2 Hour Lesson

The world is filled with talented players who may not excel as teachers, and there are excellent teachers who may not be extraordinary players. However, we are fortunate to have Mr. Robert Conti, who is both an amazing player and a fantastic teacher.

I recently had my first Zoom class with Mr. Conti, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. He possesses a genuine passion for teaching, sharing knowledge, and witnessing progress. His approach is highly organized, providing PDFs and backing tracks during the class and thoroughly explaining each example.

While I own several of Mr. Conti's videos, the live experience takes it to another level. By the way, if you haven't yet acquired any of his videos, I strongly recommend doing so.

Furthermore, if you are serious about playing jazz guitar, I urge you to book a class and experience it for yourself. Not only is it immensely valuable on its own, but you also receive a video recording of the class, which proves to be incredibly useful.

Once again, Mr. Conti, thank you, and I look forward to our next class.

What I learned in my first lesson with Robert is that he is as energetic and friendly as he is in his DVDs. I’ve watched hours of the DVDs and it was a privilege to be able to personally converse, for two hours. Within the first 15 minutes, Robert watched me play and asked a few questions, and then had his tech email me three pages, which we spent the remainder of the lesson on. During the analysis of those pages, he answered the question I had not asked, which was how do I apply the Etudes from The Precision Technique and the few lines I learned in the Jazz Lines to a song. By focusing me on Green Dolphin Street, he answered this question and gave me some wonderful homework. The most important impact of the lesson though, was that Robert has helped me integrate and focus all of the skills and knowledge I’ve developed over the years into a direction that will allow me to improvise lines easily. Handing someone a scale book or a list or arpeggios to learn is like handing someone a fishing pole and walking off without telling them to thrown the line in the water. Robert wants you to land a big fish…tonight at the gig.

I thought it was about time to update my review of Robert and his teaching. All I can say is that it really works. However, one needs to put the time in to practice and getting comfortable with the neck. This is not a Vulcan mind-meld exercise. Robert can expertly guide you to success. Because of his teaching my gig schedule has increased and I am getting calls to sub. The poster attached is from a past gig. I have more coming but you get the idea.

Also attached is a recent video. I no longer worry about my improvisation skills when they point and tell me to play. Do yourself a favor and book it. Have fun playing...

Earlier this week I had the opportunity to do a 2-hour online lesson with Robert Conti.
Robert’s approach to teaching jazz guitar is to get you playing and that’s exactly what we did in our lesson. Just like his books and DVDs, there is a lot of information packed into a very small space. This can be deceiving, in my opinion, because it’s going to take time and effort on my part to learn and internalize the material. There aren’t any shortcuts.

The two hours went by quickly, and I look very much forward to doing more lessons with him. I also received a video of our lesson that day. As a teacher, Robert Conti was personable, patient, knowledgeable, and encouraging. As a side note, I really enjoyed his stories and look forward to hearing more in the future.

I just wanted to give a shout out to Robert Conti. I started taking lessons with Robert about 2 years ago and picked up a few tricks. I decided to get serious back in February and made a weekly appointment for a 2 hour lesson. It is the best musical investment that I have ever made. The progress has been amazing and his teaching style fits with the way I need to learn.

Robert teaches a no modes/no scales method...and he hates that I use the word “method”. Make no mistake though the guy knows his music theory. Not only does it sound good to your ear but he can explain at a Ph.D. level why it sounds good.

Do yourself a favor and take a lesson from the guy. I guarantee you will walk away with something new. Every week I have met with him save a few times when I was traveling and I walk away exhausted and energized.

He has completely changed my playing...for the good. He’s a rare combination of being a stellar player who can teach.

My first lesson with Robert Conti was playing right out of the chute. He asked me to play a couple of things to quickly evaluate my technique, and then we started playing jazz. Robert emailed a chart and a handout with 12 tasty licks that can be used forever in your repertoire. We worked on the first 4 licks together and then started applying them immediately into the chart he sent. He talked about what to think about when applying these licks over the chords and theoretically why they work over the chords. Also, how to use these phrases over more chords and why they work over those chords. He talked about my technique, the equipment I used (strings, picks, etc...) to get a great sound from my instrument, and lots about the music. Robert teaches in a studio with an assistant that plays chords and backing tracks as Robert demonstrates playing the stuff we're working on. This really helped save time and our workflow was quick and efficient in the lesson. About an hour after my lesson was over, he sent me the video of my entire lesson. This is invaluable! I, like most people, cannot remember everything that was said in a 2 hour lesson a week later. Now I have a great reference video to go back and watch Robert play and talk about what I'm working on. Robert has the online teaching game down! With great content, fast workflow, great knowledge and all the extras like the video file and handouts, this was one of the most professional online lessons I've ever taken.

Thanks for the lesson Robert! It was certainly an eye, mind and ear opener. I too enjoyed the lesson. Warm regards.