Learn How to Play Jazz Guitar Standards Using "Chord-and-Melody" Technique

These Online Jazz Guitar Lessons Really Work --

(Because they are different from anything else you've seen before online.)

• • I teach you COMPLETE SONGS, just like your local guitar teacher, and along the way, you'll pick up plenty about the theoretical stuff -- but in a way that is musical. 
  • I show you the EXACT CHORD VOICINGS &FINGERING for every passage -- in ways that are simple and DO NOT require the superhuman agility or the talent of a virtuoso. 
  • NO MODES or SCALES -- because your audience does not want to hear scales, modes, or theory! Nothing loses an audience quicker than endless modal scales.

Let's Talk Truth

Most jazz guitar lessons and books fail - precisely because they are produced by the world's most amazing players - the top 1/10 of 1%. Those guys can do things the rest of us can't -- like 8-fret stretches. And when they create lessons, they set the bar way too high for you & me.

I can't play like Pat Metheny or Joe Pass. And my guess is that neither can you. But -- you and I can still play Jazz -- simply and "straight-up", in a way that every general audience will appreciate.

If you're a decent player there are always restaurants, hotels, wineries, and private party gigs looking for a competent jazz guitar soloist. (And in this economy - the soloist gets the gig!)

So, this is where I can help you -- to learn to play the "Great American Songbook" (Sinatra, Cole Porter, Rogers & Hart, etc.) to general audiences. And also cover more contemporary artists like Stevie Wonder and Alicia Keys.

You Will Learn to Play Just Like This!

At the very end of every lesson, you get a video of me doing a "run through" of the song, front to back. As you watch the video, I want you to notice just one thing. Not how great I can play -- but how ordinary I play! Notice how simply and slowly my hand moves around the neck. There are no "acrobatics", no lightning licks. This is MUSIC for people to enjoy; not a race to see who's fastest.

And my students report back that they can -- and do -- master these lessons! So will you.

 

 

Play for Your Listeners!

My jazz guitar lessons & techniques are easy for guitarists at any skill level.  After all, I come from a rock and blues background - I'm not 'classically trained'. The techniques are easy, but the sound is very full and pleasing to the ear.  I play out with my band and as a jazz guitar soloist all the time -- at the best country clubs in Beverly Hills -- and people in the audience never fail to comment on how they love to listen to my guitar. No bragging.  It's just that hardly anyone plays guitar this way anymore... people are SO SURPRISED to hear a guitar sound so musical.  Because jazz is not about playing endless, mind-numbing runs of 16th notes.  It is about strong melodies, interesting harmonies, and elastic rhythms.

When you play a song Chord-and-Melody style, everyone within earshot gives you compliments.

Check It Out

Just like your local music teacher, I make sure you learn the song bar by bar -- grip by grip -- and never overwhelm you like so many "theory" lessons.  Using the VIDEOS and TAB diagrams, you see exactly how to finger each and every note.

What You Get with Every Lesson

• Individual Videos for Every 2-4 Bar Passage (6-12 videos per song!)Again, these videos are not like typical lessons.  Each video only covers a short 2-4 bar passage.  You can start, stop, replay as much as you like.

Here's a sample video. Each clip covers just 2-4 bars -- you'll never get lost or overloaded with these lessons. As just as any teacher will tell you, the key to learning a piece of music is to master each phrace, one by one...

• Complete Note-by-Note Tabs for Every Song
  These complete Tablature Arrangement are like nothing you've ever seen. Each one matches the videos exactly. And the arrangements are clean, simple, and straight from the Real Book.

And for when you are ready to play out...

• Lead Sheets for Every Song
  Once you've studied the Tabs and Videos, it's a lot easier to practice the tune to perfection with the "Fake Book" lead sheets -- given to you in every lesson.

• Play Along Backing Tracks
  High quality mp3s that you can load into your iPod, etc. I use these backing tracks and arrangements myself to play solo gigs where I earn about $300-500 to play at private parties, receptions, etc. All my materials and lessons are professional grade.
• All for only $19.95
  If you were taking local lessons at $25-50 a shot -- minimum 3 or 4 lessons to learn a song -- you can see that this ia a very inexpensive -- and convenient -- way to build up your repertoire.
• 100% Guarantee
  You only pay AFTER you get the full lesson.  You might think this is stupid of me, except that my students pay 99% of the time because the lessons really deliver.

 

The Real Value of These Lessons

It's really all about the chord voicings, also known as "grips". Knowing where on the neck to play the chord so that you can define the melody with the top notes of the chord, & play a single note or two to get you to the next chord. This is a huge stumbling block for most players, since if you play the chord at the wrong fret, you'll be jumping all over the fret board to try to play a song -- leading to failure and frustration.

The only way I can offer these great arrangements is because as a kid I learned how to read music and play piano -- so I take the sheet music -- as originally composed on piano -- and translate it accurately to guitar. That's how you get a full sound (comparable to a piano player). Most other jazz lessons will teach you "comping chords" that are really only good for playing with a quartet where a horn player will handle the melody. I give you the ability to play the complete song -- solo.  And along the way, I make sure that all the fingering is easy and straightforward for people with normal (not-superhuman) abilities.

For years I searched for these kinds of arrangements -- and they don't exist. So I created my own.  The tablature shows exact finger for every chord and note.  And if you have any questions about timing or fingering, the videos make it crystal clear.

PLUS -- These really are private lessons.  I supply all of the above, and if you ever get stuck, I give you custom videos and diagrams to show you you exactly how to play every passage, chord change, and melody run. This is the YouTube age, and I can always whip up a special video in a few minutes to show you exactly how to get past a section that might be hard for you.

If you have more questions, or want to get started, please use the Contact Form, and I'll get back to you to discuss how my "Straight Up" Online Guitar Lessons can help you finally learn how to play the guitar the way you always wanted to.  Try a lesson with me, and you will hear your own guitar playing in whole different light.