Larry Coryell's Power Jazz Guitar: Extending Your Creative Reach [Paperback]

Larry Coryell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 2001

More than a method or exercise book, this guide challenges jazz guitarists to increase originality in their thinking and playing. Master player Larry Coryell takes readers deep inside the music to make connections between ideas and the guitar fretboard, helping them unlock their own creativity. This book/CD set builds logically from basic ideas to more advanced techniques, which Coryell explains in fine detail. He highlights musical ways to understand complex jazz concepts and presents his unique approach to improvisation by providing exciting new ways to play scales, intervals, arpeggios, melody and chords. Emphasizing group interaction and solos that sizzle, Coryell taps his decades of experience as a performer to offer insights into inventive, powerful ensemble playing. "This book should open the door to a better understanding in our quest for advanced guitar playing." - Al DiMeola

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Larry Coryell is one of the leading pioneers of jazz-rock and fusion. Since the mid-1960s, he has played guitar live and in the studio with such acclaimed guitarists as John McLaughlin, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Paco De Lucia, Pat Metheny and Al DiMeola, as well as Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Billy Cobham, Charles Mingus, Stephane Grappelli, Chick Corea, and many other great jazz musicians. His recent albums include Inner Urge, New High, and Monk, 'Trane, Miles & Me. This book is so much more than a "how to play jazz guitar" guide. It is a look deep inside how jazz guitar genius Larry Coryell thinks when he plays, and how that process reveals the "feeling" in the music. Brimming with musical examples, exercises and transcriptions of Coryell's solos, plus a CD recorded by Coryell himself, this book encourages jazz guitarists to set their sights on new horizons in creativity and technique - and helps them get there.

Product Details

• Paperback: 80 pages
• Publisher: Backbeat Books (December 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879306971
• ISBN-13: 978-0879306977
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,342,944 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A straightforward "how-to" instructional guide, January 13, 2002

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Larry Coryell's Power Jazz Guitar: Extending Your Creative Reach (Paperback)

Larry Coryell's Power Jazz Guitar: Extending Your Creative Reach is a straightforward "how-to" instructional guide strongly recommended for anyone seeking to learn the rhythm and joy of playing true jazz guitar music. Chapters include musical scores, descriptions of the music's moods and nuances, instructions on using special finger styles, and much more. An accompanying CD contains the lively jazz scores and lessons to better demonstrate and perform the music! If you aspire to proficiency on the jazz guitar, begin with a careful reading of Larry Coryell's Power Jazz Guitar, and practice along with the lessons on the "user friendly" Larry Coryell's Power Jazz Guitar compact disk.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Contemporary Master, April 8, 2005

By 

j guitar (Rio de Janeiro,Brazil) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Larry Coryell's Power Jazz Guitar: Extending Your Creative Reach (Paperback)

This book is intended to the intermediate to advanced player.Reading the text and playing the scores will put you on a new dimension of jazz music.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Work of Art, July 3, 2006

By 

Slo-Hand - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Larry Coryell's Power Jazz Guitar: Extending Your Creative Reach (Paperback)

This book starts out with relatively easy 4th's and 5th's exercises to get you accustomed to some of the intervals Larry uses in his work. For exercises they sound amazingly good. It then progresses to a step by step analysis of one of his more chordally involved pieces which will take you a while to fully absorb due to the complexity. I'd recommend a very patient approach and playing the CD while following along with the music to thoroughly know the piece before attempting to play it. From there it moves on to another interesting piece employing 'Turkish Finger style' technique. I could explain the whole book but in a nutshell what this book is is a way to experience a shot of Larry's guitar(music) trancendance. It's not easy. In fact it's quite difficult because there's nothing easy about his approach to the instrument. Somehow he consistently manages a greater than the sum of the parts result which is the true measure of a music genius regardless of musical category. This book might not be for everyone but for me, it was a work of art.