Steve Giordano

Steve Giordano teaches an intermediate masterclass on ear development for the jazz player, emphasizing concepts that, in his opinion, don't get talked about enough in the instructional world. Steve prefers "ear experience" to ear training: rather than classroom solfege drills, he focuses on the listening skills that actually serve you on the bandstand. What's covered Pitch matching — connecting your mental ear to your voice, a fundamental skill that's rarely taught Chord-type recognition , beyond simple major-equals-happy, minor-equals-sad associations Why intervals learned against a static Do become harder to hear once the chords are moving Learning tunes by ear from records, and how that builds your musical ear over time Listening to yourself and the other players — sensitizing your ears for more interactive playing These concepts, although diatonic, will help you learn standards harmonically and open up sensitivities for more interactive playing experiences. Steve shares his own path along the way, from picking out Scotty Moore solos as a kid to a lifetime of learning by ear.

1 Hr - Private live video lesson with Steve Giordano.

Guitarist Steve Giordano shares his approach to reharmonization — one of the most sought-after yet complex subjects in modern music — through a complete three-part walk-through of his own re-harm treatment of the jazz standard Stella by Starlight . He covers the topic both philosophically and practically, from why we reharmonize at all to the specific choices in his arrangement. What's covered Part I: a full live performance of the reharmonized Stella by Starlight with trumpeter Bob Meashey, the duo interactively exploring the arrangement Part II — "Why Re-Harm?": Steve's thinking on reharmonization as a labor of love, why certain tunes invite harmonic treatment, and preserving the integrity and identity of a piece Why common devices — tritone substitutions, chromatic alteration, chord inversions — aren't formulas, and why knowing the tune from memory comes first Part III — "Aesthetic Choices": an in-depth walk-through of the piece, explaining each choice and how it relates to the original harmonies For players who want more than substitution tricks: a working musician's mentality for reharmonizing tunes you love while keeping them recognizable. The complete 3-part course is included.

Steve Giordano takes an in-depth look at accompanying other musicians — comping — in jazz. The goal is to free you up and broaden the common view of comping from role-playing and responsibility into an interactive, creative experience. The concepts aren't limited to guitarists; they apply to any instrument whose player isn't soloing at the moment. What's covered The use of space over time — implying the time rather than feeling responsible for creating it Voice leading, harmonic choices, and texturing Dynamics and fullness — why fullness is about relativity and well-placed space, not volume; mixing full chords, sparse chords, and silence Tempo variety and keeping the pulse internally (including foot-tapping on 2 and 4 in uptempo swing) Duo playing — resisting the urge to fill every space out of fear of emptiness Treating comping as just as creative and interactive as soloing — no toggle switch between rhythm and lead Included is a duo performance exemplifying these concepts. For any player who wants accompaniment to feel like real musical conversation rather than just getting through the changes. The class runs 72 minutes.

Guitarist Steve Giordano teaches you to use your voice — scat singing — to take control of your improvisation, so your guitar expresses what you actually hear instead of what your fingers know. The idea came from a gig where a vocalist who knew little theory sat in on a blues and played a more thematic, melodic solo than Steve's; scatting his ideas first opened up a deeper level of improvisation for him. What's covered Why so much of what guitarists play comes from the neck rather than the ear, and how to reverse that Hearing through a tune : anticipating harmonic changes intuitively instead of calculating from chord symbols Scatting your ideas and making the guitar follow your voice — no singing ability required Working through Blue Bossa as a simple vehicle, designed for interactive playing along with Steve A final reharmonization stage that opens up the stock changes without losing the integrity of the piece, with Steve explaining each choice to build your harmonic vocabulary Steve describes the level as intermediate to advanced. You'll come away with a direct connection between what you hear inside and what comes out of the instrument. The video is approximately 95 minutes in length.

Steve Giordano continues his Quality Practicing Jazz series, built around the questions his students have asked most often over many years of teaching. Part II digs into one of the big ones: "I'm tired of playing the same old voicings on a tune — how can I get out of feeling like I'm playing the same thing the same way all the time?" What's covered Why guitarists get stuck in the same comfortable stock voicings, and how to open things up Working through Days of Wine and Roses (Henry Mancini) as the vehicle — including the Bill Evans version that modulates from F to A-flat Letting the melody guide your voicing choices, like omitting the third so a sung or carried melody note adds the color Voice leading from chord to chord by moving one or two notes, rather than jumping to a new grip Pedal-point ideas: keeping a bass note under changing chords for an interesting texture Treatments vs. substitutions — like hearing a C triad as the upper structure of an E-flat 9 (sharp 11, 13) chord Adjusting choices to context: duo settings vs. playing with a bass player Like Part I, this isn't a pile of technical exercises — it's Steve's personal, non-dogmatic take on developing as a jazz player, delivered in his common-sense, sometimes humorous style. See also "Quality Practicing Jazz" Part I .

Steve Giordano tackles one of the hardest issues in a jazz artist's development: how to prioritize practice time. Drawing on the questions his students have asked most often over many years of teaching, this video offers Steve's personal, non-dogmatic take on developing the tools you need to grow as a jazz player — tips and suggestions that point toward inner self-development rather than technical exercise piles. Questions this class addresses How can I obtain better ears ? How can I get better time — especially when playing with other musicians? My solos suck — how can I play better solos? How can I get better chops, beyond just running exercises at fast tempos? I'm tired of the same old voicings — how do I find new chords and a freer sense of harmony? I'm glued to the page — how do I really memorize tunes ? Is transcribing necessary? How do I divide practice time between sight reading, my instrument, and theory? The content isn't traditional or crammed with technical exercises — it's common-sense oriented and sometimes humorous, even taking on "untouched" subjects like whether a jazz musician with perfect pitch has an advantage. Part I runs over 100 minutes, and every jazz musician, seasoned players included, will find something useful in it.

Steve Giordano's seventh master class is all about rhythm: the right-hand comping techniques — pick, fingers, and combinations of both — that he has developed over years of playing jazz, Brazilian, and funk styles. The 104-minute video is broken into segments, each opening with a short melodic improvisation in a given feel, followed by a detailed explanation of the rhythmic technique behind it. Styles covered Jazz waltz — swinging 3/4 comping, including the dotted-quarter polyrhythm for variation Samba at three tempos — basic, slow, and fast Brazilian feels, demonstrated on nylon-string guitar Swing — up-tempo, medium, and funky swing comping rhythms Ballad playing — Steve's fingerstyle approach to slow tunes Thinking like a drummer: coordination, feel, and keeping rhythms interesting without getting into chord voicings Demonstration tunes include "When Sonny Gets Blue" , "Triste" , "Satin Doll" , "Estate" , "Walkin' the Dos" , "Bluesette" , and Benny Golson's "Along Came Betty" . Included downloads: MP3 loops of each example to practice with or solo over, plus PDFs of all the chord changes used in the video. A practical class for any guitarist who wants stronger, more varied comping grooves.

Steve Giordano shares his most useful techniques for composing new music in this 90-minute masterclass. A lifelong improviser who came to composition late, Steve wanted to escape the diatonic predictability of standard changes without falling into cacophony — the same question he heard answered in the music of Joe Zawinul, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter, Debussy, and Ravel. What's covered Breaking out of the standard bebop ii-V-I framework without resorting to atonality or systems that feel disconnected Why Steve composes by ear and intuition rather than "theory permission" — no pre-designed time signature, genre, or instrumentation His guiding principle, "be a finder, not a searcher" : taking the idea that comes out of you and making it important Starting points: a melody alone, harmonies first, or sitting at a piano for a fresh perspective Beginning from silence — the meditative, solitary state Steve uses to start a piece The start of a composition created on the fly, which you're invited to continue or finish One of Steve's linear compositions and how he arrived at its creation Like all of Steve's videos, this one is open-ended — made to inspire musicians who are thinking about composing or stuck in a rut searching for new music within themselves. A PDF chart of the featured composition is included.

Steve Giordano teaches his soli over the Clifford Brown composition Joy Spring — a composed, chord-melody-style improvisation built on the tune's harmonic structure and form. A soli is most often heard in big band arrangements as a variation of the head, and although it follows the harmony of the piece, there is plenty of creative room for reharmonization. What's covered What a soli is and how composing one works on guitar Every voicing in the soli, spelled out interval by interval (6/9 chords, 7b9#11, minor 9ths, full diminished voicings, and more) How a single voicing can serve more than one harmonic function Substitutions, tritone equivalents, delayed resolutions, and chromatic passing chords Handling the tune's modulation to G flat Using dissonance and inversions to make inner melodic lines stand out Steve strongly suggests learning Joy Spring first to fully follow the harmonic treatment. Creating a soli is a great way to grow your harmonic vocabulary and develop fluidity in spontaneous chord soloing. Included in the class The 50 minute video A PDF chart of the soli in notation and chord symbols A PDF of the original chart of Joy Spring