When attempting to recreate Wes Montgomery’s jazz soloing style, two main techniques come to the forefront. First, is Wes’ use of his thumb to strum. And the other technique is using octaves. Wes would play a riff as pairs of octave notes. This gave him a distinct style compared to the more widely used single note lines. In Wes Montgomery Style Octaves, Guy will cover both the left hand strumming technique and the octave riffs. The lesson will cover five different licks that will be taught and then demonstrated over a backing track. Watch the demo below to hear this technique or check out the lesson page.
Five Steps to Building a Bebop Line is our newest premium lesson on jazz soloing. Guy will show you how to use the Bebop Dominant scale, arpeggios, and other note choices to craft your own solo. After each concept is taught, it is then demonstrated along with a rhythm track. Watch the demo below or go to the lesson page for more information.
In his newest Premium Lesson Guy Fenocchi will share Five Secrets to Approaching Jazz with you. You’ll be able to bring a new sound to your jazz soloing by using techniques like octave dispalcement, elongation, hybrid structure, side slipping, and lower neighboring tones. Once Guy teaches you about these concepts he’ll demonstrate them over a rhythm track. Check out the demo
Guy Fenocchi has a new lesson available that will teach you how to play like jazz guitar legend Barney Kessel. Barney spent much of his time in the 50′s playing in a jazz trio setting. Playing with a bassist and drummer he often used chordal runs instead of single note melodies to create a fuller sound. This is a technique that you can also use when performing solo. Guy will teach you these chordal runs that work through a 2-5-1 progression and then practice them along jam tracks. For more info check out In the Style of Barney Kessel or view the demo below.
Jazz24.org asked it’s listeners to compile a list of 100 Quintessential Jazz Songs. The list contains a who’s who of jazz greats like Ellington, Miles, Coltrane, Gillespie, Brubeck, and more. But some jazz guitarists snuck in there as well. Wes Montgomery made the list at #85 with Bumpin’ (On Sunset) and grabbed the last spot at #100 with Four on Six. I’ve included the top 10 below plus Youtube videos containing both of Wes Montgomery’s inclusions. Follow the link to the article to find the full list and hear streaming audio of the songs.
1. Take Five – Dave Brubeck
2. So What – Miles Davis
3. Take The A Train – Duke Ellington
4. Round Midnight – Thelonious Monk
5. My Favorite Things – John Coltrane
6. A Love Supreme (Acknowledgment) – John Coltrane
7. All Blues – Miles Davis
8. Birdland – Weather Report
9. The Girl From Impanema – Stan Getz & Astrud Gilberto
10. Sing, Sing, Sing – Benny Goodman
