also introduced me to the convenience of sliding from fret to fret with specific fingers while maintaining the intergrity of my fingering to allow me to "hang on" to while operating at speed. It was an overall mind tuning with regards to navigating the guitar neck.
Piano players ( and I was one of them ) are so lucky to have that black and white key board staring at them. two directions as opposed to at least 4 directions for us guitarists.
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Being a known partybreaker, IMO, the most honest one, while the system of learning a solo, than reassembling it and assembling something of your own is the really good way to go, and judged from your posts Conti's doing the right thing in developing musical sense in his student(s)'s, his fingering protocols, as I observed from couple of available clips* (I have never studied his approach), while maybe making the student (who's level of playing is expectedly way lower than Conti's) better, faster ..., are the very reason for at moments Conti himself sound sloppy, for the lack of better word, on playing those amazingly fast, long, mind boggling lines, those initially brought you in, wanting to learn how he actually does it.
*The claim is his clips are numerous, but I did not find them out there. There is that BW old one, couple for sales pitching purposes, and couple from a gear show.
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Vladan, Originally Posted by Vladan
You're a boxing fan. Let's use a boxing analogy.
Eddie Futch was a very good lightweight contender who had a heart murmur so he never became a boxing champion he could have become. He went on to train Ken Norton, Joe Frazier, Larry Holmes and Trevor Berbick. He trained 4 of the 5 men who defeated Mohammad Ali. These men as you know were heavyweights.
Same with Emmanuel Steward who trained Lennox Lewis and a boxer who I'm sure you like… Wladimir Klitschko.
You Vladan can teach me everything you know on the guitar, but I'll never be able to play it like you do. I have to take what you teach me, digest it and then regurgitate it in my own special way. What you would have done is shine a light in the dark tunnel of knowledge. A way for me to find my way forward towards the end of the tunnel - into the light of my personal musical ability at its greatest potential.
Some Conti lines may be "Sloppy" as you put them but his speed is incidental. When I think speed I think Al Di Meola. And maybe John McLaughlin. I think Conti could be "funkier" with his lines but hey, not everyone can be George Benson or Pat Martino who is Conti's childhood friend. Yes, Martino taught Conti some lines when they were both young boys.
I'll give you a musical example. I had been trying to understand how to play the song most of us love called ALL THE THINGS YOU ARE for the longest time. I had the chords memorized. I had the arpeggios memorized. But I wasn't making "music" when I soloed over the song. I always wanted to play this song at danceable tempos and slow tempos. But I wasn't achieving my goal. Conti's DVDs turned on a light bulb in my head. And from there I moved on using his illustration to light a fire in my imagination on how to sound the same but different every time I play the song.
What I am sayings this, when you connect with someone (teacher) who can start a fire in your mind that helps you "see" and help you solve questions in your mind, the money you pay… is priceless.
Maybe you found your source elsewhere that also has been priceless… for you.
Brilliant students are not necessarily made by brilliant teachers. The student has to have the potential for brilliance built into him or her by nature. The rest is the student's own imagination and 99% HARD WORK!!! The teacher just pushed the train out of the station. ;-)
Just a thought.Last edited by West LA Jazz; 04-03-2014 at 11:16 AM.
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I'm much stronger in ooinions than I'm in facts, but I agree on boxing parallel idea, you rephrase in your last paragraph. I already did the same, gave credit for hands on approach and the tool it becomes in further development. Just wanted to address some flaws, IMO, maybe not so immediately obvious, being obscured by some flashy finger wiggling. When I first saw him play, I was stunned. Along the way, wow effect faded away. I still think he's a master of the trade, with some flaws.
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Originally Posted by Vladan
I appreciate you understanding what I am trying to communicate.
Yes, I did add to my last paragraph because I am trying to clearly express and polish what I am thinking so you can have the most accurate vision of my thought.
I should say that all this isn't really about Conti the player. It really is about Conti the teacher trying to turn on the
"I understand how to I can do it now" light switch in the student's head.
If Conti THE TEACHER is able to do this, then his mission has been successful.
Conti THE PLAYER is the advertisement for his business in today's very crowded market. There are a billion internet guitar teachers. A lot of these internet teachers talk a lot about doing this or that, BUT you and I can play better than more than a few of these teachers. Conti plays every night in Las Vegas in professional venues. Some of the best musicians on this planet work every day in Las Vegas but you and I will never know their names.
That's more than most so called teachers can say for themselves.
Have a great day and keep on strumming my friend!
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Interested in the "chord melody assembly line" and "the formula"
ive vie been playing chord melody solo guitar gigs for years n make arrangements up on the fly but still want to keep taking it further.
i want to get the formula but do I need to get assembly line first or us it pretty basic?
for those of you who hVe used these 2 items, what would you recommend?
I'm willing to get them both but don't know if the first book is what I've been doing already or if there's some essential stuff in it as prep for the formula!
thanks
paul
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Originally Posted by Jazzguitarsussx
Just get the formula if you're already comfortable with basic. I'm a big fan of both btw.... Originally Posted by Jazzguitarsussx
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Thanks Matt,
ill go straight to the formula then!
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Go listen to Robert Conti's cds. lf you come away thinking that his playing is sloppy, or You can play half as fast and precise as he does and Swing, then you will have passed the test. lf Bob was a metal player you would call him a shredder! l have all his Source Code books and Ticket To Improv dvds. And am working my way through tem. l am self taught and l love old school guys. l learned drums from an old school big band piano player and he had me playing in front people in 3 weeks! Trial by playing. lt was all good and fun !
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I think, I can't play. One day it will end in trying the formula, something tells me. Originally Posted by roosterjazzez4u
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l just keep plugging away at it. Today l took a lesson on the Ticket To Improv one to start my day. Came up with my own lines to add to Mr. Conti's. Which is what he says you will do if you keep going. l haven't mastered anything yet. Hell mastering life is a life long skill. l know l haven't done that yet. Plenty room to learn more in life skills. Guitar is just fun thing that l can do to keep my mind active. l just don't pressure myself. it's not life or death that get it right away. lt's a process. l enjoy the journey.l hope you do too. Happy New Year !
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I have picked up so much from Mr. Conti's advanced soloing dvds, the fingerings for these solos are so natural feeling I felt that I had already known them.I went back to the intro to improve dvds and found that they were slower versions of the advanced soloing dvds.His source code dvds contain most of the material that are in the chord melody and single note solos dvds.My personal favorites are the Georgia solo and all of the south of rio dvds.The chord melody solos are more difficult for me.All in all this material is a great source of bebop style jazz guitar playing.
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I had to put in a second 2 cents worth here on the Intro to Improve dvds.What I meant by slower was they are basically 8th note single string solos with occasional quarter notes, but the phrasing is all tasteful jazz that outline the chord changes to these jazz standards.The advanced soloing dvds contain more 16th, 32nd notes over standards.The way he teaches in all of these dvds is very user friendly and all of them contain what he calls off the sheet tips,that are examples of how he uses ghost notes,slides,triplets,neighbor notes and other guitaristic tricks that can really transform the lines into something completely original and all your own.
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One last thing thing, copy from all the players you can! Charlie Parker copied Lester Young, Wes Montgomery copied Charlie Christian, Joe Pass copied Django Reinhardt,the list goes on and on.What all of these great players have in common was they all copied from somebody and they still came up with something completely original that sounded nothing like anybody else!
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Does he explain why he chooses the notes that he uses on the solos?
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On the advanced soloing stuff not so much,but on the intro to improve dvds he does a little more.I came to the material a little more advanced than some, so I kinda already knew why he used the licks he used over the chord changes.But as he explains in all of the dvds,once you get these solos and patterns under your fingers it will be much easier to figure out the theory behind it.
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One thing all of the jazz players use is a melodic minor scale one fret up above the dominant seventh chord, ie Ab melodic minor over G7.But don't get hung up on all the theory for now, just learn some solos over jazz standards and you will save yourself a lot of headaches.The theory will come to you after you have learned some jazz solos first and then you will say "oh that's why they play that scale over that chord!"
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I may not be doing Conti justice in this explanation but here goes...There is ONE SCALE for Conti. The Major scale. Everything else is a derivative of the major scale (it's a matter of which note you choose or start from). So he has major chord tone notes, extensions OR non chord tone notes. KISS. Keep it simple stupid is basically what I get out of his teachings. Originally Posted by edh
This explanation worked very well for me because I don't like to think of "scales" when soloing. I sound mechanical and feel very unsatisfied. I try to focus on WHAT pleases my ear. Thankfully, this art form is about pleasing the players ear and hopefully the listener appreciates that.
Conti even credits Pat Metheny as saying that he (Pat) only plays what pleases him. It doesn't matter what other's think. Obviously Pat is pleasing a great many people.
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\] Originally Posted by milkmannnv
Conti is my hero. Today. Tomorrow. And forever.
What Robert Conti can't give users of his DVDs is creativity. But he actually says this...WHICH IS SO SIMPLE BUT SO TRUE is this. P L A Y your instrument. You learn by playing. The old school guys learned that way. Learn to drive the car, and then you can figure out what makes it drive (or what's under the hood) later. All the constant playing and experimentation you find out which notes TO PLAY and which notes NOT TO PLAY. And then he jokes that Howard Roberts used to say "there is no wrong note, unless you play the wrong note"!
What I found is this. His "licks" are divided into chord tones, chord extensions and non chord tones. KISS. After playing them for a long while, and IF you play your instrument constantly, you start meandering away from his "chord tone" patterns and start re-weaving the tones into what YOUR ear likes to hear - your patterns, your licks. Your ear expands in the process. And then you learn to play your patterns using his as a springboard in different areas of the neck. An invaluable tool for on stage playing. (Less choking).
Everything I have used of his has been INVALUABLE. From his Precision Method which improved my chops 100% over the course of a whole year. My goodness. I had to shut my ears to those who felt his method sucked. But boy did this particular teacher work for me. But I worked at it. Almost every single day.
He says " just learn the lines". Learn to swim using these lines and soon enough you will be doing your own tricks in the proverbial water. That's how they learned this art in the old days. They didn't sit around talking about modes. It sounds harsh but it's true. Modes have their place. But the were developed and put on paper AFTER the analysis of what those who came before played. Learn to move on the neck and then you can better understand what you're doing later - on paper. That's what probably puts people off. I would advise him to find a better way to say that particular train of thought.
ALL THE ACTION is ON THE NECK. NOT on paper. You learn by PLAYING first. NOT analyzing first. The music is made ON the fretboard. That's all he's saying.
I used to play scales ad nauseam. Conti taught me how to start making music and begin to quit hating my playing. After almost 2 years of Conti, I can navigate the whole neck and not worry about where I'm going to end up. It's an UNBELIEVABLY freeing and satisfying feeling I have been searching for, for a long time.
That's it. I'll shut up now. Forgive me for going on and on.
;-)Last edited by West LA Jazz; 03-28-2015 at 06:09 PM.
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I would also like to say that the Robert Conti material is NOT jazz rock fusion, but straight ahead bebop jazz guitar guitar instruction and is one of the easiest ways for blues,rock or country pickers to learn how to play jazz guitar.Forget all the theory and just copy his instructional material,learn old school bebop and you will learn how to teach yourself and all of your questions about theory will be gone.
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West LA Jazz,You said all the great things about Robert Conti's learning tools I would say!I don't think there's a single thing I could say that you haven't already said!The guy is awesome and his material is a God Send to any guitarist who wished they could play jazz guitar but thought it was too hard!
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