Mike Stern - 33 Improvisation Ideas 

He is a total sweetheart of a guy!

Mike is totally the nicest guy ever!

Absolutely. Don't wanna sound like a dick but I'm a player and teacher in LA and I've known - and learned a lot - from Michael over the years. Yeah, greatest cat and player ever.

I had the very same experience when I met them in Walla Walla. They're both great players and great people!

Agreed. I met Mike after a show in St Louis and he is the nicest guy on the planet. He let me get a picture with him also.

@@paulmichaelsmith3207 You're so humble. All the best to you.

Totally

Louise Attzs For this wrist movement to work it has be, like I pick two note per string patterns the same and you just do not feel string changes, everything just flows together and you can build up a decent amount of speed. Problem occurs when you try and add some drive, because muting is kind of difficult, like I had to reteach myself to mute adjusted for this way of picking.

Its because the accident

You're incredible.

@@sodepassagem2045 this was before that!

That's probably Mikes's pad. It's supposedly pretty messy.

...Ok, with "absolute freedom" you're a bit overselling it 😁 Mike is no doubt a genius! But he's a bit more "vocabulary orientated" than some other jazz guitarist. Sadly the guitar is generally not an optimal instrument for reaching that "absolute freedom". I'd say this goal is easiest for saxplayers reachable and then maybe pianoplayers. Saxophon because in theory you can the easiest play any next note without much technical limitation. Piano is already a bit more complicated, because when you're not using the right fingering you get limitations at a certain speed. And guitar is rather hard, because for everything played needs high technical precision. You almost can't afford any uncertainty in your playing, or else it messes up the whole thing... 😬 And that "absolute freedom" kinda implies playing a lot of combinations you haven't played exactly like this before... Theoretically music offers that possibility. Sure, bo one does it. But I would say, "most free improviser" as I personally estimate could be Brad Mehldau, as next maybe Michael Brecker. On guitar, even though very recognizable, maybe Pat Metheny... But it's such an interesting topic 🙂 And the biggest trick is: Learn it in a way, that it sounds highly improvised 😁 Many do it like this. It's very effective but there are some very obvious things, that easily reveal how "free" someone improvises. Once you start listening to an improvisation like that, you almost can't unhear it... 😅

said it was shot before the hand injury

Mind blown at last "think i'm picking every note " one

Not sure what you mean in your second paragraph. Would you mind clarifying that for me?

I believe he’s referring to how far back he holds the pick. There’s a lot of it exposed.

Anto goya that’s my favorite too!

"exactly how Zakk Wylde picks" Except that Mike makes music; Zakk makes a lot of noise.

He uses Classic Planet Waves Heavy picks.

railcar123 11 13 15 26 32 38 nickel D’Addario. A 46 E string for richer tone. Fender medium: before accident. Planet Waves Classic 1.00: after accident.

I've tabbed out all of these and there is I believe zero sweeping, aside from strumming and thumb playing. However he does use pull-offs and slides as you can see in the "Diminished Feel" clip. This is for string switching and also for bop-style articulation. Kills two birds with one stone.

Troy Grady I was always told that economy picking is the fastest but you can't get much faster then mike stern. Pat martino uses only alternate picking too. Alternate picking leads to a better more in the pocket time feel in my opinion.

Of course I can sweep across six strings faster than I can alternate pick them - if we're talking absolute extremes. But fastest doesn't really matter if it's jazz and the tempo of the tune is 150bpm. Then you just need eighth notes. And at those tempos, all these techniques work just fine.

True enough with Martino but at times, depending on the phrase, he'll down stroke the first two or three notes then revert to alternate. I've found it very useful, more comfortable when breaking into some riff, aggressive. And a hard habit to break, go figure, if you wanna be dogmatic about it. As Pat said, whatever works.

Do you touch upon the idea of notes at different bpms in any of your videos? It wasn't until recently that I realized "fast" is relative to the bpm and the subdivisions. Sextuplets at 120bpm are pretty fast whereas eighth notes not so much.

yes, way before the accident

Now he picks from the elbow, and to my ears it has afected his fluidity and articulation, so that's sad, but i stil enjoy listening to him as much as i did before.

so you can suck and still tour w miles davus. cool dude.

Vanguard, so let’s hear what you can do. I don’t believe I’ve ever heard of you before 🤔

Oh yes, the world renowned 'Vanguard.' You couldn't carry Mike's case.

you must have dug into the comments to find any hate. most of them are astounded and loving it. this guy is a beast!

Dude, things have progressed in the metal world. Now it´s all about eb minor al the time. Where have you been?

Drop C# word life son

Because he is the first who figured out how to analyze it and teach it methodically, no BS. So YOU can be abel to get the sound you are after. I strongly invite you to learn how to analyze right hand technique from a true objective standpoint and push the work of Troy forewad as it is most useful for studying musicians (build) ! Not to mention that this kind of technological advancement is most useful for progressive music styles like jazz if we use it properly. Dose not mean to stop studying or study less of what we were already working on just add this. This is true science and should be accepted by academia ! He focuses on what he teaches the best no pretension to teach harmony or improvisation etc... It's like asking why did Nikola Tesla not b uild bridges, well he was a physicist ~_~

@@strahinjaristic6544 gimme the TLDR

@@rillloudmother Ok zoomer

@@strahinjaristic6544 you're waaay off.

@@strahinjaristic6544 TLDR

Who the fuck are you to tell this unbelievable guitar master what to do?

Says who?

Probably. The lines Mike is playing here are some of the most complicated fingering and string skippy things you're likely to encounter in an improvisational setting. And he's working them out, on the fly, in many of these cases. Sometimes to bust out of my comfort zone I'll work on one or two of these. It's a very stark reminder what a lazy comfort zone three-note-per-string scale playing and the like is for most people.

What makes it impressive is he is improvising at fast tempo but at the same time is very aware of the notes he play. Useful in a jazz context where chord changes are plenty and the harmony can be very rich that you need to play the notes that complement the chords. But yes.. I understand it not being everyone's style. That is for me as well.. but I can see the impressiveness behind it.

Troy Grady Can you honestly say that he is a great Jazz guitarist? An example for a great Jazz guitar player would be Andreas Oberg. Not sure if you heard about him

Personally I think Mike is an amazing jazz guitarist. The wealth of ideas in this montage alone. Who plays those kinds of quartal and sus lines? Mike will alternate pick anything, no fear, and it will be musical.

Troy Grady I respect your opinion😊 Just personal preference

has anybody asked you about your opinion on Mike Stern?

Nope, just doing like everybody else here, giving mine

mattiv1: Yes I did, actually.

but why...? not everybody shouts their mind when not asked. Especially when opinion is based on subjective feeling (seriously, nobody cares) not on professional analysis.

Not everybody, but many do. So you never give out your opinion, ever, unless asked? And how often does that happen on youtube? Oh, and an opinion is by definition subjective. Why are you picking on me exactly? There are tons of people right in this post giving their unrequested opinion (and 100s of millions of others on every social media platform...go tell them). By the way, who asked you to give your opinion on my post?

your a moron

@TheHarmonicPulse beck is a rock guitarist ! stern is a jazz guitarist , stern can play on a jeff's stuff , i wonder if jeff can do tha same on a stern stuff ? i mean many chords, modulation and fast ! but it will be interesting ! to see and hear !

Beck...You're an infant.