Introduction to Gypsy Jazz Guitar: John Jorgenson (Book/CD/DVD Set) by John Jorgenson Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Introduction to Gypsy Jazz Guitar: John Jorgenson (Book/CD/DVD Set)
Book Review: A Great Teacher
Summary: 5 Stars
Jorgenson isn't just a great guitarist: he is an expert analyst of guitar skills, and a good communicator.
This book is not only for gypsy jazz wannabes, but will be useful for any guitarist seeking to expand their knowledge and musicianship. My 'used' copy was also a reasonable value, and in perfect condition. There's a great section, for example, on using three-string chords for 'comping.
Book Review: Excellent: Learn the style and the music theory
Summary: 5 Stars
This is excellent. Don't pass it up. In this one, the basic 1-4-5 blues progression is the starting point for a hands on demo walkthrough of how to take this basic progression and fill it in with more robust substitutions and exciting sounding background comping. The 9th, dim, aug and 6th cords are pressented in an easy to digest, follow, and incorporate series of demo's. The instructor describes what is going on so you can create this type of movement in your own arrangements.
The teaching style of having a "live" student asking questions during the dvd instruction, tries to create the feel that you are sitting in on an actual lesson. This works really well here as the instructor and student have good chemistry and the exchange keeps the information from becoming dry. It also helps pace the demo's as the teacher plays, then the student and teacher play together, which actually helps give you a bit more time to play along without having to continually replay demos that often seem a bit too short for new material on some of the other dvd's I've had.
I'm about half way through on this dvd today, and already I am here ordering the next level intermediate dvd cause this one is that good - I want to keep on learning from this guy! The pressentation is really well done, and the notation materials are excellent. The "book", is a full sized book - which is beyond the norm - this is not just a collection of "reminder" highlight notes in a half size booket insert, as comes with some other dvd video instructions. In addition to being full sized, these materials are well organized, easy to read, and include narrative text and explainations.
Bottom line: very nice instructional product of a really great and useful topic. In fact, even if you don't want to play this particular style in depth, the chord substitution theory is well worth the time and price of this product.
Book Review: Great intro to Gypsy Jazz
Summary: 5 Stars
Just started working through this great resource. The DVD is very well done . John uses an effective format for the instruction by using an actual student who works through the exercises. The text is well written and the instructive style will get you playing rhythm Gypsy Jazz in just a few hours. Well worth your time and money. Happy strummin'Book Review: John Jorgenson's Gypsy Jazz Guitar
Summary: 5 Stars
I am an experienced guitar player and this book/cd/dvd combo was a real pleasure. The format is very easy to follow and makes learning some new technique fun. I happened to see Jorgenson and his string band live at a tiny venue, (Kirkland Art Center) in upstate New York in Dec 2005. I bought his CD and later this instructional book through Amazon. I found both totally worth the purchase price. I do believe you need to have some experience as a player to get the max out of Gypsy Jazz Guitar. If you are an average player and want to kickstart yourself into some more advanced playing - get this book.Book Review: Just about as good as a method book gets.
Summary: 4 Stars
Well, firstly...WOW!!! For the price you get a great method book, a great play along CD and an amazing 2 hr long DVD.
The only warning is that you really do need to know how to play guitar to an intermediate level to really get into this book.
The lessons are well paced and extremely well illustrated in the book and DVD. Explanations are clear and the DVD is set up so that you can navigate around easily. My favorite part is how JJ is teaching a person right in front of you. The other guitarist is good, but makes plenty of REAL mistakes and asks plenty of REALLY GREAT questions: the kinds that traditional flatpickers might ask.
Be warned, however. This book contains no actual gypsy solo tunes. It spends time developing theoretical constructs and fingerboard maps, major and minor arpeggio patterns. In the long run, however, this method develops a much stronger solo player and allows the guitarist's individuality to come through; instead of just becoming another Django clone.
My only gripe is that the 3 volumes are not coming out fast enough for me, but that isn't really a problem. (It's excitement!) Just practice practice practice.
I am a music educator, and wish that all method books were put together as well as this one!
The 4 stars are not 5, because I think a beginning guitarist might have a bit of trouble with it.
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