gcb999
Verified buyer
01/04/21
Great course
Very informative and great fun
Graduated Solos
Intuitive approach to constructing expressive solos for jazz guitar
Get this course and 1,000+ more with All Access
Try 14 days free. Cancel any time.
Mimi Fox
Educator
Genres
About this course
Jazz guitar students have three big mountains to climb; the theoretical, the physical and the aesthetical. The first two are fairly straight forward propositions. Keep your nose in the books and you will surely master the theoretical. Spend enough time in the shed and the chops will likewise surely come. But mastering the "aesthetics" of jazz is quite another thing and this is where most jazz guitar students hit the wall.
Graduated Solos presents an intuitive approach for cultivating the aesthetics of your jazz improvisations, specifically how to construct beautiful, expressive solos using the melody as the template for the improvisation. Most students of jazz guitar are so focused on the prevailing progression that they often neglect the tune itself. While there are many superb improvisations that make no reference whatsoever to the head, the most brilliant and memorable solos are generally "graduated" improvisations that stem directly from the melody.
Your professor of Graduated Solos is Mimi Fox; phenom player, accomplished educator and top recording artist on the Favored Nations label. Mimi chairs the guitar department at the Jazz School in Berkeley. Her first TrueFire course, Jazz Anatomy rocketed immediately to the top of the jazz guitar instruction charts and remains there to this day. Guitar Player cites Mimi as "a prodigious talent who has not only mastered the traditional forms, but has managed to reinvigorate them." Just Jazz Guitar hails her playing as "jazz guitar at its best." In short, Fox has all the chops.
Graduated Solos is a hands-on playing course that gets you up and running without tedious theory and exercises. Mimi presents five compositions constructed with a wide range of progressions that are common to thousands of jazz tunes. You will first learn to play the melody for each composition and work through a detailed analysis of the tune's structure.
Mimi then demonstrates how to adapt the melody into a graduated series of improvisations using arpeggiated figures, harmonic substitutions, rhythmic variations, motific development, articulation, phrasing and other approaches for building a well-constructed solo and playing with "heart and commitment."
If your improvisations have "hit the wall" and you're feeling a bit in the proverbial rut, Mimi's Graduated Solos course is likely the epiphany you've been yearning for.
Graduated Solos presents an intuitive approach for cultivating the aesthetics of your jazz improvisations, specifically how to construct beautiful, expressive solos using the melody as the template for the improvisation. Most students of jazz guitar are so focused on the prevailing progression that they often neglect the tune itself. While there are many superb improvisations that make no reference whatsoever to the head, the most brilliant and memorable solos are generally "graduated" improvisations that stem directly from the melody.
Your professor of Graduated Solos is Mimi Fox; phenom player, accomplished educator and top recording artist on the Favored Nations label. Mimi chairs the guitar department at the Jazz School in Berkeley. Her first TrueFire course, Jazz Anatomy rocketed immediately to the top of the jazz guitar instruction charts and remains there to this day. Guitar Player cites Mimi as "a prodigious talent who has not only mastered the traditional forms, but has managed to reinvigorate them." Just Jazz Guitar hails her playing as "jazz guitar at its best." In short, Fox has all the chops.
Graduated Solos is a hands-on playing course that gets you up and running without tedious theory and exercises. Mimi presents five compositions constructed with a wide range of progressions that are common to thousands of jazz tunes. You will first learn to play the melody for each composition and work through a detailed analysis of the tune's structure.
Mimi then demonstrates how to adapt the melody into a graduated series of improvisations using arpeggiated figures, harmonic substitutions, rhythmic variations, motific development, articulation, phrasing and other approaches for building a well-constructed solo and playing with "heart and commitment."
If your improvisations have "hit the wall" and you're feeling a bit in the proverbial rut, Mimi's Graduated Solos course is likely the epiphany you've been yearning for.
What you'll learn
- Understand dominant chord progressions in jazz
- Learn to add swing feel to melodic lines
- Understand how to build and vary musical phrases
- Understand how rhythm impacts musical expression
- Develop blues improvisation skills
Release date: 10/09/2007 • 2h 49m runtime
Sample lessons
Standard In C: Part 1
Introduction
Standard In C: Part 1
Breakdown
Standard In C: Part 2
Introduction
Standard In C: Part 2
Breakdown
What's included
41 lessons • 15 charts • 15 Jam Tracks
Graduated Solos
Standard In C: Part 1
The melody here is based on a standard 32 bar progression in the key of C. The chords are mostly from the key of C major but with some very cool exceptions...in this composition there is liberal use of dominant chords(replacing the diatonic minor chords)functioning as a II dominant, a VI dominant, and also a III dominant chord leading to the relative minor. Knowledge of arpeggios here is critical so you don't have to change keys to realize these colorful harmonic ideas. Study my lines closely!
Standard In C: Part 1
The melody here is based on a standard 32 bar progression in the key of C. The chords are mostly from the key of C major but with some very cool exceptions...in this composition there is liberal use of dominant chords(replacing the diatonic minor chords)functioning as a II dominant, a VI dominant, and also a III dominant chord leading to the relative minor. Knowledge of arpeggios here is critical so you don't have to change keys to realize these colorful harmonic ideas. Study my lines closely!
Standard In C: Part 2
In this section I have taken the basic melody and used motific development to strengthen and embellish it. In other words I have used repeating phrases and lines to color the original melody. This solo requires more chops to play so take your time and play everything slowly so you can get the phrasing correct! Remember, a strong melody will sound great played at any tempo!
Standard In C: Part 2
In this section I have taken the basic melody and used motific development to strengthen and embellish it. In other words I have used repeating phrases and lines to color the original melody. This solo requires more chops to play so take your time and play everything slowly so you can get the phrasing correct! Remember, a strong melody will sound great played at any tempo!
Standard In C: Part 3
In this solo the tempo is much faster, mirroring an actual playing situation you might find yourself in. If you study my solo closely you will find that many of the ideas that I initiated in the earlier solos have been expanded upon. I am now using compound ideas (more than one idea at a time combined into one long phrase) and complex arpeggiated figures mixed with scale tones! Have fun, and try taking some of these cool ideas and playing them in other registers on the guitar and in different keys..then you can start making up your own ideas!
Standard In C: Part 3
In this solo the tempo is much faster, mirroring an actual playing situation you might find yourself in. If you study my solo closely you will find that many of the ideas that I initiated in the earlier solos have been expanded upon. I am now using compound ideas (more than one idea at a time combined into one long phrase) and complex arpeggiated figures mixed with scale tones! Have fun, and try taking some of these cool ideas and playing them in other registers on the guitar and in different keys..then you can start making up your own ideas!
+ 34 more lessons
Reviews
12 results
DaveGillard
Verified buyer
08/21/20
A very good lesson. I will work on putting it into practice, and playing!
ffrosa
Verified buyer
07/22/20
This course is one of the best !!!! Congrats
Stevenz
Verified buyer
06/20/20
Great teacher. So easy to follow. Top notch.
NickytheNote
Verified buyer
03/24/20
Helping my skills
This course definitely helps my phrasing
Stop searching. Start improving with All Access.
Try 14 days free. Cancel any time.
