Az Samad Lessons

I’ve been following guitarist Pritesh Walia closely for years, from his original compositions to his insightful commentary on jazz education. With a pedigree spanning Musicians Institute, Berklee, and NEC, Pritesh brings a formidable academic and performance background to his teaching. Based in Los Angeles, he’s become a vital voice for young musicians navigating the real-world challenges of the industry.

Originally from New Delhi, India, Pritesh is currently based in Los Angeles, California and is an active part of both the performance and music education scene there. In addition to all that, he maintains an active and interesting social media presence speaking on the real world challenges that many young musicians face.

After experiencing his educational content on YouTube, Instagram & Instagram channel, this course is a welcome addition to jazz guitar pedagogy.

While players like Joe Pass, Ted Greene, Jimmy Wyble, Martin Taylor, Bruce Forman and Tim Lerch have defined some of the best chord melody/solo guitar education available so far, we haven’t seen as much from the younger vanguard of jazz guitarists. This course, ‘R-7-5-3 Chord Melody Mastery,’ fills that gap. It focuses on using dyad-based fragments to transform jazz standards into organic, flowing arrangements.

I first encountered this specific ‘dyad’ sound in a Kurt Rosenwinkel video, but this is the first time I’ve seen it broken down with such clarity. The course spans six sections (approx. 44 minutes) and is incredibly well-organized. You get 13 PDF files and 6 Guitar Pro files, covering everything from basic shapes to applying them to Autumn Leaves.

What makes this interesting is how it breaks away from the standard ‘block chord’ or Drop-2/Drop-3 approach. By the final performance, you see Pritesh seamlessly blend this R-7-5-3 method with 10ths and shell voicings. It’s a sophisticated, modern sound.

By the time you reach the 5th section, we’ve gone through an extensive workout of the material. Closing the course is a performance of Autumn Leaves with Pritesh showing how he applies in in context with other approaches you can play in a solo guitar setting. In addition to the R-7-5-3 approach, we also see him play 10ths to imply the chord (‘ala Martin Taylor), triads (open and closed voiced) and guide tones filling up the spaces between his flowing single note improvisations.

Everything is professionally and beautifully presented so you are getting a nice premium experience as you study through the material. Even though you already get the transcriptions and exercises in the PDF, almost all that he plays is visible with the on-screen notation and tablature. It’s only at some points that Pritesh does little variations that move away from some of the exercises. That being said, anyone who can already play the core material should be able to transcribe these little variations if they are curious about it.

It’s important to note this as not all self-produced courses are at this quality.

Pritesh has certainly taken immense care to make sure we get our money’s worth when investing in the course. I’m saying this because the regular price for the course is US$100, and it’s currently US$80 for the launch period. That can be a lot to invest in relatively speaking if you’re comparing it to some other smaller courses that are often in the US$20-$47 price range, for this amount of instruction/content.

For anyone price-conscious, I would definitely look at this course as a way to study this material from Pritesh rather than thinking of it as a usual instructional material.

Honestly, I’ve seen nobody teach this specific approach in a course (and if you’ve been following my reviews on this website, you probably know how many courses and books I check out regularly). The only other clear alternative might be to study how Kurt Rosenwinkel does it, but even Kurt does not break it down to the level that Pritest does. What Pritesh does is make this more accessible for us mere mortals.

The fact that this material is rarely if ever taught makes Pritesh’s course a welcome addition to jazz guitar pedagogy. For me, after working through the material in this course, I’ve gotten a much better hold on the material than before.

In short, this is the good stuff!

All in all, this is a course meant for the contemporary jazz guitarist who wants to get beyond block chord harmonization and really approach chord melody in a more “free” way, but using smaller fragments without going all Jimmy Wyble about it (which is an even more advanced approach than this.)

If you like Pritesh’s playing, I would recommend this course without hesitation. If you’re into chord melody, I would strongly suggest listening to the preview videos and if you dig it, get the course.

Pros: Unique contemporary vocabulary, high production value, clear application to a standard (Autumn Leaves).
Cons: Premium price point; might be challenging for absolute jazz beginners who haven’t mastered basic seventh chords yet.
TLDR: If you’re tired of blocky, predictable chord melody and want a ‘freer,’ more contemporary approach, this is the good stuff. Pritesh Walia has demystified a sophisticated concept used by modern greats and made it actionable. Highly recommended for the serious student.

Get the course here: https://whop.com/pritesh-walia-jazz-guitar-lab/r-7-5-3-chord-melody-mastery/

Thanks to Pritesh Walia for giving me complimentary access to review this course. Even though I receive free access to the course, my review reflects my honest thoughts on the course and instruction.

[Submissions for Review Consideration]

• Are you an author who wrote a jazz, guitar or music book?
• Have you created a DVD or an online video course or subscription based website?
• Would you like me to review your book/course?

OR…

• Are you working with a gear company (guitar, pedals, amps, audio interface, plugins, guitar accesories)?
• Would you like me to review your gear?

Please send me a message at azsamad2 at gmail.com with:

For courses: a link to the course/video/product + access info etc.
For books: a link to the book (Dropbox) or PDF attachment (if it’s small) for review consideration.
For music gear/hardware or software: a link to the product page and order page

Depending on whether I dig the book/course/product, I’ll let you know if I do plan to review it!

I cannot guarantee a review for every submission & if I’m not too into it, I may opt not to review it. I mean, it’s better to get a good review that for me to write a bad review just because it’s not a match for the kind of stuff I dig right? :p

NOTE: All reviews reflect my honest personal opinion so be aware that I will point out both cool Pros and Cons that I see in the work. You dig?