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très bonne et belle guitare

idéale pour le jazz, on a l'impression de la connaître depuis toujours, peu de réglages à faire, vraiment facile à prendre en main, action basse, beau sustain, ne pas hésiter à l'acquérir..

Comparable to the xxx priced over $7,000

Robert, thanks for the time you spent with my new guitar. I really like what you played, and the introduction to the instrument is really appreciated. The guitar arrived today and it is simply beautiful. Fit and finish outstanding. It really sounds good and plays amazing. Tone through my Fishman Loudbox 100 with all EQ at 12:00 is classic, and with a very nice slight edge. The combination of design and sonic engineering on the tail piece is genius on both counts. A beautiful instrument. My mandolin and 000 model guitar are lifetime instruments, and out of the box the Conti immediately earned the same designation. I’ll be leaving this to a child or grandchild.

I think a comparison to xxx and xxx is certain to find the Conti on top. I think it is very favorably comparable to the xxx priced over $7,000. My very nice L5 copy is going on the market soon. I doubt I’ll play it again except on the way out the door. Thanks for everything. My wife likes the tone and noticed the tailpiece.

And yes, Beverly listened to it and was highly complimentary. She also noticed and commented on the tailpiece. We have been married 35 years, and she has put up with a lot. I’m a lucky guy.

In summary, “Wow. Just Wow.”

*xxx=Loar, Eastman, Collings

-David Martin – Santa Fe, New Mexico

P.S. I am working with the Chord Melody Assembly Line course and like what I see. With the meds and back recovery, it’s a bit hard to practice more than 10 minutes at a time, but the logic of the approach is appealing.

By far the easiest and most enjoyable to play

Review Translated From French to English:

Guitar delivered to Var, France, in just one week after ordering, without any damage or unpleasant surprises.

It only took a few days for me to get used to it. I adjusted it to my liking, removed the pickguard for aesthetic reasons since I play without a pick, and put on flat wound strings that I am accustomed to using.

I own several guitars, and this one is by far the easiest and most enjoyable to play, especially for jazz. Very low action, fast neck, surprising sustain, beautiful aesthetics, and lightweight - you can play it at home without an amplifier.

The exclusivity of the marketing made me apprehensive about buying a guitar online from the USA without trying it, but I am convinced that I made a good choice and hope to keep it for a long time.

The guitar was accompanied by a very informative video from Mr. Conti. If you want a beautiful guitar, don't hesitate to do as I did (I want to emphasize that this comment is free from any commercial interest on my part.)

P
Entrada Archtop Guitar
Peppino Bianco - Chicago, IL
Finest guitar I’ve played in all the years…

My Conti Entrada archtop will most likely be the finest guitar I’ve played in all the years I’ve been playing. Left handed guitars are a scarce commodity; I’ve had my Gibsons, D’Angelicos, Epiphones, etc etc,… but NONE play better than my Robert Conti Entrada right out of the box, I’ve never set it up – it’s “perfect” as it is. No need to get technical, I’m just enjoying to play it.

Grazii mille mille signore Conti! Ottima chitarra questa è! (Thank you very much Mr. Conti! This is a great guitar!)

R
Comin' On Strong! (1990)
Rod Fernandez - Newcastle, Australia
Not only an awesome player, but a great teacher!

I had the luck of coming across a video of Robert playing at one of the NAMM events which instantly got my attention. His speed, agility and great note choices. I started searching for anything I could find about him and first found the Conti line of guitars, beautiful! That led me to his instructional materials; I looked all through them and started watching the preview videos and realised - this guy speaks my language. I bought The Jazz Lines which instantly opened a bunch of musical doors that I thought I’d never be able to walk through as I’m also an auto-didact. Everything started to become clear with his “nuts and bolts” method of communicating. This purchase was followed by Chord Melody Assembly Line, The Formula and The Just Jazz Guitar arrangements.
Thanks to what I’m learning from Robert Conti, I’m preparing to start doing solo Jazz Guitar gigs, something I never would’ve dreamed of doing previously despite my 30+ years of playing professionally.
I want to thank Robert for putting me on the path to realise my dream of becoming a Hard Bop player.
Rod Fernandez

Custom made guitar with your tailpiece

My brother and I each bought one of these gold finger tailpieces from you recently. This is a custom made guitar and I’m proud of it with your tailpiece; they are really hardware!

High level instruction, low level apprentice.

Have a big debt with Mr. Conti and his methods. After 35 years I find a method that has exactly what I want, the way I think it is adequate for me. Unfortunately, I don't find it earlier and now with my age, all things look more difficult. But I persevere and I'm sure it will give the result I want.. Thank you Mr. Conti.

Ticket To Improv, Volume 4 Review in Just Jazz Guitar Magazine

Ticket To Improv, Vol. 4 Review in Just Jazz Guitar Magazine
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By Dr. Dave Walker for Just Jazz Guitar Magazine - August 2012 Issue

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. If so, then Robert Conti must feel very flattered these days because he seems to have scores of imitators who have just “discovered” the value of teaching without modes or scales. Not that I have anything against teaching with the best methods available, or changing course when you find something better, but let’s give credit where it’s due. I’ve seen Robert Conti abused for decades for daring to teach lines instead of scales and modes, so I think a little appreciation for his pioneering work is in order.

And speaking of pioneering teaching, Robert Conti’s Ticket To Improv series has been a goldmine for guitarists wanting to learn jazz soloing. Ticket To Improv Volume Four returns to the formats of the first two volumes with solos for 4 of the most beloved and requested  jazz standards ever written:

  • Days of Wine and Roses
  • Bluesette
  • Wave
  • Bonus: Georgia On My Mind

Ever attentive to his student/customers’ requests, Mr. Conti gave us the best introduction to jazz blues that I have seen or heard with Volume 3 of this great series, and now he returns to soloing over these new tunes with renewed vigor and invention. These truly are solos that you can “take to the gig” and they will amaze your friends as much as they impress your audience. When I review any learning product I work through it, and I have to tell you that I always look forward to a DVD from Robert Conti. I always learn and lot and have a blast doing it.

Chris Shearer Improvises Over Days of Wine and Roses

This DVD represents a great bargain. Beyond learning four outstanding jazz solos, you get real-world playing tips from a master who really remembers what it was like struggling to learn to improvise. Robert Conti’s on-going comments are more than worth the price of the DVD, even without the solos. There is more useful information here than most teachers would pass on in months of lessons.

The solo lines themselves are miniature works of art, and these are only “beginner” lines insofar as speed is concerned; as Robert Conti demonstrates, taken at speed or with a few embellishments any of the sections of any of the solos would be more than welcome on a professional recording. These are not exercises, they are music.

A very clever touch is the use of variations of motives used in the previous Ticket To Improv volumes, making each one an incremental learning resource. Devices such as extended chromatic passing note motions and extended chord tone arpeggios reappear in new tunes over different chord progressions, modeling for the learner the inner workings of Mr. Conti’s deep knowledge of improvisation. While you do not need to have worked through any of the previous volumes to learn this one, those who have will find their knowledge and confidence growing at an even greater rate. It’s almost as if Robert Conti is tricking you into becoming a much better improviser by having so much fun.

Wave is another great solo and one that departs from the standard 32-bar format which adds even more variety to the material here. Once again this solo is “entry level” in that any guitar player with basic technique will be able to master it, but in any other sense it is truly “pro level.” Mr. Conti demonstrates this on a few phrases here, and I can corroborate what he says. I’ve actually slowed down some of his recordings and many of those lines are found in the solos on the Ticket To Improv series, at slower tempos and in some cases slightly simplified. In fact, many of the “off the sheet” tips that Robert Conti provides are ways to take these lines to the next level while developing your own personal style. Quite a “bonus”!

"Robert, I just wanted to thank you for putting all the patterns together, and providing a desperately needed "jump-start" to my single line soloing. After years of books and lessons, I finally am developing a platform for pulling it all together. Much gratitude for your guidance and looking forward to accomplishing more with continued work on your DVDs. Best wishes to you."
Rick Leichman
Mt. Mourne, North Carolina

For those who may not know, when discussing improving speed and accuracy Mr. Conti refers in passing very quickly to “another DVD” – this is his The Precision Technique, which I highly recommend to anyone wanting to improve both speed and accuracy in their playing. Of course, you don’t need blinding speed for these solos since they sound very good at almost any tempo. Bluesette is a nice addition that will give you some experience soloing in 3/4, which sometimes gives the impression of going faster than the actual tempo since the bars are shorter.

Another great bonus of this DVD is the ways that earlier motives are re-used to fit over different chords and progressions. This not only demonstrates how to adapt these lines yourself; it also gives you insight into how Mr. Conti himself views the guitar neck and how he can improvise at such blazing speed. A related point is how to change positions smoothly and how to use the entire neck, rather than being handcuffed to a single position.

This actually gave me a moment of concern when I first worked through Georgia On My Mind. This is one of my favorite tunes, and I had been hoping to see it on a volume of Ticket To Improv, but when I saw that it was the Bonus Project – one that would consist of sections of the previous solos re-purposed – I was a bit worried that the solo might not be of the same level as the others. I need not have worried! This might be the finest of the solos, and it certainly does justice to this great song with a solo that anybody would be proud to play in concert. It is just as valuable as a lesson on taking parts of lines and reworking them over similar (and even some not so similar) chord progressions. If you can take musical phrases from Wave and Bluesette and play them over Georgia, you are well on your way to being able to solo over virtually any standard.

Never one to put his name on another’s work, Robert Conti is scrupulous in giving credit to guitarists from whom he has learned ideas, licks, tricks, and techniques, greats such as Howard Roberts, Pat Martino, George Benson, and Wes Montgomery to name just four. However, the goal here, as in all of Robert Conti’s teaching products, is for you to develop your own style, and to sound like yourself, not a copy of anyone else.

I highly recommend this DVD to anyone who wants to learn to improvise better and to have great fun while doing just that.
Order Here: Ticket To Improv, Vol 4

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2 thoughts on “Ticket To Improv, Volume 4 Review in Just Jazz Guitar Magazine”

    • Jason, you are definitely welcome. By now you know that you have one of the very finest products for learning to improvise jazz. Coincidentally, I was trying to post to my own blog about the whole TTI series when the power went out. It seems that the whole area I live in is a flood zone and internet service and power is spotty, but when we’re back up fully I’ll be talking about the whole series. I’m glad you found this first!

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