I have been a professional jazz guitarist for 25 years performing, and/or recording, with many outstanding musicians including Bill Carrothers, Dave King, Chuck Zwicky, Ronen Itzik, Sean Wayland, Matthias Bublath, Mark Ledford, and TROMA Films.
I was Born in Washington DC, raised Lincoln, NE, and received my BFA from the University of MN, MPLS where I studied with award-winning composer Judith Lang-Zaimont while pursuing jazz and classical guitar performance.
My influences include; Bebop, the 1980’s NYC Downtown Jazz, music of New Orleans, Memphis, and the Middle East. I tend to blend it together to create a narrative and or a great solid groove. The Blues are especially rooted in my sound as well as the lineage of Jimmy Smith, George Benson, Grant Green, Lou Donaldson, and the “Chicken Shack” sound; a style born from gospel and blues traditions.
Hmmm...really? Democrats? Well my friend, bakers make bread so you need to blame them on high prices. Are you one of these people who blames politicians instead of the corporations? Make your own bread.
So true. My first lesson as a jazz student in college was an eye opener. My teacher was shocked I didn’t have all the fretboard memorized. He stopped the lesson, rescheduled for 2 days later and said before the next lesson, you have to have every note on the fretboard memorized. I didn’t have time for acronyms, so it’s weird that I never had to use them. Acronyms are a great tool but they need to be used, then “forgotten”.
I already do this: Along the way you can learn the names of the notes , and to add a Jump a string (from E to D to B to A to G) , two strings (from E to G to E), etc. If possible without looking... even better
Yes! I should have made that point, glad you mentioned it. I’ll make sure to say that when I make videos like this. Really appreciate you watching the videos!
I've been playing for years and have never mastered this (never really tried hard mind you) and get fed up with YT vids promising miraculous ways to do it......I was prepared to treat your vid the same but, actually, I think you have made a very good, simple point here. 👍
Thank you so much for watching it! I keep forgetting to comment that this acronym came from a student. I thought he said “Alpo”, but he said “apples”. Thought it was funny enough and pretty hard to forget so I made a little video about it. Again, I really appreciate you watching the channel!
Thanks so much for watching and subscribing! It should be mandatory for all new students to learn on cheap guitars! It’s how we learn to develop a relationship with an instrument. With a good setup and good working pickups, really don’t need much else besides an amp of course. Got you down for the giveaways!
Thanks so much for watching and especially for commenting! I will have a video on “Bursting”coming up! There are benefits of playing slow but, the main one for me is the slower I go the more my muscles get a workout. Like endurance training, then I can play faster sooner. When I was first beginning as a student, I never practiced slow. Had all the speed I needed but slow practice killed me. I didn’t have the endurance. Yeah, paying way ahead of your own abilities is the best way to challenge yourself to play faster- faster than we think we can. Thx!
Thanks for watching. My first guitar teacher had me train my 4th finger early on because it’s a pain to develop. I still work on strengthening it each day.
Thank you so much! I appreciate you watching the video and commenting. I’d love to do a video on how to become friends with the metronome. We all remember how daunting it was when we first started. Again thank you so much!
Immediate 'subscribe' Ive been playing for ages aimlessly and this just gives me a reson to pick up the guitar again. I'll be waiting for such videos. ❤
I think that’s the greatest compliment I’ve ever received. I can’t tell you how much that means and inspires me as a musician/teacher. Thank you. I really appreciate you watching the video and subscribing as well, very grateful!
Thanks again! It’s my favorite kind of video to make- what gets to the root of making progress. when I started setting a timer and working with the Metronome years ago, it really tighten things up and made everything I played better, and easier. So glad that professor in college showed me that to stay focused.
You're right, couldn't agree more. A great example of this is in "Lush Life" by Billy Strayhorn. But, I did say "snarky" at the very beginning so it's not serious. I do stand by it as being over-used and cheesy, but so are a million other things, like myself! Fun to poke the bear.
