Rock House Method recently expanded their already massive collection of instructional DVD’s with legendary heavy metal guitarist and more recently Jazz maestro Alex Skolnick to create an instructional course sharing his knowledge called “Jazz Guitar – breaking the traditional barriers”. This course has a lot of material in it, so much so that it spans 3 DVD discs! Of course the DVD’s also come with a PDF TAB booklet so you can follow along with all the examples and also iPod ready versions of all the lessons and lifetime membership for online lesson support at rockhousemethod.com.
The most original part of this course is that Alex brings in his trio members from the Alex Skolnick Trio to play the backing for each example after he has explained it so that you can play the examples yourself with a proper backing. In some cases the Bass player and drummer then repeat the example with Alex removed, this is usually for rhythmic chord examples that way you can concentrate on what you are playing rather than hearing Alex’s playing. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this done before and it is a really cool feature.
The first Disc has 12 lessons starting with very basic blues based chord progressions so only focussing on the I-IV-V chords and which notes to use with each chord. Alex takes you through various embellishments and variations using the basic triad shapes and then adding the minor 3rd or the 6th or the 4th for example. The DVD finishes by expanding the chord progression with turnarounds and licks for you to use again based around the triads.
Disc 2 takes the I-VI-II-V progression used in the final examples of disc 1 and introduces rhythm changes and extended licks to help you solo over these changes. There is a little more theory introduced with this disc, first with the chord scale and then using Modes over the progression. Alex also introduces the diminished arpeggio and shows you how this can be substituted with the a regular 7th arpeggio. The examples advance in various forms such as an example where you play up a triad and then down the mode, which is exactly how it sounds you ascend with the triad arpeggio and then descend with the mode of each chord (ie. I – Ionian, V – Mixolydian) and then swapping to up the mode, down the triad. This is a nice way of expanding your knowledge of how chords and scales relate and how to easily solo over jazz changes. This idea is expanded by extending the triad with a 7th to make a full arpeggio. The disc wraps up with extended chord voicings adding the 9th, 11th and 13th to chords and various voicings.
Disc 3 takes everything you have learned so far and expands it further again with extended patterns to play over the Minor II-V-I progression and introducing how to apply Chromatics into your solos using well known melodies to illustrate each example which is a nice way to remember each technique. In this DVD you also have a breakdown of the jazz standard Autumn Leaves with an analysis of the chord progression and then composing a lead over the changes which Alex explains in great detail. Alex also breaks down his arrangement of the Scorpions track “Still Loving You” and how he translated it into a Jazz composition which is a really helpful way of helping you understand chord substitutions and arranging for Jazz. The Disc concludes with a look at some popular Jazz rhythm styles such as Bossa Nova, waltz and ballad and then finally with a couple of Alex’s own Jazz licks for you to steal!
This all sounds like a lot, and it is, but everything is taken at a nice gentle pace so as not to completely baffle you as you work your way through the lessons. Of course the beauty with a DVD course is that you can take these lessons as slowly as you need and with such an involved genre such as Jazz that is just as well because as a rock player it is definitely something that takes work to understand.
http://www.rockhousemethod.com
Alex Skolnick Official Site – http://www.alexskolnick.com
The Alex Skolnick Trio MySpace page – http://www.myspace.com/alexskolnicktrio
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