I'm a new Django student!

David Ortega · October 2014

Which are the books that you recommend for beginners?

jazzygtr · October 2014

Michael's book Gypsy Rhythm: http://www.djangobooks.com/Item/michael-horowitz-gyspy-rhythm-volume-1

I have been playing guitar and gigging for over 30 years, but just recently tried to commit to really getting comfortable with Gypsy Jazz. And although I'm drawn just to work on as many solos as possible, and as soon as possible, I'm really glad that I slowed down and bought this book. The rhythm and chord vocabulary is crucial in this music, and Michael's book is a great place to start.

I hope that helps.

David Ortega · October 2014

Thank you jazzgtr and stuart. I've been studying in Rosenberg's academy, which i think has helped me a lot, but sometimes i feel like I don't know what I'm doing. I've been playing the guitar for about 6 years, and I've been studying Django for about seven months. Recently I watched Romane's teaching lesson on Youtube that I think basically talks about scales, chords and Django's right hand. When I watched this video I felt like I got almost everything, so that's my level, I guess.
If you know Rosenberg's academy schedule, I know everything from the beginning until Les yeus noirs's lesson, and i'm beginning to study Daphne. I can't play these songs at the original speed, but that doesn't really matter to me right now because I know it takes a while to get to that point.

jazzygtr · October 2014

Sounds great. I think a good place to start when trying to determine what materials to choose is to determine what your next goals are. Personally I work best when I know where I'm trying to. That is why I ended up choosing Michael's book. Although I LOVE improvising and noodling over changes I started thinks "GJ, like much of the jazz community, has A LOT to do with community and or playing together. And NOBODY is going to want to hear me improvise non-stop at a jam session. So I thought "I want people to love the support I can and do provide while they are playing and/or improvising." And so Michael's book was really the best I could find to not only help me get the basic of backing someone in this genera, but it also does a good job at showing me how to build on and expand my rhythm playing with many different levels and variations of the same song.

So in summary I guess my point and question would "Now that you've done and put in some good work what are some of your next goals?" I knowing that might help you to determine, and allow others to better help suggest some good materials or resources to help you get from where you are to where you would like to go next.

Again, I hope that helps at least give one perspective or train of thought that I know tends to be a good thing for me

David Ortega · October 2014

Thank you both so much again.
I want to learn how to improvise too, is there anything that could help me with that? I know that I have to study the harmony from the chords of a song, but I want something else and not necessarily scales.

jonpowl · October 2014

I just got a used copy of Stephane Wrembel's Getting Into Gypsy Jazz Guitar. It is pretty inexpensive for today's instructional books, and gives you insights into soloing such as building motifs and stringing them into phrases. Wrembel suggests playing six fundamental patterns, 3 major and 3 minor, across the fretboard. Of course, SW explains it much better than I can, as he is a Berklee graduate, but it gives you ideas on organizing your solos. He gives you lots of arpeggios in various positions and shapes. He also suggests a warm up routine, covers chord voicings and accompaniment and includes a CD. $18.99 at Djangobooks.com. I also like Gonzalo's "How I Learned" Vols. 1 & 2 for learning about using arpeggios, scale notes and chromatics over chord changes.

David Ortega · October 2014

thank you jonpowl... I was looking for some videos where Michael Horowitz plays the guitar, and I haven't found any interesting in particular. I mean he doesn't call my attention at all. He doesn't sound original and his technique isn't great. Too much metronome. Can you guys send me a video where he really shows his stuff? I don't really want to buy his book until I get a good idea of his work.

jonpowl · October 2014

@DavidOrtega, I also really like Michael Horowitz' book Gypsy Picking, which is the essential book for right hand technique. I have Gypsy Rhythm, but it is so packed with info, it is almost a daunting task to tackle it. Some of the chords seem to need 7 fingers. I am working my way through it, albeit slowly. There are some internet videos that fulfill my need for instant "le pompe" gratification from Denis Chang, Renier Voet, Samy Daussat, Kevin Nolan and Finding the Elusive Gypsy Swing Rhythm, 6 examples from Django in June. Be careful, because there are probably more bad rhythm instruction videos on YouTube than good ones.

David Ortega · October 2014

Thank you jonpowl, but that doesn't mean that is one is any good either. Stuart I did watch those videos. I was looking for Dennis Chang on Youtube, and I didn't find anything interesting about him either. Furthermore, I have come to the conclusion that this forum is just marketing stuff. I'm sorry I wasted your time. I will find my answers myself.