This DVD featuring Mike Stern is an interesting masterclass with Mike Stern covering important topics for the aspiring jazz guitarist.
Topics covered include chord tones and embellishments, tension tones and lots of melodic ideas for major, minor and dominant chords. He also takes solos on a II-V-I progression and a Bb blues (which is transcribed up to the 13th chorus).
If you have watched Mike’s teaching, you probably have seen him discuss about the importance of chord tones and approach notes. This is pretty much the main part of the video.
I particularly enjoyed all the parts where he took solos and also when he takes time to describe what he’s doing at different points in the solo.
With this style of music, it’s really important to hear how someone sounds like so that you get the nuances down. The video format is great for this. However, the accompanying PDF does not notate some of the subtleties in his phrasing. You kind of need to listen to get that kind of detail.
I’m grateful that this DVD provides an opportunity to hear Mike talk about the aspects that he views as important for single note jazz guitar improvisation.
All in all, this is a good DVD. However since there’s so much more clips of Mike teaching on YouTube nowadays, you might have heard him talk about this before. That being said, it’s nice to watch Mike teach this. I certainly was inspired and started transcribing some ideas from Mike thanks to the DVD. Good stuff!
Pros: Great instruction and playing from Mike Stern. Well recorded and produced video. The accompanying printable PDF is helpful.
Cons: Not everything is transcribed. Mike’s articulation with his slurs (pull-offs in particular) are not notated.
TLDR: If you like how Mike Stern plays, you might dig this DVD.
You can find this DVD on Amazon, eBay and other online stores.
Guitarinstructor.com also has this video in segments available on their platform for purchase and also via streaming in their subscription service.
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