Best gypsy jazz guitar course?

papajoe · November 2017

I’m thinking of enrolling in either Joscho Stephan’s Gypsy Guitar Academy or the Rosenberg Academy. Anyone have experience with them? Or is there something better out there?

richter4208 · November 2017

I'd recommend the Rosenberg Academy, I have a high level of respect for what they do and accomplish with this site. The quality and accuracy of the sheet music is worth it alone. Christiaan is a very accomplished transcriber! It really helps to have accurate transcriptions when you're trying to figure out these songs at first. After you learn a few tunes it is far easier and possibly less necessary, but that's only because you learned to play it the right way! Remember it's not just the player it's also the person putting the online site and lessons together

Jim Kaznosky · November 2017

"Best" is a relative term. Both of them work on the principle of presenting a song and playing some solos over the song form. Joscho typically shows the chords, heads, and solos in separate videos. RA typically shows the head (as Stochelo might approach it) and solos in his style. Both are good if this style of learning will help you improve.

papajoe · November 2017

Thanks for your comments. I am pretty disciplined in my practice routines and my self-teaching and have learned a lot through books, videos, in person workshops and jamming. I was thinking that an Academy would be a focused way to continue my Gypsy Jazz education. I’ve been doing GJ for 2 years and want to ramp things up. I have taken workshops with both Joscho Stephan and Stochelo Rosenberg/Christiaan van Hemert. Both their courses look good and I appreciate the input from anyone who’s taken them.

Jim Kaznosky · November 2017

There is more volume of material at Rosenberg and the solos that are transcribed typically have more choruses than what you might see at GGA. Additionally, Christiaan's notes in the transcription have good notes as to where particular phrases might be useful. GGA has its benefits as Joscho explains phrases one at a time. I don't want to endorse one or the other/

papajoe · November 2017

I appreciate that Jim. I just found some of your earlier comments on this subject on another thread. Since I can try Rosenberg for a month, I may just give that a test drive to see if it works for me. I do love Stochelo as a player and I’m more familiar with him than with Joscho. And some comments said that Stochelo’s site gives more theory which is also what I am looking for. I want to learn more than licks and solos but to understand why which licks are played where and why. Thanks again for your help

mazmonsters · November 2017

I was enrolled in Joscho's academy for nearly a year. It is a very good place to learn his solo's and some really fun tunes (Christmas songs, Hey Joe, etc.) however I felt that if you want to strive to be able to improvise and jam on your own, there was something missing from his theory approach. I have not taken any lessons via the Rosenberg Academy but it may offer more of the "theory" approach. I would highly recommend Yaakov Hotor's instructional courses. You pay for whichever one is of most interest to you vs. a monthly subscription but he goes into great depth to describe a lot of theory related stuff - which I found to help me progress as a well rounded player vs. being able to play songs note for note which do sound really great (Joscho's academy). A nice benefit is Yaakov encourages his students to upload videos of themselves playing so he can provide feedback. Joscho's course did not offer this option. Not sure if the Rosenberg Academy offers that option either.

papajoe · November 2017

Thanks Maz. That’s really helpful. I don’t want to just know what to play but why. I do want that theory. I know of Yaakov and heard some good things about his arpeggio course. I’ll check them out.

BluesBop Harry · November 2017

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Awesome!!

papajoe · November 2017

I ended up enrolling in the Rosenberg Academy. I'm a huge fan of Stochelo and of Christiaan van Hemert who curates the site. There's a huge amount of material to digest but it's presented in simple bite-sized chunks. I already feel improvement. I'll let you know how it's going in a few months