Customer Reviews

Jazz Guitar Chord System (Acoustic Guitar Magazine's Private Lessons)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The impression you get when you look at this book initially is that it will be a complete chord system. That is not true. Although many of the chord voicings work in theory, a large portion of them aren't usable because they don't sound very good. The system is also not presented very clearly. The idea is to use enharmonic thinking so that one chord can be used in multiple contexts. The presentation is very complex and confusing- and I'm an advanced level professional/ performing guitarist with 2 degrees in music.

Part of what makes the presentation somewhat confusing is that it is based on colors for different chord types.

Save your money and buy Steve Khan's chord book. Khan's book has better voicings and is organized well.

I went to GIT back in the late 80's and was fortunate enough to see Scott perform many many times . He is a total master of the guitar .I can think of no one that blends rock and jazz together as well as he on the Tribal Tech recordings.

Concerning this book , it is a short one 5 pages or so total. While I agree with the previous reviewer that the voicings may have limited usage, I disagree that they sound bad. I think they sound beautiful and I can hear them working well in solo guitar or during rubato or slow spacey grooves with a band. For everyday usage in typical situations I agree again with the previous reviewer that Khans book is more practical.

What I did with the book is to take a chord type say major and write out all the voicings that have the root on top ,then the 2nd on top , then the 3rd , etc and do this with the other types as well and them memorize the 500+ chords .I did that for about a month and found it very useful.It would take me 1/2 to one hour to play through it all.When I wrote it out I obviously had a lot more than 5 pages maybe something like 20 or so.Doing so really helps with visualizing the neck and you have a much more thorough collection of chords than Khans book by far .Khans book has a very limited number of minor seven flat five chords.altered dominant chords,major seven sharp five chords,etc. While maybe not for beginners this book is worth a lot for than the 5 bucks I paid for it .

A student showed up at my place with a spare copy of this... er, book.

I must say I have rarely seen anything so needlessly complicated

and useless. The idea that any given set of tones can have different interpretations is of course nothing new, but if I am to learn a voicing that is irksome to grab, at least it should sound good. Few of these do.

What really gets me is the title: "The essential guide to Jazz chord voicings & substitutions". What nerve! It is no such thing!

This might have a potential audience among those who already know every common jazz chord, and are looking for a challenge, but if you are advanced and energetic enough to "do the work", you are certainly capable of coming up with a system of your own to top this. Doing so is also more fun.

Once I managed to grasp what the author was trying to say, I immediately spotted half-a-dozen ways to improve this mess, but I can't be bothered.

This could have served as a coaster, were it not for the aggravation I feel by looking at it. How anyone can give this thing five stars is beyond me. My copy goes in the bin.

Scott Henderson is a study in understated guitar genius. I play guitar everyday and to be honest got this book because I heard about it on a podcast form Boss where Scott talks about this book. My focus on the my guitar advancement had been about scales and this book has taken me into understanding the fretboard in a new way. This is a cool way to think about chord voicing. He shows there are 5 different treatments and denotes these by a color. It is worth adding this idea to your warm up with scales. I keep going back to it.

I would say if you are willing to work out the concept that this tiny book is a deep well of understanding chord voicing.

It is certainly worth the $10 with shipping. My guitar teacher charges me more. Nice work Scott!