Hi, wanted to tell you about one of our courses at ElectricCampfire.com
It’s called ‘Chord Tone Improvisation’, and it’s a video based course about musical mind-reading, the jazz-blues, playing changes, and it’s going to give you a much deeper connection to your music and your bandmates.
Any of this resonate with you?
That feeling of being listened to is what made me want to try and learn jazz.
I was at a jazz summer camp – totally out my depth. I ended up in the intermediate/advanced group, I should have been in beginners.
Anyhow, when I finally got over my reluctance to even play I ended up jamming with four well known players – totally out of my depth – but they didn’t care, and somehow I managed to pull off a solo.
Out of nowhere I did a chromatic descending line thing over a couple bars and it worked!
Not just that – they all followed me and I got a “whoo yeh” as well!
I can honestly say I was walking on top of the clouds for weeks/months after that.
The fact that really good players were really listening and responding to little ol’ me blew me away.
Anyhow, tis good to be listened to and to do the same in return :)
This is from one of our ElectricCampfire members, Steve. You can feel how magical that moment was.
A simple thing:
“to be listened to and to do the same in return”
Imagine how this feels…
You’re playing a solo with your band, and in the middle of your phrase someone does something unexpected – a different chord or bass note perhaps. You hear it, and alter what you’re playing to fit.
Whoa! What just happened!??
The audience can feel the communication happening in the group.
It’s magic!
Afterwards, someone from the audience comes up to you and asks, “HOW on earth did you DO that??”
Miles & Herbie
Look, check out Herbie Hancock talking about a similar thing.
You can hear how that simple moment had a profound effect on Herbie.
You can do this too
There are tons of ways to get this ‘in-the-know’ connection. You and your bandmates might have checked out the same records and from that you might use the same devices as a starting point. You might know common language. You may have years of experience playing together. There are many ways.
In the course I’ve made, I show you how to do that with the power and clarity of your playing.
The kind of clarity that makes it easy to get that musical connection.
What’s in Chord Tone Improvisation?
On the surface this course is about how to play a jazz blues with chord tones. You’ll learn some harmonic variations, and I’ll show you how to do all that MUSICALLY. Everything is transcribed in TAB and notation, and I’m there on video showing you exactly how to do it.
If you’ve ever asked, “How do I turn scales and arpeggios into MUSIC?“, then I’ll show you how to transform very simple material into great sounding solos. [hint: you don’t need to learn MORE material; you’ll understand how to get more out of what you’ve already got].
But on a deeper level you’ll learn how to connect musically with your bandmates. Just like that moment Steve describes above.
Now, not many people talk about this, because it’s not as easy to show compared to, ‘here’s 10 scales for jazz…’.
And, addressing HOW to play together, what to listen for ‘in the moment’, and how you might work on that, is something that, frankly, scares the bejezus out of most people.
But this skill is a million times more useful (and more FUN!) than spending hours working on ‘1239-scales-you’ll-never-use-even-if-you-practised-forever’ stuff :)
You don’t have to wait until you’ve figured it all out. You don’t have to wait until you’ve ‘learned all your scales’ or whatever else is holding you back to work on this connection to the people you play with.
I’ll show you how to do it.
And when you start to try this stuff out it’s going to blow your mind.
Join Us!
There are 35 other courses just like this one, and when you join you’ll get detailed, specific feedback from me anytime you want. Because there’s a stellar community of like-minded guitar players you’ll always have people to bounce ideas around with, hear new music, and be inspired to play.
There’s a TON of material waiting for you.
See you on the inside.
Mike
Course Outline
PS: Here’s an outline of everything that’s in this course.
All the lessons have video explanations where I walk you through the material with demonstrations, plus full notation/TAB for you to follow along with me.
Chord Tone Improvisation
The Gateway to Musical Connections
- Module 1 – Framework: Getting Started
- Unit 1 – Telepathy: Musical Mind-Reading
- Unit 2 – Musical Framework: The Lines on the Court
- Unit 3 – Arpeggio Clarity: How To Properly Internalise The Material
- Module 2 – Range in Position & Sequencing
- Unit 1 – Extending The Range
- Unit 2 – A-B-C-D Arpeggio! – Sequencing 4-note Groupings
- Module 3 – Melodic Connections: Linking and Walking
- Unit 1 – Linking F7 to Bb7
- Unit 2 – Melodic Walking Bass Line Blues – Part 1
- Module 4 – The Window & Constant 8th Notes
- Unit 1 – The Window: Turning Water into Wine
- Unit 2 – Constant 8th Notes: Getting Your Lines To Flow
- Module 5 – Jazz Blues Harmony
- Unit 1 – Chords & Concepts: Adding Harmonic Movement, Anticipation & Displacement
- Unit 2 – From Blues to Jazz: Melodic Walking Bass Line Blues – Part 2.
- Module 6 – Permutations
- Unit 1 – Permutations: Opening Your Ear To Melodic Possibilities [Getting Out Of Repeating Ruts]
- Module 7 – The Essential II V Move
- Unit 1 – The Essential II V Move
- Unit 2 – II V into the IV
- Unit 3 – Tritone II V Lines
- Unit 4 – Into the VI
- Unit 5 – Two-five-mageddon
- Module 8 – If This, Then That: Hearing and Reacting ‘In The Moment’
- Unit 1 – If This, Then That: Hearing and Reacting ‘In The Moment’
- Unit 2 – Backcycling
- Unit 3 – More Backcycling
- Unit 4 – Tadd Dameron Turnaround
- Unit 5 – Charlie Parker Blues
- Module 9 – In The Moment: ‘Yes, and’ & The Illusion of the Mystical
- Unit 1 – In The Moment: ‘Yes, and’ & The Illusion of the Mystical
- Module 10 Bonus Material: Advanced II V Moves
- Unit 1 – The Half-Step II V Move
- Unit 2 – The Electric Buzzer Coffee Challenge Changes
- Unit 3 – Wrap up & The Ongoing Challenge
tldr?