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MontereyJacques

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bleuet

Hi all,

I live in France and am looking to buy my husband a few lessons with a teacher for Christmas. I heard about Romane's program but, like most other jazz manouche teachers/courses in France, it's not nearly close enough to where we live (most of the ones I've found are in Alsace or in the Paris region). We live in Carcassonne (in the south), and easily accessible cities would inlcude Toulouse and Montpellier (perhaps even Perpignan, depending on how often the lessons are).

Does anyone know of any teachers in the area? I am assuming that everyone on this forum reads English, but can post again in French if you think it would help....

Thanks in advance, and feel free to contact me by e-mail at <!-- e --><a href="mailto:preets@crookedpin.com">preets@crookedpin.com</a><!-- e --> if you have a suggestion.

P

czecko

MontereyJacques wrote:

Hey everyone,

It looks like Romane (Patrick Leguidcoq) has opened a new Gypsy Jazz School in France. It is a three year program, the first class will be in January 2007. Visit the website:

http://www.stage-romane.com/stage_romane/index.html

I can totally see him doing this and doing it well. He comes across as such a great instructor on his DVD.

Mario

Which DVD are you talking about? I know there is a rather old video (in b/w, as far as I know) of Romane teaching manouche guitar, but I believe it's in french, and hence of no use to me.

czecko

Mario wrote:

Which DVD are you talking about? I know there is a rather old video (in b/w, as far as I know) of Romane teaching manouche guitar, but I believe it's in french, and hence of no use to me.

This one.
https://shoppingcart.djangobooks.com/it ... e_dvd.html

It has english subtitles. I think German and Italian too.

Mario

Looks interesting enough, but is it worth the money? Is there something to be learned, or is it just Romane sitting around with a guitar and babbling away?

tommaso

Hi Mario,
the DVD is very interesting and useful. Of course it depends on how skilled you are in playing GJ, but, anyway, you can find arpeggios, diminuished scale, rest-stroke, sweep, rullement, chromatic runs, etc.
That are the basics to start playing GJ. There are the subtitles in italian and I suppose in other languages, depending on the country. There is also a booklet.
Romane is a good teacher and there is a lot of material to study.
I definetly suggest it.
Tommaso

Mario

Hi Tommaso,

thanks for all the info. I think I'll give it a try. I just wanted to know if it's worth the money. I have seen some training videos where the tutor just sits there with his guitar, doing stuff this way, but explaining it that way.
Along the lines of "I don't really know why and what I'm doing here, but it sounds good".

Never mind. Thanks again!

czecko

Mario,
I've mentioned this in another thread, but I'll repeat here: this DVD was the best resource I have seen so far on getting the right hand stuff worked out. I've had Michael's Picking book and I had been working on the rest stroke etc, but I just wasn't sure as I've spent many years in the rock realm doing the alternate picking thing. But this DVD allows you to see it in action and slow, doing examples that you can then repeat.

As Romane works through examples there are shots of the fretboard work, and then other angles of what the right hand is doing and how to execute the moves. I'm sure there are other DVDs that do this, but I haven't seen them. By having this DVD, I feel that I've got a really good grasp of how the right hand is supposed to work and for that alone I think it's worth the $$$. If you already have that down and are familiar with the basics of gypsy scales/arps then maybe you won't feel like you're learning anything new. But I feel it is a great beginner-type resource.

Cheers!

Mario

Well, this sound pretty good.

But regarding right-hand technique: Michael wrote in some thread that Romane plays with a locked forearm, and that his movement comes from the elbow, rather than the wrist. And really: after watching the 'Gypsy Jazz' film on Arte (very nice piece, by the way), just a few weeks ago, it became pretty obvious that his pick motion indeed comes from the elbow. Doesn't that somehow get in the way when trying to learn the proper technique from him?

czecko

Mario wrote:

Well, this sound pretty good.

But regarding right-hand technique: Michael wrote in some thread that Romane plays with a locked forearm, and that his movement comes from the elbow, rather than the wrist. And really: after watching the 'Gypsy Jazz' film on Arte (very nice piece, by the way), just a few weeks ago, it became pretty obvious that his pick motion indeed comes from the elbow. Doesn't that somehow get in the way when trying to learn the proper technique from him?

Well Michael obviously knows much more about this than I do. I didn't see that thread and don't know if it's viewed as detrimental to play like that. Romane seems to have a pretty stiff forearm when he plays, but in the lessons he advocates having a "supple" wrist and demonstrates the "shaking out the match" movement a few times. He also says to think of the right hand as a "small hammer" striking the strings and this image, when I think of it as I play, seems to bring out that "sound" I was looking for. I am nowhere near being 100% comfortable with it all the time, but it has made the movements feel more natural.