April’s Student of the Month is Steve Nesbitt, a grownup who’s been studying jazz with me for the last several months. Steve has a background in classical guitar, and in recent years he’s been branching out to more popular styles. In his jazz studies with me, the primary focus has been to tackle the three key elements of a variety of jazz standards: melody, chords, and improvisation. We’ve looked in great detail at “Summertime” and “Fly My to the Moon,” and we’re just about to start “Misty.” Then I think a blues tune and a rhythm changes tune will be in order.
On top of all that, Steve has been working through my Mother of All Major Scale Exercises. He’s making fantastic progress, and it shows in his playing. For his video below, we perform “Summertime” together, and I let it run a little overtime, so you’ll see us talking about how those scale exercises have opened up his soloing across the fretboard.
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