The “Joe Pass Guitar Style” Self-Tuision Book Reveals How To Become a Top Jazz Guitar Improviser!
Dear Fellow Guitarist,
The blessed decision to buy Joe Pass’s guitar-style book struck me while I was overwhelmingly listening to his burning bee-bop solo on “Night And Day” from his vinyl album “For Django”.
(This album is considered by many as his best one!)
That moment I was like: “Will an average player like me ever be able to play burning, never-ending soulful jazz solos effortlessly like him?”
I still remember the solo, it’s this one:
Now, what better way is there to learn from someone you admire other than by devouring his approach, knowledge, philosophy, and experience that he himself crafted into an easy-to-follow self-tuition book?
The next day I hit the road heading to the nearest music shop; thrilled like a little boy attacking an ice cream stand (it’s easier with Amazon these days…).
The old shop owner quickly understood what I was looking for and limped towards the bookshelf, pulled out a shiny- orange book titled “Joe Pass Guitar Style”.
“This excellent book is the answer to what you need, young man”.
I’m proud to share that I still have the preserved original copy I bought:
My 23-year-old copy of Joe Pass Guitar Style.
The same one I use with my students for years.
Pro tip:
If you’re a complete jazz guitar beginner, it would be better to start with Mickey Baker’s jazz guitar book since it doesn’t require you to know any theory or note reading.
“A more delicate entry to the world of jazz guitar” as I see it…
An entry that will equip you with basic colorful jazz chords and a bunch of solo runs you can instantly use on any jazz tune.
If this is your case you can read my full book review of it here: Mickey Baker’s Jazz Guitar.
Anyway, if you’re beyond that level and a little more advanced player,
In a Nutshell, Here’s What You’re About to Invest in:
The book Joe Pass Guitar Style contains two main parts:
- Harmony:
So you’ll be able to improvise intelligently by understanding the relationship between chords and melodic lines. - Melody:
which you can simply translate to jazz guitar lines and phrases that’ll keep your listeners mesmerized by the rapid flow of melodic ideas going through your fingers across the finger-board effortlessly.
Let’s Delve Deeper
The harmony part contents (and how it can help you):
- Chord construction: Yields intelligent playing.
- Chord Embellishment: How to add color tones to “boring” chords.
- Chord Substitution: The key to surprising your listeners by avoiding predictable accompaniment.
- Chord Connection: Economy of movement to create supreme chord fluency.
- Symmetric Chords: How to use one chord shape on an entire sequence even on high-tempo tunes and sound in “controle”.
I agree, that’s a lot to get from one 64-page long book but wait, there are many…
More Skills You’re About To Gain
The Melody part includes (and the virtuosity you’ll gain):
- Chord Scales: Coordinate the ear/hand relationship to align with the “back of your mind” harmony.
- Altered Scales: The secret improvisation method to connect any two given chords (or more) smoothly while soloing.
- Ear Training: Learn to think outside the box and understand how you can play four different solo ideas (on different chords) even if the band only plays a simple C major.
- Whole Tone Scales: Possess your listeners’ emotional state like a wizard with these “dreamy” sounding scales.
- Chord Resolutions: If you understand resolutions then you’ll know how to break them thus keeping everyone listening on the edge of their seats.
- Improvising: Think and improvise in a few dimensions simultaneously.
- Blues: Building a solid ground for any major/mixolydian jazz tunes.
- Minor Blues: Building a solid ground for minor jazz standards and ballads.
- Modern Blues: The ideal Playground for everything you’ve learned so far.
- 3/4 Blues: The key to mastering 3/4 or 6/8 great jazz pieces such as “Blusette” or My Favorite Things”.
- Solo: 4 pages of transcribed Joe Pass Solo (again, as recorded on Pacific jazz PJ-85 album “For Django”) to stick his swing feel of playing to yours and inspire your feel for good.
This is the exact solo you’ll learn:
You will love the way you’ll feel playing it
note by note with Pass in the background.
Here’s What To Do Now
The Joe Pass Guitar Style Book is around $11.99 on Amazon.com
I always recommend my students to get the paperback version and not some kind of PDF or Kindle version of the book for two main reasons:
1. It’s much more convenient to follow the book when it’s open widely on your music stand. (and even write remarks in it).
2. When you’re not in front of your desktop, tablet or smartphone expect fewer distractions which will benefit your ability to focus on your study and practice.
But as always It’s up to you to decide…
Disclosure: We are a professional review site that receives compensation from the companies whose products we review or recommend.
You’ll understand exactly what’s in the minds of great jazz guitar improvisers such as Joe, Herb Ellis, Barney Kessel, and more.
You’ll learn exactly how to improvise fluently like a pro.
You’ll witness the birth of a new you, playing guitar at the higher levels without breaking a sweat, so take the leap and get your copy now.
Final Words about this book
Truth is that this book is a must-have for any aspiring Jazz guitar player, specifically for those (like me) who love or admire Joe Passes’ genius virtuosic playing and his unique approach to improvising.
One final thing, the book also includes, Joe Pass and Bill Thrasher‘s Biographies (to deeply understand who’s behind it) as seen in the following image:
Naturally, once you complete your studies with this book, you’re next step will probably be the Joe Pass Guitar Chords book and you can read my full review on it HERE.
Thanks for reading this,
Ben.
