Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to attempt playing any style of jazz guitar without copping inspiration and lickage from the masters of the form. What?! This ridiculous notion will self-destruct in ten seconds because that would unquestionably be an impossible mission. The six-string giants of jazz not only inspire us, they have authored the very vocabulary that we jazz guitarists quote to one degree or another in our improvisations. Much thanks to Tom Dempsey and this collection of 50 Jazz Master Licks You MUST Know, you're moments away from stoking your own vocabulary with 50 timeless, ear-grabbing lines from the best in the biz.

Video Introduction

Click below for a sample video from the course

About the Guitar Lesson Plan

Interactive Video Guitar Instruction

Jazz guitar is NOT about playing licks, far from it. Jazz is spontaneous, creative, original and a highly improvisational art form. Great jazz solos tell stories that shed tears, spark smiles and stop time. You'll spend countless disciplined years in the shed learning the language of jazz guitar and how to tell those stories in your own voice. Imitating, understanding and internalizing the vocabulary of the masters is an essential rite of passage for EVERY jazz guitarist. Getting a grip on the vernacular of jazz guitar empowers you to craft your own original lines and dialect.

Tom dug deep, wide and very selectively to take you on this learning adventure across the fretboards of such jazz guitar luminaries as Charlie Christian, Django Reinhardt, Wes Montgomery, Kenny Burrell, Tal Farlow, Barney Kessel, George Benson, Grant Green, Pat Martino, John Abercrombie, John Scofield, Pat Metheny and many more. You'll learn 50 highly versatile licks influenced by the music of these masters. Tom will also demonstrate how to apply the material in your own improvisations so that you can put the lines to work immediately.

All of the licks are presented over a rhythm track for context and then followed by a detailed breakdown of the line along with the techniques being employed to perform it. Everything is tabbed and notated, plus you get all of the rhythm tracks to practice the lines over by yourself.

Should you be captured or celebrated on stage by audiences near you, we will not disavow any knowledge of the learning path you followed to get there. 10, 9, 8, 7...

About Your Instructor

Tom Dempsey

Guitarist Tom Dempsey's reputation in the New York jazz scene for hard swinging sophistication and pure musicality have made him a distinct voice in the New York Jazz Scene. In recent years Tom has performed and/or recorded with a virtual "Who's Who" of world renowned jazz musicians including: Wynton Marsalis, Paquito D'Rivera, Jim Hall, John Abercrombie, John Scofield, Tal Farlow, Buddy Montgomery, George Coleman, Kenny Barron, Roy Haynes, Jack McDuff, Bobby McFerrin, Gerald Wilson, Mel Torme, Richard Wyands, Muhal Richard Abrams, and Dave Brubeck. He has recorded four CDs as a leader: What's Going On (City Tone Records), Perspectives (Imaginary Records), Blues In The Slope (Igmod Records), If Only We Knew (Self Release). Tom has also recorded as a sideman on many recordings. Since 1992, Tom has been performing as a leader and a sideman at some of the top jazz venues throughout the world including the JVC Jazz Festival, Jazz at Lincoln Center, San Francisco Jazz Festival, The Blue Note, Yoshi's, Smalls and Smoke.

Tom's deep commitment to education has made him a highly sought after educator and clinician. In recent years he has been teaching at Jazz at Lincoln Center, SUNY New Paltz, Rutgers University, New York Jazz Academy and as Artistic Director of the Jazz Summit at the National Guitar Workshop. He is also the Director of Music for the National Guitar Workshop. His books Jazz Eras for Guitar, Easy Soloing for Jazz Guitar, Sight-Reading for the Contemporary Guitarist and Classic Jazz Styles for Guitar are available through Alfred Music and Workshop Arts. Dempsey has also recorded over 170 online lessons covering jazz guitar performance, repertoire development and music theory. Tom received his Bachelor of Music Degree in Jazz Studies from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University in May 1991. In May 1996, he acquired his Masters Degree in Jazz/Commercial Music at Manhattan School of Music.