Beginning Guitar
An introductory course for students with little or no experience playing guitar. Students learn the basics including:
* tuning the guitar
* understanding the fretboard
* using proper hand positions
* fingerings for major scales
* learning basic chords, i.e., triads and seventh chords
* playing simple pieces
* reading music
This course is taught by world-class Jazzschool faculty with the objective of "getting it right" from the very beginning.
Required text: Modern Guitar Method Vol. One, Mel Bay (available in the Jazzschool Books & Records store)
Saturdays 10 – 11:30 am
DANNY CARON (10 weeks) $365

Blues and Swing Guitar
This class is designed for guitarists with basic technical facility and focuses on the blues form. Students learn chord voicings, fingerboard harmony and techniques of single string soloing from urban blues styles including BB King and Albert Collins to more complex, sophisticated swing styles including those of Charlie Christian and T-Bone Walker. Alternate chord cycles and rhythm playing are covered. Students also work with transcriptions to develop strong melodic solos
Prerequisite: Beginning Guitar Workshop or equivalent
Saturdays 11:45 am – 1:15 pm
DANNY CARON (10 weeks) $365

Jazz Guitar I (BEG/INT)
A hands-on class on the basics of jazz and blues guitar technique and style. Includes instruction in soloing and comping over standard jazz repertoire and the blues. Required text: Guitar Arpeggio Studies on Jazz Standards (Mel Bay Publications), and interactive CD-ROM, Graduated Solos.
Prerequisites: two years playing experience, knowledge of major and pentatonic scales and basic seventh chords.
Wednesdays 6 – 7 pm
MIMI FOX (10 weeks) $235

Jazz Guitar II (int/adv)
Required CD-ROM for Section II: Jazz Anatomy by Mimi Fox (available in the Jazzschool Books & Records store). Required text: Guitar Arpeggio Studies on Jazz Standards (Mel Bay Publications).
Prerequisites: Jazz Guitar I or equivalent; knowledge of scale and chord theory and some familiarity with jazz repertoire.
Wednesdays 7:15 – 8:15 pm
MIMI FOX (10 weeks) $235

Super Chops
Learn to play great jazz lines in the style of Wes Montgomery, Pat Martino, Joe Pass, and other jazz guitar masters while developing hand technique, aural skills, and jazz vocabulary. Emphasis on correct phrasing and stylistic nuance. Students focus on fingerings, arpeggios, scales, compound phrases and moving up and down the neck in a logical and musical way. For intermediate/advanced guitarists.
Mondays 8:15 – 9:45 pm
MIMI FOX (10 weeks) $365

New Class!
Guitar Trio
In this intermediate/advanced hands-on class, students develop improvisation skills in the guitar trio format. Students focus on group interaction and dynamics, soloing, comping for bass solos, trading fours with the drummer, building repertoire, and finally getting gigs! Concludes with a performance at the Jazzschool! Maximum enrollment: four guitarists, one bassist, one drummer. Please note: class available on a first-come, first-served basis. Prerequisites: ability to play and improvise over a jazz tune while keeping steady time.
Wednesdays 8:30 – 10 pm
MIMI FOX (10 weeks) $365

New Class!
Flamenco Guitar
This course is designed to provide jazz guitar students (and others interested in flamenco) with a basic understanding of the most important rhythmic forms and techniques in traditional and contemporary flamenco music.
Cultural and historic foundations are discussed, and participants explore a variety of both left- and right-hand techniques that enhance guitar playing in any genre.
Students have an opportunity to practice playing individually and as an ensemble; and guest artists drawn from the Bay Area’s extensive community of professional flamenco performers give students a taste of the exciting dynamics involved in accompanying singing and dancing.
Some prior guitar experience is recommended, and guitarists are encouraged to bring an acoustic nylon-string guitar, a recording device and a capo.
Saturdays 1:45 – 3:15 pm
DAVID GUTIERREZ (10 weeks) $365
Brazilian Guitar
Designed for intermediate to advanced students, this class covers different styles of Brazilian music focusing on rhythm as well as typical chord structure theory. Pick players please note: finger-style technique is used to play this style of music.
Sundays 2 – 3:30 pm
RICARDO PEIXOTO (10 weeks) $365

RELATED workshops

Exploring Jazz Guitar
This workshop, taught by world-class guitarist John Stowell, focuses on chord construction, chord melodies, scale substitution and building solo lines.
Sunday February 14, 11 am – 2 pm
john stowell
$45 Jazzschool Students/$60 others
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Portland-based guitarist John Stowell has published numerous popular jazz guitar method books and videos, most recently “Jazz Guitar Mastery,” which is available at Jazzschool Books and Records

The Mandinka Kora, A Harp of Sub-Sahara. (Lecture/Demonstration)
The Kora is a 21-string harp of Sub-Saharan West Africa. The Kora is played by an endogamous group of bardic musicians who are the keepers of history in Mandinka society. The Mandinka empire was one of the great empires of the 13th century, and its bardic traditions are one of Africa’s most conspicuous music exponents. In this lecture/demo Kane Mathis explains the musical mechanisims and social context for the Kora and the Mandinka bards. This lecture features plenty of musical demonstrations and lots of discussion of how music is learned in Africa and other high-context environments. High-context learning environments are learning situations where the student is trained specifically for the professional situations they will encounter after having completed their training, in many case they are even trained in those environments.
Sunday February 14, 11:45 am – 1:45 pm
kane mathis
$15 general admission
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Kane Mathis has been making trips to West Africa for the last 13 years to study with families of hereditary musicians and his recordings are played regularly on Gambian national radio. Kane is highly active internationally as a performer in both traditional and contemporary contexts.

Jazz Guitar Voicings Vol 1: The Drop 2 Book 
Veteran jazz guitarist Randy Vincent demonstrates concepts from his book, newly published by Sher Music.
Have you ever wondered how guitarists like Joe Pass, Wes Montgomery and George Benson find such full, luscious
voicings for their chord melody playing? Well, much of that sound is based on the “drop 2” principle of chord voicings.
This book covers:
- All the basic principles of drop 2 melody harmonization including passing tones and extension tones as well as basic chord tones. Practical, guitar-friendly methods for creating hip, modern sounds by “tweaking” the basic drop 2 voicings
- Clear methods for soloing and comping in drop 2, including melodic enclosures, special guitar-oriented chromatic effects, and a system of modal drop 2 harmony
- An organized practice routine, including fingerboard diagrams as well as standard notation, to fully develop all the concepts mentioned above in a hands-on approach, with a minimum of theory
You will find that this book covers this essential material in a unique way unlike any other
guitar book available today.
Sunday February 28, 2 – 4 pm
randy vincent
$30 Jazzschool students/$45 others
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Randy Vincent began his career in Florida and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1980. Since then, he has divided his time between performing and teaching. Among the many musicians with whom he has performed and recorded are: Joe Henderson, Dizzy Gillespie, Bobby Hutcherson, Leny Andrade, Stephanie Ozer, Mel Martin, Benny Barth, Mel Graves, Bennett Friedman, Larry Baskett, Peter Welker, Chris Amberger, George Marsh, Smith Dobson, Bill Watrous, George Cables, Tony Dumas, Akira Tana, Billy Childs, Bob Sheppard, Steve Smith, Harold Jones, Bob Badgley, Ernie Watts, Warren Gale, Herb Pomeroy, the Bay Area Jazz Composers’ Orchestra, the New Oakland Jazz Orchestra, Dave Eshelman Jazz Garden Big Band and The Turtle Island String Quartet.

The Essentials of Functioning as a Full Rhythm Section
Attendees learn how to provide a solid and cohesive backdrop in a jazz context. Students examine the role of the bass, drums, piano, guitar and vibes and how they relate to one another, and learn how to craft a solid support section for soloists and song melodies (in/out heads). Workshop also addresses various ways to play in “2” or “4,” how to comp behind solos and decide who comps when. Volume and dynamic range is explored in relation to the arc of a song. Students also learn how to play behind and ahead of the beat or “down the middle”— and who should do what when. Students examine the ways master rhythm sections “mark” the form and lay a solid foundation in any context. Attendees also take a close look at how the rhythm section changes for each soloist and keep the song flowing and buoyant. Various time signatures are also examined.
Sunday February 28, 11:45 am – 1:45 pm
andrew emer
$30 Jazzschool students/$45 others
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Bassist Andrew Emer has performed with Lee Konitz, Billy Higgins, Donald Byrd, Bob Weir, Rob Wasserman, Michael Cain, Jason Moran, Jeff Ballard, Tony Sher, Kenny Wollesen, Peter Apfelbaum, Chris Cheek, George Garzone and many more. In the fall of 2007 he helped score a play for Labyrinth Theater Company with co-artistic directors John Ortiz and Phillip Seymour Hoffman. |