Jam bands are musical groups whose albums and live performances relate to a fan culture that originated with the 1960s group Grateful Dead and continued in the 1990s with Phish. The performances of these bands often feature extended musical improvisation (“jams”) over rhythmic grooves and chord patterns and long sets of music that cross genre [...]
“When you play music you discover a part of yourself that you never knew existed.”
“Actually, I’m not interested in Zen that much, as a philosophy, nor in joining any movements. I don’t pretend to understand it. I just find it comforting. And very similar to jazz. Like jazz, you can’t explain it to anyone without [...]
Introduction
Regardless of the resources you use to learn to play the guitar, it’s important to know what there is to learn and how that affects what you want to do. Whether it’s playing in a band, singing and playing or being a singer-songwriter. there are specific things to learn and specific skills to develop. Here’s [...]
The modes are a system of seven scales dating back to Pythagoras of Ancient Greece. The scales are named: Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian and Locrian.
Though many music schools teach the modes as versions of the C major scale, it is perhaps the worst possible way to teach them. This explanation is valid historically [...]
In 1970, I was a young jazz guitar player working at RCA studios in New York. This particular date was a session for an album titled “Deirdre Wilson Tabac”. Sonny Casella was the visionary producer. From this album emerged a hit record called “I Can’t Keep from Cryin’ Sometimes”. Throughout the years, this recording has [...]
Cut time is a source of confusion for many musicians. What exactly does it mean and how do you apply it?
Too often cut time is thought of as having two beats in a measure. There are not two beats in a measure of cut time – there are four beats in a measure of cut [...]
Practice is that inevitable “dues-paying” time that everyone must invest to pursue music. In the self study approach, the most difficult aspect of practice is the organization of musical and technical principles. Too often the player works in circles not really progressing, not knowing what to practice.
Becoming aware of this lack of progress, he [...]
Modular Phonetic Rhythm represents a significant advance in the teaching and application of rhythm. Eliminating many inefficient aspects of rhythm education, Modular Phonetic Rhythm streamlines the traditional educational approach, resulting in a reflexive reaction to rhythm.
Jazz guitarists have never had a way to organize the subject of rhythm in a way that would systematically benefit [...]
Chuck Anderson’s new album ‘Freefall’ establishes him as a major force in jazz guitar.
Chuck Anderson is part of an elite group: world-class jazz musicians who focused their careers not on performing, but on passing the baton to others. Like the late Dennis Sandole and Charlie Banacos before him, Chuck spent his career focused on educating and mentoring students, many [...]
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