Todd Mosby

Clinics

Blues Guitar Pentatonics

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Guitarists who know the blues have a natural advantage over those that don't. No matter what style they chose to play – jazz, rock, classical – having a blues background provides guitarists with a foundation in form, control, feel and harmonies that can be used to advance their playing in any genre of music. 

This seminar begins by teaching the 12-bar blues harmony, basic rhythm guitar technique, and the major and minor pentatonic and blues scales in the open position and up the neck. You'll learn to incorporate some of the nuances of the masters into your playing - from doubling the bass over a shuffle in the style of Buddy Guy, to combining major and minor pentatonic scales in the style of B.B. King and T-Bone Walker. Through call and response exercises and playing in other grooves and tempos, you'll learn to pace your solos to create tension and release -- a technique mastered by all the greatest guitarists.

Your Guitar Rig

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Having a command of scales, chords, styles and techniques is fundamental for any guitar player who wants to play better. Your Guitar Rig provides you with the skills to actually sound better by teaching you to use your ears, hands, and the tools of the trade to play jazz, rock, blues, country and other genres, with a hi-quality, authentic and persuasive tone.

In Your Guitar Rig, you'll examine how a guitar's individual components and overall construction determine it's sound characteristics, so you can maximize the strengths as well as work around the limitations of any particular instrument. You'll learn about amplifiers, speakers and cabinets and learn to configure the right setups and to properly work the controls to get the tones you'll need for class projects, as well as real-world performances.

The seminar covers a range of musical styles, teaching you to sound convincing when playing inside, and outside your comfort zones. You'll learn to build customized pedal board rigs and recreate the exact guitar parts from a wide range of landmark recordings by artists including, (Blues) Magic Sam, Buddy Guy, (Jazz) Kenny Burrell, Pat Metheny, (Country) Brent Mason, (Rock) Chuck Berry, The Beatles, Carlos Santana, Andy Summers, U2, Joe Satriani.

By the end of the seminar, you will have gained the ability to best utilize your guitar, amps, effect pedals and rack gear to zero in on the tones you'll need for the music you'll play for years to come.

By the end of this seminar, you will be able to:

  • Play music in a wide range of styles with an authentic and convincing guitar tone.
  • Understand the factors that determine a guitar and amplifier's tone characteristics.
  • Identify how effects are categorized, combined and how each pedal and rack module works to change your sound.
  • Develop your own personal setups for recording and live performance.

East West Crossroads


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Profile

The Cross Roads lecture demonstration is targeted towards students of classical, jazz, world and popular music. Instrumentalists, composers, songwriters, music ethnologists and improvisors on any instrument will learn about an ancient heritage once shared and the impact it has on music today. 

 

East West Cross Roads lecture demonstrates the improvisational and compositional similarities and differences between the Eastern and Western music cultures. A standard jazz tune and popular rag are used as models to introduce aspects of improvisation and composition common to both cultures.  

 

What You Will Learn:

    The connection of North Indian Raga Music to the Trubadours, Early Renaissance, Celtic Music, European Gypsy Music, the Blues, Bluegrass and Jazz. 

    The notes of as rag vs the notes of a chord scale. 

    Counting tals vs counting fours.

    How to perform using rag concepts in on one tonal center for an extended period with meaning, direction and content.

    How to perform using rag concepts in parallel motion over a jazz standard with meaning, direction and content.Voicing modal chords in the context of a rag. 

    Compositional forms for the vs jazz standard.

    Similarities of the alap and jhor to the jazz rubato and playing time.

    Imrat guitar design and performance technique.

 

Mosby is one of a handful of musicians capable of translating the East West connection to a wide ranging audience. His years of private study with Ustadt Imrat Khan, a living legend of Classical North Indian music, as well as performances with him have given Todd a unique insight into the workings of this ancient music. As the personal guest lecturer of Ustadt Imrat Khan at Washington University for over six years, Mosby was able deliver a lecture and demonstration which the students found engaging, educational and entertaining.

 

 

Currently he is a Professor of Guitar at Maryville University in St. Louis, Mo.
He has authored four books for guitar and has written articles on music history and its relation to Eastern music and philosophy. 

Bossa Nova For Guitar

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Profile

The Bossa Nova Clinic is for the intermediate to advanced student. This music is characterized by certain chord voicings and rhythms particular to the guitar. This clinic introduces the 6 Basic Bossa Nova Chord forms for guitar along with the proper right hand Bossa Nova rhythm technique. 

This workshop explores the sounds and techniques needed to start exploring this amazing music and define its characteristics. 

 

Course Outline

A) Chords Rt on the 5th string

  • a. Major 9 Chord
  • b. Dominant 9 Chord
  • c. Minor 9 Chord
  • d. Related Chord Scales 

i. major, minor, dominant


B) Chords Rt on the 6th string

  • a. Major 7 Chord
  • b. Dominant 7 Chord 
  • c. Minor 7 Chord 
  • d. Related Scales 

i. Major, minor, dominant


C) Chord Exercise

  • a. Ascend chromatically
  • b. Ascend whole step
  • d. Cycle 4

D) Bossa Nova Rhythm, Right hand Technique

  • a. Right Hand Technique
  • b. Static Bass
  • Moving Bass


E) Applied Music

  • a. Bossa Nova Common Chord Patterns
  • b. How Insensitive

 

Mosby has written many compositions in the Bossa Nova style which have been used successfully for film, television, concert stage and for singers as well. Bossa can swing hard if done properly and the techniques presented are rooted in the traditions of Jao Gilberto and Antonio Jobim, the fathers of Bossa.