Learn To Play Django-Style Gypsy Jazz Guitar
HOMESPUN
Taught By Paul Mehling.
Level 3
Two DVD or VHS set, includes booklets

Learn this powerful guitar style typified by Django Reinhardt. Gain a practical understanding of this music through a detailed exploration of both the rhythmic variations of the accompanying guitar patterns as well as improvised soloing.

Learn the trademark sounds that "put the Gypsy in Gypsy swing." Songs include classics such as "Minor Blues." "Oriental Shuffle" and "I'll See You In My Dreams."

Lesson One: Rhythm
60-minute DVD or VHS, Includes chord book

They don’t call it “hot guitar” for nothing! The driving style pioneered by Django Reinhardt and other Gypsy players became one of the dominant sounds in jazz during the thirties and forties, and its influence is still strongly felt today. Paul Mehling knows the style as well as anyone, and he takes it apart in detail for the learning player.

A band won’t swing without a strong rhythm section, and the powerful guitar accompaniment that typifies the Gypsy style is the foundation of this terrific lesson. Starting with basic four-to-the-bar comping and damping, Paul takes you through a variety of accompanyment ideas: arpeggios, “splayed” chords, “the gallop,” chord tremolo, right hand speed and other advanced techniques.

You’ll gain an understanding of the particular harmonic structures of this music through chord voicings, progressions, and accompaniments to classics such as "Minor Blues," "Orie ntal Shuffle" and "I’ll See You In My Dreams." Paul also provides invaluable advice on learning from recordings, use of the metronome, and a look at his rare Maurice DuPont guitars. Includes some hot jamming with Paul and Tony Mandraccia, rhythm guitar.

Lesson Two: Soloing
60-minute DVD or VHS, Includes music and tab book

This fascinating look at the art of improvisation in the Gypsy jazz tradition shows you how to really swing! Paul Mehling, leader of the Hot Club of San Francisco, has a comprehensive knowledge of all aspects of this powerful and infectious style, and he provides a wealth of information and playing tips to get you off to a solid start.

Before long, you’ll be playing exciting solos in the style typified by Django Reinhardt, Birelli Lagrenne and other hot players of this dynamic genre. You’ll learn the theory and playing techniques behind the music, including the exercises, scales, modes and arpeggiated picking (“the heart of the Reinhardt style”) that will allow you to come up with your own improvisations. He includes advice on fingering, use of the metronome, singing your solos and how to “focus your attention so your hands can play what your ears hear.”

Paul teaches the special elements that give this music its distinctive ring: “sweep” picking, ornaments (glissandos, trills, bends, tremolo, vibrato, etc.), diminished and augmented runs, triplets and the other special sounds that “put the Gypsy in Gypsy swing.” Includes some hot jamming with Paul and Tony Mandraccia, rhythm guitar.

About Paul Mehling
Paul Mehling is the founder and lead guitarist of the Hot Club of San Francisco, a group dedicated to performing and recording the music known as Gypsy Jazz. An accomplished multi-instrumentalist (guitar, violin, bass, plectrum and tenor banjo, mandolin), Paul has been a professional musician for over 25 years. As a member of Dan Hicks' Acoustic Warriors, he appeared on Austin City Limits, among other venues throughout the country. Internationally known as an authority on the music of Django Reinhardt and other Gypsy swing players, Paul conducts clinics and private lessons when not performing and recording with the Hot Club.