The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    I'd love to know which courses you have found most helpful on TrueFire. They could be courses that you would recommend to beginner/intermediate players, or ones you have enjoyed for yourself. There's so much material on the site!

    I'm posting this in the "Improvisation" section, but I'm open to all courses that have helped you.

    My goal is to have more good recommendations for my students, friends, and myself.

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

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    This guy. I don't care what style you like but teachers this good and humble and genuinely helpful are rare. Oh and there is zero ego or bu11shit from him, which is vanishingly rare.

    New School Fingerstyle - Guitar Lessons - David Hamburger - TrueFire

    Here also is his superb youtube channel which I would urge everyone to watch and which I regularly revisit for inspiration and a lesson on how to teach.

    Fretboard Confidential with David Hamburger
    - YouTube


    I will add that learning to play simple melodic and appealing things whilst the right hand thumb keeps time and states the basic harmony and bass line is one of those things that people like Charlie Christian did and which too many people skip before trying to get all fancy and saxo-phony.

    D.
    Last edited by Freel; 08-30-2018 at 07:25 PM.

  4. #3

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    Anything by Frank Vignola

  5. #4

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    David Hamburger is a good player and teacher. I think of him as primarily a blues player but he's got a wide range, from acoustic Delta stuff to electric Chicago style to eclectic present-day sounds.

    Frank Vignola is mainly a jazz guy. (I think Frank has 20+ True Fire courses.) He has a couple in-depth courses on inversions and one 'modern method for guitar' that could keep someone busy for years. Strong on comping and learning tunes.

    Mimi Fox is a favorite. She's a great jazz player and teacher too. Took lessons with Joe Pass and he once said she could play anything he could play. High praise indeed! She started on drums, so her rhythmic sense is very strong both as a soloist and when comping. Her "Jazz Anatomy" might be a good place to start.

    Fareed Haque is another good player and teacher. More of a modern jazz sensibility, I guess. His courses are well paced tightly focused.

  6. #5

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    There are really a lot of very good ones. Depends a lot on where you are at and what you are looking to get out of it. Frank Vignola has a great Chord Melody intro course called "1-2-3". It is very similar to Robert Conti's chord melody book "Chord Melody Assembly Line" (not a Truefire course). But if you're not interested in that style, not much of a recommendation. Fareed Haque has a great one calle "Jazz Comping Survival Guide"; but, again, that may not be for you. I play 90% solo, so while it was interesting I didn't get all that much out of it. Mimi Fox's courses are excellent, but more for intermediate players. And so on...

    Tells us a little bit more about what you are looking for, and I'm sure we can give you better recommendations.

  7. #6

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    There's lots of good stuff on Truefire and I have way too many of their courses. One that hasn't been mentioned yet is Sean McGowan's Walking Bass course. That's one I keep going back to. He not only shows you how to build a walking bass line, he also gives some good good tips on articulation to kind of mimic a bass, and how to throw in chord stabs while walking the bass.

    This is fingerstyle and may not be what you're looking for. McGowan plays in a style along the lines of Martin Taylor or Tim Lerch. I have 2 of his other courses and they're also very good.

    As has been pointed out, anything by Frank Vignola is very good. I especially like his 1-2-3 Chord melody.

  8. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by rlrhett
    There are really a lot of very good ones. Depends a lot on where you are at and what you are looking to get out of it. Frank Vignola has a great Chord Melody intro course called "1-2-3". It is very similar to Robert Conti's chord melody book "Chord Melody Assembly Line" (not a Truefire course). But if you're not interested in that style, not much of a recommendation. Fareed Haque has a great one calle "Jazz Comping Survival Guide"; but, again, that may not be for you. I play 90% solo, so while it was interesting I didn't get all that much out of it. Mimi Fox's courses are excellent, but more for intermediate players. And so on...

    Tells us a little bit more about what you are looking for, and I'm sure we can give you better recommendations.
    I'm looking for courses that you all have enjoyed. As I noted, I'm looking to put together a list for my students, friends, and myself. There are so many courses, so I thought asking for recommendations would help guide my explorations.

    A few I have enjoyed watching and passing along to students so far:

    50 Blues Rhythms
    50 Bebop Licks
    50 R&B Bass Grooves
    Hendrixian Triads
    Inversion Excursion
    Blues Chord Melody

  9. #8

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    mimi fox graduated solos and her new one trio comping

  10. #9

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    There are so many great teachers on TrueFire, but the one that really stands out for me is Sheryl Bailey. First off, she's an awesome player, constantly inventive, swinging and energetic. Second, her presence as a teacher really carries through with that positive spirit. Her Bebop Dojo Essentials course covers so much ground, but also zeroes in on the bedrock principles--she gives a lot of time on drills to develop a good groove, for example. Fantastic course; Sheryl is a real treasure. I do also like Frank Vignola, Fareed Haque and Mimi Fox, but when I want to spend time soaking up a teacher's vibe, Sheryl is at the top of my list.

  11. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by Eastman
    There are so many great teachers on TrueFire, but the one that really stands out for me is Sheryl Bailey. First off, she's an awesome player, constantly inventive, swinging and energetic. Second, her presence as a teacher really carries through with that positive spirit. Her Bebop Dojo Essentials course covers so much ground, but also zeroes in on the bedrock principles--she gives a lot of time on drills to develop a good groove, for example. Fantastic course; Sheryl is a real treasure. I do also like Frank Vignola, Fareed Haque and Mimi Fox, but when I want to spend time soaking up a teacher's vibe, Sheryl is at the top of my list.
    She's one of my favorite teachers, too!

  12. #11

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    I'd like to change my answer.

    Get some books, there are loads of good ones that aren't as slim in content and prejudiced to passivity as true fire et all.

    Jim Ferguson's first book on comping is great , his more modern one is exceedingly slim. Fernando Sor's studies are great (all of them not just a book with the twenty Segovia mucked about with with tab) lots of good editions of those. Arron Shearer's second book on sight reading.

    Yup, books are what I would recommend. And places where you might browse sheet music, that would be good, too many promising looking books I've bought recently online were almost completely insubstantial. I think the truefire stuff would be about seven or eight pages if you took the tab out.

    All that being said, David's is the best I have seen. He has some books too.

    A great survey of a century or so Jazz Guitar with a lot of historical info and transcriptions of most of the major players is Ivor Mairants two (mercifully tab free) volume work 'The Great Jazz Guitarists'

    D.

  13. #12

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    +1 on Sheryl Bailey. Very knowledgeable, very enthusiastic, great teacher, and a top-level player.

  14. #13

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    Quote Originally Posted by gggomez
    mimi fox graduated solos and her new one trio comping
    I pre-ordered Mimi's "Trio Comping" and have it but haven't started working with it yet. Looking forward to it. She is one of my favorite players. She really can do it all.

    "Graduated Solos" is very good because it provides a few solos for each progression (IIRC, "All of Me," "A-Train", "Blue Bossa", "Night & Day", and a Bb blues.) The first is fairly easy, the second more challenging, and the third is whoa! Her courses pack a tremendous amount of musical information. It's a course you can get something from immediately yet return to for more and more goodies for years to come.

  15. #14

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    I am feeling a little self conscious about seeming negative, sorry Susan.

    I do genuinely admire and appreciate all the players mentioned. It's the format that I have issues with. No doubt I'll find that I will buy another true fire product before too long and instantly feel buyers remorse so it is hypocirtical and mean spirited of me to begrudge everyone else the thrill of the chase.

    D.

  16. #15

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    Quote Originally Posted by Freel
    I am feeling a little self conscious about seeming negative, sorry Susan.

    I do genuinely admire and appreciate all the players mentioned. It's the format that I have issues with. No doubt I'll find that I will buy another true fire product before too long and instantly feel buyers remorse so it is hypocirtical and mean spirited of me to begrudge everyone else the thrill of the chase.

    D.
    It's cool to feel the way you feel, but also keep in mind that in this thread I'm asking for TrueFire course recommendations from folks who have experience with them. Take care.

  17. #16

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    This Reminds me of that the two best ALL around guitarists playing in the world today are from suburban DuPage County (Glen Ellyn and Downers Grove, IL ) have great courses on TF

    Fareed Haque and Muriel Anderson. Obviously Fareed is more of a jazz player , but he has played free and avant-garde, Latin, European, classical, rock, fusion, Indian classical, you name it .

    Muriel Anderson has a right hand to die for . I’ve never seen her play in a jazz context, but from folk to Bluegrass to flamenco to country to European classical , she runs the gambit from Chet Atkins to Paco De Lucia.

    Find me a better players in an all-around context who can play so many styles so authentically than Fareed or Muriel. You can’t. They have a lot of great TF classes .

    In terms of Jazz and especially teaching bebop on TF, you can’t beat Sheryl Bailey. She is also absolutely an exceptional player of the highest standard as well .

    One course I want to mention that is never mentioned is the Jazz textures course offered by a great player out of the Pacific Northwest named Christopher Woitach. Christopher teaches you how to build voicings organically so you can play all over the neck in a very musical way with dozens and dozens of choices in a solo context . His Method is really logical and it works, if you put the time in. I love watching Christopher play as well he is a great player, if I ever get out to Portland, I will definitely check them out. His class is not as useful if you don’t play hybrid or finger style . That is a must .

  18. #17

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    I just renewed my one year all access.

    I surprisingly liked a portion of Andy Timmons 2nd video. His first one was rock stuff, all things I've heard before so I didn't spend much time on. But his blues one, the 2nd one had some good stuff. Might be stuff you already have. It was the sections in the middle with a lot of bluesy subs and what not. Wasn't super new to me but it really inspired me to work on the subs and triad slides and what not. It translated to lesson material for my students instantly and to some of my gigs. He had a better feel than I expected. good stuff.

    I didn't review the rest of the lesson. like his first video it didn't bring anything new to the table. And I didn't go through his song examples later in the sessions. But the comping/rhythm/ double stop kinda stuff was nice. I use these subs in my jazz comping but I liked the way he worked them in the blues.
    Last edited by DS71; 08-31-2018 at 06:12 PM.

  19. #18

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    took the hint from MARK and grabbed Graduated Solos in the sale..Mimi Fox.....love her teaching style...

  20. #19

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    Anything from Sheryl Bailey is great. Her 50 Essential Bebop Licks course has some cool stuff, and I do the $5 a month Bebob Dojo Bootcamp that she has.
    I also do well with Fareed Haque's courses. The Bebop Survival Guide and Comping Survival Guide are both good. I wish he had one of the channels.
    Frank Vignola is also good, and he has a ton of material. I do his $5 a month channel as well. It might be the best bargain on the internet. If a beginner/intermediate player dedicated themselves to all the material he puts on that channel every month, they would improve quickly. I don't really enjoy his delivery as much as Bailey or Haque, but he's still a great teacher and, again, so much material for $5.
    As with other types of educational material, a lot of it comes down to timing. I got the Fareed Haque Bebop Survival Guide at the perfect point in my development, so I got a lot out of it. Someone that's a little more advanced might find it less useful.

  21. #20

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    noticed mimi fox uses just drum and bass....gives more clarity to her guitar when that wretched piano is off...try that in band in a box..

  22. #21

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    I'm curious about the Howard Morgen course, "Fingerboard Breakthrough." Anyone tried it?

  23. #22

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    Quote Originally Posted by Susan Palmer
    It's cool to feel the way you feel, but also keep in mind that in this thread I'm asking for TrueFire course recommendations from folks who have experience with them. Take care.
    Sorry Susan, you maybe missed my first post where I recommended David Hamburger's New School Fingersyle which I did enjoy. I would also recommend Ben Lacy's because he is such and extraordinary player but the transcription was inadequate.

    Best of luck to your pupils.

    D.

  24. #23

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    Quote Originally Posted by Freel
    Sorry Susan, you maybe missed my first post where I recommended David Hamburger's New School Fingersyle which I did enjoy. I would also recommend Ben Lacy's because he is such and extraordinary player but the transcription was inadequate.

    Best of luck to your pupils.

    D.
    I did note those courses; thanks for your input! In your second post, you mentioned that you would rather recommend books, instead of what I was asking for. It's all good. Thanks again.

  25. #24

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    I have worked my way through Henry Johnsons Jazz Expressions. Love his style and the way he plays. There are lots of choruses of his solos transcribed (though not everything is). I find his discussions and explanations after he plays a solo as to what he was thinking to be really down to earth and useful.

    I'm now working my way through Fareed Haques Solo Guitar Handbook. I'm not even halfway through but I really like his teaching style - he seems to have a clear idea of just how much information to give and stay on point.

    I have Larry Carltons 335 blues. His playing is so tasteful to me. This course is a great way to absorb some of this guys playing.

    I also have Jazzed Blues Assembly Line by Mark Stefani. Tons of great vocabulary in this one as well. He really has assimilated a lot of a Martino / Benson vibe. So this seems like a great way to pick some of this stuff up.

  26. #25

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    I hope this will still be of use.

    I just started the Howard Morgen course and it promises to be the most useful course I’ve ever taken on the web with the sole exception of Matt Munisteri’s “Roots of jazz guitar" on Pegheadnation.

    So far, my favorite jazz instructors on TF are Sheryl Bailey (the “bebop dojo” is a great place to start + she put out an exquisite lick collection) and Fareed Haque (especially liked the “comping survival guide”; second by a fair margin the “bebop survival guide”). Frank Vignola has nice, simple but effective “1-2-3s”, and has made a wonderful “Essentials: Jazz Standards Soloing” course (which I have yet to exploit to the full…). I will confess myself a bit disappointed by the “punches” course by Mimi Fox, but will return to it for a second run.

    There’s also a LOT to explore on the outer reaches of jazz-dom. The Gipsy jazz courses by Rainier Voet are great. Ray Nijenhuis’ Western Swing Guidebook is a great exploration of typical inversions and bass runs (and his collection of Western Swing licks also includes a few pearls). Marcy Marxer’s “Swingin’ Rhythm” would be of use to anyone beginning in the world of Swing (taking the word in its broadest sense … it’s not “Freddie Green” style!).