Websites to Visit – MattOtto.org

www.mattotto.org

All too often today it feels like everyone is out to make a dollar any and every way they can. Many expert players have started lesson sites to earn a supplemental income. While I don’t see this as a bad thing, I do see some sites using aggressive marketing techniques to gain subscribers. To this day I still receive emails promising information and techniques only to follow the link to a subscriber’s only page. I won’t mention this great players site because it is indeed full of great insight and a wealth of personal experience but I don’t like being baited into following a link only to discover you can’t’ get any information without subscribing. But I digress, there is a site run by a great player and a studious teacher, MattOtto.org.

Matt’s videos have quite a following on YouTube and over the course of 63 (at this time) he offers lessons on everything from scales to II-V-I changes and lots of things in between. The real value to me is in not hearing the fluff  or the pleasantries. Matt kicks off the lessons with an example of what he intends to teach you, gives the basics of the lesson then plays the lesson at practice speeds. He doesn’t just play a sample or a single line, no, he plays the entire lesson. Matt’s lessons are brief and contain only what you need for that lesson. On the website you can find pdf’s of each exercise and links to the individual YouTube lesson.

Matt’s lessons work well with direction from a private teacher or if you are a private lesson teacher then his lessons can serve as a great jumping off point. In the end, as with any instruction, you get out of it only what you put into it. The more time you spend in the shed with his lessons the more the material will take a place in your improvisation vocabulary. His lesson #49 Dominant-7sus4 is my current project.

One of the best things about his site is that he offers all of this information for nothing more than continued support and if you feel moved then a donation. Which is a good idea if you would like to see well-crafted additional lessons from Matt?

TAKE AWAY: I would advise everyone add this site to your regular studies list and to please make a donation or buy one of his books.