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I started last month. Three lessons, so far. A great feature of them is that Conti records them and afterward sends you a link to download the video. This way, you can go over (and over) lines or concepts that you either didn't fully grasp or have let slip from your memory.
The video appears in split-screen, the student on one side and Conti on the other. You not only get to review all of his playing and teaching, but you also hear how you sounded in the lesson. This can be humbling. ("I can't believe it took me pick up that line he showed me!"
) But it is instructive and that's what you're paying for, something that will help you get better.
Better at what, exactly?
This varies from student to student. Conti is best known for his chord melody arrangements and his blazing technique. (One of his nicknames is The Smoking Lineman.) When I booked my first lesson, I wrote that I wanted to work on single-line improv with a side of 'what the hell is wrong with my picking?' The first lesson focused mainly on picking, and we ironed a few things out.
The next two lessons have focused on lines and how to vary them. Conti's premise is that "you learn jazz by playing jazz." As for theory, he knows a lot, but he doesn't want to give a student any more than he or she is ready to incorporate in their playing. He told me that the best advice he ever saw in a 'news forum' was long-silent member pierre richard's signature phrase "...time on the instrument."
Conti was born in November of 1945, making him soon to be 80. He's been teaching since 1966. Lot of years, lot of students. I plan to study with him for a while. This is not week-to-week lessons; rather, it's 'work on this, however long it takes you, and when you get it, we'll go from there."
Couple videos, for those unfamiliar with Conti. The first one is fairly recent. A bit of "Here's That Rainy Day." The second one is about 35 years old, a tune from this "Comin' On Strong!" album. (The album was recorded in '90; I don't know when this performance was recorded----on the album the tune is played with a hot jazz band, not a backing track.)
Happy to answer questions about lessons, His website is Home • RobertConti.com
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09-27-2025 09:38 PM
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I have his "The Formula" book. It's a very interesting book. The reharmonizations are wild, yet he only uses the basic, root position drop2 and drop 3 chords. There are no inversions, no variation on the voicings, only forward motion with cycle variations. Every single note is harmonized with a different root position chord. The approach is very different than anything I've seen on harmonization/reharmonization. They sound great.
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I’ve never taken a class with him, but I can say that he’s a really decent fellow to talk with. He’s one of those rare teachers who think music shouldn’t be complicated, just fun. And yet he has the chops. It’s not watered down. It’s the real deal.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
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He told me in a lesson, "It's not hard; it's confusing."
Originally Posted by rlrhett
[Note: This doesn't mean confusing forever, but just until you get a handle on how it works. Then it is easy. But at first, it is not.]Last edited by MarkRhodes; 10-10-2025 at 08:53 PM.
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Ran across this one for the first time today, Jobim's "Someone To Light Up My Life."
Incredible stuff.
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Back cycling and tri-tone or something else? Originally Posted by Tal_175
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Most are back cycling, tritone, minor third and chromatic movements. These are common devices for reharmonizing progressions. What I find unique is that he applies them to harmonize every note inside a bar. Even 8th notes. So you may have a 6 chord mini progression inside a bar. There are multiple reharmonization's for each melody. They increasingly get more adventurous. Some of the reharmonizations are ideas he found by trial and error. The more I play the reharmonizations the more I am able to find new ideas myself. Originally Posted by alltunes
Before studying this book, in order to create movement inside a chord, I would use diatonic passing chords, different voicings, extensions, inversions, diminished and dominant passing chords. These ideas are suitable for comping but for solo playing I like the reharmonization ideas in the "The Formula" a lot more. They all boil down to 4-part voice leading with tension resolution patterns.
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A Conti original from the early '80s, "Rotation," a contrafact written over "Cherokee" changes.
Not a performance video, an album track.
Although he gets a lot of attention for playing fast, his emphasis is on clean articulation.
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Carol Kaye stresses the importance of these in her early books on playing jazz guitar. Those devices are all over standards. But I found her teaching hard to follow at times because she writes like she talks (-in an elliptical manner, leaving much unsaid, and assuming a greater degree of creativity on the part of students than a beginner is likely to have.) Originally Posted by Tal_175
Conti talks about the "nuts and bolts" and can tell you why they work but he only wants to tell you after you have learned to play them flawlessly, all over the neck in any key you might need them. (What he means by "get this under your fingers" is more thorough than a beginner can grasp.)
But the way he lays things out makes a lot of sense. It's not slap dash. It's thorough yet economical. But you cannot appreciate how thorough and how economical before you work with the material a while.
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One way to describe his approach is this: you can play any bass note over any melody note, and harmonize this bass note in any way you like as long as the bass moves around the cycle of fourths, chromatic motion or minor thirds.
Harmonizing the bass amounts to choosing inner voices. Not every way of harmonizing the bass note would sound good but many options work well and it's easy to identify choices that don't work. His method relies on making these harmonization choices based on the "grips" that you already know. That way one may get a lot of milage out of relatively small number of voicings per chord type.
Alternatively, you can think of this process as writing 4-part harmony and choosing inner voices from the underlying chord-scale. But it doesn't sound like he is a chord-scale guy.
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Am I missing something here? This appears to be a horrible idea for straight ahead jazz playing Originally Posted by Tal_175
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This book (The Formula) is about different ways of reharmonizing a given melody for solo arrangements. Originally Posted by joe2758
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Yeah I know, by straight ahead I meant in a style recognized as being within the jazz idiom. Being on the same page with other musicians aside.
Is it really a method?
I read the comment as implying for example a kid learned 10 "jazz" grips, the melody to a tune on the top 2 strings (with no theoretical knowledge) by ear, and what a cycle of 4ths is (which to our student is 5th string 6th string symmetrical pattern that can start or stop anywhere on the fretboard.) He can also move the bass up or down in half steps. He knows the shape of a minor third for the bass.
So, If that person can play a series of grips (anyone they want) where the melody notes are on top and the bass sticks to one of those movements, it is all fair game and the rest is a matter of taste.
Surely that can't be it?
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Mark Levine also talks about this method of reharmonization in the "Jazz Theory Book" and applies it to a tune while walking through his thought process (page 318). It's legit. Just pick a simple melody that you know, and try it. Put a chord below every melody note with this method. It won't take long before you find good sounding harmonizations. Originally Posted by joe2758
Of course if one only knows one grip per chord type, they won't have very many options to try when it comes to inner voices but if you are familiar with the common, garden variety jazz guitar chords (see Jazz Guitar Chords book by Joe Pass), it may change the way you think of harmony, lol.
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I will actually try this, Tal, but only because you said so! I will hold you responsible sir!
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Oh I wish I was responsible for it. Robert Conti said he learned this approach from transcribing Art Tatum and Oscar Peterson recordings. Originally Posted by joe2758
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I would start with only two voices, bass and the melody. Bass moves in forth's or chromatically as the melody moves on top. If you like how it sounds, just add inner voices in between based on voicings you know. Of course you can think of the inner voices independently from grips and choose them from the chord-scale. I experiment with that sometimes. It's also a fun fretboard activity.
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Alright, well I toyed with it. I played the first phrase of somewhere over the rainbow, which seems to lend itself to reharms.
I did the melody and bass that fit the guidelines, and added inside voices that were convenient to play and would be apparent to someone who knew the grips but no theory or the chords to the song.
It sounded awful man. This is coming from a guy who has been into pretty out there reharms
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I just came home from a rehearsal. I will give "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" a shot tomorrow and see if I can find a way to apply this approach in a way that pleases you. Originally Posted by joe2758
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started to grow on me the further along it went Originally Posted by joe2758
Alright, well I toyed with it. I played the first phrase of somewhere over the rainbow, which seems to lend itself to reharms.
I did the melody and bass that fit the guidelines, and added inside voices that were convenient to play and would be apparent to someone who knew the grips but no theory or the chords to the song.
It sounded awful man. This is coming from a guy who has been into pretty out there reharms
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OK, I just tried the first phrase. I think it sounded good. I just had to try a couple of variations, if that. I'll record it tomorrow.
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Sorry for any confusion, the video clip I posted is "laura" from many years ago and my point was that I have open minded ears to harmony...so my poor result wasn't just me being averse to interesting reharms. My result was just bad...I didn't record it. The clip I posted used exclusively 6th diminished thinking.
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I look forward to hearing it, Tal. I'm sure it's possible. I might be missing something. But also, when you get a good sounding a result-- how much of it is a result of tinkering with it by ear after the fact?
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That basic set of skills is harder to master than one might think, and to deploy them with taste, cleanly, with a set of great tunes, would be a pretty decent achievement. Originally Posted by joe2758
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Tinkering by ear is part of the process. There are different combinations of bassline moves (halfs, thirds, 4ths) and different chord qualities (or inner voices). Many choices work well. I harmonized the first phrase as you suggested. I played the melody, bass line, melody and bass only, and full harmonization. I played two versions of bass lines. The order might be different in the recording. Sorry it was a quick take, I haven't played this tune before. Originally Posted by joe2758
I did not think of harmony or the chords of the tune (other than the bass movement). I just grabbed what sounded good to my ears like a caveman.
Last edited by Tal_175; 10-16-2025 at 11:22 AM.
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