Update and Plan for 2022 - Marc is BACK! - JazzGuitarLessons.net

[@JensLarsen]

Glad to see you back Marc! Hope you get through whatever hurdles that life is throwing at you! Always found your output a huge inspiration :)

[@jazzguitar]

Much appreciated! Thanks Jens. All the best to you as well.

[@ChrisCorrigan]

Marc. Welcome back. You’re on your feet and I’m glad. And it sounds like you’ve battled to get there. Congrats. And go easy. Thank you for all the light bulb moments.

[@jazzguitar]

Thanks so much!

[@markjamesgoddard2247]

Good for you buddy.. thanks for the email update much appreciated 🤛

[@jazzup13]

Glad to see you back on KZbin Marc. Your program really helped me when I first started learning Jazz 😊

[@jazzguitar]

Great to hear! Keep at it :)

[@42themel]

Good to see you! Looking forward to what you have in store.

[@jazzguitar]

More to come! Thanks Matt

[@petersmart894]

Your back? Great! Glad you are fit and raring to go Take care.

[@jazzguitar]

Yes! Thank you!

[@sgazzz]

Glad to have you back. Something that might be useful to all levels would maybe be a series on how to learn a song, from melody and chords to improv and then maybe some advanced things you can do on top of that?

[@jazzguitar]

I've got a video and article on that already, here: www.jazzguitarlessons.net/blog/jazz-guitar-7-steps-to-learn-jazz-standards but it's always worth revisiting this important part of jazz guitar!

[@RobertRenman]

Good to see you again! Hope to catch up soon. Take care!

[@jazzguitar]

Thanks! You too! Let me know next time you're in town. We have a lot to catch up on :)

[@davidf8663]

Glad to see you back!

[@jazzguitar]

Thanks :)

[@brianwiese4367]

Welcome back Marc! Hope 2022 will be a better one for you (and all of us)! I've been trying to learn more fingerstyle and make my solo playing more convincingly polyphonic. I'd like to see more on your approach to harmonizing melodies with different bass notes and chord fragments. Looking forward to seeing you again with new material!

[@jazzguitar]

Thanks Brian -- that seems like a fun goal (changing the bass and chord snippets). I'll keep it in mind :)

[@markfisher1215]

My goal is to build a repertoire of 25 standards that I can play solo finger style. I have so far learned 15 of the essentials from the site. Now when someone says sit down and play something it is nice when you know a song all the way through. Keep up the great work Marc. Merci.

[@jazzguitar]

Great goal Mark -- thanks for sharing :)

[@bluzdawg]

Thanks! - Appreciate the UP date....

[@jazzguitar]

Thanks Donnie, see you soon.

[@Cooltorpedo]

Hi Marc, it's great seeing you back, I was worried pandemic had caused you health issues, it's been a long time without any news. You seem to be good, but not completely well. I'm sorry for those curved balls, I hope your family and loved ones are fine. Looking forward for new contents and any enlightenment you can give, that epiphany moment is not here yet.

[@jazzguitar]

Thanks :) I'm ok, but you're right: not yet 100% -- I'm well on my way, but I need a few more months of healing.

[@Cooltorpedo]

@@jazzguitar Sorry to hear that, Marc. Best wishes, I hope you can upload new contents soon :-)

[@stuartarnold4495]

Glad to have you back. All genres levels and interest your videos are always interesting. Myself, comping,, walking bass and simple chord melody Are the areas of choice. Thanks for all.

[@jazzguitar]

Sounds great! Thanks Stuart :)

[@ericsearcy8939]

Hope your doing well!!! Love your content!!!

[@jazzguitar]

Thank you so much!!

[@brazilianguitarchops7703]

Welcome back, Marc!

[@jazzguitar]

Thanks :)

[@penultimatename6677]

Marc, just the other day I was thinking I have not heard much from Marc. I can also acknowledge I have been distant myself. Not completely with the guitar but with the site. Didn't stop PayPal from making a new payment...haha. I have also have had my challenges which I am afraid may extend into the spring time. Right now things are fine. I know I am sounding contradictory. You may or may not remember me by this handle but we have spoken and I am enrolled in the web course. Whatever your troubles I hope they are behind you and all worked out for the best. You are a great man and deserve much success and happiness. You do sound great and it is nice to see you again on KZbin. I look forward to discovering your new or modified approach to teaching. Again, all the best.

[@jazzguitar]

Thanks for all the nice words! Indeed, I do not recognize your KZbin username, but feel free to shoot me an email if you want to continue the conversation.

[@brooks7484]

Please post more jazz standard songs on the site to learn I used to love learning new standards no one else writes and plays the standards as good as you and also breaks it down so I can understand and learn easy once you stoped posting I kinda having been playing as much not other site teaches as good as yours but I would love to get back into it and pick it back up again.

[@jazzguitar]

Fantastic idea: thank you! :)

[@jamescopeland5358]

Good video

[@jazzguitar]

Thanks

[@brentwheeler2087]

Great to see you back - I've followed much of your 12 year journey... always a pleasure and useful Best with the next part of the journey: The Challenge - for you to ponder.in your "strategy area" I am 68.. right? Old ok? I believe I am part of a growing "demographic"..... former rock/blues player with live stuff even recording, started aged 10, no formal training but know my way around a bit. Listened to jazz forever - far to afraid to "have a go" until 15 years ago.... Now - I have the time to study hard (which I have been) but realistically starting at 68 gives me maybe 10 and a bit years max.... so what's the optimal strategy? - forget it? - 10 years noodling? - "standard" cycle of learning like a 20 year old? Not enough time, wont get too far ? Devising some reasonably realistic path for this sort of learning journey is tough. We know everyone is different, cases vary , "it depends" bla.... that much is all obvious but the bigger challenge is figuring iut: - good ways to think about the challenge - good ways to "listen" - things "worth" putting "big" time into, things not worth doing that So its about devising a workable good headspace...... as us "old" get older and more numerous I'm figuring my queries will get more common All the very best Marc and as ever thank you for a wonderful contribution to date.

[@jazzguitar]

Thanks for the comment. In a nutshell (suitable for a KZbin comment), the "optimal" strategy is, I believe, to cover less materials and go deeper into it. We've been inundated with information (you know, thanks to teachers like me, Jens Larsens, etc.) and although it's not necessary a bad thing, it can create the sense of a fallacy. "I practice the minimum." -Bill Evans Go ahead, pick something you want to work on. Anything, a chord sequence, a scale, etc. Then reset your expectations. Work on it 5-10x longer than you'd believe. In other words, if you intended on rehearsing this scale for a week, make it 10 weeks. Then get feedback on this. If you can't afford feedback (a teacher or other), just film yourself using a phone or table or camcorder. Watch yourself. Then adjust your practice to perfect that "nugget" you've been working on. Rinse and repeat. The "danger" is to try and cover too much, too fast ... and make practically no headway. This can eat up most of the 10 years you referred to. Sadly it does, and it often does. Unless guitarists change their approach, and start work with someone like me :) All the best

[@sgazzz]

This is a great question and applies to other age groups too. Like how long does one need to practice to get to a certain level and what level of practice effort? Or conversely, what is the bare minimum one must learn to start sounding good? Ideally some level if comping and soloing seems to be the floor?

[@faridfollowerofchrist]

Hey Marc thanks a lot for your guitar videos and all the free info and transcriptions of standards in the Blog, it has been really helpful for me on my jazz journey! I would like to learn more about Melodic Phrasing while soloing. I know that studying and transcribing solos and licks is a very good way to learn them, but I guess there is also some deeper logic behind memorable and beautiful lead phrases (like hitting chord tones, or including tension notes in a specific way). A lesson on that would be very nice!

[@jazzguitar]

Great idea, thank you :)

[@josephstacy8678]

I really want to become better at comping. I've been trying to get better at understanding different rhythms and being able to use and place chords right.

[@jazzguitar]

Noted! Thanks Joseph :)

[@IPlayGuitar205]

I’m a Beginning Guitarist, that wants to learn how to play Walking Bass Line, and improve my Rhythm Portion of playing as well as Phrasing.

[@jazzguitar]

If you're new to guitar in general, I'd recommend getting all correct chord shapes (barres) under your finger before digging in walking bass. Just because of the level of complexity you'll encounter.

[@drraoulduke7768]

Hi Marc, Recently Ive been studying arpeggios and have seen lessons/books tie together arpeggios in really creative ways in different orders of scale degrees when moving through changes but I'm unable to create that when trying to improv. When you are improvising with apreggios over chord progression what are you thinking about? Are you thinking about scale degrees of the current chord and the next chord, or notes? And are you thinking; "Hey I'm going do to start with a 5 7 3 1 and then for the next change do a chromatic approach before I hit the 7 on the next chord and then do a 735 before the 2nd change? Want to know what I should be visualizing/thinking.

[@jazzguitar]

Raoul -- great question, thanks for posting! This "what are you thinking about?" for improv has now become a recurring theme in my pedagogy. The short answer is (mostly always): all of the above. See if you can detect which "notes change, or stay the same" for your arps, as a starting point.

[@josephstacy8678]

Also your content is top notch👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾

[@jazzguitar]

🙏🏻

[@arthurgreene8290]

I learned and love Round Midnight essentials and love the haunting tune. Because of this I went to the Pro version, slower going but still lovely. Question is, how does one know that it is the right time to move up in complexity to a pro version ie that one is taking a larger leap than they should at any one time. I am not at all getting frustrating, but wonder. I have also been slowing down and focusing on Improv 102 as this is a more difficult task for me than I have seen in others. I am seeing the changes better than I did but still slowly. Also loosening up a bit ie sliding between positions and thinking a bit about phrasing. I am aware of the 80% guideline and use it

[@jazzguitar]

Arthur -- great question: yep, the 80/20 is still the key factor. One thing I can recommend as well: record yourself and listen back. If you've taken "too big of a step" going to the PRO version (or say Improv 103), you will know by watching yourself. If you have to stop a lot, or if the exercises you're playing sound stuttered. Hope this makes sense! :)

[@alanservati251]

I would like to see you add the fingerings to the chords and scales. Also, slow down a bit when you are playing so we can see the fingerings better.

[@jazzguitar]

Thanks, Alan. The newer content that we put out recently now have these features! :)

[@titodalporto1527]

More applications and examples of playing 251’s.

[@jazzguitar]

Noted -- thank you :)

[@chriswalter4887]

you are my alltime favourite teacher for guitar👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@jazzguitar]

Thank you so much 😀