Joe Pass - On Guitar (book/CD) - OR - Guitar Style -

**MarkRhodes** · 03-20-2018, 09:08 PM

The idea for this came up in the "Re Dutchbopper" thread. I think it was Lawson Stone's idea. Two books / CDs were Joe Pass were mentioned: "Joe Pass Guitar Style" and "Joe Pass On Guitar."

(Once the group has decided which book to start with, the title of this thread will be edited accordingly.)

Here are links to them at Amazon. The version of "Guitar Style" mentioned here does NOT come with a CD. You might have to get that version from Carol Kaye. (She was the original publisher of the book and added demo tracks to the CD that weren't on the original cassette that came with the book's first edition.)

The "Guitar Style" book does NOT have tab. "On Guitar" has tab and standard notation. The consensus seems to be that "On Guitar" might be the better book to build a study group around. (This consensus is subject to change, of course. I have both books and don't care which one we start with.)

Joe Pass -- On Guitar: Book & CD (Cpp Media Video Transcription): Joe Pass: 9781576234372: Amazon.com: Books

Joe Pass Guitar Style: Learn the Sound of Modern Harmony & Melody: Joe Pass, Bill Thrasher: 0884118623029: Amazon.com: Books

My suggestion, and it is no more than that, is to see a show of hands here for who wants to be part of this, get a sticky for this thread if interest warrants, and see how we want to start this. "Guitar Style" starts with a chapter on harmony; "On Guitar" starts with several choruses of Joe playing blues unaccompanied---I suspect if we wanted to learn that solo, it would take a few months. Of course, we might marvel at that but dig in with the shorter examples that follow and maybe take up the solo later.

**MarkRhodes** · 03-20-2018, 09:10 PM

Count me in!

**gggomez** · 03-20-2018, 09:39 PM

Great Mark.

I ordered the On Guitar book the other day. I liked comments that the book was about how to develop your own lines etc. I am in. Book may be a few weeks off arriving from UK though.

**joe2758** · 03-20-2018, 09:46 PM

I would follow along if you did guitar style

edit: sorry count me out, i forgot i sold it. don’t want to throw off your vote

**Jazzstdnt** · 03-20-2018, 09:51 PM

So is this all solo or are there any backing tracks?

**Jehu** · 03-20-2018, 10:37 PM

I would be in for either, but would probably prefer On Guitar due to the audio samples and what seems like a reasonable format.

**lawson-stone** · 03-21-2018, 05:26 AM

I'm in whichever one we do.

**Stanford J17** · 03-21-2018, 07:23 AM

Count me in. I've got a small preference for "guitar style", because I'm already working on it. But "on guitar" is great, too.

**AlsoRan** · 03-21-2018, 07:46 AM

Originally Posted by Jazzstdnt

So is this all solo or are there any backing tracks?

Later today, I will find the book and get an answer for you, assuming you folks are going to study using the "Joe Pass On Guitar" book.

**MarkRhodes** · 03-21-2018, 09:05 AM

Originally Posted by Jazzstdnt

So is this all solo or are there any backing tracks?

There aren't backing tracks.
Joe demonstrates the lines.
There are full performance pieces but no backing tracks.

For the record, there are no backing tracks with the CD-version of "Guitar Style." Joe demonstrates selected examples. ("At the top of page 50...") Carol Kaye more recently recorded additional examples from the book. But there are no backing tracks. AND SOME EDITIONS OF "GUITAR STYLE" COME WITHOUT THE CD.

**Jazzstdnt** · 03-21-2018, 08:16 PM

What would the approach be for the Guitar Style book? Play through the whole thing one page at a time, record everything and upload it, or what?

**MarkRhodes** · 03-21-2018, 09:34 PM

Originally Posted by Jazzstdnt

What would the approach be for the Guitar Style book? Play through the whole thing one page at a time, record everything and upload it, or what?

I think the answer to every question about particular study groups is, "To be determined." ;o)

**gggomez** · 03-21-2018, 10:00 PM

If we go with Joe Pass On Guitar, cause that is the one I have on its way to me, can I suggest 1 week on 4 bars of his ideas (I think the book starts of with a blues example) then 1 week of us using his ideas in our own way.

Maybe we need two study groups one for each book.

**Doublea A** · 03-22-2018, 06:41 AM

Originally Posted by MarkRhodes

The idea for this came up in the "Re Dutchbopper" thread. I think it was Lawson Stone's idea. Two books / CDs were Joe Pass were mentioned: "Joe Pass Guitar Style" and "Joe Pass On Guitar."

(Once the group has decided which book to start with, the title of this thread will be edited accordingly.)

Here are links to them at Amazon. The version of "Guitar Style" mentioned here does NOT come with a CD. You might have to get that version from Carol Kaye. (She was the original publisher of the book and added demo tracks to the CD that weren't on the original cassette that came with the book's first edition.)

The "Guitar Style" book does NOT have tab. "On Guitar" has tab and standard notation. The consensus seems to be that "On Guitar" might be the better book to build a study group around. (This consensus is subject to change, of course. I have both books and don't care which one we start with.)

Joe Pass -- On Guitar: Book & CD (Cpp Media Video Transcription): Joe Pass: 9781576234372: Amazon.com: Books

Joe Pass Guitar Style: Learn the Sound of Modern Harmony & Melody: Joe Pass, Bill Thrasher: 0884118623029: Amazon.com: Books

My suggestion, and it is no more than that, is to see a show of hands here for who wants to be part of this, get a sticky for this thread if interest warrants, and see how we want to start this. "Guitar Style" starts with a chapter on harmony; "On Guitar" starts with several choruses of Joe playing blues unaccompanied---I suspect if we wanted to learn that solo, it would take a few months. Of course, we might marvel at that but dig in with the shorter examples that follow and maybe take up the solo later.

I am interested. I have “Guitar Style” book and I may have the other one too. I would have to take a look.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

**MarkRhodes** · 03-22-2018, 09:20 AM

Originally Posted by gggomez

If we go with Joe Pass On Guitar, cause that is the one I have on its way to me, can I suggest 1 week on 4 bars of his ideas (I think the book starts of with a blues example) then 1 week of us using his ideas in our own way.

Maybe we need two study groups one for each book.

All suggestions are welcome.

Yes, "On Guitar" starts with a "blues intro". It's either 72 or 84 measures long. That would be a lot to bite off in four-bar chunks, but if that's what we decide to do, then that's what we'll do. Or maybe just the first chorus to get our feet wet.

Or we might appreciate the solo and start posting the first examples from the book, which are shorter. The solo, or a chosen chorus or two of it, might be something we take on after we've worked on the "nuts and bolts" of the examples.

One thing I would like to see is a sharing of ideas about the right-hand and left-hand technique Joe mentions early in the book.

**Jazzstdnt** · 03-24-2018, 11:59 AM

Howdy Mark - so do you want to set up a poll to see how many people are interested and which book to use? Hint, hint.

Questions could be:

Yes count me in, I'm a less advanced player, and would like to use book A.
Yes count me in, I'm a less advanced player, and would like to use book B.
Yes count me in, I'm an experienced player, and would like to use book A.
Yes count me in, I'm an experienced player, and would like to use book B.

**Jhui** · 03-24-2018, 01:21 PM

I am also also interested to join. I don't have have either book yet and i am fine with both.

**lawson-stone** · 03-24-2018, 02:53 PM

Originally Posted by MarkRhodes

All suggestions are welcome.

Yes, "On Guitar" starts with a "blues intro". It's either 72 or 84 measures long. That would be a lot to bite off in four-bar chunks, but if that's what we decide to do, then that's what we'll do. Or maybe just the first chorus to get our feet wet.

Or we might appreciate the solo and start posting the first examples from the book, which are shorter. The solo, or a chosen chorus or two of it, might be something we take on after we've worked on the "nuts and bolts" of the examples.

One thing I would like to see is a sharing of ideas about the right-hand and left-hand technique Joe mentions early in the book.

if we use On Guitar, I would suggest skipping directly to the "Harmonic families" section, maybe even for posting make the Example 10 the first posted "assignment." Some might need to go carefully over everything prior to that, others will move through Ex. 1-9 rather quickly, but we could set a date for Ex. 10 as a check-in. Then Ex. 11-19 are all short phrases culminating in the Major Etude of Ex. 20 which is about 48 measures. That big Etude, broken down maybe into 12 measure chunks (?) could be the next "posting" check in.

the minor7 "family" likewise has some short examples (21-29) then a longer one (30) then Ex. 33 is another extended Etude, a good "check in" point for posting.

Along the way, people could of course post anything they were doing in the book that they thought was fun or interesting or where they needed help or advice. But we could use the longer examples and extended Etudes as our main check-in points.

Just an idea, I'm in regardless of how we do it or even which book we use.

**Jazzstdnt** · 03-24-2018, 03:51 PM

Originally Posted by lawson-stone

if we use On Guitar, I would suggest skipping directly to the "Harmonic families" section, maybe even for posting make the Example 10 the first posted "assignment." Some might need to go carefully over everything prior to that, others will move through Ex. 1-9 rather quickly, but we could set a date for Ex. 10 as a check-in. Then Ex. 11-19 are all short phrases culminating in the Major Etude of Ex. 20 which is about 48 measures. That big Etude, broken down maybe into 12 measure chunks (?) could be the next "posting" check in.

the minor7 "family" likewise has some short examples (21-29) then a longer one (30) then Ex. 33 is another extended Etude, a good "check in" point for posting.

Along the way, people could of course post anything they were doing in the book that they thought was fun or interesting or where they needed help or advice. But we could use the longer examples and extended Etudes as our main check-in points.

Just an idea, I'm in regardless of how we do it or even which book we use.

Thanks for your contribution Lawson, this is what we need. Some ideas. The idea of "assignments" is great.

**Jehu** · 03-24-2018, 06:19 PM

I agree with Lawson's approach. I think if everyone has to learn the blues solo before we get into the meat and potatoes of the book, we're going to lose a lot of people right off the bat!

**TomVdV** · 03-31-2018, 07:27 AM

Hi,

I'm interested - though it should be the first time I'm doing this..
Currently I'm studying the Joe Pass Guitar Style, the rhythm changes solo on page 46.
I don't have the CD yet, but I just ordered it from the Carol Kaye website.
It's when I was surfing to find a place where I could order the CD that I ran across this site and thread.
Not knowing how a study group like this might work, I'm curious to contribute..

Grts
Tom

**Sandor** · 04-08-2018, 06:04 PM

I'm interested in doing this with the guitar style book. I've had it a long time but just started going through it again for fun after not practicing for a long time.

**Jhui** · 04-09-2018, 12:34 AM

Since both books have received support, do we need second thread or can we we do both in this thread?

**akamat** · 07-06-2018, 11:00 PM

I just got the guitar style. Does anyone have any advice on how to use it efficienctly. I've been playing jazz for a year but this looks intimidating. Thanks in advance!