I’ve been a fan of Corey Christiansen’s playing (and teaching) for years, and a little bit of trivia: Corey actually was at my graduate recital at San Jose State University because he was around at that time as a visiting artist. I also learned a nifty pentatonic picking exercise during his workshop, but that’s a story for another time.
Back to this session, this was originally a group class done via Zoom video meeting for Chase’s Guitar Academy. The masterclass focuses on how to build your improvisational vocabulary.
Essentially, Corey shares his personal approach to mastering lines and you can practice new melodic deas to get them into your playing.
One of the things he addresses in this video was the concern of sounding cliche or predicatable, and how in reality, especially for jazz, we do need to learn the actual “language” of jazz. What makes jazz is not just knowing what scales and arpeggios to play but HOW to actually play them. This is where learning licks and phrases from recordings and master improvisors help you to sound jazz.
In one part of the video he makes the distinction between sounding jazz and making jazz like sounds. He compares this to someone speaking learned French phrases when you’re a tourist in France as opposed to making French like sounds there.
There’s this one Dmin7 phrase that Corey uses throughout the video to demonstrate his practice approach. Although this phrase gets repeated so much in the video, it just goes to show how deep the practice needs to be in order to internalize these melodic ideas.
I enjoyed listening to Corey explain his approach and his advice on actually getting the lines as opposed to being obsessed about the music theory behind a phrase.
In addition to the video, we also get a really useful 8-page handout in PDF format that summarizes the key points that Corey makes in the video. We also get 22 lines from a related “Jazz Line Pallette” that is used in an etude that he includes in the PDF.
All in all, this is a brilliant masterclass from Corey Christiansen. This is probably the most concise masterclass in how to learn and practice jazz phrases to get them into your playing.
Pros: A masterfully prepared and taught masterclass from a great guitarist-educator.
Cons: None.
TLDR: If you’ve wondered how to really get jazz licks into your playing, watch this video (multiple times) while taking notes and start shedding.
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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