# Alex Skolnick's Rockhouse Jazz DVD



## Xiphos68 (Feb 23, 2010)

Finally it's here!!!

Love his heritages.


----------



## kung_fu (Feb 23, 2010)

I found this clip a few weeks back. I was looking forward to this but I must say, i'm a bit underwhelmed with what i've seen so far. Still beter than 99% of rockhouse dvds though (still waiting on the vernon reid dvd). Is there a list of topics covered anywhere on the net for the skol dvd?


----------



## Xiphos68 (Feb 23, 2010)

kung_fu said:


> I found this clip a few weeks back. I was looking forward to this but I must say, i'm a bit underwhelmed with what i've seen so far. Still beter than 99% of rockhouse dvds though (still waiting on the vernon reid dvd). Is there a list of topics covered anywhere on the net for the skol dvd?


I'm not sure but I can check for ya and see what I can find.

Vernon Reid?


----------



## kung_fu (Feb 23, 2010)

Xiphos68 said:


> Vernon Reid?



the guitar player from living colour


----------



## Xiphos68 (Feb 23, 2010)

kung_fu said:


> the guitar player from living colour


Ah yes. He's good love the "Cult of Personality solo."

Riff is awesome too.

Couldn't find anything on the DVD really. Looked everywhere even his blog.


----------



## ShadyDavey (Feb 24, 2010)

Great player - I've liked Alex for years so I wonder how much information he'll actually try and cover. Checking the site out reveals very little information unfortunately...


----------



## Xiphos68 (Feb 24, 2010)

ShadyDavey said:


> Great player - I've liked Alex for years so I wonder how much information he'll actually try and cover. Checking the site out reveals very little information unfortunately...


Yeah it doesn't say to much about it. Hopefully it will be Jazz chord progressions, arpeggios, and maybe some other of his bag of tricks.

I know he will also be doing a metal dvd too. Now I can't wait for that!


----------



## ArtDecade (Feb 24, 2010)

Hmmmm.... There doesn't seem to be much Testament in this vid! Ha. I love Alex. He is a great player. He made me want to shred in the 80s and he helped me branch into jazz in the 90s.


----------



## Xiphos68 (Feb 24, 2010)

ArtDecade said:


> Hmmmm.... There doesn't seem to be much Testament in this vid! Ha. I love Alex. He is a great player. He made me want to shred in the 80s and he helped me branch into jazz in the 90s.


 I wasn't in the 90's but he got me into it.


----------



## ArtDecade (Feb 25, 2010)

You were missing out, mate! Good times... Good times!


----------



## Xiphos68 (Feb 25, 2010)

ArtDecade said:


> You were missing out, mate! Good times... Good times!




I was just born that year!


----------



## ShadyDavey (Feb 25, 2010)

Alex Skolnick's Jazz Arrangement of Kiss' "Detroit Rock City," Part 2 - Guitar World

Detroit Rock City - Skolnick style


----------



## Xiphos68 (Feb 25, 2010)

ShadyDavey said:


> Alex Skolnick's Jazz Arrangement of Kiss' "Detroit Rock City," Part 2 - Guitar World
> 
> Detroit Rock City - Skolnick style


He does a awesome job with that song!


----------



## AngelVivaldi (Feb 25, 2010)

Alex's one of my faves- his playing has always been incredibly tasteful and melodic.


----------



## Xiphos68 (Feb 25, 2010)

AngelVivaldi said:


> Alex's one of my faves- his playing has always been incredibly tasteful and melodic.


His solos are very


----------



## jjjsssxxx (Apr 26, 2010)

ShadyDavey said:


> Alex Skolnick's Jazz Arrangement of Kiss' "Detroit Rock City," Part 2 - Guitar World
> 
> Detroit Rock City - Skolnick style



anybody know where part 1 is?


----------



## Xiphos68 (Apr 26, 2010)

Neal said:


> anybody know where part 1 is?


I couldn't find it. So they probably haven't posted it on GW.


----------



## Xiphos68 (May 17, 2010)

This is going to be a great box set! Live performances and over 40 lessons and interviews. 
Can't wait to see it!


----------



## AvantGuardian (Oct 26, 2010)

Sorry for the minor necro-bump on this thread, but I figured I'd add my two cents since I've been working through these DVDs for a couple of weeks now. I have to say, I'm really pleased with how its going so far. I've only really worked through the first of three discs, but I've watched a lot of the second disc and looked ahead in the tab ebook to see what else is coming up on the third disc.

I've tried to learn jazz in the past on so many occassions and I've gotten to the point where I know a lot of my jazz chords and can get by playing rhythm guitar, but I suck at jazz soloing. The idea of "playing the changes" makes sense in my head but it all just happens so fast that I can never find the right arpeggios or patterns in real time.

The whole first disc really focuses on playing jazzy arpeggio-based ideas over a 12 bar blues. This is excellent because you only have three different chords to play over. As the disc goes on, the lead parts get more complex and Alex introduces the VI-ii-V-I turnaround.

From what I've seen on the second disc, it moves to ii-V-I progressions and does the same thing: arpeggio-based leads that gradually get harder and introduce new concepts (non-chord notes, anticipation, chromaticism, etc.). Disc three appears to cover more rhythm/chordal ideas and it looks like some chord melody type stuff too. Not sure how in depth those parts are though.

Overall, I really like the gradual approach of learning to play the changes by starting with a blues progression and slowly adding more complexities. Its a lot less overwhelming than past lessons/books I've tried which seemed more like "here are million new chords and arpeggio patterns to memorize. Oh, and forget everything you know from playing rock, it doesn't apply here." I'm now able to improvise some pretty convincing jazzy licks over the blues and over major ii-V-I progressions after just a couple of weeks. I'd recommend this DVD set to a rock guitarist looking for a nice primer on jazz guitar. It costs less than one guitar lesson and should give you a couple of months worth of practice material if you take it slow and really try to digest the material as you go. I think the "learn a million jazz chords and arpeggios" kind of books would be a good expansion of the things you learn in these DVDs and would probably be a good investment after getting through these discs.


----------

