Ted Eschliman's Getting Into Jazz Mandolin

[Explorer]

Great book.

[colorado_al]

Nice. I just ordered this book last week. Should be here today!

[Dave Martin]

It is a darn good book.

[JeffD]

I had the print shop cut the back off and put on a spiral binding. Now it lies flat. Its a great book, the kind I like to leave open on the stand.

[pointpergame]

Would somebody mind jotting out the general scheme of Ted's book? ( Loved his FFCP paradigm ). I'm not sure how to get a glance at a few pages to judge for myself.
I mean...is it a bunch of "ahaha!" key ideas? A set of melodies to play? A bunch of Charts? Theory about those crazy jazz chord progressions?

Thanks

[MikeEdgerton]

Take a look at it on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Mel-presentsGe...der_0786676426

[pointpergame]

That was PERFECT, the Amazon sample. Thanks for the sharp, helpful answer.

[Drew Egerton]

I am basically a 100% bluegrasser and I have just purchased the ebook versions of both Getting Into Jazz Mandolin and Jazz Mandolin Appetizers. Mel Bay had a nice deal for 15% off of everything so that saved a few bucks.

I honestly have mixed feelings about actually listening to jazz much, but so many of the great bluegrass pickers I look up to also study and utilize aspects of it. So....I'm going to give it a shot. 2017, the year of learning jazz....we shall see.

[CES]

Drew, my musical tastes are all over the map, and I enjoy listening to most jazz (not so much fusion type stuff), but I think you'll find it more enjoyable to play than just listen to...I do, anyway. Same for most classical...

[Teak]

I am basically a 100% bluegrasser and I have just purchased the ebook versions of both Getting Into Jazz Mandolin and Jazz Mandolin Appetizers. Mel Bay had a nice deal for 15% off of everything so that saved a few bucks.

I honestly have mixed feelings about actually listening to jazz much, but so many of the great bluegrass pickers I look up to also study and utilize aspects of it. So....I'm going to give it a shot. 2017, the year of learning jazz....we shall see.

If your experience is anything like mine, once you get used to moving chord patterns, i.e. a different chord for nearly every beat, you might find it hard to go back to bluegrass and country tunes again with their long stretches on the same chord. That means you will learn diminished, flat 5, augmented, and other "exotic" chords that add so much color. I used to skip over those when doing some simple jazz tunes, but once I learned how to finger them in 3-note patterns, I decided that I didn't want to leave them out.

Now, if I am faced with a simple tune (just a few chords over several bars), I look for ways to provide movement. Example, four bars of G finds me alternating between 455x and 002x (or 0023), one bar each back and forth. They are both portions of a G chord but the different voicing moved back and forth provides movement that keeps the four bar stretch interesting.

[The Past and The Curious]

That book is great! Super logical and easy to digest. Even if you don't like the idea of jazz, there's plenty of gateways that might help other jazz seem more appealing, or at least more digestible to you. The guitarist George Barnes is a great place to start to get excited about it. I think some of his music is available on Grisman's label. It's amazingly fun to listen to, he swings super hard and his playing is just killer.
I also recommend listening by song; that is pick a song you like - Summertime, or Blue Monk, whatever. Listen to a bunch of people play it: Joe Pass, Wynton Kelly, Django, Wes Montgomery, Dizzie Gillespie. There's so much to learn by hearing all the approaches.

One thing I learned in music school was that books only get you part of the way, especially with something as idiosyncratic as jazz. The magic is in the music. It's amazing what listening can do for your playing - once you have the technical tools, of course.
And who's not working on that all the time, right?

[Joey Anchors]

Just got the book as well and making a slow way through it. I love jazz and early jump blues..so this book is perfect for those styles.