Truefire

Mark Stefani, a top-notch solo guitar player with a pedigree a mile long, is also one of the most prolific and well-rounded guitar instructors we have the pleasure of working with. Mark's recent TrueFire course, Jazzed Blues, remains at the top of our charts and his monthly lessons always rank in the top ten. Chord Melody Cafe, an interactive video course, focuses solely on chord melody for intermediate to advanced and pro players.

Back in the early 40's, blues and jazz were pretty much synonymous. The big bands were exciting audiences with their new stomping jump blues performances, which Billboard recommended for "hepsters who go for swing and boogie, and beats in a loud, hot unrelenting style." Jump Blues combined the popular boogie-woogie rhythms of the day with gritty swing solos and "playful lyrics laced with jive talk." More than seven decades later, Jump Blues still pulls listeners out of their seats and onto the dance floor with its boogie-woogie grooves and heavy, insistent beats.

Three issues of the series Truefire - Chris Buono's Guitar Gym. Practice does NOT make perfect – "perfect" practice does. We've heard this time and again from our instructors and we get it; practice the wrong thing, or practice the wrong way, and you'll learn how to play it perfectly wrong. Makes "perfect" sense but what exactly do we practice, and how specifically do we practice it? TrueFire's resident Professor of the Deep, Chris Buono has invested the last couple of decades coming up with the answer.

He’s performed with the Pat Metheny Group, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, the Gil Evans Orchestra, the Al DiMeola Project and a hundred other giants of Jazz and contemporary music. He appears on over 300 CDs, including 4 Grammy winners. He’s also a longtime and cherished friend of TrueFire. So, when Danny Gottlieb called to ask whether we’d be interested in filming a jazz trio recording session featuring himself on drums and two of his best friends, Barry Greene on guitar and Dennis Marks on upright and electric bass, we jumped at the opportunity, no questions asked.