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Nothing yet from Tony D or Robert Conti. Dang. Well, we'll leave the light on for 'em! ;o)
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05-03-2016 06:20 PM
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Mark. In one of Robert Conti's Transcription books,it is stated that he, Conti" is mainly self-taught after a dozen lessons from Joe Sgro and whom he credits as an early influence".
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Originally Posted by thelostboss
>>>>>My books are not based on improvising, but more
geared to developing technique and skill in performing
over the full range of the instrument. I decided to add
the Joe Sgro picking system to my books, and this caused
me to thoroughly learn the picking system.
Joe checked the accuracy of the picking and give me in
writing his endorsement and permission to teach his
system and use his pictures. He said that he had never
endorsed any product before, even though he had been
often approached by major guitar manufactures.<<<<<<
I'm curious about the Sgro picking system and how it compares with what Jimmy Bruno teaches in "The Art of Picking."
I'm also interested in the 3-octave scale approach.
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Originally Posted by jazzuki
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This is a from a book chapter by a former student of Joe Sgro. He provides some background and describes the approach, including some exercises and a Wohlfahrt piece with pick markings by Sgro.
https://books.google.com/books?id=dO...20sgro&f=false
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Here is a video of Joe Lano, another Philly guitarist. Unfortunately, the video captures his fretting but not his picking hand. But it's a chance to hear him. I think Lano taught Jimmy Bruno a lot.
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Originally Posted by unknownguitarplayer
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Originally Posted by MarkRhodes
Three Octaves
Book One
Book Two
Books One and Two
Which one do you recommend?
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Originally Posted by sgcim
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Originally Posted by MarkRhodes
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If any one is interested and would like to talk about Joe Sgro I new him well and studied with him in the late 60's. I am a professional guitarist and made my living performing in the Philly area from about 1965 to 1971, I then moved to New Orleans and I have been playing here ever since. I have always said that without Joe's guidance I don't think that I would have had been able to make it as a full time professional guitarist.
Jerry Christopher Sr.
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Originally Posted by Jerry Christopher Sr.
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I met Joe When I was 16 years old, I had been performing for two summers with the Richard Brown trio in Wild Wood New Jersey and at the end of the summer season I returned to Philly and my dad, a professional guitarist told me that I should contact Joe and get some lessons so I did. Joe taught from an upper room in his South Philly home on Moore Street. He asked me to play something, so I did, he than told me that he new exactly what I needed. Joe's lessons where only 20 minuets long, he did not give long explanations, he said that he can show you something in two minuets and it would take a year or two for your to be able to execute it. He had developed a teaching method that was quick and effective. I believe that he had one great advantage over most teachers and that is that his students were either destined to become professionals or that they were serious hobbyists. He told me that at one time he wrote all his lessons out but when I was studying with him he got the information out using simple number charts which he would write for you at the time of the lesson and a few simple chord charts. Each lesson would start with him writing out two finger exercises, he developed a system that was endless, each week he could always come up with two new exercises. He would then give you a few three octave scales and arpeggios, he would follow that by giving you a few chord scales. These chord scales were something that he designed and again they were endless and a great tool for any guitarist especially a jazz player. The last thing was a reading exercise from Hannon for guitar or a violin book. When there was enough time he would quickly write out a song for you to learn as a melody and chord piece using his chord scales. I know some teachers who tell me that they need at least an hour or more to explain their lessons but Joe's direct and economical way of teaching broke through the BS and got right to what you needed. After 50 years as a full time professional guitarist I cannot pick up my guitar without thinking about Joe.
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Jerry, did Joe Sgro ever mention Chuck Wayne in his lessons? Joe's consecutive picking seems to have been derived from violin technique and was developed around the same time that Wayne adopted that approach in an attempt to transfer Parker-like phrasing onto the guitar.
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Joe never mentioned Chuck Wayne to me and this is the first time that I heard about the connection to violin technique but it makes perfect sense. James Tillman would know more about that. I met James on line and on a trip to Philly some years back I met with James at his home. If you are interested in learning about Joe's picking technique I don't think any body can explain it better than James. Several years ago I did a demo for James demonstrating the technique, James actually played it for Joe.
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Originally Posted by Jerry Christopher Sr.
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Originally Posted by Jerry Christopher Sr.
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A student of Joe Sgro's played me a sound on sound recording of Joe playing bass, chords and then soloing on a standard. He told me that Joe used these as demonstrations for his students. Jerry, did you run across anything like this?
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It may be hard to believe, but even as a student I never heard Joe play much. He would pick up the guitar at times and play for a very short time but those brief moments of listening to him play were very inspiring. A few years back I was playing at the House of Blues in New Orleans for an out of town group and a married couple came up to me and said that when I played I sounded like a friend of theres who plays guitar, I asked what was his name and they said Joe Sgro, of course I told them that I was his student. It turned out that they where members of his church. To answer your question I remember Joe putting in his office a tape recorder I assume that he did the recordings after I stopped taken lessons with him.
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This thread is pure jazz history.
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Originally Posted by sjl
THE JAZZ GUITARIST (with forays into related genres): Mickey Baker
Who was Rector Bailey?
Mickey Baker, Guitarist Whose Riffs Echo Today, Dies at 87 - The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/1970/04/08/ar...ies-at-57.html
When it comes to Joe Sgro, I don't even know what to ask, because I want to know everything.
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I think they achieved so much things in so less time because the lack of distractions.
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Yup, you showed up one time a week, you got a lesson and you practiced. That's it.
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I recently looked into buying some of the books by James Tillman from the guitarmaster.net website (linked in a couple of the posts to this thread) that supposedly demonstrate Joe Sgro's picking technique although my motivation is primarily to get material for music reading practice. It looks like there are issues with the website and they may be out of business since guitarmaster.net do not respond to questions sent using their contact form (or to e-mail messages sent to postmaster@guitarmaster.net, webmaster@guitarmaster.net or root@guitarmaster.net). Anyway, I unwisely went ahead and purchased a set of books with PayPal as my payment method and when I finished paying and checking out my confirmation page from guitarmaster.net was a webpage with a 404 not found error. I do have a proper receipt from PayPal so I will be able to start the painful refund claim process some time within the next 20 days.
I think it was mentioned earlier in the thread that a couple of people e-mailed the author James Tillman directly. So it may be helpful if they could provide me with his e-mail addresses (possibly via a PM on this site if they don't want to post it to the thread) since the contact method on the website doesn't seem to work,
William
Originally Posted by MarkRhodesLast edited by WVNicholson; 10-07-2019 at 06:18 AM. Reason: forum platform not honour paragraphs/ line breaks
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