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Exploring Jazz Violin part 1
HomeCoursesExploring Jazz Violin part 1
CourseViolinJazzIntermediate
Part ofViolin

Exploring Jazz Violin part 1

Chris Haigh

with

Chris Haigh

$13/month

Unlocks this course + 5,000+ other lessons across every instrument.

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Cancel anytime30-day refund

$13/month

Unlocks this course + 5,000+ other lessons across every instrument.

Subscribe to Watch
Cancel anytime30-day refund
Duration1h 54m
Modules26
LevelIntermediate
LanguageEnglish

Lesson Plan (1h 54m)

About this course

This course is based on the first part of Chris Haigh's best-selling book Exploring Jazz Violin, and will get you playing jazz violin and improvising.

Chris is a pro violinist based in the UK. He's played with the likes of Alison Moyet, Bob Geldof and Morcheeba. He's also a world-renowned fiddle expert and educator.

In his series of jazz violin lessons, Chris starts out showing you very easy ways to improvise, which he's perfected over years of teaching and workshops with classical and folk players who break out into a sweat at the mere thought of improvisation!

Chris will show you the basics of jazz violin playing and covers:

  • swing bowing
  • different types of scales and finger patterns
  • playing a head or melody
  • varying and developing a melody
  • using riffs or licks
  • using major pentatonic and blues scales
  • learning the styles of jazz violin greats such as Stephane Grappelli, Joe Venuti, Stuff Smith and Jean-Luc Ponty

Throughout the course, Chris will use several jazz melodies to demonstrate particular ideas, and the course comes with backing tracks so you can play along and try your own ideas and improvisation.

Basic course requirements:

  • Limited classical theory needed
  • No jazz theory needed

If you want to learn how to play jazz violin and improvise, this is the course for you. Explore more string courses on MusicGurus.

Who it's for

  • Classical violinists curious about improvising for the first time
  • Folk and fiddle players wanting to cross into jazz
  • Returning violinists ready to explore a new style

What you'll learn

  • Swing the bow so your playing sounds like jazz
  • Improvise simple solos over a 12-bar blues
  • Take a written melody and vary it on the fly

What you'll need

  • A violin and bow you are comfortable using
  • Basic note reading — no jazz theory required
  • A few minutes most days, regularity matters most

Meet the Guru

Chris Haigh

Meet the Guru

Chris Haigh

Chris Haigh has been a professional fiddle player for 25 years, with experience covering many different genres. He has played on over 75 albums, working with artists including Alison Moyet, Bob Geldof, All About Eve, Michael Ball, David Soul, Oumou Sangare, The Quireboys, Riverdance, Morcheeba, James Galway and Steps.

He has played swing jazz with The Kimbara Brothers, Diz Disley, Le Jazz, The Hot Club of London, and the Quecumbar Allstars, and leads a 7-piece Soviet swing band, The Kremlinaires.

Chris gives lessons and workshops on jazz violin technique and has taught jazz violin at Middlesex, Brunel and Newcastle universities and Truro College. His writing credits include nine fiddle books, among them The Fiddle Handbook.

He also runs Fiddling Around (fiddlingaround.co.uk), probably the most comprehensive and widely visited source of fiddle information on the web.

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Published with

Published with

Schott Music

Founded by Bernhard Schott in Mainz in 1770, Schott Music is one of Europe's oldest and largest music publishers, with a catalogue of more than 30,000 titles. Over its 250-year history Schott has issued first editions of Mozart, Beethoven and Wagner, championed 20th-century voices from Hindemith and Schoenberg to Ligeti and Henze, and today publishes sheet music, books and educational materials from offices in Mainz, London, New York, Tokyo and beyond.
View the Publisher page
Schott Music

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