How to Play in a Rock or Jazz Band

Remember that scene towards the end of Back to the Future where Marty McFly plays "Johnny B. Goode" with the band at the 1955 high school dance? He gives the band a simple set of instructions for a song they’ve never heard, and they all tear into it like they've been playing together for 20 years. How could they have played a song that they didn't know and had never heard, without any rehearsal or sheet music in front of them? Was it just movie magic? No, it wasn’t! With his simple instructions, McFly told the accompanying band all they needed to know. The band had enough training and experience to interpret those instructions and communicate musically with each other to deliver a very convincing performance. This book, and the accompanying play-along recordings, is designed to give every member of the band, and soloists, that same training and experience. Arming you with the knowledge of scales, chords, harmonic function (music theory), common song structures and forms, as well as the role and function of each member of the band, this collection is as close to playing in real situations as a you can get, short of rounding up the rest of the members of a band and playing this material live.