IntermediateViolinJazzBlues

Exploring Jazz Violin, by Chris Haigh

Name: Exploring Jazz Violin, by Chris Haigh
Brand: MusicGurus
Author: Chris Haigh

Chris Haigh

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Modules194

Replay songs51

InstrumentViolin

LanguageEnglish

Contents (194 modules, 51 replay)

- 01. Introduction
- 02. Starting Out
- 03. Jazz Violin Techniques
- 04. Different Approaches
- 05. Using the Backing Tracks
- 06. Using This Book
- 07. Practice Makes Perfect
- 01. 1: It Don’t Mean a Thing
- 02. Swing
- 03. Swingin’ the Scale (head)
- 04. Swingin’ the Scale (slurred pairs)
- 05. Playing a ‘Head’
- 06. The Form of the Tune
- 07. Head First (head)
- 08. Slides
- 09. Head First (with slides)
- 10. Vibrato
- 11. Improvisation on the Melody
- 12. Head First (rephrased)
- 13. Adding to the Melody
- 01. 2: Starting to Improvise
- 02. Come Home (head)
- 03. Riffs
- 04. How to Construct Your Own Licks
- 05. Come Home (scale fragments)
- 06. Starting from a Different Place
- 07. Bebop Scales
- 08. Playing by Ear
- 09. Snakes and Ladders (head)
- 10. Snakes and Ladders (solo version)
- 01. 3: Pentatonic Scales
- 02. Major Pentatonics
- 03. Pentatonic Riffs
- 04. Tonal Centres
- 05. Mind the Gap (head)
- 06. Pentatonic Patterns
- 07. Minor Pentatonics
- 08. Higher Positions
- 09. Mind the Gap (solo version)
- 10. The Glass Slippers (head)
- 11. The Glass Slippers (solo version)
- 12. Other Pentatonic Scales
- 01. 4: The Blues
- 02. The Blues Sequence
- 03. Finding the Blues
- 04. Head First (Blues Pentatonic version)
- 05. More Blue Notes
- 06. The Blues Scale
- 07. Pentatonic Blues or Blues Scale?
- 08. The Minor Blues
- 09. Repetition
- 10. Other Blues Sequences
- 01. 5: Chords Part I
- 02. What is a Chord?
- 03. Where do Chords Come From?
- 04. Understanding Chord Symbols
- 05. Chords Based on Degrees of the Major Scale
- 06. Dealing with Chords
- 07. Major / Major 7th
- 08. Minor 7th
- 09. 7th Chord
- 10. II-V-I Sequences
- 11. The Minor II-V-I
- 12. Temporary Dominants
- 13. Mind the Gap (Temporary Dominants)
- 01. 6: Chords Part II
- 02. Cycle of Fifths
- 03. Cycle Ride (head)
- 04. Cycle Ride (solo version)
- 05. Diminished Chords
- 06. Augmented Chords
- 07. m7b5 / 7b9
- 08. Sus Chords
- 09. Slash Chords
- 10. Playing Outside
- 11. Whole-tone Scales
- 01. 7: Masters of Swing
- 02. Joe Venuti
- 03. The Yodel
- 04. Double Stops (Joe Venuti)
- 05. Parallel 5ths
- 06. Harmonics
- 07. Jumpin’ with Joe
- 08. Stuff Smith
- 09. Double Stops (Stuff Smith)
- 10. Substitutions
- 11. Rhythm Changes
- 12. Other Swing Players
- 01. 8: Stéphane Grappelli
- 02. Grappelli’s Childhood
- 03. Grappelli Discovers Jazz
- 04. Formation of the Hot Club
- 05. Grappelli’s Playing Style (1934-9)
- 06. A New Vocabulary (1939-71)
- 07. Death of Django
- 08. Revival (1971 onwards)
- 09. Who’s on Piano?
- 10. Grappelli’s Playing Style (Post Hot Club – 1939 onwards)
- 11. Swing Parisienne (head)
- 12. Swing Parisienne (solo version)
- 01. 9: Running Wild
- 02. Jean-Luc Ponty
- 03. Ponty meets Zappa
- 04. Cosmic Messenger
- 05. Cosmic Voyager
- 06. Didier Lockwood
- 07. Didier’s Style
- 08. Whispers
- 09. Michal Urbaniak
- 10. L. Shankar
- 01. 10: Other Styles, Other Players
- 02. Gypsy Jazz
- 03. Gypsy-jazz players
- 04. Bebop
- 05. Bebop players
- 06. Modal Jazz
- 07. Dorian Grey (head)
- 08. Dorian Grey (solo version)
- 09. Free Jazz
- 10. Free-jazz players
- 11. Latin
- 12. Cuban effect on Latin music
- 13. The Clave
- 14. Brazilian effect on Latin music
- 01. 11: The Big Night
- 02. Can I Use Sheet Music?
- 03. The Key
- 04. Versions and Phrasing
- 05. Playing the Head
- 06. The Big Night (head)
- 07. Is there an Arrangement?
- 08. Learning the Chords
- 09. Analyzing the Chord Sequence
- 10. The Big Solo – when do I start?
- 11. Your Opening Gambit
- 12. Phrasing
- 13. The Punch Line
- 14. The Big Night (solo version)
- 01. 12: Final Thoughts
- 02. Gear
- 03. Suggested Listening
- 04. Bibliography / Suggested Reading
- 05. Track Listing
- 01. Fig 1.4 G major scale - swing quavers
- 02. Swingin the Scale (head)
- 03. Swingin the Scale (slurred pairs)
- 04. Head First (head)
- 05. Head First (with slides)
- 06. Downward slides (Fig 1.20)
- 07. Head First (rephrased)
- 08. Come Home (head)
- 09. Come Home (scale fragments)
- 10. Fig 2.31-2.33
- 11. Snakes and Ladders (head)
- 12. Snakes and Ladders (solo version)
- 13. Mind the Gap (head)
- 14. Two-bar vamp in G major (Fig 3.16)
- 15. E minor vamp (Fig 3.19)
- 16. Mind the Gap (solo version)
- 17. The Glass Slippers (head)
- 18. The Glass Slippers (solo version)
- 19. Fig 4.1 Basic blues in G - arpeggios
- 20. Fig 4.2 Blues boogie
- 21. Fig 4.3 Basic blues with double stops
- 22. Fig 4.4 Blues melody - minimal changes
- 23. Fig 4.12 Blues with repeating riff
- 24. Fig 4.13 Blues with transposing riff
- 25. Head First (Blues Pentatonic version)
- 26. Fig 4.31 Blues scale melody over major chords
- 27. Fig 4.34 E minor blues melody
- 28. Fig 4.38 Jazz blues
- 29. Fig 4.39 Bebop blues
- 30. Gmaj7 backing track (Track 38)
- 31. Am7 backing track (Track 39)
- 32. D7 backing track (Track 40)
- 33. II-V-I in G major (backing)
- 34. II-V-I in E minor (backing)
- 35. Mind the Gap (Temporary Dominants)
- 36. Cycle Ride (head)
- 37. Cycle Ride (solo version)
- 38. Fig 6.5 II-V-I phrase in every key
- 39. G diminished backing (Track 47)
- 40. G7 augmented (backing)
- 41. Fig 6.36 Blues with substitutions
- 42. Jumpin with Joe
- 43. Rhythm Changes
- 44. Swing Parisienne (head)
- 45. Swing Parisienne (solo version)
- 46. Cosmic Voyager
- 47. Whispers (head)
- 48. Dorian Grey (head)
- 49. Dorian Grey (solo version)
- 50. The Big Night (head)
- 51. The Big Night (solo version)

About this songbook

Jazz violin isn’t “just play what you feel” - it’s a language you can learn. Exploring Jazz Violin gives you the vocabulary, the grammar, and the feel, starting with how to make written notes actually swing, then building toward real improvisation with scales, riffs, blues language, and chord-based thinking.

You’ll work hands-on through swing bowing concepts like ghosted off-beats and tight articulation, then learn to shape melodies with slides, controlled vibrato, syncopation, passing notes, and ornaments. From there, Chris Haigh walks you into “safe” scale-based soloing, pentatonics, blues vocabulary, and eventually the essential jazz harmony toolkit: chord symbols, II-V-I movement, temporary dominants, cycle of fifths, diminished and augmented colors, and even “outside” approaches.

Along the way you’ll study classic and modern jazz-violin approaches (from swing masters to fusion voices) and learn tunes presented as heads and sample solos, with recorded demos and backing tracks so you can practice in a real band feel.

Start now: pick a chapter, press play, and turn each concept into something you can actually use the next time you improvise.

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Also available as a video course · Exploring Jazz Violin part 1

Exploring Jazz Violin part 1

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

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.

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