I started learning jazz guitar because of Joe Pass.
I remember watching his guitar clinic at Musicians Institute (hosted by Don Mock) on VHS tape during my first semester in college. Later on, my first ever electric guitar was a Joe Pass Epiphone. That’s how much his playing influenced me. He was one of my early jazz guitar heroes.
That being said, I remember watching his instructional videos and being really confused. It was too much for young me.
Later on, more and more made sense, although I never really got everything I wanted to learn from his playing under my fingers.
Two years ago, I stumbled onto this book at a bookstore in Japan. It was a Japanese version of it! I didn’t buy it then (it was expensive and I was hoping to get the original English text version).
Anyhow, now’s the time for me to share my take on this slim 32-page book.
Basically this is a book of Joe explaining how he takes a simple blues chord progression and by gradually adding more chords, including approach chords and reharmonizations, you end up with a very bebop and Joe Pass take on the blues.
This is all about chords and comping, nothing about single note soloing… although hardworking folks will probably see the connection instantly that it is all really the same thing.
Most importantly the book comes with a record that has audio examples and explanations of the chords. This to me is the most important part of the book. If you do end up buying a copy of this, try to get the record as well. It helps a lot, and makes the experience of studying the book much more fun.
All in all, this is a cool book that I wish was easier to find. I also wish this remained in print. Relative to the other Joe Pass books available, this book is narrow in its focus. That might make it seem like it’s covering too little, but for those serious about digging into this topic – this focus helps make the book something you actually can finish studying rather that it being a dust magnet on your bookshelf.
If anything, I wish I got this book much earlier when I didn’t know this material that well. It would have really helped me out a lot earlier on. Nevertheless, I’m grateful I can still study it now.
Pros: Good material, well arranged and works really well with the accompanying audio
Cons: This is a very small book, and because it’s out of print, the price might not be worth it.
TLDR: If you’re a Joe Pass completist, this book might be worth getting so that you have as many of Joe’s educational materials. Otherwise, this topic by now would have been covered in many other books or videos (including Joe’s later instructional videos).
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