Joe Diorio: Giant Steps: Guitar Book & Online Audio

Diorio's treatment of "Giant Steps" respects both the tune's legendary difficulty and the student's need for clear, sequential learning. The balance of melodic solos, harmonic patterns, and chord-melody arrangements means students don't just survive this changes-heavy standard; they develop genuine fluency across multiple approaches to the same material.

Demanding and intricate, yet systematically rewarding. The progression from isolated patterns to full solos builds confidence as you work through material that initially feels overwhelming; completing a chorus over Coltrane's changes becomes a tangible achievement.

Intermediate to advanced jazz guitarists ready to tackle one of modern jazz's most demanding compositions. This is ideal for students preparing for jazz exams, auditions, or simply wanting to understand how to navigate extreme harmonic density with musicality intact.

• Work through the II-V patterns first before tackling full solos. These isolate the harmonic movement and free you to focus on phrasing rather than navigation.
• Use the online audio to lock in with the changes at a slow tempo, then gradually increase speed. Breaking the tune into short fragments during initial study prevents frustration on rapid key changes.
• Study the chord-melody solos alongside your single-note work. Seeing how Diorio voices the progression informs both your comping vocabulary and your melodic choices.
• Transpose the substitution principles to other standards. The harmonic concepts here transfer directly to "Countdown," "Naima," and other Coltrane vehicles.

This works best as focused individual study rather than ensemble repertoire. Assign it to students pursuing jazz guitar as a serious instrumental or academic goal, or use it as the foundation for a masterclass on harmonic navigation and substitution principles.

• Reading and navigating rapidly modulating changes in multiple keys
• Constructing II-V patterns across different harmonic contexts
• Understanding chord substitution for both comping and single-note improvisation
• Voice-leading in chord-melody arrangements using varied harmonization techniques
• Developing phrasing and melodic coherence over complex harmonic movement