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Entrada Archtop Guitar
Scott Tarulli
Berklee Professor Reviews Lefty Entrada

See Attached Video Review by Scott Tarulli of Boston, MA

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Vol. 4 - Ticket To Improv
gerald mckinnon
volume four

Super excellent

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The Jazz Lines
Jack Marchewka
Just getting started

Worked though the first two lessons of the Jazz Lines book (more to go), but it opened a door for me. I’ve come to understand there is a difference between theory and harmony. This is about learning harmony. If you want to play jazz learn harmony.

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Vol. 4 Wave
Mike Sanders - Las Vegas, NV
One of Conti's Best Solo Lessons

All of the Robert Conti DVDs are top-notch, but this one takes the cake. He takes what some consider to be a harmonically complex tune and breaks it done into the simplest of terms. From here, the viewer is taken through the lesson a few measures at a time, with each concept explained in detail and with care. Once you have the lesson under your hands, you not only have an impressive solo but an increased vocabulary of lines to use on other songs and a better understanding of how to approve improvisation over any song. Great fun and well worth the effort. If you are new to improvisation, I recommend learning from a few of Conti’s “Ticket to Improv” DVDs first as you will internalize the lesson much faster and have a greater understanding of the concepts presented.

Preferred Gauge Strings

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Preferred Gauge Strings
Jack Marchewka
My choice of strings

For my Entradas. These strings came with my Entradas so I’m sticking with them. Live the wound 3rd string. Great tone and playability!

Chord Melody at Its Best!

This is a great DVD to start building your chord melody repertoire. Mr. Conti walks you thru the classic “Since I Fell for You” and provides you with several ways to approach the tune using a series of different chordal harmonic arrangements. Besides learning to play the song several different ways, Mr. Conti is at the ready with his famous “Off the Sheet” tips. These are items that not part of the regular lesson plan, but are sure to help take your chord melody playing to an even higher level. Of the Chord Melody arrangements, this is my personal favorite, but after finishing the DVD, I purchased ALL the other Chord Melody DVDs as I was so inspired to learn more.

Conti treats small audience to major performance

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Some guitarists make beautiful music.  Others are great technicians.  But combining dexterity with a feel for jazz makes Robert Conti a rare player.  Conti and his new band performed at All That Jazz Friday and Saturday nights.  The Friday evening performance, consisting of two hour-long sets, was a display of guitar playing at its best.  How fast is Conti?

If he was a typist, he’d be reaching the 250-300 words a minute mark.  If he could move knitting needles that fast, he’d be able to make a giraffe a turtle neck sweater in less than a couple of hours.  If he were to play any faster, they’d have to invent a new musical notation to describe the sound.  The fluidity of his technique is what is so amazing.  Just as you think he couldn’t possibly make a more intricate run, his left hand dazzles the strings and caresses the ear.

From the first ripping run at the start of the show opener, Lover Man, until he bid his guests goodnight, Conti served a tasty brand of standards mixed with a new sound.  Shadow Of Your Smile, which he performed twice during the evening, was especially effective.  For fast players, the upbeat, quick-paced songs are a natural.  It’s when that style is coupled with a contrasting tempo that the true artistry is revealed.

While the ballads received a softer touch, they were not simply a chance for Conti to catch his breath.  Each guitar interlude contained a full portion of music.  Conti’s band, which includes drummer, Jeff Tippins, Steve Saracson on keyboards, and bass player Troy Millard, is a group of young men ready to blend their ideas of jazz with those of Conti.  They had to master all the youthful zeal they could to keep up with this master guitarist on some numbers. The experimentation in sound at times felt out of place.  The keyboards occasionally tended to blast through the guitar parts.  During the Conti composition, Latin Love Affair, the exotic synthesizer was almost overbearing.  It sounded as though someone was in the back of the room playing a video game.  The band closed the first set with Rotation.  Conti opened the stage a bit to allow his group to stretch.  It hinted of what was to come.

After a lengthy, hour-long break, Conti returned with a bouncy and light version of Mr. Wonderful.  All the players got a chance to show their stuff during Green Dolphin Street and Millard was featured in the medley of Four Brothers and Donna Lee.  Millard, who studied under Conti at one time, played a rather melodic bass during the medley.  His solos were interesting in that he’d make a pass, stop, make another run, stop again and go for the finale.  Each solo segment built up on the one that preceded it.

The familiar melody of Flying Home was put into high gear.  Conti picked up the tempo without rushing the performance.  The same was true for the encore number, Secret Love.  Players of Conti’s caliber are too precious a commodity to ignore.  The small gathering of less than 100 people over the course of Friday evening saw a giant of a performer in a small venue.  The chance to see such talent in an intimate setting in Jacksonville is almost as rare as the number of people who possess that kind of talent in the first place.

By Dan MacDonald, Music Writer
The Florida Times Union

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