Improv Soloing Blueprint

National Flatpicking Champion Tyler Grant shows you how to achieve guitar soloing fluency

You know their names: Jerry Garcia, Duane Allman, Dickey Betts, Carlos Santana and others. You might even have slept underneath the stars at one of their concerts. They’re masters of the guitar jam, able to integrate elements of rock, blues, jazz, and roots into solos that seem effortless.

You can achieve the same ease of playing as those jam band heroes.

In this course, you’ll learn the different styles of some of the great jam band players in history while improving your knowledge of modes and scales up and down the fretboard. By the end of the 26 lessons, you’ll feel more connected to the music, playing from your heart instead of with your head. Learn more or start the course with membership

Course Details
26 Lessons
10 Hour+ Runtime
Tabs (gpx, pdf)
Playalong Tracks
HD+ Video
90 day guarantee
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The JamPlay Learning System

Like every JamPlay course, Jamming In A Jam Band features world-class instruction and a dynamic learning system to help you succeed quickly.

It's not just videos, and not just downloads. You'll get:

  • Interactive tabs, notation, and fretboard
  • JamTracks for play along practice
  • Ask-a-teacher functionality
  • Speed up, slow down and loop the video
  • Bookmark exact moments in the lesson
  • Note-taking feature
  • 4k video with multiple camera angles
  • Track progress with the progress report
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Lessons

This is a full, 10+ hour course featuring 26 step-by-step lessons with full supplemental content.

4k & 1080p

Course filmed with 6 cameras and stream in awesome 4k video quality and downloadable in 1080p.

Interactive Tabs

Tabs powered by Soundslice, the powerful interactive tab software, working natively in your browser.

JamTracks

Download and play along with custom JamTracks to lock in the concepts. Own them for life.

Practice Help

Know what to practice after each lesson with guided suggestions, tabs, jamtracks and more.

Tabs & GPX

Download all tabs and notation in PDF and Guitar Pro formats. Download and own them for life!

Scale & Mode Fluency

The roadmap to fretboard understanding

  • Major Scale
  • 7 Modes
  • Altered Modes

Advanced Technique Fluency

Unlock the technique you to make your instrument sing

  • Blues and chromatic soloing
  • Slide guitar
  • Picking hand techniques

Stylistic Fluency

Take inspiration from the greats of the genre

  • Jerry Garcia
  • Carlos Santana
  • Duane Allman

Meet Tyler Grant

Tyler Grant is a National Flatpicking Champion and internationally recognized guitar virtuoso, songwriter, vocalist, producer, and leader of the band Grant Farm'. Tyler has appeared at most major US festivals and performed thousands of concerts and guitar workshops worldwide. He has produced four solo albums and four releases by Grant Farm for his own Grant Central Records.

Tyler graduated from California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in 2000 with a Bachelor's degree in Guitar Performance. From 2005 through 2010 Tyler made hundreds of appearances across the country as a member of the Drew Emmitt Band and the Emmitt-Nershi Band, featuring the frontmen from two of the world's most popular Jam Bands: Leftover Salmon and the String Cheese Incident.

He lives in Fort Collins, Colorado, where he writes music, enjoys the outdoors, teaches, records for Grant Central Records, and maintains family life amidst his busy touring and performing schedule.

Learn the Jam Band style of guitar

Over 10 hours of material spanning 25 lessons, equipped with tabs, JamTracks and guided practice sessions

Explore the theory, techniques and stylistic adornments to help you play more like the greats of the Jam Band genre.

This course is for the intermediate guitar player who knows a variety of chords, strumming patterns, and maybe a scale or two—but wants to work on something fresh and exciting to elevate their playing. Tyler explores the must-know scales and theory, delves deep into the techniques that make this genre distinct, and explores the stylistic flair of the Jam Band greats.

This course offers 26 lessons covering 10+ hours of material in step-by-step, digestible presentation.

Lessons in this Course
1

Course Introduction

This lesson is a primer on how this course is going to work.

3:00 Runtime

0.0 Difficulty

2

C Major Scale All Across the Fretboard, Part 1

In this first method to gain fluency, Tyler shows you how to connect the C major scale up and down the next using Closed Positions (the CAGED system).

37:22 Runtime

1.5 Difficulty

3

C Major Scale All Across the Fretboard, Part 2

Tyler calls this next approach “3 Notes Per String” where he uses stretch fingering to explore seven patterns of the C major scale.

52:18 Runtime

2.0 Difficulty

4

Wandering Through the Modes - Ionian and Aeolian

Tyler builds on the material of the previous two lessons by introducing the Ionian and Aeolian modes to help you tap into the “wandering” style of Jam Bands.

28:02 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

5

Wandering Through the Modes - Mixolydian and Dorian

Continuing the “wandering” style, Tyler explores the Mixolydian and Dorian modes and teaches you a quick pneumonic device to remember the names of all the modes.!

15:15 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

6

Melodic Improv over Chord Changes (Short Phrases)

In this lesson, Tyler will point out some of the similarities between the Jam Band and Jazz styles of playing. He then covers some basic 3-note phrases, while mapping out how to move them up the neck to help you get from point A to B.

16:54 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

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7

Melodic Improv over Chord Changes (Longer Phrases)

Ok it's time to step it up a notch! Let's take the phrases that we learned in the previous lesson and extend them to 5-note phrases while combining them with other scales and modes in order to target specific notes within a chord.

18:04 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

8

Incorporating Blues into the Wandering Guitar Style, Part 1

Time to add a touch of the Blues! You'll start out by reviewing some common blues scales before learning how to incorporate them into the wandering guitar style. Tyler will then discuss perfecting the tonality of your notes, which is as equally important as the notes themselves!

9:57 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

9

Incorporating Blues into the Wandering Guitar Style, Part 2

Alright let's stay on task and cover how to incorporate the A minor scale, commonly known as "The Blues Scale", into the wandering guitar style.

8:31 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

10

Solo in the Style of Dickey Betts (Allman Brothers Band)

Dickey Betts is one half of the famous Allman Brothers lead section. In this lesson your will learn how to apply some of his style to your leads.

36:44 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

11

Solo in the Style of Duane Allman (Allman Brothers Band)

Duane Allman is a jam band legend, and his distinctive style has informed many players. Here Tyler will help you capture what is unique about Allman's lead playing and give you ideas to take into your own improvisations.

34:55 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

12

Slide Solo in the Style of Duane Allman (Standard Tuning)

Duane Allman was also known for his slide playing. In this lesson, Tyler will show you how to incorporate Duane's slide style into standard tuning.

40:51 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

13

Incorporating Chromatic Passing Tones into the Wandering Guitar Style

Use all the notes! This lesson goes beyond diatonic notes and scales to explore passing tones; the notes between the scale tones. This will give your playing extra depth and spice!

43:59 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

14

Lower Neighbors and Side-Stepping Licks

Sidestep those scale notes and say hi to the neighbors! Chromatic notes are great to use as passing tones in your lead playing to spice things up and go outside of the box. In this lesson, Tyler shows you some some licks that use those tones to give you more lead guitar ideas.

48:34 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

15

Solo in the Style of Jerry Garcia

Obviously, no course on Jam Bands would be complete without an examination of the style of Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead. This lesson focuses in on the soloing style of Jerry. Join Tyler as he explores the details of what made Jerry sound like Jerry, from unique bends to chromatic runs!

35:07 Runtime

3.5 Difficulty

16

Rhythm Style of Jerry Garcia (Grateful Dead)

Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir famously complemented each other in their rhythm guitar styles. In order to learn more about this musical relationship, Tyler will first show you some exercises focused on the rhythm styles of Jerry Garcia.

30:59 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

17

Rhythm Style of Bob Weir (Grateful Dead)

To further understand the rhythm guitar styles of the Grateful Dead, we need to learn how Bob Weir's guitar locked in with Jerry Garcia. So in this lesson Tyler goes over several rhythm styles that you might hear from Bob and practices them with you.

31:31 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

18

Wandering Through the Modes - Lydian and Phrygian

Modal playing will open up new worlds for you in how you jam. In this lesson, Tyler examines two modes commonly used by the Grateful Dead, the Lydian and Phrygian, and gives you some exercises to develop a feel for these sounds.

20:11 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

19

Garcia Style Solo with Envelope Filter

The envelope filter is an effect that lends a voice-like quality to your playing, and was often used by Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead. Join Tyler for this very expressive solo and learn the ins and outs of the envelope filter!

25:45 Runtime

3.5 Difficulty

20

Picking Hand Techniques

Lets dive into some more technique in the wandering style. In this lesson, Tyler discusses various picking hand techniques and ideas to help you out.

12:26 Runtime

1.5 Difficulty

21

Altered Modes - Harmonic Minor

In this lesson, Tyler explores some of the more exotic sounds found in the Jam Band genre; two modes from the harmonic minor scale.

39:49 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

22

Solo in the Style of Carlos Santana

In lesson 22 Tyler offers up a solo study in the style of Carlos Santana.

14:47 Runtime

3.5 Difficulty

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23

Solo in the Style of Trey Anastasio

Next up is a solo study in the style of Phish guitarist and lead vocalist Trey Anastasio.

16:00 Runtime

3.5 Difficulty

24

Solo in the Style of Warren Haynes

Let's take another look at a jam band guitarist in lesson 24. This time we're profiling the style of Warren Haynes.

15:55 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

25

Changing the Rhythm in Subtle Ways

As Tyler begins to wrap up the series, he discusses rhythms and how to change them subtly to convey further movement and avoid sounding repetitious.

8:35 Runtime

2.0 Difficulty

26

Freeform Wandering

In this final lesson of the series, Tyler puts it all together and provides some ideas on freely performing in what he calls the wandering style.

6:17 Runtime

2.0 Difficulty