Frank Vignola Guitar Tab Books, Instruction DVDs, Solos, Arrangements, Video Lessons

Frank Vignola     Frank Vignola is considered to be among the top rank of guitarists on the music scene today. Born on December 30, 1965, in Long Island, New York, he began playing guitar at the age of five. As his proficiency grew, he spent many hours listening to the music of legendary guitarists Django Reinhardt, Joe Pass, and Johnny Smith. Frank not only gained a spiritual sort of inspiration from these guitarists recordings, he also made an intricate study of the complexities of these guitar masters styles, slowing down his records to analyze many a solo.      Frank’s first teacher was his father who was a semi-professional banjo player. Later, Frank became the star pupil of guitarist Jimmy George who was one of the original Dion and The Belmonts. At the age of 12, Frank Vignola took up the tenor banjo and swiftly burst upon the music scene in a way that would portend many of the accolades and milestones to come in his career as a jazz guitarist.      Though obviously steeped in the traditional schools of jazz, especially in the formative years, Frank Vignola would ultimately take inspiration from a wide arc of the musical spectrum. Guitarists such as Django, Charlie Christian, Wes Montgomery and Lonnie Johnson are obvious influences, but one might be surprised to learn that rocker Jimi Hendrix has also received the close scrutiny of Frank’s ear. Louis Armstrong, Lester Young, Thelonius Monk, Charlie Parker, Sonny Stitt, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Thad Jones and Duke Ellington have all had inspirational impact on the music of Frank Vignola.      While still in his teens, Frank experienced the most effective music education possible—right on the bandstand as a working musician! Soon named among the top ranked musicians in New York, Frank performed and toured with such headliners as Max Morath and Leon Redbone. At age 23, he decided to lead his own group and formed his version of the famed Quintet of the Hot Club of France. Their debut at the New York cabaret, Michael’s Pub, was a smash success and launched his career as a guitarist ‘in the spotlight.’ Tours of Europe, recording sessions, and an exclusive recording contract with the Concord Jazz label would all follow in short succession in a few short years.     Frank would perform and record with such varied artists as Chet Atkins, Madonna, Jon Faddis, Woody Allen, Ringo Starr, Manhattan Transfer, Frank Wess, Elvin Jones, Lionel Hampton and countless legends from the golden age of jazz. Currently Frank Vignola is the guitarist with The Mark O'Conner Trio’s tribute to Stephane Grappelli and also performs every Monday night with The Les Paul Trio at the Iridium in New York City. Frank is also the new guitarist in the John Lewis group Evolution.

Frank Vignola - 50 Jazz Guitar Licks You Must Know! - DVD
Jazz master Frank Vignola presents his hand-picked collection of 50 Jazz Guitar Licks You MUST Know!, all of them integral elements of the jazz guitar vocabulary for developing motifs and fueling original improvisations. Vignola covers Minor and Major 7th motifs, chromatics, ii-V7 lines, minor vamps, jazzed blues runs, shuffles, right and left-hand techniques, double-stops, melodic development and picking approaches along with several of his own go-to favorites from guitarists including Charlie Christian, Barney Kessel, Joe Pass, George Benson, Django Reinhardt and Wes Montgomery. This collection of versatile licks will serve as your building blocks for taking your improvisational skills to the next level. Get a grip on these 50 gems and you’ll have the insight and chops to develop evocative solos within any jazz style from bossa to bebop, funk to blues to Gypsy jazz. Guitar Lab’s innovative learning systems employ a hands-on approach where students “play” their way through the curriculum using learning tools such as PIP video, practice rhythm tracks, and interactive tab and notation which allows the student to play along with the tab and notation at any tempo without change in pitch!
(108 min)........................................................................................Price - $24.95


Frank Vignola - Inversion Excursion - DVD
A monster player and composer, Frank Vignola's work with everyone from Les Paul to Donald Fagen (Steely Dan) make him the perfect guide for this intensive exploration of chord inversions! Inversion Excursion will exponentially increase your chord, comping and rhythm pattern vocabulary. Instead of simply memorizing chord forms from a book, Inversion Excursion teaches you how to unleash chorus after chorus of fresh ideas by giving you a grip on the chord forms and then illustrating how to apply them in a musical context. You'll learn how to instantly pull out an endless variety of interesting voicings and rhythms to keep both the soloist and the audience engaged and motivated. You'll learn hundreds of inversions up and down the neck, across all string groups, in all keys. You'll work through major chord inversions using video demonstrations and extensive charts (over 500 pages!) that illustrate root, first inversion, second inversion and third inversion forms. Unlike your typical chord book, you'll play your way through the course within a musical context and learn how to apply the inversions with rhythmic ideas in virtually any style of music. Over the course of your Inversion Excursion journey you'll develop a massive vocabulary of chords, patterns and applications that you can pull out when comping, arranging, composing and improvising. In short, you'll NEVER find yourself struggling to come up with something fresh and appropriate, if not downright dazzling. Hands-on learning tools included with Inversion Excursion: text lesson guide, chord charts, practice rhythm tracks, and bonus material.. Secure PIN enclosed in DVD package for quick and secure download of learning tools!
(109 min)........................................................................................Price - $24.95

Frank Vignola - Vamps, Jams & Improvisation - 2 DVD Set
Guitar players love to jam! Call out a key, lay down a one or two chord vamp, the rhythm section kicks in and everybody starts to get their groove on – simple enough for seasoned players with monster improv chops and big ears. Not so easy for most intermediate and early advanced players who tend to run out of ideas and struggle communicating musically with the other members of the band. This 2-DVD set illustrates dozens of approaches for developing solid melodic and rhythmic ideas for soloing or comping over one and two-chord vamps. You'll first learn how to think melodically and then how to best express those ideas, in a vamp or jam setting, with the other band members. The DVDs cover creative devices like melodic patterns, call and response, stutter picking, guide tones, horizontal lines, tone targeting, muffled arpeggios, chromatics, expressions, passing tones and other techniques for generating ideas on the fly. You'll also learn how to develop ideas around unusual scales like the Super Locrian, Bartok minor and harmonic minor scales. Rhythm and comping are also covered with equal emphasis; clave rhythms, inversions, rhythmic alteration, quartal harmony, bubble parts, chord punches and how to clearly communicate and then lock up with the band is demonstrated in detail. Hands-on learning tools included with "Vamps, Jams & Improvisation" are: text lesson guide, chord charts, practice rhythm tracks, as well as bonus material. Secure PIN enclosed in DVD package for quick and secure download of learning tools!
(185 min)........................................................................................Price - $29.95

Frank Vignola - 1 2 3 Jazz Guitar - DVD
This approach for beginning jazz guitarists is exactly how the original jazz cats learned their jazz guitar trade; with their ears, a few chords, a few rhythms, and a few techniques for jazzing up a tune’s melody. Whether you’re a late beginner, advanced rocker, master bluesman or singer-songwriter, Frank Vignola’s 1-2-3 Jazz will get you up and running faster than you could possibly imagine. Guaranteed! Vignola’s approach is simple and highly effective. First he’ll teach you just three movable chords; a major 7th, minor 7th and a dominant 9th. These three chords alone will power you through hundreds of jazz standards and progressions. Rhythm guitar and comping is next; Frank demonstrates and walks you through just three jazz rhythms: a swing, The Charleston and a Latin rhythm. Again, thousands of jazz tunes are played with these three jazz rhythms. You’ll then learn the rhythm guitar parts for six famous jazz standards: “Ja Da, Bill Bailey, April Showers, Georgia On My Mind, Avalon, and The St. Louis Blues.” Play-alongs for each tune assure that you’ll nail the timing, rhythms and jazz feel for each part. Finally, Vignola shows you how to learn a melody and then “jazz it up” using just three embellishments. You’ll learn the melodies for all six standards and then learn how to solo over the tunes’ progressions by simply jazzing up their respective melodies using Frank’s three techniques. Learn these three chords, three rhythms, three ways to jazz up melodies, and you’ll be well on your way to playing the rhythm parts, melodies, and blowing solos for hundreds of jazz standards! Guitar Lab’s innovative learning systems employ a hands-on approach where students “play” their way through the curriculum using learning tools such as PIP video, practice rhythm tracks, and interactive tab and notation which allows the student to play along with the tab and notation at any tempo without change in pitch!
(120 min)........................................................................................Price - $24.95


Frank Vignola - Gypsy Jazz Jam - DVD
Performances include: "Pent-Up House, Besame Mucho, Exactly Like You, Tico Tico, Czardus, Nuages, It Don't Mean a Thing, Endless Love, Gypsy Tradition Waltz, Limehouse Blues, Dark Eyes".
(45 min)..........................................................................................Price - $24.95
 Frank Vignola Plays "Tico Tico"