This book is intended to answer guitarists demands for my lessons. Ultimately, it depends on who will learn it and how they utilize my method. Over the years, I had been asked to compile my guitar method book, but I was very reluctant to do so until I completed my improvisation book Yamaguchi Improvisation Method (New York: Masaya Music, 2012). Because after all, my priority is to teach music, especially improvised music --- not how to play the guitar. Though this book required a huge amount of work to complete, I finished it for all my fellow guitar players, who regularly use my The Complete Thesaurus of Musical Scales. The YAMAGUCHI Guitar method in this book is highly original and much different from most books in today s jazz pedagogy. This is a new kind of guitar method book that will leave no student behind if you interpret my words correctly. I hope the YAMAGUCHI Guitar method will guide you to unlock melodic possibilities and broaden your musical vocabulary. GOOD LUCK!

Surprisingly, few studies have been made that address the possibilities of musical scales. This book is, to the best of my knowledge, the first of its kind to establish and examine a complete system of all conceivable scales. My intention is that this book be used as a reference tool for all musicians, as it provides a complete dictionary of all possible scale configurations.

The motivation for the YAMAGUCHI improvisation method was to develop my The Complete Thesaurus of Musical Scales and delve into my findings about music education. I do not have any aspiration to write the best-selling how to improvise textbook, but I did have the perspiration required to complete the best content improvisation method book available to any instrumentalist. My main priorities are to boost teaching quality as well as general academic standards in music pedagogy. The YAMAGUCHI improvisation method is also intended to answer musicians demands for my lessons (This textbook price is more reasonable than one-time private lesson fee). With my original method revealed in this book, you will be able to activate, in your music, The Complete Thesaurus of Musical Scales, Symmetrical Scales for Jazz Improvisation, Pentatonicism in Jazz: Creative Aspects and Practice, and Lexicon of Geometric Patterns for Jazz Improvisation. The motto of the YAMAGUCHI Improvisation Method is, "Search not for the tracks of the people of old, Search for that which they aspired to." Keep stimulating your interests by researching the past, and searching within yourself. I hope that the YAMAGUCHI Improvisation Method will guide you to become a complete artist. GOOD LUCK!

he purpose of this book is to share my thoughts with all melodic instrumentalists, to suggest an avenue into chromatic jazz improvisation. The title Chromaticism in Jazz implies the coloristic, intervallic, non-diatonic, paratonal, and superimposition styles of jazz improvisation that may be represented by the mid-60 s Miles Davis Quintet and the 60 s John Coltrane Quartet (and later Coltrane groups). It must also be noted that the application of chromatic lines in improvisation should not overshadow the natural flow of ideas, but should be explored thoughtfully to create contrast and more lyrical, melodic playing. As the subject of dissonance versus consonance has shifted and evolved throughout the course of jazz history, chromaticism has been developed by later generations to stretch the boundaries of jazz improvisation. The use of superimposed lines against harmonic structures can often create an interesting deflection, in conjunction with more standard jazz language. This work will lay the structural guidelines of chromaticism and give some examples of how chromatic lines can be used in a jazz context. After learning the evolution of chromaticism in recorded jazz, you will then gain the knowledge and skill to explore further possibilities. I hope this book will offer a new treatment for the chromatic deficiency in American musical society at large.

While there has been much written on the subject of pentatonic scales a systematic method for classifying pentatonic scales has yet to have been established. Surprisingly there have been few studies that successfully examine further scale possibilities. This original study is intended to establish a complete system using all possible pentatonic scales. At this point I will also draw your attention to my book The Complete Thesaurus of Musical Scales which also examines scale possibilities. This book is intended for musicians, composers, music teachers, and their students. This book can function as a reference guide or as an inspirational source. While the focus of this book is pentatonicism in jazz, the systems used in this work can be applied to other musical styles and is relevant to all melodic musical instruments. I hope this book will help stimulate your individual musical exploration.