John Mayer's Guitar Teacher Tomo Fujita Schools Me On Everything From Triads To Jazz

[Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] [Applause] foreign we have the one the only Fujita it's teacher extraordinaire Okay so I didn't do a huge bio I mean I just know you from from teaching and obviously from you know Instagram and all that stuff but right give me a quick download on your on your career and your life and what you've done as a musician quick so so everybody kind of gets to know sure yeah I'm just ordinary guitar player yeah and Bong in Kyoto Japan okay and I gave up music once and I went to regular College to please my parents but they never heard that story before but then same time I took jazza guitar lesson two years secretly oh nice then I found out the Berkeley scholarship okay then I sent tape and that made my life change yeah yeah yeah so I just planned two years you know just but then after that all I want to do is study yeah good music at the Berkeley and you know live scene but then somehow I became a teacher at the Berkeley 1993. wow so you've been there a long time exactly almost 30 years closely then I taught John Mayer yeah krasno shumin you know from a lot of people yeah yeah that's some Heavy Hitters right there I think krasno too yeah yeah I mean they're all great you know right I taught them but I taught them pretty much good foundation yeah well and they all seem to uh be Blues based but then moved Beyond that's right just Blues into more Jazz Waters or pop or whatever yeah they were just all we love Stevie Ray Vaughan baby king all that yeah but then I add a little bit more structured about the Jazz and technique yeah picking you know arpeggio sure everything you know so then that way they can go from there with their own to Next Level okay well that's an interesting starting point so yeah so so people get people have a weird feeling about the word Jazz but I think they they forget all the players that kind of have that inherently in their style people are like jazz I don't want to know but it's like yeah you really do because there's so much yeah that I think a lot of our famous but even like Hendricks or any of these other they have these elements where they understand a little bit more chord knowledge and a little bit more of how to use arpeggios but like just a little thing even if you have just a little bit it makes a huge difference yes I think Jazz use Melody yeah cool changes yeah follow the code changes to improvise okay similar to Blues right but blue is only three cores yeah Jazz has a little bit more so the problem is no problem is you cannot Jam Jazz right away without a slightly knowledge yeah but that's not a hugely uh uh difficulty you know it's not it because p i I told you before this I could not take guitar lesson when I was 16. 16 17 a lot of people told me you should take jazz guitar lesson to get the next level yeah I understand something about that but I have to wait to 19. yeah I wasn't ready yeah but then when I took a lesson oh I just needed something I didn't know yeah a little bit about the seventh chord alopecia triaz okay alternate picking all that details so is that kind of the try Factor right there the the seventh chords arpeggios and Triads would that be like the yeah but then some teachers don't really touch on uh Triads that much because some teachers just teachers tend to go try as a simple okay give it give us a give us an example um maybe because you're playing over the yellow Wing in the beginning what would be an example of what Triads could do for you if you took Little Wing as a chord progression yeah and had some so so like you know if I if I teach Little Wing first thing I teach foreign [Music] [Laughter] [Music] typical privilege yeah I ask students what do you know kendrix yeah little wing and usually I Jam because I don't know I don't like to put my opinion first yeah I respect them yep because that's important as a teacher yeah so I let them play but this is a problem usually [Music] we teach that one because it's easy to teach yeah easy to learn yeah but I teach yeah yeah and try it yeah because triers if you don't know you can go yeah so that's why it's good yeah because it's okay E minor but before E minor E major yeah fifth root third to change the minor yeah so even like you know major I have a sheet about major I had a minor but I throw away yeah because if I show them then they don't learn yeah so I have to teach major first and change to minor yep that's privacy yeah well it's really similar to um you know uh caged and and Triads I think people yeah there's so much overlap in those systems but you know as a teaching a bunch of people myself I think um in the beginning if people can learn the E shape yeah and the D shape yeah of course if you can if you can play chords in three different spots yeah uh and see those inside your basic pentatonic framework it opens up so like even like you know talking about lucky yeah yeah like if you play BB King [Music] yeah see he only uses two shapes yeah so I teach students he only know two shades yeah 60 year career that's that's why limitation makes his sound yeah so that's my discovery about the lesson myself is uh I have to limit something so that I make my own sound yeah yeah that's actually a great education for me went to Berkeley because Berkeley available everything absolutely yeah but you don't want to eat everything you know it's just another you taste everything yeah but you wanna get okay I'm done that yeah I go this way so that's why I went to more blues and try us okay so yeah Triad wise if you change that like um how could you could you use I know you did that quick explanation of sure but if you if you played Little Wing uh progression typical chords and then the next round yeah kind of added can you show people like what yeah what what knowing Triads alone so definitely you have to go [Music] yeah that's typical right yeah this is a problem same shape of going down yeah same should go up that's was yeah I have to change yeah so so something foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] like that so people go what's that yeah of course the first time I had yeah yeah but then what happened [Music] basically barcodes right yeah you got that yeah this one too inverted so this is it same shape but then but this is difficult to do are you gonna change like that simple yeah so that's like experience yeah this is minor 11. one five seven eleven but you have to figure it out so again this one divided up to this so I didn't know this one but at first I know this yeah so this is part of Jazzy guitar last night yeah then I hear Joe pastas like that then like that might have to eat them [Music] so this is more like a lick yeah you know it's like a chord Melody [Music] this is really a funny story I learned this sudik from my karate teacher did you really yeah because when I was 12 or 13 I did a karate my karate teacher I found out he's a great jazz guitar oh come on yeah that's awesome but the funny part of he doesn't know anything about Theory okay everything's this is the guy pushing me to go to guitar seriously listen because he could not teach yeah so you could teach him back like yeah what am I doing I know but now even this is [Music] this one to this ending yeah no he said play this one [Music] he told me yeah so in other words that person and few people always taught me two three things I don't know yeah and that's build up yeah with curiosity then when I took Jazz lesson everything made a sense because Jazz is really about teach you intervals okay intervals degree and chord quality okay so if you play okay back to subject you know so like [Music] see different positions [Music] right here yeah so you have to go always against the difference like that again what does that mean against what now against same shape okay so this way you see try it oh okay so go then you don't want to go this way yeah okay so this way [Music] you can jump around you know okay so what you're doing right there is you're just playing off of those different uh C shapes and so now this is what we call arupegios okay separation yeah you know so you go [Music] so you can do foreign so you just took two different chord shapes yeah yes and then you know I use our arpeggio so I randomly I choose so I have ability to go any direction okay so anything you use same shape going down you wanna against different so that you have to learn yeah try it yeah yeah yeah so this is a guitar Thing Once you memorize very useful you can go like that you know but you have to figure it out yeah different way so if I go I always wanna against the direction yeah so this way idea is I give all my students two choices down or up okay that's it yeah but that's coming home a little bit Jazz yeah yeah so that's we talk about next level yeah yeah yeah so so what um Next Level chord chord uh taking from basic chords say somebody knows basic chords basic blues yep what are the next set of chords you want to learn yeah so now like first you you don't want to jam so much because if you jam sounds like okay yeah so maybe you want to do play by yourself okay to like if you do like you know [Music] right [Music] so you're ready right [Music] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] what a piano [Laughter] [Music] so so again we fight a guitar lesson first thing I say okay just to learn this like this you know okay right so that's seven third fifth root it's a little too much but you have to really understand that okay now next one this D shape okay see D shape like that one five seven three okay so you have to understand and this one blue is like almost a B7 shape you know Turtle seven ones you know five okay then this one you know kind of old blues thing yeah five one three seven so you have plus seven root third fifth then if you change D and of course the people say that's not Blues that's boring yeah well but you have to do sometime yeah hard work yeah too bad but you have to do it anyway yeah totally but so when I saw Robin Ford like you know kind of Blues Jazz kind of a video this is probably 30 years ago I watched right away I understand because I took jazz guitar lesson so I understand what he's doing yeah because I'm not falling in shape I really following a degree yeah so if you do that like this one like that all you have to do is put a three okay that's mine minus seven yeah already major seven yeah if you do this major nine so you don't have to create the sounds but you could do it yeah so that's a usually beginning yeah students I just teach them like like a drill okay can you play F okay [Music] yeah the students go like this oh out because three seconds you can jam yeah okay if you can do it you just have to learn yeah slowly so you have to go this looks like a root in the top this is a major thought you have to understand that yeah and then it's a fifth somehow okay so if you play fun [Laughter] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Music] yeah so this avoiding basically and this does that but yeah [Music] [Applause] [Music] so basically [Music] [Laughter] [Music] we'll see but when you once you start doing that I think people are like oh you know I mean I think yeah Wednesday Wednesday um get somebody who who they appreciate their sound and realize that that person knows more about you know Jazz and yeah Theory and stuff like that then it's like oh okay yeah so even this one right uh so this I stole this from table Walker okay that's he does yeah play lick yeah but I I resolved that's the coming home Jazz yeah yeah [Music] right like that so I learned just a Melody a little bit of phrasing so I learned that so without learning no idea yeah so that's why this is next level right what is it that you teach at Berkeley like what are what are you well two things we have to do we have a curriculum which is a yeah like core like a proficiency yeah like almost test yeah try as a seventh that's out of the page sure very specific one but that's part of it 50 of lessons sure I don't have to teach students can learn by themselves but I test them all the time yeah and the rest of it it's just style yeah but then I usually do this drill like you know okay do you know D okay what's this one degree you know figuring out then [Music] even this way most people play like this [Music] [Applause] [Music] like that okay right because people don't use the amplifier so then this is what I teach watch him [Music] yeah Dynamics right so and this thumb position then this one lower okay so I teach lower yeah so like some I use this material for like a moving some position okay so you're very traditional in your grip yeah so even like a bending yeah because I saw many people hurt their hands yeah you can't squeezing yeah so I just figuring out why not just adding Little Jazz classical grip and rock bending together yeah so so I studied I can with do without it because I hold my guitar with my body [Music] interesting so what do you mean by you hold your guitar with your body oh it means like I hold my guitar then I almost use this okay then I pull my hand this way okay then I try not to use any uh wrist uh oh interesting yeah like squeezing right yeah I don't use any squeezing because that's that's slow down the phrasing yeah yeah so I don't I don't dig in the front interesting yeah so that I learned from music master and geosonic yeah yeah the reason is I don't want to change Frets yeah you know that's a not change the threads like I have to play softer right yeah so I developed this one no way yes I did so even 100 what yeah so are you are you pressing like I'm pressing you know guitar with my body and my hand yeah so you know like that yeah then I'm go like this and then I pull in a little bit like this and they're almost like it's simple if there is a table yeah you don't if you do like this you know you hurt your finger yeah but you go like this entire so that's what I'm doing yeah yeah interesting yeah and I'm really uh care about the physical yeah I do everyday stretch even tour I bring a lot of stuff yeah I do yeah yeah yeah especially posture you know so many people get that yeah so exactly so I do that so like to me so like a Triad is not only shape so uh uh Theory it's just about the form okay well so like bending I don't I don't think I can really teach everything in a bending but so like bending most people do too much that's okay but so bending first thing I teach like [Music] like that so it's in my thumb nice so this way [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] you see like a lot of control yeah yeah yeah so that's my thing not holding a different subject but yeah yeah something like that sorry foam too yes yeah okay so we got um arpeggios yes what are some basic shapes to start with okay so well definitely you have to sew it like that's kind of you know triadic arpeggio so basically e-shape and there's sort of a D shape and C shape yeah this is a more issue okay but then again this really difficult part is you don't want to think too much shape we always degree one three five on all the numbers okay yeah so I always have to ask many times of students can you say that so do you suggest saying the degrees as they're playing them yeah okay yeah so or like what like you know misodo sodomi Domi so like that you're thinking about the you know color of notes yeah yeah because I try to avoid uh shapes okay that's why sorry to say cages system I don't teach them yeah just because once you teach that you cage the end you know yeah well with any um you know any system that relies on patterns yes you know what I mean people uh they don't play with their ear they play with it that's right their pattern yeah in the sometimes who teaches cage the form or it has amazing year yeah and that's different yeah somebody who doesn't develop yeah and then rely on the shape so as long as caged or those shapes uh understand the degree yeah then fine well you know I think the biggest thing for me um seeing it was what you what you played earlier Hendrix yeah I think if you analyze his music and you figure out you know those are just pieces of those shapes yes right yeah but like oh the third's on top all that other stuff when there's application to music yeah and you learn a system like that it makes such a big difference so like even like a g for example G people do this is uh people no idea what it is but if you go yeah five and three three and one yeah so like that then what's this one passing code yeah see it's not nice and cute but you have to know that you know yeah Shiva is another verse it's a theory is there but you have to add a little bit spice or a little bit your own thing okay and like that you know so this [Music] you see scale yeah so everything kind of a to me major scale tries seventh chord you know knowledge that we did and then maybe like your question like Major Seventh out of pages yeah minor yeah this is funny when students can play this one then I say stop playing never play this again okay because once you know it that's all you need yeah you don't need that other than that okay but then if I play okay how to apply them yeah in a little bit but so what happened is E minor is really relative to G major right okay right so if you play E minor G Major Seventh father three five plus seven nine that's like a just basically Theory so basically minor third up Major Seventh arpeggio like that [Music] so this is what [Music] is the E minor seven like that yeah yeah right you just anything oh yeah right here [Music] [Music] yeah so I play [Music] pentatonic right [Music] see this shape yeah that's Oregon yeah [Music] that's a great chord what was that so this one again it's like some jazz has five nine okay like that that's a g yeah you know minor third so one five nine minor third seven take it out so this is E minor nine yeah you know you don't yeah that's kind of thing so I I just thought that this typical jazz song has a e minor a minor at all like that either so so again it's a little bit knowledge like you have to know the song then you have to analyze it yeah but then like so what happened is G Major Seventh out arpeggio very useful uh E minor so if I play Little Wing [Music] see no C major oh here let me do this I'll play the chords right yeah foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] so so that's like you know yeah if you play this a little jazzier yep then you play Gmail E minor yeah and then you play C Major Seventh or page but you have to prepare a little bit yeah so you learn a bunch of shapes idea then create phrasing so this is I create foreign yeah but then a little bit pentatonic Yeah so basically but see this G Triad yeah I'm just adding major seven yeah yeah so if you play this shape like that okay so this is difficult [Music] see that's already in five or six positions that's so you learn one knowledge yeah then sit down to practice hours yeah then figure out different positions to play that's where I try the inversions very handy because you learn inversion so you relate something yeah yeah so I know that was it sounds different too you know what I mean even though it's the same notes it sounds like you're doing different chords you know it's in a weird way yeah basically we are reusing recycling same major seven but play all minor yeah so you are hearing flat three five plus seven ninth instead of a root third fifth seventh yeah see that's Jazz yeah Jazz guys do that yeah saxophone yeah so sucks guy does that so I know that was funny part is if you ask a sucks guy to play uh E minor pentatonic yeah through this very difficult to play is it yeah because they don't play that naturally in a minor pentatonic yeah major skills are easier for the interesting yeah I did not know that that's why uh when people ask what are you playing video you want to play kind of melodically yeah they're pretty much a major scale yeah so even this one like [Music] foreign [Music] sex because if I play natural sex and too much Dorian sound yeah it does not good for rock yeah so I avoid it okay sometimes [Music] it's more natural yeah but for jazz that's not so good yeah so yeah it's kind of confusing but it's sort of a degree what's a really good uh jazz blues but more Blues based but tasty Jazz that's not difficult that people could listen to yeah that I I starts getting that I I started more like a jazz blues okay so like you know who's good jazz blues like but not like terrifying technique like just to start getting used to this sound you have to listen Jimmy Smith Jack McDuff those two guys just because organ they play bass they can play fast okay so that's why everything medium Tempo yeah like you know if you're here just a producer [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] I learned score changes okay again like a basic adjustables I learned from my cartoon teacher so you directly simple [Music] four and one here's the thing two fives so little Jazzy thing before you go to four yeah now then this goes shot for diminished okay anybody who played Jazz boots always for the damage this is great then the front with this don't go to five years six okay six Domino and two minor five 165. so now slow down like a one two three four one two three four two two five here two three four one two you have to really keep counting like that and one two three g seven so this is really hard you have to really learn patterns you know like yeah so not too difficult just a little bit Jazzy 165 like that [Music] yeah so the difference is like you know Blues usually go okay [Music] [Music] right but then uh typical like for example this song Blue Moon [Music] foreign [Music] exactly only trials that was amazing it sounds cool though because I think that's the um people that the thing they struggle with most yes is how to make a Melody yes so Melody you have to learn definitely yeah because watching this melody hopefully see most people but like that yeah it's a day it's like you know yeah like that sure but then something [Music] like that so you can kind of customize that metal yeah yeah yeah I don't know I was I went to this one like this I I never make up anything everything already on all the records yeah and I just put more salt and pepper that's all yeah don't Stir It Up in a different way exactly that's what I do because that's what good sound come from now and it's familiar already yeah people I have something that they can relate yeah so I'm Pro I didn't invent anything yeah just the uh you know I probably play a little clean but but so the trials to me really helpful because this way exercise could be foreign [Music] so this is important you have to really understand how long this is a regular one for five minutes and the hair check it out back to B flat so really this is jazz in a way follow the form okay [Music] f1s E flat once maybe flat ones and if so sounds like that [Music] foreign [Music] and then chromaticism comes from music yeah so knowledge and music kind of are put together but most people following the music without reason that takes long time it does almost you're shooting without looking yeah yeah well you're just um yeah you're hoping that you've played something familiar yeah as soon as you get thrown into a situation where you're not interested so that's that's what we call when we go Jam some nights is good some nights right but I wanna I wanna do every night is good you know even I'm sick that's why I practice okay that's I think a professional Rhythm about Taino always sounds good you know what do you practice I practice rhythm guitar yeah so whenever I have time I use metronome and I practice something like you know [Laughter] [Music] [Laughter] [Applause] [Music] any standards because standard has a form okay and I don't know how long to take sure so I practice that four or five times then that's a good you know couple minutes you know what um when you say standards what do you mean like some people yeah jazz jazz song okay yeah like in Autumn Leaves okay so if I play that you know but I only played three knots because I want to hear a basic thing sure [Music] see I'm falling home [Music] fourth time like that so this way I'm Really Gonna internalize code progression with a thing now be a second a minor seven plus five D seven and G minor and j7 [Music] so just like the whole bundle [Music] keep going like that yeah you know thinking listening to you play that what I found is a rock kid yes not wanting to hear any of that stuff at some point I felt like I'd heard all the rock progressions and I'm like oh this is I'm just hearing this over and over and yeah when I started to listen to I think like Stevie Ray Vaughan like Riviera Paradise and that stuff was kind of the gateway drug to Jazz you know yeah yeah yeah and then um but you start hearing and then when you start hearing real Jazz musicians yes you start hearing progressions and yeah how they're doing things that aren't typical progressions yeah and how they're changing keys and as all of a sudden it's like wait a second what is all this other stuff yeah let me do something funny okay what if Stevie Ray won't play Autumn Leaves yeah [Music] yeah same thing yeah but he feels of course more sure but then Jazz guy is a [Music] foreign [Music] yeah see you now watch it possibly are you sir prior [Music] [Music] yeah still I'm thinking something so my eyes are like this right my daughter said guitar I wake up you know yeah that's so funny Jack rears yeah yeah I was talking to him the other day and he's like you know you mentioned him he and what's cool is that you guys go in he he he's such a great great yeah the Simplicity but the no choice in the type of phrasing is very similar right but yeah he says give us some time like he he'll just wake up in the middle of the night and just think of like how to get from one change to the next and it's just like but but when you hear him play yeah and how effortless it is and like when you see him play Live or I would imagine you as well yeah thank you um it you see where it pays off yeah so yeah and then um I I I was lucky to uh understand Simplicity is the key balance you know so I found a trials is really a great tool to understand and this is a root seven third rule 37 so basically if you play Backwards more notes than this one but this one it's a simple then this really required left hand mutant so that [Music] that's the same thing as this so I don't got this funk I play one swing yeah because that's my um like a skill yeah yeah and every day I practice it that's swings no joke man yeah as Western swing guys but you know what what um yeah I appreciate about jazz too is it starts to get you thinking um and I see it in country playing too yeah traditional country playing yep the Rhythm aspect it gets you like more of a bounce yeah and um it's not just so typical you know shredding yeah phrasing it it really develops the rhythmic side of of lead playing or yeah any kind of playing but I I think what it is uh jazz in the country Bluegrass they have to play Melody and chords first before they improvised but Rock unfortunately sometimes you can just play solo and somebody else doing other parts sure yeah because it does a different style yeah and the rock is to me more new sounds than jazz or Bluegrass you know right so in order to succeed in the next level sometimes step back a little bit yeah and there's something not related to you know own music but variable to learn yeah then you learn the structure yes the structure into on playing yeah that's why I teach Jazz yeah well I mean it makes sense because it's just a little bit it well but it it I could see why because it really forces you to start to think about Melody and yes and then time yeah like you said time is a good so metronome timing yeah okay so you teach private too yeah a little bit but I bet you have do you also have an online thing yes I have a guitar wisdom okay so that's yeah you get that wisdom I like that my wisdom okay yeah what's on guitar wisdom everything sight reading beginner sections Jazz standards okay tries a lot of uh interesting you know uh all all the things I teach like a subscription subscription yeah okay 15 a month wow nice yeah so anybody three cups of coffee stay yeah stay one month and just take off that's fine yeah yeah then you can watch all videos all the videos start in succession or just how's it laid out like do you give them like a to z like start here and work always I see I have I have like you know um structures there's several different sections okay so I have music theory sight reading beginner series and just standards and uh Theory two which applying Theory okay that's when people get lost because then my theory one covers everything okay mostly if you watch YouTube try to do Theory two type of thing it doesn't work because not knowing theory is one thing so I built up those foundations okay and then foundation and technique yeah those section all details about the fingering muting and all that okay yeah it's really good all right I can really try anyone else I mean call you myself well thank you so much I'm going to leave your uh info down below so make sure you check down below and if you want to support the cause here obviously go to brettpappa.com there's stuff there for you as well and then also if you're curious about the equipment and stuff we use here I have a Sweetwater page where it shows you all the stuff I use so thank you so much for coming but I hope to get you back here one of these days thank you so make sure you check out his guitar wisdom thank you all right have a good one good

Channel: Brett Papa

Views: 202,373

Keywords: tomo fujita, guitar lessons, guitar, lesson, brett papa, papastache guitar lessons, papastache, tomo fujita john mayer, john mayer guitar teacher, tomo fujita guitar lessons, tomo fujita berklee, berklee tomo fujita

Id: JyMpoWAgUs8

Length: 49min 23sec (2963 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 20 2022