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guitar voicings

Book Review: Movable Shapes – Concepts for Reharmonizing ii-V-I’s by Sheryl Bailey

July 10, 2018 by azsamadlessons Leave a Comment

Sheryl Bailey is an extremely prolific musician as a performer, recording artist and also educator. In this post, we look at one of her earlier works. This 2009 book published by Mel Bay is a very practical 40-page book that focuses on helping jazz improvisors develop their ideas to improvise on the common II-V-I chord progression. A staple of jazz, gaining control and fluency over this progression is key for the improvisor to create interesting ideas on jazz standards.

In the first 5 chapters, Sheryl begins with a text introduction explaining the theory concepts of what she uses for the chapter’s examples. Next, she gives 5 voiceled II-V-I chord voicing examples to introduce the sound behind the melodic lines. Finally, the chapters conclude with 20 different II-V-I lines that illustrate how Sheryl weaves interesting phrases using the concepts. This is such an elegant and clear way to teaching the concepts. I feel that it’s very practical and clear.

The final chapter is different than the first five. Chapter 6 concludes with a 6 chorus etude over the changes of ‘Tune Up’ using specific substitutions that she has taught throughout the book. The 6th chorus combines the substitutions for a very colorful ending to the book.

All in all, this deceptively small book provides a lot of great practice material for jazz guitarists interested in developing their II-V-I chops. In addition to playing the written voicings and lines, I definitely feel that the reader would benefit by writing their own lines after assimilating Sheryl’s phrases. This book is very deceptive in terms of the page numbers – it seems like someone could possibly finish the book quickly but I feel that for most readers (myself included), this is probably a book that I would dip in, learn a line or two and then come back to it again and again for new ideas.

Pros:
 Very systematic and compact. A lot of content in a small volume!
Cons: No left hand fingering suggestion may make it difficult to initially play some of the lines. No CD or audio included.
TLDR: Recommended for guitarists who want to create more colorful II-V-I lines.

How to Buy:
You can buy the book and e-book here:
https://www.melbay.com/Products/21420EB/mbgu-jazz-moveable-shapes-concepts-for-reharmonizing-iivis.aspx

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[Submissions for Review Consideration]

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Please send me a message at azsamad2 at gmail.com with:

For courses: a link to the course/video/product + access info etc.
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Depending on whether I dig the book/course, I’ll let you know if I do plan to review it!

I cannot guarantee a review for every submission & if I’m not too into it, I may opt not to review it. I mean, it’s better to get a good review that for me to write a bad review just because it’s not a match for the kind of stuff I dig right? :p

NOTE: All reviews reflect my honest personal opinion so be aware that I will point out both cool Pros and Cons that I see in the work. You dig? 🙂

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Guitar Chords, Guitar Scales, Guitar Technique, Jazz, Jazz Guitar, Jazz Guitar Harmony, Licks, Music Theory, Practice Secrets Tagged With: bebop, comping, guitar lessons, guitar voicings, how to practice guitar, improvisation, jazz guitar techniques, jazz harmony, jazz improvisation, jazz licks, jazz lines, lick, soloing, vocabulary

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