Study the styles of some of the most influential jazz guitarists, and learn the basics behind the jazz language: chord/scale usage, building melodic tension, and improvisation techniques.
This course explores the advanced techniques that great jazz guitarists use in order to successfully solo over chord changes found in both traditional and modern jazz compositions.
Gain command of the techniques necessary to play jazz guitar in a compelling and authentic manner.
From rock to jazz or folk to metal, what separates the great guitarists from the rest is their mastery of the skills taught in this program. From basics like chords and scales to nuances like improvisation techniques, form, control, and inflexion, this certificate program will take your guitar playing to the next level. Few accomplished guitarists have reached their peak alone, and Berklee’s faculty is unparalleled when it comes to delivering the personalized instruction and feedback that will help you turn the fretboard into a playground packed with unlimited possibilities.
Develop the skills to become a professional guitar player. Through private lessons with Berklee's renowned faculty and a rigorous program of study that spans contemporary music styles, you will develop your unique sound, improve your technique, increase your musicianship, and harness technology to create professional-sounding recordings.
Learn ten jazz guitar standards, arranged for solo guitar.
These performance-ready arrangements demonstrate different ways to interpret jazz standards and render them for solo guitar performance. Each includes a technical introduction from the arranger, discussing his motivations and identifying some of the defining aspects of each approach, such as the use of line cliché, harmony, song form, and modality. In learning these arrangements, you will gain insight into how to craft your own solos.
Arrangements include:
“John Stein has written so much more than a great guitar book. This is a complete musical education: each piece has a history, a beautiful arrangement, an analysis of the arrangement, and a lovely personal story about it. This book is unique!”
—Jim Hall
“John Stein’s book is a great choice of material with some very special solo guitar arrangements. The book is accompanied by a CD on which John gives an excellent performance. This collection is further evidence of John’s ability as an extraordinary guitarist and teacher.”
—Kenny Burrell
“John Stein’s book, Berklee Jazz Standards for Solo Guitar, is an inspiring source for aspiring jazz guitarists. John’s arrangements are beautiful. And the insight he shares about his harmonic choices, as well as his explanations of the song structures and various aspects of the arrangements are chock-full of pertinent knowledge. Lots to dig one’s teeth into!”
—Roni Ben Hur
“These are all important songs for the jazz guitarist’s repertoire. Each arrangement has melodic and harmonic examples that can be learned for performing and ear training purposes. For example, in ‘Out of Nowhere’, John introduces a harmonized section using quartal voicings that could be considered a form of ‘shout chorus’, and he puts the melody in the lower register for a change of color—some ideas that can be analyzed and added to your arsenal.”
—Gene Bertoncini
“This is an excellent basic primer for jazz guitarists wanting to explore the richness of solo playing. Well conceived, harmonically sound, and easy to understand.”
—Mimi Fox
Internationally renowned jazz guitarist John Stein was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri USA, where he took up his…