Reflection on the Ted Quinlan Master Class December 2013, Waterloo Ontario Canada

Ted Quinlan is head of the guitar department at Humber College, which is Canada’s premier college to learn jazz.  One snowy Saturday afternoon in December Ted came to the Jazz Room to present a workshop on jazz guitar playing.  It was brilliant and I think we were all so impressed with his playing and passion to teach.

The workshop started simply enough, by me asking what Ted would would play over an Eb Minor7th chord?  And 90 minutes later he asked me if he had answered the question:)

Well, not only did he answer it, he went into such detail that here are my notes.  I sincerely hope you enjoy reading this, because it was truly a great place to be on that snowy afternoon!

“Pentatonic scales are very strong and colourful.  Perhaps my first go to sound and scale will be F Minor pentatonic as this is the Wes sound!”“Side-stepping is imposing other pentatonic scales to go outside.  Try experimenting with Bb Minor pentatonic or F Minor pentatonic and get a feel for how they sound.  You can even use other pentatonic scales and explore resolving them”

“Ultimately, it will be about creating a nice melody.  You can work off the original melody and as an exercise, try soloing with the original rhythms of the tune.  Of course don’t forget to know triads around the whole fretboard! Try experimenting with two-string triads.”

“Also, practice soloing on one string, because it forces you to think outside your patterns, which is always a good thing!

Record the chords and play only half notes over the progression.  Still create a listenable melody and work to keep yourself only on chord tones because this way, you will implant the progression into your head.”

“Have a library of riffs and licks, especially if you are new to jazz guitar playing.  Having a vocabulary means working with lines that are established in melody and rhythm.  When you feel comfortable, you can venture away from the riff and then simply come back to another riff you have memorized.  Do this in as many keys as possible.”

I will be asking Ted Quinlan to do a master class in Waterloo, this spring.  If you are interested, in performing, please contact me.

Stephen Zurakowsky

Artistic Director