Customer Reviews

Mel Bay presents Jazz Pentatonics: Advanced Improvising Concepts for Guitar (Mel Bays Private Lessons)

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This book gives the student (we're all students aren't we?)a very balanced approach to broadening his or her mastery of pentatonics in a jazz context. Bruce Saunders explains the many applications of familiar pentatonic scales in a really concise way and lays out very musical illustrations in notation and tab with recorded examples. I like the recorded tracks because they are played in a swinging relaxed style by some really happening players who make a living playing jazz in New York. Bruce has been a teacher at Berklee College since the 1980's and a working musician for a long time. I've found that good focused work on this material has opened my ears and fingerboard awareness. While the book begins with the familiar minor seventh pentatonics, Bruce shows how to use them in new ways and then gives us other less familiar but really important pentatonic scales with applications and recorded examples. There's lots to work on here but I believe it's just the right amount of material - not overwhelming and that's important.

Jazz improvisation is a life long pursuit and no one teacher or book will make a student a great improviser over night. This book is one of the really useful ones due to its balanced content, the quiet competence of the author, solid musicality and straight ahead playing by the musicians on the included CD.

this is a well thought out, well organized presentation of pentatonics for jazz. Bruce Saunders is a great teacher and player. this book includes plenty of conceptual information as well as exercises for getting the scales under your fingers and into your improvising. check out his other ones too, they're all great.

Not a book for beginners need to have a good grasp of Jazz theory and improve, but if you do you will enjoy really exploring the diminish scale and how gain control of how and when to use it. Lots of examples to play and get your ear tuned into the sound. I highly recommend.