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2 Hour Lesson
Jack Marchewka - Phillips, WI
Doing more lessons with him...

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.

Great strings

Well balanced, easy to play strings with very good tone.

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Entrada Archtop Guitar
Erwin Kramer - Netherlands
A very happy guitar player...

For the last two decades or so I have been looking for a guitar with the following specs: thin body single cutaway jazz guitar, single pickup, good quality, good looks and above all affordable. I think I nailed it this time. I was browsing the web for the millionth time when I stumbled upon this site of Robert Conti. I immediately mailed them and they answered all my questions quickly and to the point. They even facilitated my indecisiveness on the bridge top: Gotoh T.O.M or compensated ebony. I got both. Since I live in The Netherlands, Europe I expected a long wait before I could hold the guitar I ordered in my hands. Not so. Shipped Monday and delivered Thursday! Thumbs up for both Conti Guitars and their shipping firm FedEx. I use the guitar already. Mr. Conti and his staff have made me a very happy guitar player indeed. This is stellar service. To be recommended!

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Gold Finger Tailpiece
Barry Sobrin - Ocean, NJ
Beautiful tailpiece

My brother has the Conti guitar which comes with this tailpiece. It is a really nice addition to any guitar, especially an archtop. I had to buy it for my upcoming custom made arch top!

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Vol. 2 - Ticket To Improv
Michel Boulet, Montreal
Ticket to improv 1-2-3-4

This is great stuff! I have been playing for a long time but I always felt a little stuck in the Jazz genre. These lessons are what I was looking for because they only imply earing and playing typical jazz sounds and making them your's so they can pop into your improvisations later on. There is no bettr way to learn and Robert Conti is a real champion teacher.

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Entrada Archtop Guitar
Elliott Seymour - Plano, TX USA
Everything you described it to be...

Robert, the Entrada is everything you described it to be in the personal video you sent — and more! It plays smoothly and the notes are clear and very sharp. My wife, Linda, likes the color of the guitar, and the look of the Gold Finger tailpiece. In your video you explained that the Gold Finger tailpiece contributes to the sound of this beautiful arch top as well as looking nice.

I have enjoyed my equity model for 10 years, and now I can continue that enjoyment with a lighter guitar around my neck.

I started my Conti journey with your Source Code and Ticket To Improv DVDs, and now I am improving my playing with the live private online lessons with Robert. Wow! Great instructional products, wonderful guitars, and the outstanding teaching of Robert Conti.

Thank you again, and God bless you.

T
The Formula
Tony Silber
The Formula

Amazing stuff- secrets unlocked!

Volume 3 – Ticket To Improv Review in JJG

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Robert Conti may well be the most successful jazz guitar teacher on the planet, and deservedly so. With over 31 instructional DVD’s ranging from absolute beginner to pro, Mr. Conti seems to barely finish one before his fans and students ask for more. While most other guitarists, including some of the finest players, are finding it difficult to maintain a student base, Mr. Conti has continued to attract more students with each release.

His highly successful Ticket To Improv series is Robert Conti’s introduction to jazz improvisation. The first two volumes set the tone for the series with high quality jazz lines that were well within the technical capabilities of most beginning jazz players. However, Mr. Conti’s success is a combination of his know-how and teaching skill combined with his intense interest in the needs and requests of his students. So when he was deluged with requests for material that was easier to play, and also for an introduction to jazz-blues improvisation, he combined the two into his latest DVD: Ticket To Improv Volume 3.

With Volume 3 Robert Conti continues to improve this outstanding series. If your approach to blues soloing is noodling with the pentatonic scale,then you need this DVD! As in the first two volumes, Mr. Conti presents several projects by playing a solo and then teaching it bar-by-bar. For Volume 3 this means three blues solos over different chord changes, from very basic to more complex. The chord progressions range from basic blues changes, to Miles Davis’ All Blues, and finally Herbie Hancock’s Watermelon Man. But although they are well worth the price of admission alone, these very cool lines and their explanations are only the beginning.

From the very first solo, Robert Conti emphasizes the usefulness of each line over different chord changes. He illustrates this by playing individual phrases over more and more complex chord progressions, showing that the inner motion that directs the lines over the basic chords functions equally well over a more elaborate progression. This should be both a revelation and a relief to those many players who feel intimidated by “jazz changes” for the blues. This alone should open up the possibilities for almost any beginning to intermediate improviser. Best of all, you can try these for yourself as the DVD includes the backing tracks as MIDI files so you can set the tempo that is comfortable for you. If MIDI is not your thing, the backing tracks are also included in MP3 format. All of the solos are included in PDF form with both notation and tablature, and the PDF also contains the different sets of changes for each solo.

If you have worked through one of Robert Conti’s other DVD’s, you know that he will often spontaneously come up with a brilliant tip that adds a new dimension to a line, a fingering, or a chord progression. In the past couple of DVD’s he has added a light bulb to the screen to make these insights easier to find again. For Ticket To Improv Volume 3 he goes even further by adding several sections after he has finished teaching the solo. These demonstrate the use of phrases over different chord progressions as well as ways to beef up your own comping. Another section gathers up tips and hints on varying the lines and creating your own style. After you have learned the solos, you will be coming back to these sections to learn fresh ways of varying them and creating your own style.

Those who have worked through one or both of the first two volumes of Ticket To Improv will find that some of the phrases from the earlier solos are given new shape to fit into these blues lines. This makes learning the new lines easier, and has the added advantage that your own modifications to the other lines will also work with the new blues material. Don’t be surprised by seeing light bulbs go off around the world as legions of students suddenly ‘get’ how to form their own blues lines over any chord progression. This is a powerful technique for accelerating learning.

Emblematic of Robert Conti’s love of teaching is his addition of a Bonus Jam to the DVD. After recording over 4 hours of video for the DVD, he let himself be gently coerced into adding one of his own blues songs, which he teaches in detail as well.

In short, this is a great learning resource for anyone who wants to improve their improvising with the blues. You get top-flight instruction on great lines over classic changes, all geared to make you play better. At over 4 hours of instruction, this DVD is a great value for a little money.

Highly recommended.

Reviewed by Dr. Dave Walker for Just Jazz Guitar Magazine

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