EXCERPT 1

How To Use This Book

Volume two of this series of books concentrates on approach notes and the chord found on the upper four strings of the guitar. This book should be used in combination with the "New York Guitar Method Ensemble Book Two" in order to gain the most benefit.

The methods presented in this book is extremely different from what is usually taught in an advanced guitar learning environment. The idea behind this approach is to present you with a concept of improvisation and then show you techniques that can be extracted from this concept to form traditional and non-traditional melodies. You could achieve the same results by transcribing hundreds of jazz solos and learning them in all keys. I should mention that I recommend transcribing solos in addition to studying from this book so that you can develop a better jazz feel and understand how this technique has been applied by various artists throughout the history of music.

The technical assignment for approach notes found in this book is probably one of the biggest undertakings you will ever attempt. Basically I'm asking you to learn nine arpeggios in twelve keys in four positions. I'm then asking you to take each of the twelve approach note figures and put them into these arpeggios one at a time in all four inversions and in all keys. This process usually takes students three to six months to complete. What you gain from this is a profound knowledge of the guitar fretboard and the mental awareness needed to play approach note oriented melodic lines in a natural fashion. You should expect to start to improvise this way usually within one year of completing the exercise. Since approach notes type lines are the backbone of jazz melodies this ability is crucial in understanding what other musicians are doing and to be able to play these types of melodies with confidence.

As previously mentioned the two subjects covered in this book are extremely difficult to master on the guitar. Approach note type melodies are very tricky to execute on the guitar, let alone learning all the inversions of every chord on the upper four strings of the guitar. It's a life long pursuit. I've presented both of these subjects in a logical fashion and they can be practiced as presented but here's an alternative that I often give to my students in order to facilitate rapid improvement.

For approach notes I often have students first learn all nine chord arpeggios in all keys before attempting the approach note exercises. I would suggest making flash cards of the nine chord types along with cards for all keys and another stack for the 4 inversions of the seventh chords. This will help simulate how an instructor would randomly ask you to play any particular arpeggio in a lesson environment. As you have learned from book one of this series there are thirteen seventh chord types. We are limiting our study to nine because of the large amount of information that you need to practice. I would spend at least a few weeks on the arpeggios before adding in the approaches. Once you feel confident with the arpeggios start adding in the approaches. I would try to complete one approach note through all keys in one week. This usually doesn't happen right away but after you have done a few approaches you will find that through diligent practice each week you can complete one approach through all keys.

For the chords you could progress through the book as shown learning all the chords Cycle 5 but I often have students first learn the Major, Minor and Dominant and Minor seventh flat five seventh chords and then immediately apply them to jazz standards. This can be done in a few ways. I usually tell the student to start with a progression like "Confirmation". I would begin by starting on with one inversion of the Major Seventh Chord and then trying to play the rest of the chords in approximately the same position on the guitar fretboard. I would also recommend practicing the chords where you are moving the voicings either up or down the neck so you can see the linear movement. After you can gain some proficiency with this I would start to add tensions into the chords. Start by adding ninths to each chord and continue from there until you have learned all chord types.