I have found my ideal jazz teacher on YT

Danny1969

In a world of ultra polite generic Helix patching guitar teachers,  this guy is like a breath of fresh air. Someone completely real who literally doesn't give a fuck 

blobb

Great stuff. One finger per fret, you have a right hand as well as a left hand, learn where notes repeat themselves and finally link it all together. That's basically his lesson here and coincidentally was the first advice I was given when I started playing. Funny how accurate that turned out to be. Thanks for sharing.

greejn

Jimmy Bruno is great, check out his playing with Frank Vignola too.

joeW

Best dressing gown in the business.  What a dude. 

greejn

Youtube: Frank Vignola and Jimmy Bruno playing some blues in Bb.

Brad

Jimmy is the man. In the Buddy Rich Big Band at 19, playing with Sinatra or the session scene with Tommy Tedesco, that’s not even scratching the surface. He’s really done it all. 

I’d highly recommend the albums Sleight Of Hand, Burnin’ and Like That, with the late, but incredibly great Joey DeFrancesco. 

He’s the last of a dying breed is Jimmy. I could listen to him all day. 

susbemol

I think Jimmy Bruno is an incredible guitarist but I'm not sure about his teaching.

Maybe it's just me or where I was at the time musically as there are plenty of people out there that seem to really like his material.

I like his no bullshit approach and personality but I didn't find much of the content on his DVD (remember those?!) helpful or inspiring the last time I tried to study it many years ago.

There was some good stuff on it tbf but it was more the way he seemed to want to reinvent the wheel, wanting to use his own nomenclature for standard stuff (so scales are now "pitch collections", etc) which I felt was just odd and not very helpful.

Brad

susbemol said:

I think Jimmy Bruno is an incredible guitarist but I'm not sure about his teaching.

Maybe it's just me or where I was at the time musically as there are plenty of people out there that seem to really like his material.

I like his no bullshit approach and personality but I didn't find much of the content on his DVD (remember those?!) helpful or inspiring the last time I tried to study it many years ago.

There was some good stuff on it tbf but it was more the way he seemed to want to reinvent the wheel, wanting to use his own nomenclature for standard stuff (so scales are now "pitch collections", etc) which I felt was just odd and not very helpful.

That’s definitely a fair appraisal. I think as long as one has confidence in their own knowledge and playing, then it's easy enough to apply all the good stuff he offers, regardless of what he might call things or how he goes about explaining it.

But for those that maybe are still unsure of music, knowing the fretboard etc I can fully appreciate his approach (and manner ) being somewhat difficult to navigate. 

Blueingreen

One thing Bruno said that stuck with me, that he never felt he cut it as a top session guy because it wasn't a good fit for his talents - he made too many mistakes.  A reminder that even the top guys aren't necessarily good at everything.  Most of the top session guys probably couldn't touch Jimmy as a jazz player, but he wasn't as good as them at what they did either.

guitarjack66

Jimmy doesn't suffer fools gladly! He's a great player but I don't know how you'd learn much outside of him calling you all the useful barstewards under the sun for not knowing how to play every version of something like minor 6 sharp 5 on every string in every key without even thinking about it! He's nuts,but in a funny way.
He lost his wife not long back and must smoke about 200 cigarettes a day!

TimmyO

iirc @Jalapeno used to do his Artistworks (or similar) course some years back and may have a view here 

Jalapeno

He's very good teacher, but you have to buy in to his 5 fingerings method to follow what he's on about. He comes across as grumpy, but he's actually a lovely person 121 (I was in USA and had a couple of 121 lessons for free as I helped clear up his studio).  He had a spectacular falling out with ArtistWorks and went out on his own, that fell apart after he had a stroke (no need to rehearse all that again - nothing to do with his dexterity).  I'm currently signed up with Frank Vignola on Truefire since my hand surgery. Frank & Jimmy play in public pretty frequently.

Jimmy's method is anti-scales as a teaching approach (he clearly knows them inside out), pointing out that the greats NEVER used scales. He's more into tonal centres, ear training, learning the fretboard and his fingerings.  From there - arpeggios and inventing your own little melodies following the changes. I fell out of practice (bad hand arthritis & mild depression) and have forgotten half of what I learnt, but made a lot of progress following his curriculum.

The Fundamental Changes books are good, if a little addictive.

Jalapeno

Here's an explanation of his non-scale/mode approach

He illustrated it on his now defunct tuition site playing a Charlie Parker riff over a Dominant 7th, which had a Maj7th tone, and not as a passing tone.