The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    Having my breakfast this morning I came across this old instructional tape by Joe Diorio, and I found it timely and to a degree liberating.



    It's too easy to get bogged down in scales/arpeggios/licks, etc, and Joe urges us to just let go for a while every day, and just play anything, let the fingers go for a walk. Artists do this with a single line doodle. It helps to awaken the creative juices.

    Once that is done, he does gives us a bunch of 251s, lol, but based on 4ths and 5ths - something we might not have considered.

    Although an old tape, with a dated presentation, it still sounds refreshing and relevant.

    I think Joe is still with us, though no longer active. Let’s wish him all the best, and spend some time with him.

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

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    Joe Diorio is a great musician.
    I have some of his books - great educational materials !!!

  4. #3
    Dutchbopper Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by kris
    Joe Diorio is a great musician.I have some of his books - great educational materials !!!
    I studies 3 solos from his "Fusion Guitar" too. Check out here. There are vids of them. "All The Things You Are", "Stella by Starlight" and "Blue Bossa." I even added tabs in my Blog post at the time. Great stuff. Highly recommended.

    DB

  5. #4

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    Joe was interviewed at length earlier this year for the High Action podcast, presented by the New West Guitar Group. It's long enough to have been split across two episodes. Well worth listening (as is the entire High Action series of interviews).

  6. #5

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    I just felt he wasn’t mentioned much these days, but he was a great player in his day, and his educational material is still relevant.

  7. #6

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    ?I borrowed his Fusion Guitar from the library a couple of weeks ago, not for the first time. It is full of ideas.



  8. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by Litterick
    ?I borrowed his Fusion Guitar from the library a couple of weeks ago, not for the first time. It is full of ideas.



    Enjoy your meal Joe!

  9. #8

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    @Rob, absolutely, always keep Joe in mind! Thanks for the post!

  10. #9

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    Art of Life label has reissued some of his records that were originally released on Spitball records. I love those seas he sails on those recordings.

  11. #10

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    I always have a picture in front of me of how Joe is holding his Gibson es-175.
    Attachment 86228

  12. #11

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    I have and highly recommend his album "Joe Diorio Solo Guitar."

  13. #12

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    I've got the Giant Steps book. Way over my head at the time. Need to revisit it.

  14. #13

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    Great post Rob! I really enjoy how he presents. Loads of character.

    And good note on the creative juices. It doesn't get mentioned much, maybe because it's kinda hard to talk about.

    There's a vid out there where he talks about Left Side / Right Side Brain in the context of performing jazz with a group. He says the left side isn't quick enough. There's no time think. Not only do you have to react instantly to what's happening around you, you have to react to what might happen next. You need intuition and instinct.

    I like his balance: you have to work on technique and theory to get to the point you can let the right side take over. But you have to work on the right side along the way as well.

    On the tech side: monster. He inspired me to work on sweeps after being mostly an alternate picker. He gets a lot of juice with his prodigious ability.

  15. #14

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    Yes, the left side seems to preoccupy us mostly, but the right side is where the art is. It’s good to be reminded of that every now and then.

    And yes, his technique is ridiculously good.

    He must have been a wonderful and inspiring - though forbidding - teacher.

  16. #15

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    Quote Originally Posted by curbucci
    Art of Life label has reissued some of his records that were originally released on Spitball records. I love those seas he sails on those recordings.
    I bought those Spitball records he made with Wally Cirillo when they first came out, and were advertised in DownBeat as the 'second coming'.
    Since they were only available through the mail, I bought them without hearing them, purely on hype.

    I'll never forget bringing both records down the basement, expecting to hear the new Tal Farlow.
    I couldn't believe it- it was just guitar and piano, sounding like they were playing two different songs at the same time. I listened to every cut , but they all sounded the same.
    Then I put on the second record, thinking that this one was going to be much better, but it was the same crap.

    It took me years to ever listen to JD again, and by that time, JD had managed to work out his experimental intervallic lines into a tonal framework, and I enjoyed his music very much. But those two albums with just ACOUSTIC piano and guitar made good frisbees.
    Someone played me something they did on Spitball with some type of keyboard (organ, synth?) on You Tube, but they were different recordings.

  17. #16

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    I think there's been one or two here that studied with him. I've posted about him once or twice, and seem to remember such a thing. Hopefully we'll hear from one of them.

  18. #17

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rob MacKillop

    He must have been a wonderful and inspiring - though forbidding - teacher.
    I had the fortune of briefly studying with him when he was in Southern California, shortly before his stroke. Lessons were at his apartment, and we'd sit, chat, and have tea for a bit before going into his music room. His room had pictures of the Buddha and Coltrane (coincidence?? I think not!), and other peaceful things; his old Benedetto was on a stand, and his copy of Goodrick's "Thesaurus" was on the music stand. I was scared to death to play for him, but he was gracious, humble, and encouraging. Good times!

  19. #18

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    With a very young John Stowell:


  20. #19

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    Good to know, Marc. I think most of us would have been scared to play.

  21. #20

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    I know he did an album with Robben Ford years ago... Anyone hear that one?

  22. #21

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    It’s on YouTube.

  23. #22

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rob MacKillop
    With a very young John Stowell
    Not to mention Tim Lerch on 7 string before Joe sits down! I thought it might've been him and I confirmed in the comments on the YouTube page.

  24. #23

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    Ha, I never noticed Tim. Good catch.

  25. #24

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    Interesting to see that both of those guys had a lot of their characteristic moves figured out at the tender age of 12 years old :-)

  26. #25

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    Haha. And John already had his upright fretboard angle. I wonder what Joe thought of these young guns?