WHAT THE STUDENTS SAY

"To be able to study again with the Jazz Master has been a dream come true and has affected every aspect of my daily life, not just the guitar.

Esmond is a unique, amazing talent and somehow almost through osmosis manages to pass on years of observations and revelations in mere days; Since seeing Esmond again I feel reborn I have many ideas, lines and concepts to work on and practice. However the biggest difference is my re-found enthusiasm and creativity for jazz in general and solo guitar in particular. I am learning standards again and feel I have lots to contribute to this ultimate art form, a feeling I'm sure to pass on to my guitar students in some small way."

"I have been taking jazz guitar lessons with Esmond Selwyn for two years now. Esmond is an outstanding musician, and has devoted his life to the study of all aspects of the jazz guitar. His technique, which is very distinctive, amazed me from day one, and keeps inspiring me each time I see of hear him play.

Apart from being an accomplished guitarist, Esmond has the rare virtue of being a great teacher as well. His approach to the instrument is a very constructive, demystifying one: bit by bit we have been breaking up each aspect of my playing, to build up on a consolidated technique, from the way I hold the guitar to increasing smoothness and speed, to my understanding of harmony.

Currently, we are working very much on single line ideas to expand my phrasing vocabulary: all this work is very challenging and always interesting, as the exercises he provides me with are very varied.

Esmond has a great patience and always allowed me the time I need to interiorise the musical concepts we explored together. With good sense of humour, he can recognise and encourage the improvements I make on the guitar, yet still focus on the weaknesses. This is another key aspect of my learning, as it allowed me to keep going and not lose motivation despite the difficulty of the subject, or even the various commitments of life that get in between my practising.

I would strongly recommend Esmond as a jazz guitar teacher to all levels."

"Studying with Esmond in my formative years gave me a truly solid knowledge base on the guitar, especially in mapping the whole instrument in 12 keys, also an extremely sound technical basis for playing jazz guitar.

His chordal knowledge is in a class of its own and continues to evolve and constantly expand.

His methods are clear and learning from him was and is always a joy."

"I have studied with Esmond for over 10 years and now have my own business teaching guitar in London.

With over 60 students every week I can safely say that my time with Esmond has paid off.

I also gig regularly - including a stint playing solo jazz guitar in Pizza Express for over a year. Solo guitar is a demanding art and my sessions at the Gresford Academy developed both repertoire and technical facility. Even now Esmond introduces a wealth of new ideas to tunes I have played for years, generating interest and ideas which I would never have developed myself.

Esmond's ideas can be applied to all areas of guitar playing from classical to rock. His approach to plectrum technique delivers a fluency which I've never seen equalled and a command of the fretboard allowing for any musical situation to be addressed.

In short, if you are a serious student of the guitar there is no better place which to study."

ESMOND SELWYN’S GRESFORD ACADEMY – STUDENT HONOURS LIST.

The following students have distinguished themselves by showing the greatest focus, application and commendable personal attainment in pursuit of their jazz guitar studies with me:

Tom Atkin

Full time student and recently featured at festivals. Tom’s playing has improved beyond recognition in little more than 1 year of full time study. His chord solo playing and single line dexterity are now of a very high order. He is destined to make a name and will be a player to look out for.

Phill Clark

Phill’s knowledge and co-ordination skills have improved considerably and he is never afraid to go for it and improvise!
A fine example to others.

Giacomo Ganissini

Has applied himself commendably to difficult and challenging
work with single line technique and chord solo work and has made very fine progress with his regular attendance and application in little more than 1 year.

Richard Herdman

Has transcribed the works of George van Eps and Johnny Smith
with great precision. Richard’s playing is of the highest order all round and he is a fine example of serious and unwavering study
with me. Richard has been on this School’s books since 1996.

Tony Williams

Full time professional and instructor Tony has studied at this School since 1990. A fine reader, all round stylist Tony’s single line and jazz chordal concepts have steadily improved beyond belief! His outstanding performance impressed many when featured at one of my gigs at last year’s Marlborough Jazz Festival. His happy and enthusiastic nature remain unaltered
and he is quite undaunted by the very advanced and challenging
work constantly set for him!

Ross Lardener

Master Student Ross started his studies with me in the early 80’s!
He is now a totally fantastic stylist with a voice of his own and single-line and chordal mastery at his fingertips. Don’t pay too much heed to all the hype that accrues to this new wave of so-called “wonders” and “discoveries” out there – Ross can slaughter them all - make no mistake!

A full commendation is hereby awarded to senior student Richard Herdman for his excellent and scholarly work in transcribing George Van Eps "Lap Piano"

ESMOND SELWYN'S GRESFORD ACADEMY OF THE JAZZ GUITAR

WELCOME TO THE LAND OF TRUTH!

TRUE MASTERY , TRUE INSTRUCTION AND QUITE A FEW HOMETRUTHS!!

Definitely not for the self-deluded or faint of heart.   If you are of such a delicate mindset, you are courteously invited to leave this website now...

For those that want the fast and easy route to becoming a jazz guitarist, here are a few well placed do's and don't's from one of the world's finest jazz guitarists and leading instructors, Esmond Selwyn:

Don't believe in the miracle shortcuts and fast solutions promised by some rather suspect internet freebies.   Material that is inappropriate to your level will only hinder your progress.   So don't be taken in by some very dubious "gifts"!

Stop wasting your life in drifting and dreaming and start to get real.   This means:

Stop pushing buttons on software toys and fancy backing tracks that make you sound great when you are not!

"Those who can, do.   Those who can't, shouldn't..."

Remember - cheap is bad, and sometimes very bad.   If it's free, it's probably not worth having - that's why it's free! (Think about it).   There is no such thing as a free lunch.   Anything that is worth having will carry a price tag.

So DO start to pay for high quality information that is specific and matched to your personal needs.   A visit to the tutorial page will indicate what a rich harvest of fine and original material is available right here.   By all means download the film clips and tackle some of the real issues demonstrated by a recognized master musician and one of the music world's great communicators.    This will be a start for you.   But only a start.     Remember - true learning needs to be structured, sustained and supervised.

Non-investment is a false economy.    There is no future in turning your back on high quality information that is specific to your personal level and needs.

Brilliant and effective courses available for all levels.  

If you are a beginner, we'll get you started.

If you are intermediate, you will become advanced.

If you are already brilliant - wait for it - we'll make you even better!!!

ESMOND SELWYN'S ADVANCED JAZZ GUITAR TUITION

REAL SECRETS UNVEILED!! GUARANTEED!!

This is the stuff that most players/instructors keep to themselves
(if they know it in the first place....??!!??)

"Moves on Songs"

Demonstrates Esmond's very individual approach to harmonizing standards with small voiced pianistic chords across all registers and using some very adventurous extended and displaced harmony.....
See sheet music sample here

"Body and Soul"

Shows a very useful and practical way to play this song correctly before trying out anything more adventurous.
See sheet music sample here

Gerswin's "My Ship" starts with a I/VI/II/V progression - this page shows four different ways of harmonizing this song. Esmond's personal file on this song contains a total of 72 variations of these two opening bars alone...
See sheet music sample here

This is the bit that costs money!

There are elaborate courses on chord work and single line - all scored out and printed clearly with music/tab/chord diagrams and text + technique development guaranteed to acquire blinding single line speed. Esmond's original Gems 3 is a prime example of this.

So what is "Gems 3" all about and why do we put ourselves through all this?

Esmond explains:

"When I was a young jazz guitar student way back in my formative years, I wanted to play like the good guys. No, not like a kack-handed student trying to get it together, but like them over there - those guys way on the other side of the fence who played like gods - Tal Farlow, Charlie Parker, Clifford Brown. They reeled of streams of complex jazz phraseology - extended dominant lines in quavers and semi-quavers, technically daunting and yet full of depth and musical meaning - all this coupled with blinding speed and delivery and all this they did with apparent ease. So I always wondered, where is it all coming from, how did they get it together, and much more to the point, how could I ever get it together?

"It didn't take me long to discover that most jazz educators and theorists were a bunch of charlatans, imposters and general mixed tossers of various persuasions who talked a lot, said little and played even less.

"They and their publications all suggested that you can extend your dominant lines with b5, #5, b9 and #9. But no one told me how and where and to what effect. It was then I realised as a student and instructor, that you positively cannot talk in generalities - you must be specific and offer full details on content, performance and delivery.

"'Gems 3' is part of a much bigger overall scheme to deal with mature jazz phraseology over extended dominant chords. A major part of the plan is to escape from the strictures of the major/minor scale and arpeggio programme and to access the 'wavey' lines of jazz. It is important that training for jazz is built on a syllabus of material that actually sounds like jazz! The range and scope of 'Gems 3' is much more typical of the sax and keyboard rather than the guitar. The three main new issues that are dealt with are:

1 Phrases that are multi-directional and zig-zag and spiral in tight little pockets.

2 Phrases that are legato in their nature and how we are best to create a legato effect at the guitar through careful thought to phrasing, fingering, plectrum strokes and the judicious placement of hammers and pulls.

3 We stay with the hands-on and performance-orientated concept - by the 3rd CD track of each exercise, great speed is demonstrated and encouraged.

Exercise 1 - the original line - was inspired by John Coltrane's unaccompanied drop phrase at the end of his solo on 'Moment's Notice' on his album, 'Blue Trane'.

"The best approach is to take each exercise and to isolate it and to work slowly and painstakingly with a metronome and to do at least 20 examples flawlessly before marginally increasing the speed. Fingering and stokes need to be observed. And stay with it and focus until you can go no faster. When the accuracy and performance gets ragged, that's the time to pull the tempo back and to consolidate the slower speed and to build up again. If you have a programme of backing tracks, then switch to that after the metronome work. It's pure draining and exhausting drudgery - but at least it sounds like jazz and the result from this approach will be blinding!"

APPLICATION

Play any of these lines at bar 4 or over bars 3 & 4 of the Bb Blues. They all sound great!

Look for any standard songs which feature long sections over one dominant chord, eg.

Bolivia by Cedar Walton
Close Your Eyes
Dearly Beloved
What Is This Thing Called Love
Body and Soul
It's You Or No One

In order to stop the result from becoming clinical or mechanisitic, start to lodge the sounds of 'Gems 3' to the inner ear and sing and hum the lines as you play them. Despite being technically challenging, they do nevertheless have a melodic and vocal quality. If you can latch on to this aspect of it, then it will add a whole new development and dimension to your playing.

See the sheet music for 'Gems 3' here

There is also a beginners course on starting guitar - there has never been a clearer or cheaper package produced to set the beginner up for life with all the necessary skills for great hand co-ordination. Technique and delivery.

Please contact Esmond at esmondselwyn@btinternet.com

ONLY THE REAL THING ON THIS WEBSITE!   SO CHECK IT OUT !