Introduction to Jazz Guitar with Rob Luft

Hi there! My name's Rob Luft. I'm a guitar player from London and I specialize in jazz music and its related genres, such as:

• World music
• High life from Africa
• Samba from Brazil
• Eastern European folk

I'm working on playing all different styles from across the globe. The reason I'm here is that I am the jazz tutor on this course. I'll be showing you a little bit about:

• Scar
• Samba
• Bossa Nova

My Background

I have been working professionally as a jazz musician on the London scene for nearly 10 years. I've had the privilege of playing with notable artists, including:

• Django Bates
• Gregory Porter
• Kerys Matthews

I grew up playing in the National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Great Britain. After that, I studied at the Royal Academy of Music in Baker Street.

Having graduated from the Royal Academy with several awards under my belt, I:

• Won second prize in the Montreux Jazz Festival's Jazz Guitar Competition in 2016.
• Enjoyed performances all over the world, touring across six continents, including South America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile) and Europe, performing my own original music to fantastic sellout audiences.

Currently, I'm lucky enough to be signed to Edition Records, Britain's flagship independent jazz label, where I have one album under my belt and I'm about to make the second.

Course Objectives

Now, the reason I'm here is not to just talk about my achievements. My role on this course is to guide you through the jazz pieces and show you how they will aid your approach and development as a professional guitarist.

Highlights of the Course

Here are some highlights on what to expect:

• Exploring Different Styles Under the Jazz Umbrella:
  • Jazz fusion: focusing on advanced picking techniques, alternate picking, right-hand techniques, and exotic scales.
  • Samba and Bossa Nova: working on fingerstyle technique.

There's a whole range of techniques I will be covering.

I encourage you to enjoy yourself, really work on this material, and to learn as much as you can.

Final Thoughts

So, on that note, let's get going! Let's have some fun, let's get practicing, and before you know it, you'll be playing some jazz!