Hi

I'm a guitarist from the UK. I first got into the guitar when I was about 20 years old after playing the drums for about five years first. I was mostly inspired to play the guitar by Eric Clapton playing with Cream and the Jimi Hendrix Experience.

Although I still enjoy playing so called 'Chicago Blues' or blues rock or whatever, for some while now, I've been starting to get a little bored of the same old riffs and licks. I've got to be honest about this—I don't like heavy metal at all. I can't stand it. I really hate it with a vengeance. That's why in a way my guitar playing has stagnated, because all the more technical guitarists these days, seem to be shredders and play heavy metal, which I'm not into.

Anyway, I've started to get into people like Robben Ford, Larry Carlton, Mike Stern, John Scofield etc etc. I guess I'm headed in a jazz/fusion/blues/funk sort of direction for want of a better word/phrase. I feel that studying jazz will ultimately give me the best command of the fingerboard and melody and harmony which I can then apply to other types of music which are not pure jazz.

I've started to read music on guitar, because I think TAB has got its limitations in terms of syncopation/rhythm although it's useful as a fingerboard reference sometimes. Really for me, music notation is the way to go, then I can access the vast library of books and easily get at the information contained in them. Also, it will be good when I want to direct flute players and trumpet players etc etc at my local jazz jam and get them to play the heads I compose.

Cheers

Simon

Welcome to GMC! It's a great website and community is very friendly! You will find a lot of interesting material here!

Welcome to GMC man !I hope that you will be active on the forum !

Welcome!! I follow David Walliman on YouTube and he has gotten into fusion as of late he says.

Big shout out to the UK! Learning to read music is certainly worth doing. Being able to reach charts/sheet music, etc. can really come in handy.

Todd

Welcome Simon

Yeah, TAB is useful up to a point, but it's only useful if you know the song or piece in question, wheras with notation you get the whole lot.

Hi friend! Welcome to the site! Here you will find a lot of lessons and useful information to add more fusion and jazz to your playing. Don't miss Alex Feather's Vchat sessions! He has been covering Greg Howe style yesterday and the lesson has been very good!
Enjoy GMC!

Hey Simon and welcome!! I'm a guitarist from Portland Oregon with fairly similar interests, although I personally don't "hate" metal.... I just lean heavily towards playing jazz, funk and other styles and listen mainly to jazz.

That said, have you ever checked out Soulive (guitarist Eric Krasno), The Greyboy Allstars, Grant Green or Melvin Sparks? I headed into jazz through the "funk" door, which allowed me to use plenty of the pentatonic/rock/blues knowledge I already had. Of course, I ultimately would love to see the whole fretboard as intervals and really lock into a pure technical understanding, mixed with a fat bag of jazz tricks/riffs/arpeggios.... but it's always nice to mix the learning, with direct application as well.

There are some great jazz lesson vids here at GMC. I'd encourage you to check out some of Stephane's lessons, including a recent "John Scofield Lesson" which is really awesome.

-Gabe Rodriguez

Hey Simon welcome to GMC! Start exploring and enjoy the goodies around here the v-chats are pretty popular - check out the front page at the bottom for a full schedule - my session is happening each Thursday at 8 PM London time I'd be honored to have you as a guest, man!

Also, if you'd like, check out Cosmin's Licks Workshop if you want to learn new licks, from various music styles and difficulty levels!

And don't shy away from asking anything you wish to know, we're here for ya!

Cosmin

Hi and welcome SImon! Great to have you here, enjoy your stay and ask if you need anything!

Hey Simon, welcome to the site! Check out some of Stephane's lessons, he has some nice smooth chops in your style. You can also find notation & tabs along with the lessons. I think it's great that you can read notes.