Andrew D. Gordon - Latin Solo Series for Violin

The idea for this book series is to give instrumentalists the opportunity to practice solo improvisational techniques while playing along to rhythm tracks of keyboards, guitar, bass, drums/percussion in various different Latin styles including Calypso, Mambo, Salsa, Songo, Bossa, Guaracha, Samba and Latin-Blues.

Memorable melodies along with more Bluesier sounding melodic lines have been created over the various chord progressions used in these various Latin styles.

During Andrews late teenage years, he had the opportunity of developing and improving his improvisational soloing skills by playing and jamming with his band mates for hours at a time during practice sessions 3 or 4 evenings a week. Now with modern technology you can practice with the play-a-long rhythm tracks developing your skills in playing the many riffs/phrases and putting them together to create a solo over the various chord progressions.

The 24 grooves totalling over 200 riffs/phrases and play-a-long tracks consists of a variety of tempos and keys. Each groove has a variety of riffs to learn that are generally 4 or 8 measures in length. It would be beneficial if you could memorize these riffs so that you can experiment using different permutations of the riffs as well as being used as a starting off point for ones own improvisations.

Each riff has been recorded with a rhythm track with each style having an extended play-a-long track, around 3 minutes in length, recorded without the solo part so you can practice the riffs that you have learned. Also, these musical phrases or riffs may be interchanged from one groove to another and should be learned in as many keys as possible.