Recently I’ve been seeing more and more people talk about Pat Martino’s improvisational approach. Personally, I’ve been a fan of Pat’s work ever since I first got his CD, Stone Blue back in 1998 when I was just starting to learn jazz guitar.
After that, I slowly collected his CDs since this was an era prior to streaming music being available. I used to get one album and listen to it on repeat since each album was an expensive investment, especially in Malaysia where I was at.
Later on, I had the opportunity to study with Garrison Fewell who was a student of Pat Martino. Garrison taught a Pat Martino guitar lab at Berklee which really helped me develop my playing at that time. It was way over my head back then, but I tried to absorb as much as I could.
Recently, I saw guitarist Chase Maddox talk his take on the Pat Martino thing – especially his thoughts on Pat’s book, Linear Expressions. Eventually that led to this class which he taught as part of Chase’s Guitar Academy.
This is a 1 hour and 37 minute workshop that Chase Maddox taught live on 26th July 2025.
The majority of the class documents Chase’s explanation of one concept – the minor conversion concept applied to different chord types and different chord progressions. Examples include the chord progression for Take The A Train, Corcovado, Stella By Starlight.
In the later part of the workshop, Chase also shows different lines and how to develop those lines into different ideas that are inspired by Pat’s lines, but are not necessary the original lines or licks that Pat played.
Chase also shows his take on Pat Martino’s forms – which is different than you might have seen in the Linear Expressions book. Chase also shows how to really learn these forms and lines to you can get the ideas fluidly in your playing.
Among other things, the workshop is interesting to me because Chase points out many moments where he’s noticed great jazz players using a simpler scale choice, even though the choice may not fit 100% the chord of the moment. I’ve noticed this before when I’ve transcribed lines so it’s nice to hear Chase share his observations as well.
Real world practice sometimes does not fit what is commonly taught in some more academic jazz guitar classes. To be honest, this is exactly the kind of thing I’m always looking for when I watch and study educational jazz guitar material. For that, this workshop is very cool.
In conclusion, this is a valuable workshop that actually explains the minor conversion concept in a clear way so that you can see how complicated chord progressions could be simplified. This helps so that you can improvise with even more fluency than thinking in the more traditional chord scale theory or mode-based approach.
Pros: A highly useful workshop that can help improvisors navigate through chord progressions in more creative ways.
Cons: Requires you to have existing minor vocabulary to be applied using this concept. In that sense this video might be most useful for intermediate and advanced players, although beginners might also find the concepts helpful to simplify current song practice.
TLDR: If you’ve ever been curious about the whole Pat Martino minor conversion concept but never got pass playing the first five lines in Pat’s Linear Expressions book, this workshop might be helpful to see how Pat’s approach works.
This video is part of the materials at Chase’s Guitar Academy. You can sign up for a 7-day free trial to watch this video and much more at Chase’s Guitar Academy here (affiliate link).
Thanks to Chase Maddox for inviting me to experience Chase’s Guitar Academy. Although I received complimentary access to the community, my reviews reflects my personal honest experience of the material.
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