There’s so much more opportunities to learn from great musicians nowadays. From YouTube to courses to books to social media, this is probably one of the best times for a musician to learn because how much easier it is to get information and inspiration.
But then, the question is how can you level up your playing even more?
For me, live experiences is where it’s at. Firstly if you can actually meet your musical heroes in person via clinics, masterclasses or private lessons… and secondly via live Zoom sessions with these amazing musicians.
Of course, nothing beats the feeling of being in the same space with them, but with the right curation, a live Zoom session can feel special.
That is what I felt earlier today in the Mike Stern class hosted by guitarist Noel Johnston in his Creative Guitar Fundamentals Skool class.
Noel does live sessions that typically meet for 90min session twice per week – 8pm Central time (USA) on Mondays & Thursdays…. and this time I had the opportunity to attend the session with Mike Stern.
I’m a huge fan of Mike’s playing and saw him live in Boston when I was a student at Berklee back around 2005-2007, and more recently in 2024, I saw him perform and studied with him via the Alternative Guitar Summit Camp hosted by Joel Harrison.
For the zoom session it was a real treat because of the flowing scope of topics discussed and the songs played. The session began with a blues duo performance by Mike and Noel, playing the tune Sonnymoon for Two.
Then, Noel talked about the “Mike Stern Chord”, centered on the altered dominant chord voicing Mike frequently uses (identified as a 13#9), relating it to the half-whole diminished scale.
That went into a discussion of 1-2-3-5 and 1-2-4-5 patterns, and how Mike explores different inversions and permutations of these ideas.
The next part was really cool with Mike sharing the various enclosures that you can practice and the different sounds you can get with each option. Moving on Noel shared a hexatonic/triad pair sound that he used in his arrangement of Caravan.
Talking about his career and musical journey, Mike shared a lot about his early musical experiences from getting the gig with the band Blood, Sweat and Tears to the encouragement he received from Pat Metheny who Mike studied with when he was at Berklee. He also talked about how all that led into the opportunity to work with Miles Davis.
Going into compositional advice, Mike emphasized the importance of finishing the pieces that you start to write. He also talked about performing the pieces either as completed pieces or in mid process to get feedback from others.
A cool thing was also how Mike Stern reframed “jealousy” of other great musicians as inspiration—a motivating feeling that encourages him to study and incorporate new ideas into his playing. He also shared his early struggles with shyness and nervousness in jazz settings, advising students that perseverance and continuous playing are key to building confidence.
On learning tunes, Mike described his practice technique to learn a new song and how over time, we start to see the patterns that happen in tunes (II-Vs and other common chord progressions).
There was also some discussion about Noel’s approach to playing triad arpeggios which he got from Paul Gilbert and also some talk about Bach’s music.
At some point, we also got to hear Noel and Mike jam on Mr. PC, a minor blues to contrast the opening piece which was a more typical dominant chord blues piece.
Eventually, the class went into it’s logical conclusion and although the class had ended, I still stuck around to see them pack up and chat, which eventually also led into a chromatic banjo moment… which you have to actually watch to get what I mean.
All in all, this was a great session and both Mike and Noel had such generous honest energy that really was inspiring to me. I loved it and left the session feeling uplifted. If you’re a fan of Mike’s playing, I think you would probably enjoy this class.
Pros: Great session with a master, a wide variety of concepts and exercises discussed and lots of cool stories too.
Cons: None.
TLDR: If you like Mike Stern’s playing, this session is great, even if like me you’ve watched so many Mike Stern clinic videos and talks. The class was cool and helpful.
You can watch this class and many more by signing up for Noel’s Creative Guitar Fundamentals program on Skool.
Thanks again Noel for inviting me to attend the session. I am grateful!
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