Arpeggios are such an important part of jazz guitar language.
However, it can be overwhelming to learn all the different kinds of arpeggios, the various fingerings and also substitutions.
This is why a book like Arpeggios for the Evolving Guitarist by Pat Kelley can be a valuable asset for the serious jazz guitarist. As an experienced educator and jazz guitarist, Pat Kelley has managed to summarize so much information in this slim 55 page book.
This book is divided into 7 chapter that builds on top of the foundation of the previous chapter.
Introduction
Chapter 1 – Learning the basic arpeggio fingering patterns
Chapter 2 – Using 7th chords over alternate chord roots
Chapter 3 – Combining Arpeggios
Chapter 4 – A modal approach to using arpeggios
Chapter 5 – Two-five-one
Chapter 6 – Adding embellishments to arpeggios
Chapter 7 – Pat Kelley’s minor blues
In the first chapter, you basically get Pat’s fingering for six chord qualities. Personally I would say this is probably the most important chapter in the entire book. It literally prepares you for the rest of the book.
In chapter 2, you find out how these basic 7th chords could be used over different chord types. The accompanying audio that comes with the book is really helpful for us to hear these sounds especially if you’ve never played any of these.
Chapter 3 is a development of chapter 2, and shows how you can stack these chords to get them as almost a collage of sounds. I particularly love how Pat has given fingerings that allow you to play this at faster tempos since they are in position, or is friendly to fret.
Chapter 4 introduces how to used these arpeggios in a modal context. In this case, Pat shows us how to do this over a Dminor vamp.
Chapter 5 gives us examples of how to use these arpeggios in a II-V-I context.
Moving on to chapter 6, Pat shows how to use embellishments in the arpeggios we’ve learned so far. This is another valuable chapter especially for anyone who has mastered the more straight forward arpeggio soloing.
Closing the book, we get Pat Kelley’s minor blues which puts together all we have learned into 4 choruses of a D minor blues.
In conclusion, this book is really cool and useful. Don’t judge this book just by the number of pages, there is A LOT to digest in here. Personally this is a book that I keep coming back to since I first got it.
Pros: Well organized and well written book. Lots of great sounds to learn!
Cons: None.
TLDR: Want to get a strong foundation on arpeggios for jazz guitar in a logical way? Get this book and go practice.
Get it on the Mel Bay website for the print version and digital eBook version too.
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