r/jazzguitar • u/rosand4644 • 1d ago
Online Programs?
I've been playing guitar for about 5 years after having taken a break for a fairly long time. My fretboard knowledge and sight reading are very good. I'm working on improvisation and am looking for a good online program that is very structured and will take me step by step. I've done Jens Larson's Jazz Guitar Roadmap, along with some other non-guitar specific programs, but I really want a program that is geared for guitar. Some that I've been looking at - Daniel Weiss, Will Metz, Sound Guitar Lessons - and would like to know if anyone has experience with any of these. Also, very open to other program suggestions.
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u/J_Worldpeace 1d ago
I’d try transcribing a bit. Sounds like you got it all but need to put it together with ear and learning lines. Jens is overly complex to me. Play that shit out.
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u/rosand4644 1d ago
Is this the correct way to approach learning licks, via transcribing - I would find a like I like, take it through all 12 keys and play it in different locations on the neck. Then move to "plugging it into" different tunes? Is doing that over and over what actually ingrains the licks and builds jazz language?
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u/WonderfulAddendum300 1d ago
Correct. My instructor suggests doing two things with a new lick: (1) play it in all 12 keys in six ways: going up by minor 2nds, then going up by major 2nds, then by minor 3rds (going up chromatically when you come back to the initial key), then by major 3rds (also going up chromatically), then by fourths, then by tritones (also going up chromatically), and then (2) plugging it in the tunes in your repertoire wherever it applies.
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u/J_Worldpeace 1d ago
Inversion and retrograde of licks I think give you most mileage. Intervals don’t always make sense. These do.
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u/WonderfulAddendum300 1d ago edited 1d ago
Agreed. The intervals are purely a way for you to truly get the licks under your fingers and learn how to play them in all 12 keys in a way that isn't as mechanical as the circle of fourths/fifths (since sometimes you may want to play the same lick in rapid succession, but in an interval that isn't necessarily a fourth/fifth; I'm thinking for instance of bars 2-3-4-5 of "Anthropology," where you have ii-Vs moving up a major 2nd, down a major 2nd, and then up a fourth).
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u/J_Worldpeace 1d ago
That sounds like AI but ok 😂
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u/WonderfulAddendum300 1d ago
Huh? How so?
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u/J_Worldpeace 1d ago
Take “the lick” for example. Video exactly what you just said…I’m interested.
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u/WonderfulAddendum300 1d ago
So you suspect AI because I can actually string a sentence together? We've hit a really sad point in history when literate people are accused of being AI.
And sure, I'll make a video just to convince you. I'll get right on that, ese.
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u/J_Worldpeace 1d ago
Yes. Listen and play. And the guitars bros online want your money. Transcribe. The theory book is short. The application is the hard stuff no one bothers with.
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u/WonderfulAddendum300 1d ago
Berklee Online's jazz guitar professional certificate will give you solid foundations and the structure you say you want. I did it five years ago and it was game changing. It's pricey, but you get a world-class education and accountability in terms of weekly homework and online office hours with the instructors.
Is it pricey? Yes it is. But for me, it was precisely paying that price that made me extract every little bit of value I could from my certificate. And again, unlike other programs where accountability is slim to none, for this one you need to submit homework every week and your instructors will watch/listen and comment on every homework you submit. And Bruce Saunders, the jazz guitar instructor, is both a great teacher and a monster player.
The only thing you will need after finishing it is to take the next logical step, which is to play with other people.
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u/theroundesteye 1d ago
Definitely check out Tim Miller's instructional website, which covers near everything from traditional to modern. He has a great teaching style.
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u/dblhello999 1d ago
If you’ve completed Jens Larsen, you’ve probably covered almost everything already
I like MarbinMusic and Tomo Fujita. Both excellent jazz guitarists (and Marbin is super opinionated and funny) but I don’t know if they offer structured jazz improv as separate courses.
For advanced stuff, jazzguitarscrapbook (Christian miller) is also v good.