If you haven't check out iTunesU yet, they have a lot of cool free podcasts of lectures up. One of the coolest being a history of jazz podcast. The lectures are by Dr. Gordon Vernick who is an Associate Professor of Music at Georgia State University in Atlanta. "Each segment is intended to shed light on important individual creating jazz musicians and specific movements/genres within jazz canon. They are intended for jazz lovers and those that are merely interested in this important American musical art form."

Each episode was originally broadcast on 1690AM in Atlanta. If you happen to live in the Atlanta area, that is possibly the greatest radio station I've ever heard. It sounds like someone with the best record collection in history is just randomly playing songs that they like. Everything from 1950's R&B to Elvis Costello. When I'm listening to it, I use Shazam at least once an hour.

The Strat-O-Blogster has tipped us to the announcement that Scott Henderson will begin answering questions from fans over at Online-Discussion.com. Below I've included some of my favorite questions and responses from Scott's last answer session on June 24th as well as the youtube version of Guy Fenocchi's "Scott Henderson Style Lick" lesson:

Question: Is touring work or fun for you? I mean you gig almost every day, so do you get tired of it after some gigs in a row?

Scott: I love playing every night even though I wish I had more new tunes. The only part I hate is flying because it fucks up my ears and just sucks in general. When you add up the playing hours vs. the travel, setting up/tearing down hours, it does sometimes feel more like the moving and storage business, but a great night on stage more than makes up for the hassle and I feel like I'm lucky to do what I do.

Question: ...and do you agree that Simpsons started to suck after season 9??

Scott: What I heard was that they were using the A team writers for the movie and the B team for the show, but now that the movie is over, I've seen it get a little better. Still not as good as the classics though...

Question: How many "fusion" standards do you know? I mean things like Actual proof, Havona, Humpty Dumpty...can you please name a few that you think are interesting and fun to play?

Scott: I can think of more than a few, if you're like me and consider about 50 Weather Report tunes as great fusion standards. You can find a lot of them in various Real Books.

Someone has uploaded the first ten minutes of Joe Pass' "The Blue Side of Jazz" instruction video to Youtube. It's pretty informal. Joe's speech is as off the cuff as his playing. To learn some specific Joe Pass style licks check out Billy Wilkie's Classic Jazz Licks (Lesson One and Two) and More Joe Pass Style.

Jazz fusion guitarist Scott Henderson may not be a widely known name but he certainly has a devout following. He first came to fame with his band Tribal Tech in the late 80's and early 90's. More recently he's recorded with bass virtuoso Victor Wooten and drummer Steve Smith. In this free lesson Guy Fenocchi takes a look at Scott's use of the melodic minor scale. In addition to Guy's video I've also included a lesson from Scott Henderson himself explaining the way he likes to break the guitar neck up into a series of 5ths to create chordal sounds.

- Hometracked.com has an excellent post that includes audio examples of 10 recording bloopers that appear in famous songs.

- Guitar MX has a how to guide on makin your own guitar picks

- Gibson has an interview with Emmylou Harris about music, her guitar, and well... her love of the Atlanta Braves.

- All About Jazz has an interview with guitarist John McLaughlin

- Interesting article on Mel Bay from the Indianapolis Star.

- Mark McGuigan posts his favorite guitar related Youtube videos of the past month. Which includes the video below entitled "Tomatito Bulerias"

We have two new Jazz Guitar Lessons available.

Solo in G by Billy Wilkie is a Quicktime video lesson where you will learn how to play a complete jazz solo. This downloadable lesson covers how to play a 15 measure solo over a jazz blues progression in G. Billy will break down the solo measure by measure and discuss what is happening at different times. This lesson should add some more tricks to your bag as well as give you an idea of how to piece a solo together. Watch a sample clip from this lesson.

Also, we have More Benson Style Licks by Billy Wilkie is a Quicktime video lesson covering a variety of jazz guitar licks in the style of George Benson. In our first Benson style lesson we focused on his approach to playing bluesy licks. In this video Billy will cover George Benson's unique way of utilizing and manipulating chromaticism in his solo lines. We'll learn eight licks in the key of G minor and then practice them over a jam track. Watch sample clips from this lesson.

The Guitar Resource has a post on what he learned from Guitar Player Magazine this month. Mainly from an interview where Pat Martino discusses improvising, listening, and playing in the moment. If you're intrigued you can learn some Pat Martino style lines in our Classic Jazz Licks II lesson.

Also, while I was digging around on the Guitar Player website I found this article on the Top Ten George Benson Riffs of All Time. Unfortunately on their online article Guitar Player isn't allowed to include the tabs. However they do have lengthy explanations of each lick as well as time notation of when the lick occurs in the recordings. So you should be able to pieces everything together with a little work.

If you're looking to go ahead and have the tab smack dab in front of you... we have two Benson inspired lessons. Our first Classic Jazz Licks lesson featured licks inspired by George Benson and Joe Pass. Billy Wilkie also has a second lesson called More Joe Pass Style.

Phil: I'm working my way through some ideas based on your bebop scale video at Free Guitar Videos. Why is so much attention paid in jazz to the 2m7 - 57 change? I've read that it 70% of understanding jazz. How can that be?

Peter: The 2-5-1 chord progression is pretty important in jazz. You will find this progression in many jazz standards. I think saying that understanding it covers 70 percent of jazz is an overstatement but it is quite significant. The 2-5-1 progression is the way many jazz tunes establish a key-it is also quite often the way they change keys. Jazz soloists are constantly learning to play over these chords with lines and specific licks. You will find some of these on our site. The bigger concept is tension and release. In jazz tension is created over the 5 chord and released when it gets to the 1 chord. The 2 chord is really just an extension of the 5 chord. Jazz has particular ways of creating tension with it's chords and solos that make it different than most other genres. I can't go into the theory required as it would take several books to do so. Jazz players are still writing new ideas concerning this concept. Learn some 2-5-1 chord progressions, learn some 2-5-1 licks, and study some jazz standards so you can recognize one when you see it or hear it. You will also have to learn about altered chords and altered licks. If you don't know theory-you will need to. This is is a life long direction-you never will know it entirely.

If you have a question send it to petervogl@comcast.net or leave a comment below.