This eBook written by Marc Rum of the website Modern Guitar Harmony is “is a fundraiser for the Modern Guitar Harmony website whose aim it is to spread the teachings of modern guitar harmony masters (Mick Goodrick, Ben Monder etc) around the world.”
Firstly, a disclaimer: Marc actually contacted me for for feedback & advice on this eBook prior to its release. That being said, he didn’t ask me to write this review, so these are my honest thoughts on the book.
This is a compact 31-page eBook that aims to share 20 ways to “Mess” with a standard. That sounds a bit more friendly or fun… but really this is a book to help any aspiring jazz guitarist or solo jazz guitarist to create more compelling solo guitar arrangements both composed/planned/arranged and eventually improvised.
We first encounter 5 fundamentals ways to approach a song. These range from the seemingly obvious (Listen to Multiple Versions of the Tune) to the more interesting (Play the Melody and Bass) – which is also one way that I’ve heard jazz guitarists such as Julian Lage & Jonathan Kreisberg mention as their approach to learning a tune. Actually come to think of it, Howard Morgen and Martin Taylor do it too… so yes this is important.
Then comes the concepts!
These are the 20 ways that Marc promised in the book title. In addition to the 20 ways, there are also 20 musical examples – one for each concept (in standard notation and tablature) included to help illustrate the concepts that Marc shares.
So what do I think about this eBook?
For me, if you’re the kind of person who takes a single concept, ponder upon it a lot, apply it to ten tunes and then learns each concept until it becomes a part of your musical being… then this book might just be something interesting for you. Some parts of the book reminds me a bit of Adam Levy’s recent book and parts remind me of Danny (Marbin)’s book. That being said, Marc’s writing tone is friendly which is nice for a book with a topic as heavy as this.
All in all, this is a nice eBook that might give you new ideas to work with, or for me some ideas that I have used but probably haven’t explored in much depth. If you play solo jazz guitar (or want to), it might be worth checking this book out. I certainly look forward to more eBooks from Marc in the future.
Pros: Good material, written in a concise way.
Cons: Layout is simple so if you are expecting a fancy commercially released book, this isn’t it. But… the content is good.
TLDR: If you play solo jazz guitar, this might be a good eBook to check out… and it also helps raise funds for the Modern Guitar Harmony website too.
Get your copy here: https://modernguitarharmony.com/2024/05/09/20-great-ways-to-mess-with-jazz-standards-ebook/
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