The Herb Ellis Jazz Guitar Method: Swing Blues, Book & Online Audio

The value of this book is in the 3 sample blues that Herb plays - it really is a lesson in how to swing. Most of the time Herb is playing single eighth-note lines, and despite the absence of piano, bass, or even another guitar on the CD tracks, Herb really drives.There are a few mistakes in the transcription, both in the standard notation and tablature, but they are easily fixed - I would have like to see more time spent in preparation of the book. There are places when parts of the solos are more easily played using the next higher position, where the notes lie right under the fingers.These are great solos, with a heavy Charlie Christian influence. This book is well within the grasp of an intermediate guitarist. I really enjoyed this book.

What a great down to earth style. Check him out, you will feel it to.Kinda humble but with a good sense of humor. Like Chet Atkins on warm milk.

Great series of books for tips on playing jazz guitar. Having to have so many words is one of the reasons I don't review most items

I'm so glad with my order

A total of 30 pages of lessons. Unit One: The Shapes goes from page 4 to page 15. The Shapes are mostly chords, arpeggios, and scales. Some, not many, exercises/examples are provided in Unit One.Units 2 Two thru Four goes from page 16 to 34. These units are transcriptions in standard notation and tab of what seems to be solo blues improvisations by Herb Ellis. Chord accompaniments and suggested substitutions are given separately. The three solos are: Blues in C, Bounce Blues (in F), and Bay Blues (in Bb). Shapes used are indicated above the notation and fingerings are printed beneath the tab.To make use of the transcriptions, the following suggestions are provided in the text (p. 18): "make an accompaniment tape of yourself playing at slow, medium and fast tempos...make sure you memorize each solo note for note...use the fingering indicated under the tablature...visualize the appropriate shapes."The CD is only about 10 minutes long and includes recordings of all the music in the book. No backings tracks are provided.

Great book!

If you're into learning Ellis' uptown beboppy swing style, you should investigate this book. The "how to" part is pretty brief, going over a few of the CAGED shapes, scales and arpeggios as they apply to dominant and 9th chords, plus a look at chromatics. But it's what Ellis does with this that makes the book a great resource. He lays out three long multi-chorus blues solos with various tempos and feels, and it's pretty much the sort of playing you'd hear on one of his records. They're all transcribed and annoted in places with the shapes particular lines were built on. Ellis is a master of taste, timing and melodic bluesy lines, and this book showcases all of that. Check it out.

Good

中はCDと、コードとスケール、タブ譜が書いてあります既に自分でソロも弾けるという方にはお勧めしません、ジャズギターの曲を、タブ譜を見ながら練習したいという方には良さそうです

This book is well worth the money.Unit one gives the major and dominant chord shapes, associated arpeggios, major scales and dominant (mixolydian) scales used as a basis for the solos to follow. There is a smattering of licks, some using chromatic passing notes. They stick closely but not rigidly to the 'shapes' given. One reviewer of another book in the series complained about not sticking to the exact shapes, but the outside and passing notes are largely where the jazz resides and these licks give a great pointer in that direction.The chord shapes are very common and useful 'jazz' shapes (e.g. sparely voiced with no 5ths in the dominant chords - leaves room for soloist to improvise around 5# and 5b) and there are enough substitutions, half step approaches and diminished passing chords introduced to make the progressions interesting and give you a pointer on how to dress up your own comping.The main meat of the book is a set of 3 blues improvisations in C, F and Bb (units 2, 3 & 4,) each is substantial and a few choruses long. Herb Ellis is one of those players who can outline the chord progressions for the ear by judicious note choice in a single note line; a great skill you should pick up from this book. The excellent work done by co-author, Harry Hess, in laying out the 'shapes' which put all of the licks into context is invaluable. If you follow the instructions and visualise the underlying shapes as you play, you'll be making your own variations (improvising) in no time. It is a very useful and practical approach.Some have complained about the quality of the audio, apparently transferred from an earlier tape. I have no issues with this; the CDs are certainly fit for purpose. It is still Herb Ellis playing and the transcriptions by Hess are accurate.Bearing in mind that this seems to be a repackaging of earlier material, and that the volume is quite slim, I only give it four stars. That said, what is there is gold dust.B. Arthur is a professional guitarist and guitar teacher active in Northumberland UK.

As an introduction to Jazz guitar playing I am finding it more rewarding then ploughing through Mickey Bakers book. Puts scales into context with chords and gives simple explanations about substitute chords and comping

Poorly presented and written with very old tapes transfered to disc and certainly not worth the price.Very outdated presentation of a great jazz guitar player.