Mike Dowling: Improvising Hot Lead Solos DVD

Mike Dowling: Improvising Hot Lead Solos DVD 90 min.

Lesson Two: Improvising Hot Lead Solos Infectious syncopations , hot soloing , lush chords....nothing captures the spirit of jazz better than swing. Mike Dowling has it down cold , and on this follow-up to "Swing Guitar: Rhythm's Where It's At ," he has put together a perfect lesson for any player interested in lead soloing and improvisation.

Mike"s clear instructional style is easy to follow , and you'll get great practice as you jam along with the rhythm parts he and David Hungate provide.

Starting at the beginning , Mike uses "Mary had a Little Lamb" to demonstrate how you can create a swing tune out of just about anything. He explains how to use chord shapes to give you the basis for moving around the neck , and how to take a basic melody and embellish it with arpeggios , riffs , pedal tones and other improvisational devices. Before long , you'll be calling it "Mary had a Swingin'Little Lamb!"

Mike gets further into the process with "C Jam Blues ," which teaches you to improvise around a short "riff ," or melodic passage in various positions on the fingerboard. He plays out the chord progression and then launches into some effective blues/jazz improvisations. A classic Hot Club riff leads you into Fats Waller's great swing standard "Honeysuckle Rose."

Duke EllingtonÕs "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain"t Got That Swing)" is a great vehicle for you to trade licks with Mike and Dave , and you'll learn how to play it anywhere on the fingerboard. "Raggin' It" moves through a typical ragtime progression with simple but effective ha rmonies that can work in any number of tunes. Finally , "Sweet Georgia Brown" wraps it all up with great chord changes , color tones , ragtime syncopations , and techniques that tie in all the elements you've learned on the lesson. Mike says that "true improvisation comes from a creative place deep in the player's imagination ," and on this video he gives you the tools you'll need to create and develop your own ideas , and swing along with the best of them.