Gianluca Ferro

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Gianluca teaches guitar at the Modern Music Institute (M.M.I.) in Varese, Milano and at Nerolidio Music Factory in Como; besides, he keeps also busy with Masterclass anc Clinics in Italy and abroad.

His teaching approach tends to develop a deeper knowledge of the mechanics of the instrument. He encourages his students to reach their own sound and their own personal style. He carries out Hard Disk Recording activity as a certified Steinberg teacher.

Contact: info@gianlucaferro.com

Gianluca is available for Skype lessons

M.M.I. TEACHING PROGRAM: GIANLUCA FERRO

M.M.I teaching program is divided into three levels: basic, intermediate and advanced course.
Each level provides for the following subjects: SCALES, HARMONY, RATIONALIZATION OF THE COMPOSITIONAL PROCESS, RHYTHMICS AND ACCOMPANIMENT, LEAD GUITAR AND COVERING.
Levels 2 and 3 provide for, in addition, the entry "composition" which consists in a presentation, made by the student, of an original piece of music based on the notions he acquired.

The entry "technique" (lead guitar) is related to the following guitar techniques:

1. sweep picking
2. tapping
3. 8-finger tapping
4. alternate picking
5. legato
6. hybrid picking
7. hybrid techniques

The difficulty rank is correlated to the 3 levels of the program. The covering section provides for the studying of some tracks that can vary in relation to the musical bent and to the artistic choices of the student: some indicative examples are quoted at the end of the program.

In order to gain admittance to the M.M.I exams, the student has to get a min. of 60 credits.

M.M.I. conceives, moreover, complementary courses and masterclasses, which give extra-credits to the student (for more information, please visit the link www.modernmusicinstitute.com - "vademecum per gli esami")

Level 1 (basic course)

• SCALES (max 15 credits)

  1. One-string major and pentatonic scales
  2. Scales harmonization using 3rds, 4ths and 5ths
  3. CAGED system scales
  4. Major arpeggios
  5. Tonal context improvisation

• HARMONY (max 15 credits)

  1. Major scale construction
  2. Intervals (visualization and recognition)
  3. Fretboard interval construction
  4. Major scale harmonization
  5. Cadences and tonic, subdominant and dominant groups.

• RATIONALIZATION of the CREATIVE and COMPOSITIONAL PROCESS (max 20 credits)

  1. Thematic development in improvisation
  2. Harmonizing simple diatonic melodies
  3. Diatonic substitutions through the tonic, subdominant and dominant families
  4. Creating riffs and arrangements lines over progressions
  5. Analysis of the song form and arrangement notions

• RHYTMICS AND ACCOMPANIMENT (max 10 credits)

  1. Major blues accompaniment
  2. Riff creation over a chord progressions
  3. Major chords in first position and chords inversions

• LEAD GUITAR (max 20 credits)

  1. 12 bar blues forms
  2. Blue notes and blending major and minor pentatonics
  3. Playing a guitar solo ageed with the teacher
  4. Technique (level 1)

• COVERING (max 20 credits)

  1. See the cover list level 1

Level 2 (intermediate course)

• SCALES (max 10 credits)

  1. 2, 3 and 4 note X string major scales
  2. Harmonic minor and melodic minor scales
  3. Scale sequencing : studying and development of interval sequencies
  4. 7th, augmented and diminished arpeggios fingerings
  5. Modal concept in improvisation and composition

• HARMONY (max 10 credits)

  1. Tonal modulation
  2. Introduction to modalism
  3. Secondary dominants
  4. Modal music categories (Ron Miller)
  5. Modal compositon techniques (Tonal Modal, Pitch Axis, Symmetric progresisons)
  6. Triads connections through "the shortest way" (Bruckner)
  7. Quadriads

• RATIONALIZATION OF THE CREATIVE AND COMPOSITIONAL PROCESS (max 20 credits)

  1. Introduction to the Standard jazz
  2. Improvising with triads and 7ths arpeggios
  3. Modal improvisation
  4. Exercises aimed at the exploration and memorization of the sectors (sequences - intervallic studies)
  5. Harmonic analysis of sections from late-Romantic classical music pieces (Liszt, Buckner, Wagner)
  6. Diminished 7th chord

• RHYTMICS AND ACCOMPANIMENT (max 10 credits)

  1. Easy standard jazz studying
  2. Thrash and speed metal riffing
  3. Funk rhythms
  4. Creating a 4 part arrangement over a given chord progression
  5. Odd time signatures and polymetrics

• LEAD GUITAR (max 20 credits)

  1. Standard jazz improvisaiton
  2. Modal improvisation (Modal linear and Plateau modale)
  3. Use of chromatics
  4. Incorporating wide intervals in phrasing (Hybrid Picking, String Skipping and Tapping)
  5. Technique (level 2)

• COMPOSING (max 10 credits)

  1. Creation of original pieces of music showing the student's knowledge.

• COVERING (max 20 credits)

  1. See the cover list level 2

Level 3 (advanced course)

• SCALES (max 10 credits)

  1. Symmectrical scales (whole-tone scales and diminished scales)
  2. Modes of limited transposition (Messiaen)
  3. Developing symmetrical scales sequencies
  4. 9th and 11th arpeggios
  5. Pentatonic, diatonic and symmetrcal stretched-fingerings

• HARMONY (max 10 credits)

• RATIONALIZATION of the CREATIVE and COMPOSITIONAL PROCESS (max 20 credits)

  1. Jazz/Fusion/Free Jazz music analysis
     (Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Chick Corea)
  2. Improvising with synthetic scales and "outside" phrasing
  3. Improvising with altered scales
  4. Creative development of technique by mixing the different techniques
  5. 20th Century and contemporary composition techniques
  6. The boundaries of tonality

• RHYTMICS AND ACCOMPANIMENT (max 10 credits)

  1. Studying Standard Jazz and Jazz/Fusion songs
  2. Polyrhythmic exercises
  3. Introduction to counterpoint and orchestration

• LEAD GUITAR (max 20 credits)

  1. Improvising over progressions modulating to detached tonalities
  2. Blending hybrid techniques over modulating progressions
  3. Phrasing development
  4. Technique (level 3)

• COMPOSING (max 10 credits)

  1. Examination of the student's knowledge: creation of an original piece of music composition
  2. COVERING (max 20 credits) see the cover list level 3

Cover Examples