Reviews

Worldwide Students Speak

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This IS the guitar of one’s dreams…

First, the punch line: After a month I’ve concluded that this guitar is not a substitute, surrogate, or compromise for that more expensive jazz box that one longs for and cannot afford. This IS the guitar of one’s dreams.

I’ll be as brief as I can. I have many guitars. But no real jazz guitars. I don’t play much jazz, but sometimes want to go there, and somehow my .strandberg* just isn’t right. I try to stay away from retail stores because there is ALWAYS something that catches my eye. But, I needed a set of strings and since I was near a store, I stopped by. As usual, I looked at used wall. There was nothing interesting. Walk away. Quickly. But… what’s that? Needing a ladder to get to it, there was a red wine archtop high on the wall. Conti? What’s a Conti? I’d never heard of them. I suspected that it was some Asian product, à la Cort (Nothing wrong with Cort. I believe they made my .strandberg*.) I found someone to get it down and I played for three minutes. I was meeting someone for lunch in fifteen minutes so I had no time to play much. I put it back.

It was two weeks before I was back in that neighborhood. In that time I did some research and if you are reading this, you’ve done the same and I won’t bore you with the details of Robert Conti’s business model to bypass the middleman. None of his guitars would be sold in stores. No distributors. Instead, he sells direct to player. He asks his prospects to trust that the guitar he gives them will make them exceptionally happy. That’s a big ask. You can’t play one to see if you like it.

Armed with this information and with more time set aside I went back to the store. While every other Conti customer needed to muster faith to buy, I had the luxury of actually playing one. The model is Equity, discontinued after the first production contract ended. The guitar played well and seemed well taken care of, 99% brand new. There were very few scratches, no dings. I copied the serial number and went home.

I went back to the Conti website but could find no serial number reference, nor a support page, but I could chat online with Steve. I asked about the serial number, and he told me the guitar was built in 2013. He also said that from what he knew of the previous owner, it should have been well taken care of. Wow. Steve told me the guitar was solid wood, not laminate. He asked me about the price and told me it was a very good deal. So, I went back the next day and bought it.

The next day I cleaned it and changed strings. It was clean but needed a little detailing. The cleaning process brought me closer to the instrument (LOL the truss rod cover on the headstock still had it’s original protective plastic covering). At every turn I was surprised and impressed by the build.

I love this guitar and I consider myself lucky to have it.

T
The Formula
Tancredo Netto - Brazil
I think it is the best

I think you are the only one that explains the magic of chord melody! I admire Conti's method, I think it is the best, a hands on approach and at the same time it teaches the way professionals play. Like we Brazilians say, he doesn't only give the fish, he teaches to fish! I love jazz standards and I hope I will study a lot with Conti's help!! Thank you very much! It's a pleasure for me to recommend a very good teacher and Conti is one!!!

Will re-energize my daily practice routine.

Robert is an entertaining and competent instructor with a wide range of past real-playing experience of the bandstand. Mike provided tech support and sent ZOOM setup instructions before the lesson to avoid wasting time on video-audio snags.

Robert took a few minutes at the start of the ZOOM lesson to review my personal history, music experience, and to assess my technical skills. He came well prepared for my lesson (3 handout documents) with a focus on improvisation, as requested. He “tuned” this first lesson to my level of interest and playing ability.

His approach to improvisation is direct, different, and perhaps unique. He presents a down-to-earth focus on fingering the fretboard rather than using a theoretical approach of pairing various scales/modes to each chord in a progression, one at a time.

Robert demonstrated the wide application of major scale riffs to a surprisingly wide range of chords built from the major scale. This simplification avoid overthinking (my bad habit) which creates lock-up, anxiety, and lag when suddenly called upon to solo on the jazz bandstand. He played these riffs over backing tracks “live” that he called out to Mike who played the audio files on-demand. Both Robert and Mike were attentive to my music lesson. Robert concluded the lesson with additional tips and a clear assignment and challenge to be completed before a future lesson.

To conclude, the “hands-on” Conti method avoids over-complicating the improvisation process and it will re-energize my daily practice routine.

Video Comments

See attached video for Lee's comments

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A brilliant approach

The Precision Techniques has helped me hone my technique tremendously and like every Robert Conti Book with CD it is extremely practical and gets you running in the real world playing while mastering the theory as you go so it is extremely efficient and all-encompassing and frankly, better than the dozens of books and classes that I’ve tried. It is a brilliant approach.

Robert's teaching approach stands out

It was a pleasure to spend the two hours with Robert and I must also thank you for the technical assistance and making sure everything went smoothly - I know it’s a team effort on your end.

As for my comments on the lesson : Robert gave me plenty to think about and I’ll be putting the ideas into practice in the woodshed. It was particularly enlightening to hear how he approaches improvisation over certain chord changes and this is something I look forward to picking his brains about in future sessions too on other standards. Roberts teaching approach is something that stands out - he has a way of making you feel comfortable and engaged whilst also being very to the point. I particularly appreciated that he didn’t waste precious time just having me play things over and over as from experience a lot of ‘teachers’ seem to do that instead using the time to impart as much advise and information they can on the student - often a means to get more money out of students and not give too much away in terms of valuable information. As Robert said - he’s not here to teach someone how to play, he’s there to show you what to play and why etc. this is exactly what I need. He had me play the lines to get them under my fingers and ensure I understood the concepts and knew that I am to take them away to practice in my own time. This allowed Robert to use all the time available to feed me more and more ideas and pearls of wisdom.

I will most certainly be booking another lesson after I’ve got some more practice in as there are many more things I’d like to ask Robert and certainly a lot for me to learn!

Best and most efficient way to learn jazz guitar

So much easier for me to practice and learn all of the valuable information Robert has shared on these videos! This is without question the best and most efficient way to learn jazz guitar and I plan on ordering more around Thanksgiving! I totally stand behind Mr. Conti's teaching methods 100 percent as they really work! He truly understands what he is talking about and knows how to teach it to others in the most comprehensive and applicable ways possible! It also helps that he is one of the best Jazz guitarists I have ever heard!

Intros, Endings, Turnarounds

$29.95

Throughout his career, numerous guitarists frequently ask Robert the following questions: “How do you create all those interesting intros and endings?”  “What is all that great stuff you’re playing between songs?” This title contains a truckload of professional, ready-to-use intros, endings and turnarounds for your chord melody arrangements.

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Streaming Video Options (Info About Streaming Video)

Description

Overview Video

Throughout his career, numerous guitarists frequently ask Robert the following questions regarding his intros, endings & turnarounds:

  • “How do you create all those interesting intros and endings?”
  • “What is all that great stuff you’re playing between songs?”

In response, Robert published the original version of Intros, Endings & Turnarounds book which contained a truck load of professional, ready-to-use intros, endings and turnarounds.  Each of those ideas are presented with the chord grid above every note for ease of playing, especially for those who do not read notation. Tablature is also included where necessary for single notes.

Robert raises the bar on high value education with the addition of this 4 hour DVD where he visually demonstrates all 100 of those musical ideas.  Each idea is quickly accessible as a chapter on the DVD for easy reference.  As if that was not enough, he added a substantial amount of new content in the “Quick Start” section that precedes the original body of data. This section contains another 23 musical ideas designed to essentially jump start your creative process!  After you’ve learned just a few ideas presented in this package, you’ll begin to discover opportunities to reshape them into brand new concepts.

Intros, Endings & Turnarounds Includes:

  • Full size 8.5″ x 11″ Booklet
  • 4 Hour DVD with each intro/ending/turnaround in its own chapter.
  • Quick Start chapter containing 23 new ideas to jump-start your creativity
  • 100 ready-to-use intros, endings & turnarounds
  • Easy to read chord grids for every note
  • Tablature wherever necessary

Customer Reviews

Based on 23 reviews
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w
william clark
Real world material !!

Giving me tons of ideals, great stuff
Conti. Is the real deal

Thanks for the nice comments William; 'the real deal' - like that one!!

D
David Skinner
Lives up to its claims!

This course gives you several ways to play a maj 7 arpeggio pattern at light speed in multiple places on the fingerboard, with commentary on how to move the patterns around to fit the tonal center of the underlying chord progression. For me this method is highly preferable to learning the arpeggio for a handful of chords and then not know how to string them together or what chords they work over. Conti’s method addresses all the theory issues of improvisation without boring the student with the details. You come away with fiery licks right off the bat. Fun, and effective.

R
Raymond Mahoski
best work yet

have a number of your teaching books, but this is the best yet that I've ever had keep up the good work of teaching this way,
Please anyone out there that cant make up your mind, Please get the works NOW!!!

D
David Klausner - Cocoa, FL
A new "light bulb" goes on...

I'm kind of working on all of my Robert Conti products. Every so often, I go back and review the material and I always find something I've missed and a new "light bulb" goes on. The "hands-on", play the instrument approach definitely works the best for me! Thanks for a great learning resource!

R
Richard Hamblett - Rochester, NY
Most beneficial I have ever known...

With the purchase of “Intros Endings and Turnarounds” I now have acquired the full “Source Code” DVD series. As well as all four of the “Ticket to Impov” series. The quality of your products and service has been some of the best I have ever experienced.  I am a long time guitar player. Your products have been the most beneficial I have ever known. A world class player showing you how to play, I mean play, not spend countless hours on figuring out what scale or what mode to play over what chord is priceless. And, I mean priceless. I click on iRealPro and I’m off. You can’t put a price on that.

B
Brad Beer - Indianapolis, IN
highly recommend these three books...

"The Chord Melody Assembly Line" in an excellent primer on formulating one's own chord melody arrangements.  "The Formula" and "Intros, Endings & Turnarounds" really expanded my horizons. I highly recommend these three books to anyone who would not only like to learn how to formulate chord melody arrangements but also learn numerous possibilities!

J
Janice Chlebus - Fayetteville, NC
A blessing to my husband...

I wish you could have been here when my husband opened the package. He is now in his practice room and I doubt I will see him for a few hours. Thanks, I have been replaced by a Conti DVD! Again, you have been a blessing to my husband and your military protector.

Streaming Video Option

DVDs are now available in an affordable, instantly available streaming video format. Videos may be watched on any device with an internet connection. Printable PDF download file is included.

Upon clicking the Streaming Video Options button, you will be directed to a checkout with two options:

  1. Streaming + PDF
  2. Streaming + PDF + Ship DVD

Note: You will be asked to create an account at checkout. The account to access your streaming video purchases is different than your RobertConti.com account. Please view our FAQ for additional information.

Now available

up to 30% off

limited group of studio & prototype entradas

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black friday sale Details

Take advantage of this great opportunity to save big on the most effective jazz guitar learning resources on the planet – as verified by nearly 5000 reviews.

Through November 30, 2023, use coupon code BFCM23 at checkout (be sure to click the apply button!) to save 30% on all learning resources, both shipped and streaming. Please note that Conti Guitars are not included in this sale event, but we still have a couple of the heavily discounted Entrada prototypes available!