siewmengtan
2 posts
Dec 29, 2008
12:52 AM
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Hi Rich,
I think I am due to receive your materials tomorrow and I am really looking forward to it.
I have been hearing so many great comments about the Jazz Theory Book by Mark Levine and the need to own this book. The "vow" I made with myself was that I was NOT going to buy anymore new books until I am through with you course, just so I don't become like the many who have bought stacks of self help books but never really maximise in using it.
I have to wonder...what are your thoughts about this book? Is you jazz course enough for the time being or will it be a good supplement to your course as well?
Thanks Rich.
later,
Joshua
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ChrisDowning
30 posts
Jan 04, 2009
1:52 PM
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Well this is my third draft of this reply. It's such an interesting subject that I went on too long with the other answers.
Don't do it. If you were my student I'd try to keep you focused on one method, one route at a time. (That doesn't mean that you won't try all sorts of materials over the years. But right now if you are on Volume One and Two you have plenty to get on with.)
Start by practicing about 45 minutes a day on Volume One - you can build up to more later. (You'll still find it quite hard to get into the routine of just 45 minutes focused work - what with so many distractions we encounter.) Work it up from there and don't get sidetracked into studying other materials - focus is what you need. Get everything out of what's in front of you and internalise it - make it your own - get it right into your fingers.
Howard Roberts, the great jazz player, said he had to play a standard about 50 times before he felt ready to improvise over it - and the well known violin teacher, Suzuki, had childen playing pieces over and over. What that tells us is that we need to work more thoroughly than we generally expect. If you're going to play everything in Rich's books 50 times you can work out that the 200 staves in Volume One will take about 41 hours to play 50 times - and BTW that doesn't men if you take the week off work you can do it Monday to Friday - it's more like 60 sessions of 45 minutes. If you think that's hard, Mickey Baker, who wrote the jazz classic book, Mickey Baker's Complete Course in Jazz Guitar, states on page one that you should spend a week, of two hours a day, on each lesson - a lesson is two pages max and about 7 staves. Beginning to get the picture? You need to give yourself time to study and let this stuff really sink in - don't rush - this is an organic thing. It has it's own timescale and can't be hurried.
So in summary - stick with the one course - if you need to expand some understanding of an issue, email Rich or one of us on the discussion board. Don't get more books!
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Progrock
16 posts
Jan 04, 2009
9:14 PM
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I have that book. I got it where I went to school. It is a great book but I think you would do better concentrating on Rich's books.
I'm one of those guys that collects a million books. It's like an addiction. It does come in handy when I want to find a different perspective on a subject though. Oh well! Everybody has there bad habits.
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Eric E
Moderator
23 posts
Jan 05, 2009
7:30 PM
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I have that Theory book too. It's a very good resource for theory, but I never really used it to practice from (although there are some really good ideas in it). If you're just starting off with Rich's courses, concentrate on them and use the book as a supplement.
--Eric E.
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ChrisDowning
35 posts
Jan 17, 2009
9:19 AM
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Yes I have a load of books as well - it's definately one of the biggest problems in getting down to practice. More book = more options for study = less focus.
Can you imagine what it would have been like to learn to drive in 20 different cars? Of course it's a good experience - but it would have really slowed down your ability to become competent in one car. (Unless of course when you started to drive you already had 20 cars waiting to be driven! Lucky you! And how many did you crash soon after getting your license? haha) Anyway, I'm sure you get the point.
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Passion4Blue
3 posts
Jan 12, 2010
11:20 AM
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I agree, stick to one routine and course for now and focus on getting the most you can out of it before moving on to a different shore.
I've been playing guitar since `71 and started collecting books and cassettes way back then. Remember the old HomeSpun and Hot Licks tapes? Yep, I still have them around.
Later on I continued to buy every guitar related item I could find that even looked remotely interesting. CD's, DVD's, software, you name it I probably had it.
In the end I became frustrated over the bits and pieces of knowledge that it had taken me 35 years to accumulate when I could have just followed Rich's course early on and gotten there a lot sooner.
Guitar College has charted an A through Z outline of what I need to learn to become the best Jazz guitar player that I can push myself to be.
Keep your eyes out soon for my mass collection of old musical books out on Ebay soon. (LoL)
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Rich
Moderator
32 posts
Feb 05, 2010
6:47 PM
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I agree stick with the courses. Mark's book is more of a reference book then an method. You're on the right path. If you want to supplement get a couple of the www.99centguitarlessons.com videos.
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ChrisDowning
82 posts
May 28, 2010
3:41 PM
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I came across the syllabus for the new Guildhall Trinity Plectrum Guitar exams the other day. Go to there site and download - you'll then have yourself a 'wallchart' of pages that you'll be able to tick off as you complete Rich's books. You'll know you've covered all the subject materials right up to Grade Eight and beyond.
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