Jamorama Guitar Learning Premium Package

Overview:

As featured in Guitar World magazine, Jamorama is basically a compilation of EBooks (in addition to mp3 and soon to be added video files) and Software combined into one easy to follow package.

The EBooks are divided into beginner, intermediate, and advanced sections that take the reader in a very well thoughtout progression through the very basics of the guitar like tuning, proper position and technique all the way to advanced chords and rythym variations. And every example in each EBook has an accompanying example in mp3 format. In addition to the ebooks and mp3 files, you also get some pretty cool software programs as a bonus.

NEW: I’ve just found out that there will be soon be video examples for the beginners book with videos to be added to the intermedite and advanced books soon after.

Positives:

The mp3 and video examples are an inavluable tool that accompany the ebooks that help the reader learn quickly and effectively. The Ebooks are well written and easy to follow with lots of different examples that go from easy to advanced in a progression that will not overwhelm beginners. By the time you’re done with the 3 ebooks you will know how to read music and be able to play fairly advanced rythyms and have a pretty good knowledge of chords all over the neck as well as soloing concepts.

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Negatives:

No real negatives other than the fact that if you’re an advanced player that already has a number of years of playing experience you might not find much new here. Intermediate players might also take caution as well as they might already be familiar with most of the concepts. Also the downloads are pretty big so make sure you have a high-speed connection otherwise it could take a few hours to download.

Summary:

Jamorama is highly recommended for beginning players who are looking to advance their chordal knowledge and soloing concepts. Intermediate and advanced players will probably be familiar with most of the concepts already, but intermediate players still might find some things here worthwhile.

The mp3 files and soon to be added video files that are available for immediate download overdeliver and are well worth it. And with new material being added on a regular basis with no additional costs you really can’t go wrong!

Rating: 9/10

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Guitar improvisation is a necessary aspect of playing as it will help you to master the various scales of lead guitar and helps you to play solo.

Guitar improvisation can be divided into several categories that include using scales like the blues scale, minor and major pentatonic and many others as well as applying techniques like bends and tapping etc. Most of the guitarists end up spending their entire life trying to learn how to solo using only one or two different scales.

Most guitarists use the 5th and 12th frets but then this is not improvisation. Guitar improvisation uses many more scales and the entire fretboard. The scales that can be used for guitar improvisation include: The Basic scales. There are mainly 5 basic scales that you as a lead guitarist should be able to play.

Learning the scales will help you in:
• Building strength so that your fingers can work independently on the fretboard
• Playing these scales will help you to train your ears in recognizing the basic note combinations
• You will be able to use various note choices for guitar improvisation as well as writing music

Once you are well-versed with the basic scales, you can move to the open position major scales.

Open position major scales

The open position major scales represent the 5 common keys for acoustic or electric guitar, which are C, G, D, A, E.

Minor pentatonic

The minor pentatonic is one of the major scales that is used extensively for guitar improvisation. It is also known as the king of all scales by many great guitarists of all times and they have been used repeatedly lead guitar improvisation. The minor pentatonic scale is also the most common scale used by rock, metal, alternative and blues bands. Penta stands for 5 and this means that there are 5 different notes in the minor pentatonic scale.

Blues scale

The blues scale is another major scale that is used extensively by blues guitarists. The blues scale is a type of minor pentatonic scale with an added note often called the blue note. This type of guitar improvisation helps in creating a little bit of tension that brings out the blues sound.

Major Scale Shapes

The major scale shapes should be studied by every lead guitarist as understanding it will help in guitar improvisation. This is also known as the CAGED scale system and is considered as one of the corner stones of understanding the guitar neck or fretboard.

Guitar and Rock music are inseparable and probably one of the main reasons for this is that most rock numbers or compositions have short or prolonger lead guitar solos. The lead guitar solos can be mastered by using different scales and guitar improvisation techniques like hybrid picking and legato technique.

There is such a huge variety of guitar improvisation techniques available that you can practice solos all your life and yet not find the end. It is infinite! One such guitar improvisation technique is called hybrid picking.

Hybrid picking can add an absolutely new dimension to the sound that is rendered by your lead guitar. This is a type of guitar improvisation technique that is most commonly used by guitarists in music genres or styles like blues, rock, country, bluegrass, and even jazz. One of guitar legends who has used hybrid picking very effectively is Stevie Ray Vaughan. He used it for rendering a solo in Lenny Here’s a small exercise in hybrid picking that you can try:

e-0--0--0--0--0--0-
b--1--1--1--1--1---
g------------------
d------------------
a------------------
E-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0—

You can increase the speed as you become comfortable with the above and move on to this:

e-0-0-0-0-0-0-0--0-0-0-
b----------------------
g----------------------
d-2-3-0-0-0-2-3-/5-5-0-
a----------------------
E----------------------

Hybrid picking is a guitar improvisation technique where you pick the guitar strings or chords using the fingers as well as the pick at the same time. The advantage is that you will be able to use your plectrum to play lead guitar that normally requires the fingerstyle mode of playing.

You will also be able to make wide string leaps like you can leap from the 5th string right to the 1st string, which can be quite a difficult exercise otherwise. To effectively use the hybrid picking guitar improvisation technique, you will need to your pick between your forefinger and thumb.

Legato Technique

The legato technique is another effective guitar improvisation technique that renders slurred notes quite similar to the notes rendered through hammer-on’s and pull-offs. Here is a small exercise that includes some kick ass legato licks:

e-----------5--7--8--7--5----------
b---------------------------8------
g----------------------------------
d----------------------------------
a----------------------------------
e----------------------------------

Legato guitar improvisation technique has been effectively used for solo performance by the likes of Joe Satriani, Alan Holdsworth, and Steve Vai. The above notes that form the legato technique will require you to hammer the notes without picking. You should ideally play this at 60bpm.