Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

Great lesson with a student today

today I had an hour lesson with a student who just got drafted to play guitar in “Cry me a River” for an all-star ensemble at his High School. We went over the chart, then I took him to YOUTUBE to hear Joe Pass and Ella Fitzgerald perform the song (wow). Then we had a 25 minute discussion and played around with diminished chord shapes, and we discussed tri-tone substitutions. We finished up by applying two neighboring CAGED shapes for soloing purposes… I left the lessons today VERY satisfied. This kid I teach is fearless.

My question from today’s lesson is aimed at those of you who have been in the bluegrass world longer than I (I have been working on my Bluegrass chops for only few years) Does any of the Jazz world filter its way into our Bluegrass world? I seem to remember one of Ben’s sisters (you know - the red-headed one…) talk about some cool jazz-like chord patterns.

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It depends on how you define “bluegrass.” And how you define “jazz.”
The jazz world certainly filters into the playing of Tony Rice, Bela Fleck, Tony Trishka, Sam Bush, Jens Kruger and a bunch of other players.
Even Earl Scruggs threw in some 1940’s jazz licks from time to time. But Earl didn’t play “bluegrass.” He said he played “country” music.

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good answer!!! thank you!