Jazz Skills: Guitar CD

Fisher zeros in on the specific friction points that derail developing jazz guitarists—altered chord voicings, chord-scale relationships, improvisation over changes. Rather than starting from scratch, this supplement targets exactly where players get stuck, making it an efficient way to troubleshoot technique and harmonic understanding without reinventing fundamentals.

Practical and uncluttered. Fisher's voice is direct and problem-focused, guiding you through common stumbling blocks without unnecessary theory lectures or padding. The accompanying recordings ground each concept in actual jazz context, connecting written explanation to sound.

This resource serves intermediate to advanced jazz guitarists who have solid fundamentals but are hitting walls with harmonic complexity, chord substitution, and translating theory into solos. It works equally well for the self-directed player filling gaps in their knowledge and the student seeking targeted supplementary material alongside private lessons.

• Work through altered chord examples slowly, isolating the altered tones before playing them in context with the rest of the voicing.
• Transcribe the changes from the included recordings and sing them before attempting to play them, ensuring your ear drives your fingers.
• Isolate one problem area at a time rather than trying to absorb everything at once; depth in one concept beats surface familiarity with many.
• Use the recordings as a model for phrasing and timing, but don't rely on them to learn; pause frequently and play your own interpretations over the changes.

Assign specific chapters based on what your students are encountering in their improvisation and comping work. If your jazz ensemble is tackling charts that demand fluency with ii-V progressions or upper structure triads, pull the relevant section and work it into rehearsal alongside your repertoire.

• understanding and voicing altered chords (b9, #9, b13, #11)
• reading and interpreting jazz chord symbols accurately
• navigating chord changes in improvisation with harmonic accuracy
• translating written changes into coherent melodic lines
• developing finger dexterity and efficiency specific to jazz voicings