“Your course was exactly what I have been looking for. It was well structured with a ton of good material. I like that fact that we were given tunes to learn but also tools that allows me expand the lessons beyond the course tunes to others that I already know.”—Todd M.
“I’m really enjoying the course. The first time I’ve actually practiced an instrument in my 60 years!”—Skip H.
Register for Gypsy Swing Mandolin with Matt Flinner.
Get more info on other courses offered in Winter 2017.
Explore the wonderful world of Gypsy Swing on the mandolin from the comfort of your own home! Matt Flinner will lead you through the classic 1930s music of Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli and help you explore the fingerboard, learn new ways of playing chord progressions and help you acquire the tools you need to play and improvise in the Gypsy Jazz genre.
Each week, students will be given two tunes and a handful of exercises in scales, arpeggios, and/or chord inversions and chord movement, along with at least one transcribed Django Reinhardt solo from one of the two tunes. The goal will be to become more comfortable playing Gypsy Swing melodies and chord progressions, get better at improvising and ultimately get out and play this music with other people!
The course is intended for students at an intermediate to advanced level. The course will start out fairly easy (lower intermediate?), and will gradually progress to a more advanced level.
The course runs from January 4-March 11. Classes take place online on Wednesday evenings from 9-10 pm eastern time, and practice/review sessions take place on Saturdays from 12:15-1 pm eastern time.
The course fee is $200.
WEEK 1
A Couple of Basic Chord Progressions
Finding Chord Tones for the First Chord Changes in a Tune
A Couple of Chord Inversions
Sheik of Araby
Dinah
WEEK 2
Minor Scales: Dorian and Harmonic Minor
Minor Chords and Inversions
Starting Phrases on Chord Tones
Minor Swing
Swing 39
WEEK 3
The Circle of Fifths
Playing Dominant 7 Chords Around the Circle of Fifths
Playing Arpeggios Around the Circle of Fifths
Swing 42
Swinging with Django
WEEK 4
ii-V-Is
A Couple of ii-V-I Inversions
A Couple of Melodic Patterns
After You’ve Gone
Nuages
WEEK 5
Harmonic Minor Scales II
A Few Handy Harmonic Minor Licks
Caravan
Dark Eyes
WEEK 6
I-vi-ii-V-I Progressions
Finding Chord Tones on the I-vi-ii-V-I
Triplet Patterns
Daphne
Avalon
WEEK 7
Chromatic Chord Progressions
Chromatic Scales and Fingerings
More Triplet Ideas
Hungaria
Djangology
WEEK 8
IV-#IVdim-I-VI-II-V-I Turnarounds
Two Smooth Ways of Playing Turnarounds
Diminished Chord Shapes
Diminished Arpeggios
Django Rag
Django’s Tiger
Get more information on all courses offered in Winter 2017.
The View From Here
Walking on the Moon
Latitude
Music du jour
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Hello, Is this course material archived and available for purchase? This is exactly what I’m looking for as i delve into gypsy jazz. Thanks