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A complete set of tools for comping and soloing Bebop Blues Progressions in styles reminiscent of Sonny Stitt, Joe Pass, Charlie Parker and Wes Montgomery.
Over 11 hours of video instruction demonstrated close up on the fretboard, slowly by measure then rehearsed by section plus Mp3 tracks & PDF workbook on USB drive. Download Lessons Also Available
Blues is a common language we can all speak. How someone plays it says a lot about his musical background and the music he enjoys. Whether you are a bluesman in the style of B.B or disciple of Wes Montgomery, one thing’s for sure, we are all looking for new ideas for the blues. Inside this course are real bebop blues comping arrangements and solos that can change the way you hear and play the blues forever. **See reviews below.
One common element of all styles of blues is improvisation. If you read how great improvisers honed their craft, they transcribed, memorized and mastered the music of those they admired. They continued to emulate the music adding their own touches till finally developing their own style. This tried and true approach is the foundation of this course.
What makes this course different from the rest? You will not be presented with scale diagrams, a chord dictionary and the rules or theory of when to play them or the chore of “Now go make up some music” That is not an effective process. Improvisation is not pulling something new “out of the sky”. It’s the re-organization of things you already know how to play.
Music is a language and bebop blues has its own vocabulary. The key to mastering the vocabulary is learning complete sentences and paragraphs, not just words. The musical phrase is the sentence, one time through the blues progression or a chorus is the paragraph. It is spoken with either single note solos or comping chord arrangements.
Here’s the goal; input music into your brain, fingers and heart. When it comes out in a playing situation it may not be exactly like it went in but it will be your own and will be a musical statement.
Here’s the method; hear the music; see it played close up in slow motion and at tempo. Master each phrase, then each section. See the written music and the tablature; understand the theory and the fingerings. Memorize the music and then practice reorganizing it with the practice tracks. Move to the next graduated study.
DISC TABLE OF CONTENTS
Over 11 hours of video instruction covering the following
1. Bb Bebop Comping: Introduction, understand the difference between a rhythm & blues, rock & roll style and bebop blues progressions. Learn to play chords and bass line at the same time. Create melody within your comping with 4 bebop comping arrangements. 60 minutes
2. Bb Bebop Comping: Continuing with six more ways of comping using the bebop blues progression. Each lesson expands the concept of melody within your comping chords with a very cool comping arrangement. 53 minutes
3. Bb Bebop Solo Builders: Anintroductory series of six original bebop solos with insights on their construction. Simple yet great sounding solos graduating in difficulty.
95 minutes
4. Bb Bebop Solos: Develop great jazz lines with five original bebop blues style solosreminiscent of Charlie Parker and JoePass styles. 71 minutes
5. Bb Bebop Solos: Continuing with four more soloseach one using a different interpretation reminiscent of Sonny Stitt’sstyle. 46 minutes
6. Bb Bebop Solos: Continuing with six more original bebop soloing lessons, two are typical bebop solos, three are Wes’style and one mixeschords with single notes.85 minutes
7. Cminor Blues: Three 12 bar solos and four comping versions, each increasing in difficulty, usingchord substitutions and back cycling. Plus the head of Rich’s simple Cmin tune. 90 minutes
8. Bebop Blues in F: Two comping versions plus 3 solos in F. Discover how the key of F lays on the fretboard differentlythan Bb. Mastering the chords and getting the cool moves in your fingers. Each solo portrays a different concept like bluesy and outside bebop sounds, thematic ideas, moveable finger riffs to create the lines, melodic phrases that focus on the 13th chord with dissonance between the 6th and the flat 7th and all are technically demanding.78 minutes
9. Bebop Blues in F: Continuing with two more comping versions plus 3 more solos in F. 87 minutes
**Reviews of Rich Severson’s Bebop Blues lessons. "Severson’s teaching approach is informative and comprehensive. Never going over the viewer’s head, he prefers to use theory to explain why a certain chord or phrase sounded good, not as a teaching tool unto itself. For those readers who shy away from learning jazz because it comes off as being all theory and no fun, this video series aims to change all of that. Each example is performed first, with the theory and fingerings etc. explained later. By presenting the material in this fashion, Severson has ensured that anyone, regardless of their theoretical background, can learn to play bebop jazz chords, without an abundance of theory getting in the way of enjoying these great études." Dr. Matt Warnock, former student,music educator& reviewer
“Bebop Blues Comping Volumesare an educational and entertaining DVD package from the fine people over at the Guitar College. The information provided on these two collections of video lessons is enough to kick start any guitarist’s journey to becoming a jazz rhythm-guitar player. Because the blues is such an important form in all music, especially jazz, Guitar College instructor Rich Severson has done an excellent job in selecting just the right material to help guitarists of all backgrounds and experience levels dig in to this important musical form.”Review from Just Jazz Guitar
The Bebop Blues 1-6 lessons are very cool. These lessons are worth 50 times what I paid. The description of the chord substitutions was very helpful. The lessons are delivered in such a way that it was easy for me to make my own chord diagrams for the unfamiliar passages. I think listening to the track over and over and putting to memory is the way to go. Getting the feel seems important to me. That can't always be conveyed via sheet music as we know. Good job. Cheers. Jim Rolfe, musician & instructor
