Herb Ellis Guitar Tab Books, Instruction DVDs, Chord Melody Solos, Arrangements, Video Lessons

 Herb Ellis Plays "Orange Brown And Green"

    Jazz swing guitar player Herb Ellis like a great deal of other leading American jazz guitar performers (such as Charlie Christian, Eddie Durham, and Oscar Moore) was born in the south western part of the the USA. The blues, with a touch of country and western, are a distinguishing characteristic of his jazz guitar sound and his guitar playing approach. This is most surely due to the environment where Ellis was brought up.

    Herb Ellis at first played music on the banjo, though it is mentioned that he played the harmonica at 4, and started playing the guitar at the age of ten. While he was in high school he played music on alto horn in the school band. Ellis studied at the North Texas State College where he was introduced to and befriended quite a number of now popularized jazz artists such as Jimmy Giuffre, Gene Roland, and Harry Babasin.

    Herb Ellis graduated in 1941 and joined Glen Gray's band. In 1945 he joined the Jimmy Dorsey Big Band touring and playing with them for 3 years. Following this, Ellis formed his own instrumental-vocal trio called "The Softwinds". That band, which included Lou Carter on Piano and Johnny Frigo on bass, worked with each other for 5 years. Throughout that point in time Herb authored a variety of popular songs which includes "Detour Ahead" and "I Told You I Love You - Now Get Out".

    Ellis's jazz guitar proficiency first became acknowledged worldwide in 1953 when he took over from jazz guitarist Barney Kessel in the Oscar Peterson Trio. There is no doubt that because of his five year stay with Peterson, and his subsequent four years accompanying the famous jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, Ellis grew his musical capabilities as a soloist and accompanist to the fullest. It is during this time that he additionally commenced a prolonged association and friendship with bass player Ray Brown.

    Following that time period Herb Ellis led a career as one of the busiest jazz guitar performers on the worldwide jazz music scene. Throughout the years he performed and made albums with "The Great Guitars", a group that included pickstyle jazz guitar player Barney Kessel and fingerstyle jazz guitarist Charlie Byrd, in a duo with jazz guitar virtuoso Joe Pass, and as leader of his own trios and quartets.

    Although for many years Ellis worked in the Los Angeles recording studio scene and was a regular member of the Don Trenner Band on the widely known 'Steve Allen Show', he later on returned to a life dedicated to jazz guitar music once again appearing and performing often with Oscar Peterson. Herb passed away on March 28th, 2010 but fortunately for up and coming guitar players, he released a variety of jazz guitar tab books and DVD courses which teach his single note improvised solos and chord melody solos as well as the guitar techniques he made use of to perform them.

Jazz Guitar Chords & Arpeggio Patterns - Stacy McKee - This unique book includes 300 jazz guitar chord formations and matching single note arpeggio patterns in a quick reference format that no one has ever done before! Cross indexing makes this manual extremely easy to use and regardless of what style of music you play, we know you will find this to be a valuable, "must have" addition to your library.  Stacy McKee was the featured guitarist with "Les Brown and The Band Of Renown" and for a limited time only, we will include an exclusive copy of his book FREE with your first order!
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