Jazz Guitar Elements
Exploring chords, scales and arpeggios
Michael Berard
Available now, a new version of Jazz Guitar Elements by Michael Berard designed exclusively for iPad and Mac. "Made for iBooks," this new version brings a whole new multimedia learning experience to jazz guitar. Looks great and fun to use! Buy it on iBooks and you'll have Jazz Guitar Elements everywhere your iPad or Mac goes.
"This is a great book for any guitar player wanting to expand his or her Jazz vocabulary. Being chords, scales, or arpeggios… the book is very clearly written, with great music examples and exercises."
LopezMusiqué
New material and many updates from previous versions.
Audio examples featuring guitar, piano and acoustic bass.
Embedded answers on each exercise page. Tap or click to display pop-ups revealing answers instantly.
4 well laid out chapters covering chords, scales, arpeggios and improvisation.
Easy navigation of chapters and pages using thumbnails.
Covers fundamental topics in jazz harmony essential for improvisation and comping.
This book is intended to help the student jazz guitarist acquire the tools and skills necessary to become an accomplished jazz musician. "Jazz Guitar Elements" focuses on the essential information about chords, scales, arpeggios and improvisation that you need to know. It is not only about learning the guitar fingerboard, but understanding it in a way which is meaningful for jazz guitarists. The goal of this book is to foster a deeper understanding of the harmonic rules associated with jazz comping and improvisation in conjunction with a thorough understanding of the guitar fingerboard.
Jazz Guitar Elements is an excellent resource for any guitarist who already has a basic knowlege of the guitar. It is intended for the intermediate level jazz guitarist who wants to take it to the next level. Used along with a Fake Book, a healthy collection of jazz recordings and some good old fashioned hard work, this book can take you a long way.
The new iBook contains 161 pages and is filled with concise explanations, diagrams and examples. Topics are presented with clear reference to their use in jazz comping and improvisation. Chapter 4 includes modal jazz and Bebop compositions, each with melody and solo. All are original compositions written exclusively for this book and include music notation, tabs and audio.
Chord types and inversions
Drop 2 voicings
Chord extensions
Secondary dominants
Harmonic analysis
Chord melody and melodic direction
Vertical and horizontal scales
Major and minor scales (harmonic and melodic)
One octave scale practice
Diminished scales
7th scales
Arpeggios (all forms)
Arpeggios with added note
Chord/Scale relationships
Building Jazz (BeBop) lines
Modal Solos for analysis
Bebop Solos for analysis
Audio examples
For iOS and Android,
choose "Listen in browser"
Here's a quick look at chapter one. In this video we can see how we navigate through "Jazz Guitar Elements." We also see the book's layout, pop-up windows, audio players and overall interactivity. Moving around in Jazz Guitar Elements is very easy thanks to the thumbnails. The bullets at the bottom allow you to switch chapters quickly and easily.
The new iBooks version is the perfect format for a Jazz guitar method. Everything is all together in one convenient place. No need to worry about using a CD player or loading mp3 tracks onto your computer. Play the tracks on the same page as the music, stop and start as you need and easily move forward and back in a track.
If you'd like to get a feel for the book before you buy, there is a free sample with pages from each of the four chapters. Read through some of the lessons, try some of the exercises and listen to the recorded examples. There is enough material in the sample book to get you started.
Michael Berard was a part-time music professor for over 25 years at Concordia University in Montreal Canada. There he taught jazz guitar, jazz arranging, jazz composition as well as other jazz related courses. He has worked as a jazz musician in Montreal playing jazz clubs, concerts and studio sessions. Michael has played on numerous recordings including 3 of his own: "It's Autumn," "Little Voices" and "Good News."