Video Review: John McLaughlin: This Is The Way I Do It

This DVD box set was released in 2004, 20 years ago!

I first encountered it when I was a student at Berklee College of Music. At that time, I couldn’t afford the DVD since it was expensive to me. Luckily at that time, the Berklee library had a copy that I could borrow!

I remember watching it many times and trying to absorb what John McLaughlin was teaching. Years later, I managed to get a copy of the DVD box set at a more reasonable price… and recently I rewatched the 3 hour and 40 minute long DVD box set.

The video is divided into twelve chapters:

• The Basic Modes
• Rhythmic Development of Basic Modes + Introduction of the Major Pentatonic Scale
• Modal Fluency Development + Phrasing
• Introduction of Linear Triads + Scale Tone Chords
• Symmetric Scale and Development of Fluency
• Chromaticism
• Harmonic Minor and its Harmonic Development
• Melodic Minor and its Modal Development
• Advanced Development of Melodic Minor and Introduction of the 2 :5 :1 Movement
• Odd Time Signatures
• Harmony and odd meters
• Whole Tone Scale and two challenging tunes

The descriptions for the first nine chapters are what I’ve found online as part of the official description for the DVDs on John’s website, the last three are my descriptions of the material for those chapters. I’m not sure why those were not listed online.

John basically breaks down every scale that he uses in the video. He also demonstrates the fingerings he uses and how he practices the scales. In addition to all that, he takes solos that highlight each scale and mode so that you can hear the materials in context.

The video has on screen notation to help you see what John is playing. However, the notation is pretty much a MIDI to notation transcription, which makes it hard to actually read what John plays. I’m not sure whether this is still an issue nowadays (since I don’t use a MIDI-enabled guitar) but this was still a thing back in 2004.

That being said, John is great and does his very best to explain everything he does and his thought process. This really feels like hanging out with John McLaughlin for several hours and learning from him.

John himself describes the video as a “course” and each chapter introduces a scale and its modes or rhythm in “expositions” with exercises. After the exercises, there are demonstrations which are improvisations on the theme of the chapter. There are typically an easy and advanced demonstration.

John talks about the three materials of jazz: melodic, harmonic and rhythmic. In chapter one, he begins by exploring the modes of the major scale. After that he plays each mode in various intervals beginning with diatonic 3rds, 4th and so on. At this point it all seems basic, but for me it’s interesting to see John’s fingering choices. These are the details that I typically look out for when studying a guitar player’s personal approach.

I found that watching the DVD now, I got so much more out of it than when I watched it almost 19 years ago as a student in Berklee. I guess that’s what happens over time… things make more sense. I also appreciate the melodic shapes that John plays more now and his note choices over the demos even from the first one over Cmaj and G11 from chapter one. The main difference in the easy vs advanced demo for chapter one is basically the rhythmic density of the lines he plays. John plays more elaborate and faster lines in the advanced demo.

In the analysis, John breaks down what he played while looking at the transcription of the advanced solo. After the analysis, we get a chance to jam over the same backing track while the chords is visible on the screen. This is a great format as it allows us to practice with the material within the DVD itself and not with a separate backing track file. I guess this was a practical consideration so that you can work on the material in the DVD.

Chapter two introduces rhythmic variations for the same modes addressed in chapter one. We also get different melodic shapes (and rhythmic variety) to practice as John plays using the different modes. There is already some really challenging material in this chapter as some of the fingerings go across the fingerboard.

John also introduces the major pentatonic scale and the five modes. This is something that I don’t usually see. Typically I see the major pentatonic and the relative minor pentatonic demonstrated but not all five modes. It’s also interesting to hear the different melodic patterns that John plays when he improvises with the C major pentatonic. Some are familiar but in general the shapes tend to have more interesting rhythmic ideas. This is perhaps one of the biggest takeaways I got from watching John play in the DVD: the scale or interval is one thing, but rhythmic variety can really make a huge difference to how scalar lines sound. In addition to the more rhythmic ideas, John also plays some nice lyrical lines as well which are more vocal in nature.

The demos are also both straight 8th feel grooves for both chapter one and two which make sense since John doesn’t really play as much in a swing context. That being said, it is easier to absorb this kind of melodic material without being concerned about making sure it swings. I also enjoyed the analysis part of this chapter especially when I started finding small melodic ideas that are optimum for faster playing in the style of John McLaughlin.

By the time we get to chapter three, I start seeing the logic in John’s three note per string fingering approach and how the lines he plays fit into the logic of his fingering. This is a classic example of the virtuoso musician figuring out logical phrases that allow virtuosity to happen. Even though I couldn’t execute the lines at performance tempo yet, I started seeing how John approached the guitar.

I have to say though that this really does require additional analysis beyond what John gives. That means that you should take each phrase, compare it to how he plays it on the video and understand the logic of each line. I also start to see how each DVD is actually a year-long project (at least) if you choose to ego deep into John’s approach.

For the demonstration in chapter three we get a hip hop groove with Dmin7 to G7 vamp. This creates a different vibe and rhythmic possibilities for improvisation.

Chapter four goes into triads and scale tone chords. John also demonstrates different chords on a little keyboard. He then plays structures that are diatonic to a Cmajor scale but is not the typical triads. After that, he plays voicings that fit a Dorian modal context, in this case the chord progression to songs like So What and Impressions.

John then plays what he calls linear triads which consists of sequences that go up the fretboard. This material sounds amazing & is something that I really want to practice in more depth.

Moving on chapter five, John goes into symmetric or diminished scales. This is interesting and the exercises are great as well, especially if you follow John’s personal fingering choices that he plays on the video.

Chapter six covers chromatics and John teaches this using different phrases that he demonstrates in the exercises. For the demonstration, John uses a D minor blues to illustrate how he uses chromatics. There is really a wealth of different line ideas in the demos since John plays great sounding chromatic lines in his solos here. I can really see myself taking parts of his solo as exercises to get new ideas.

Chapter seven goes into harmonic minor scale and its modes. John mentions that he used this scale a lot when he played with guitar great Paco De Lucia. As for the presentation, the format is similar to how he did it in chapter one. After going through the fingerings for the scale and the modes, he plays different exercises to help you internalize the harmonic minor sound.

Chapter eight cover melodic minor scale and its modes. Interestingly, as he goes through the various modes, John tends to say them by the corresponding chord since melodic minor lines work over any of the chords equally well in general since there are no avoid notes (my interpretation, not his words). For the demonstration, John this time uses his tune, Nostalgia, “a 26-bar structure that uses all the harmony, scales and modes that we’ve learned until now”.

Chapter nine explore the II-V-I harmonic movement. John shows how he uses the melodic minor in this classic chord progression. The exercises here are great sounding minor II-V-I lines that use melodic minor sounds. For the demonstration, John uses a G blues progression. This time there is only one demo included. However, there is a wealth of great lines in this demo too! This is likely a chapter that I will be revisiting again and again.

Chapter ten goes into odd time signatures and konnakol. This is a particularly interesting chapter because of the topic and examples that John plays. He plays in a 7/4 cycle and an 11/4 cycle. John really shines in this chapter’s two demonstrations and I love the lines he plays in the solos. The solos in this case are over a drone so they are modal in nature.

Chapter eleven brings together harmony and odd meters together. By this time, John uses his tunes in the demos. The first demo is a 8 bar form in Cminor in 5/4. It feels like a blues but is not quite that. All I have to say is that the double time lines here are amazing!

After playing the recording of his demonstration, John says, “People accuse me of playing a lot of notes. I do play a lot of notes. But, that(‘s) the way I am. And the structure is the way it is. Was actually a tune I wrote for Alvin Jones. A tune with Alvin Jones that I recorded with him and he played great on it.”

Chapter twelve, the final chapter goes into the whole tone scale. Since the whole tone scale create the same scale just starting on different notes, John doesn’t play the scale in the same way that he demonstrated the other scales. For the demos, he play on a slow 9/4 tune, Fallen Angels and the second demo is on his piece, Mattinale.

For the analysis section, he goes through his solo on Mattinale. And after you get to play with the same backing tracks for both pieces,

In addition to the all the material, you get a compilation of outtakes from the recording of the DVD. It’s quite fun to watch John when he misses words or mispronounces words – you can really see how much work that was put into making the DVD. You can see how John’s personality is like beyond presenting the material on the DVD. I’m glad they included this in the DVD.

In conclusion, this 3-DVD Box set is an important document of John McLaughlin’s personal approach. In that sense, it delivers on the promise of the title. There are points that I wish John took time to explain more (specific lines and exercises), but I realize if he did that the video would probably become like ten hours or longer.

If you’ve been thinking of getting this (like me), it’s probably best to get it while it is still available. I’m not sure whether official download versions of this will be available in the future. For study, get the DVD if you like John’s playing. Do note that this material is really for intermediate or advanced players. If you are looking for very systematic fingerings of scales and a a step by step guided approach to learning the basics, it’s better to work through other courses or books first. John’s course is really a “masterclass” kind of approach, so it will require time for you to dissect what he does, beyond what he explains on the DVDs.

Pros: Great material, lots of material and well organized.
Cons: The original transcriptions were available as a download on a website that doesn’t exist anymore. That being said, if you do a bit of googling, you can still find the original PDF files & also a series of additional transcriptions done by a fan who wanted to make the notated musical examples clearer and easier to read. As far as I’m aware those additional transcriptions (or corrected ones) were also done with John’s permission.
TLDR: If you’re a fan of John McLaughlin and if you play guitar, this DVD box set is still worth getting even today. It’s a valuable document of John’s personal approach to improvisation. The video will reward the hardworking guitarist that digs into the exercises, transcription and examples that John plays. This is the good stuff.

You can get the DVD Box Set from here: https://mahavishnujohnmclaughlin.bandcamp.com/merch/on-sale-for-a-limited-time-john-mclaughlin-this-is-the-way-i-do-it-dvd-box-set

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