Please note that this book is intended for all tonal instruments - not just guitar. A guitar-edition of Bebop Improv Concepts will be published in the course of 2004. If you are looking for a guitar specific entry-level book on the subject of improvisation, go to the recently released Introductory Studies for the Improvising Guitarist (2003)
(note: if the ordering page is in German, select your country in the scroll field to the left of the "Auswählen"-button)
Buy the new guitar edition (note: if the ordering page is in German, select your country in the scroll field to the left of the "Auswählen"-button) :
$20,- USD
By purchasing the ebook version of Bebop Improv Concepts you can save time and money and have the option of keeping it conveniently on your computer or printing out your own version. Once your secure credit card payment is received, you will be sent an email within one business day containing the download link. There, you can download the actual book (PDF format*) and the music files (in MP3 format) that correspond to the chapters in the book.
$20,- USD
Order here (if the ordering page is in German, select your country in the scroll field to the left of the "Auswählen"-button):
Once we receive your payment, you will be sent an email containing the download link.
*Please allow up to 24 hours for me to respond to an order. To be able to read the book in PDF format, get the free Adobe Acrobat software here:
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Try a free column that I wrote along the lines of this subject matter. My column "Chromaticism" was published on guitarnoise.com on 3/2/2002.
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The Book
Through years of playing and teaching I have designed and am teaching a learning approach, called Bebop Improv Concepts, that utilizes well-proven practice techniques such as positive-practice, as jazz pianist/educator Kenny Werner elaborates on in his book „Effortless Mastery", and Howard Roberts' Superchops - to mention just a few secrets of study-techniques that I have acquired through extensive research in this field. A student committing his/her focus on the instrument to Bebop Improv Concepts will soon witness changes in his/her playing that include the following:
- Ability to play changes
- Improvement of time and feel
- Development of positive-practice habits
- Mastery of typical jazz cadences
These are just a few of the benefits a player will reap from a total commitment to Bebop Improv Concepts. To be frank, this course is not for the instant gratification learner. Although improvemant and valuable musical skills will be gained at any stage of study in this course, this course applies only to the seriously committed, hard working lerner. Studying Bebop Improv Concepts this workbook, is not a pick-and-choose type of learning, but rather an extremely structured approach to any instrument, that - depending on the work and time put into - could take 6 months to 6 years. In fact, it will create the burning desire in a musician to pursue the perfection of jazz skills on the instrument for a life-time to come.
A student has to realize that this concept will enable not a shallow knowledge of the instrument (which is a common result of limiting one's studies to merely a scale-based approach) but alot more than that: It will establish the profound knowledge of, and the skill to execute within, concepts, chord structures and chord-changes playing that, with the scale approach, could only be done superficially. The mastery of scales will be an automatic side-effect of studying Bebop Improv Concepts, while learning the language of jazz and its harmonic system and tradition in the most profound way possible.
Ever wonder why your jazzy lines don't quite sound real and resolved, especially when compared to the masters? To be able to express oneself in jazz authentically, one needs to learn the inside of each chord encountered, at any moment and speed, knowing which note represents what partial of the chord. Bebop Improv Concepts, combined with a strong work ethic of at least 45 minutes a day, will give a player the ability to learn the instrument similar to the musical approach that bebop greats have traditionally taken. So, to get to the point, but pay homage to the evolution of jazz and its tradition of mastering changes, and learn the real thing!
"You need to learn the inside before you can play truly out "
"... I LOVE that book better than ANY of the hundreds of books I have bought over 20 years! ...Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait for the new instruction book to get here !!!!!!!! Please keep writing. You have a great way of teaching REAL world jazz in a unique way."
Steve 10-9-2003"... i just downloaded the book. what a great book! it is so very comprehensive that i see it taking me a year to digest. it was just what i have been looking for. i just started playing jazz the last 2 years and have a b.m. in classical guitar. your book reminds me of some of the great classical instrumental treatises."
Todd Haydon 11-27-2002"... This is the most sensible approach I have seen for a while. Thanks heaps." John Bilderbeck 6-10-2003"...Your book has been a great help to me and I work with it most days along with Roni Ben-Hur's Talk Jazz exercises which were devised by Barry Harris. I am getting to know my guitar pretty well now."
John Bilderbeck 11-5-2003
David Hodge, guitarnoise.com 2002-02-23
