A Shout Out for Christiann Van Hemert's method

paulmcevoy75

Hey everyone

This is a delayed shout out for Christiaan Van Hemert's discord/book/teaching. I have been working on this stuff for maybe 2 years. In 35 or so years of trying to play jazz, it's been the most effective way of learning that I've tried.

For those of you not familiar: CVH has put together a number of books which are collections of licks for different functions (Major/Minor/Dominant/II V/Christoph, etc). This doesn't apply to book I, but all the following books are linked to his discord channel. Part of the purchase price of the book is that you record your exercises and submit them to CVH for his review.

The exercise might be playing 8 II V I licks in a row and then transposing them in 12 keys. It is HARD AF. I think he allows 3-4 mistakes per take. So you get 3-4 mistakes or restarts in like 12 minutes of playing. It seriously is not easy. But by the time you make the recording, you really know them. It has had massively beneficial effects on my playing and my understanding of how jazz works in general.

CVH is really a masterful teacher. The man is, shall we say, opinionated. But the things he has to say are oftentimes dead on and his focus is to get you to play better soon and improve in measurable steps. And he's super effectice. He has surgical vibes in that his advice is usually extremely specific to something you are screwing up. TBH initially I found it jarring because he just says exactly what the issue is and doesn't dance around it (apparently this is a Dutch thing?) but I have realized if I want to get better, he's oftentimes 100% correct in what he's saying. And it isn't mean at all, it's just super specific and direct. And when he does say something nice, and he does, it is massively encouraging.

At the moment I'm doing some of my own transcriptions and trying to extract vocabulary but it's all based on the way that I learned from him. I have been meaning to do a write up about it for a while and I'm remiss in my delay.

I can not recommend enough that you buy the book that interests you the most and really go at it (other than Book I, which is great but doesn't have the Discord integration).

That's all.

P

paulmcevoy75

oh by the way, you can join the discord for free, you don't get access to a lot of stuff BUT he has this technique challenge thing. It's a pretty fun way to see where you are every 6 months or so.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4YL67jqmho

And here's his website for the books:

https://vanhemertsystem.fws.store/

MikeK

Bravo, Paul. I, too, am a huge fan of CVH, as a player (violin & guitar) and as a teacher. His YouTube video about playing la pompe is, in my opinion, the best 20 minutes a gypsy jazz student can spend on learning how to play rhythm. He tells you everything you need to know, with clarity & insight. I've directed countless players to it and I'll continue to do so to anyone who will listen (even experienced players). Good advice.

paulmcevoy75

https://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/122085#Comment_122085

If nothing else you should check out that technique challenge. It gives a good idea of what the discord thing is like...it's pretty fun.

Joonas

Is this the first book I should start from? Van Hemert System Book - vol. 1

paulmcevoy75

Not the first book. 2nd one is a mix of jazz and Django and I think the 3rd is early Django.

The first book is good but doesn't have the discord.

https://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/122087#Comment_122087

voutoreenie

I've not used CVH's full system but I will absolutely plug him for an awesome source to quickly learn so many of the essential "cliches" that are used in the style, which also serve functionally as technique builders too - he's great at explaining not only the "how" but also the "why" and succinctly at that, which isn't something you always find from online lessons. Personally speaking, at least 2-3 licks come to mind that I learned early on from his videos that are not only part of my repertoire but also serve as essential connecting points between other licks/phrases that I have on lockdown.

I can't remember who said it but even if you only get one new trick in your bag from lessons/books/tutorials/etc., it was 100% worth investing the time into them and CVH is certainly one of the best teachers for just that in the genre.