Mick Goodrick Almanac Course

The Mick Goodrick Almanacs have achieved near mythical status in the history of jazz guitar books.

The three almanac volumes had a very limited run and when a copy surfaced on ebay the asking price could be up to €400! Which is astronomical for a jazz guitar book.

Mainly the books passed from teacher to player and whispered about in sacred tones.

Now, for the first time Modern Guitar Harmony has created a transformed the seemingly abstract diagrams on the pages into a practical course called Harmonic Explorations with the Goodrick Almanacs.

This is your chance to dive deep into the almanacs and explore brilliant new sounds which will transform your playing!

Mick Goodrick and The Advancing Guitarist

Mick Goodrick is better known for his three-part book The Advancing Guitarist which is adorned by serious guitarists world-wide.

The Advancing Guitarist starts with a section called The Approach in which Mick (Mr Goodchord) takes the budding guitarist through an approach which leads to fretboard freedom. Next, Mick presents the materials which one can use with this approach and finally the book ends with a philosophical section.

Goodrick also wrote a book with faculty member at Berklee College of Music, Tim Miller called Generic Modality Compression (GMC) which is basically a book about triad pairs.

What Are the Goodrick Almanacs

The Goodrick Almanacs is a three volume set of voice-leading books encompassing triads and four-part chords in a variety of keys and cycles and is presented as chord scales in the key of C.

The books contain their own unique way of presenting information and it has its own terminology which is easy to follow (all is explained in the introduction to the books).

Obviously since the books are key centered they are modal as well. PDF copies of the three almanac volumes are included in the course.

What Makes the Goodrick Almanacs Unique

The Goodrick Almanacs are a complete system of voice-leading. Instead of having a collection of loose chords, the almanacs show you how chords move. Depending on the cycle triads and chords may only change one note when moving to the next chord or it might change two, three or all the notes in the voicing. It is this study that provides deep insight when composing and improvising.

There are no real guidance systems in the almanacs. For example, no chord names are given and no fingerings are given therefore there is a lot of self-discovery of what is happening and a reliance on your ears. This makes the almanacs deeper than other guitar “chord” books.

The chord scales are constructed from cycles so you are hearing and learning about real applicable movement found in all music. Each note in a chord moves diatonically to the new note of the next chord (if it doesn’t stay the same) so this creates an almost limitless possibility of harmonic movement.

All beginner jazz guitar books start out in major. Goodrick wastes no time in introducing the colors of melodic and harmonic minor and in volume three of the almanacs you are introduced to the beautiful hungarian minor scale (which after studying the almanacs is now one of my favourite scales). Rarely do guitar books provide information on the hungarian minor scale.

The Harmonic Explorations with the Goodrick Almanacs is a practical application of the almanacs. Many uninitiated guitarists find the almanacs too abstract and therefore miss out on the beautiful colors inside. The Harmonic Explorations course makes this much more concrete by providing:

Composed pieces and etudes based on the cycles
Shown in sheet music and tablature
PDF’s about harmonic density and a Quick Start guide

The philosophy behind the Goodrick almanacs is to think as composer in that each note in a chord is a voice, not as chord “grips”. This forces you to listen inside each chord instead of listening superficially while trying to memorize chord fingerings.

Finally the almanacs bridge the gap between jaz, modern classical music and experimental guitar harmony.

Rare Jazz Guitar Books

Despite the limited run of physical editions the almanacs are becoming better-known now due to the work done by Modern Guitar Harmony.

Initially the books were an underground phenomenon despite Goodrick using the book with students in his college guitar lab. When the uninitiated get their hands on the almanacs they are not sure how to use them hence the initial purpose of the Modern Guitar Harmony website.

We have written articles about Mick Goodrick and the almanacs including the How to Use the Mick Goodrick Almanacs, we have much almanac material on the Modern Guitar Harmony Youtube channel and now we have presented the first Mick Goodrick Almanac course (another Mick Goodrick course is due shortly – grab the Free Advanced Guitar Course featuring Ben Monder and be notified when the next Mick Goodrick course will be released).

Harmonic Explorations with the Goodrick Almanacs

As the course title signifies this course is all about practical, hands-on harmonic explorations using the Goodrick almanacs.

The course consists of 20 written pieces (10 each by Marco Giussani and myself) composed entirely of chords and cycles found in the almanacs. Each piece is fully notated in sheet music and tablature and comes with an explanation as well as with images of the exact almanac passages used in the composition of the piece (remember that when writing anything you can change the key, cycles, time signature etc).

There are 10 extra bonus pieces some of which have been published before, an 18-page eBook which accompanies the course, a 4 page PDF on harmonic density, full scores of the Mentaculus and 3PSC by Ben Monder from his Planetarium album and a 15 minute interview with Ben Monder about the almanacs.

The almanacs themselves as mentioned above are essentially cycle-based chord scales however they are comprised of triads, 7th chords, triads over bass notes and clusters in major, melodic minor, harmonic minor and hungarian minor.

The almanacs go much, much deeper than that brief outline and that scope is beyond this article which is based on the Harmonic Explorations with the Goodrick Almanacs course.

How the Course Will Transform Your Playing

David Lee once told me that everyone he knows who has spent time with the almanacs has had their playing transformed. Having seen my own playing transform after using the almanacs I can guarantee that if you apply this stuff that your playing will transform too!

Obviously when spending time with chord scales you get a deepening of fretboard knowledge as well as chordal knowledge. This is a given but have you spent time running cluster chord scales or triad over bass note chord scales?

Not only will you hear some very cool, modern sounds but chords like triad over bass notes are your gateway to non-functional harmony!

You will also improve your hearing skills through hearing inside chords and you will of course raise your voice-leading awareness on the guitar.

Your theoretical knowledge will become much more ingrained by getting stuck into chord scales, diatonic (or non-diatonic) cycles, voice-leading types such as intervallic, functional, non-functional and MSRP (a term made up by Goodrick!).

Your compositional approach and creativity will hit new heights and that is a main goal of the Harmonic Explorations with the Goodrick Almanacs course.We want you to get your hands dirty by composing short pieces / etudes in your own style using the almanacs.

We really want you to explore and find your own voice on the guitar. If you think of any “name” player then you can imagine their own distinct playing style and sound in your inner ear. You need to develop this yourself and this course will definitely help you get there!

There are many, many more benefits to working through this course but one important benefit to mention is that you will radically improve your reharmonization skills by inserting these cycles into pieces which you play already. Reharmonization on guitar standards on the fly is what it’s all about. Harmonic freedom on your instrument.

What Makes the Mick Goodrick Course Unique

For starters the Harmonic Explorations is the first course about the Mick Goodrick almanacs. If that isn’t unique enough then approachability to mass chords is another unique feature.

Remember trying to wade through the masses of chords in Ted Greene’s Chord Chemistry book? Ted actually called the book “Chord Catastrophe”, Lol! Learning those chords was very daunting wasn’t it?

What the Harmonic Explorations course does it shows you exactly how to compose pieces from the 1,000 plus pages that are found in the almanacs (don’t worry, you don’t have to learn every voicing in the volumes!).

Just listen for sounds that you really like and learn those inversions then by learning the inversions, instead of playing by root movement you learn to play across cycles without focusing on the root which gives freedom on the guitar,

As stated before the almanacs don’t provide much instruction (which is actually good, you’ll find out why when you use the almanacs for a while). The Mick Goodrick almanacs course provides lots of how-to, practical advice so that you can dive into the books and start composing or improvising very quickly (thank you Quick Start Guide!).

How to Use the Harmonic Explorations Course

There are a few different ways that you can use the Harmonic Explorations course.

The first is a self-study path. You simply take your favourite pieces from the course and learn them slowly, note for note from the provided sheet music and/or tablature. You then play with these pieces for a while and then make them “yours” as they evolve naturally over time.

Once you understand the underlying principles you can compose your own etudes based on the Goodrick cycles. This process is explicitly described in this blog post.

You can also start to insert these cycles into tunes which you already know. The easiest applications are cycles 2 and 7 however with a little thought of how to go about it all the other cycles will work too. Reharmonize jazz tunes with the Mick Goodrick almanacs.

In your practice time focus on the sounds you like best. Do you prefer the dissonance of cluster chords or the classical gentleness of major scale triads? Find your favorite sounds and work with them. Explore triads, 7th notes and triads over bass notes.

A note of caution, and one which Mick Goodrick addresses at the start of each volume of the almanacs as well, be careful with your hands. Many chords are impossible to play as a fingered chord (try arpeggiating these) and some chord involve big stretches. Hand health is of prime importance here. Always stretch and warm up well before attempting any large stretches on the fretboard. If you feel any pain at all, stop playing immediately.

Who The Goodrick Course is For

The Goodrick course is best for intermediate and advanced guitarists. Ideally guitarists know their barre chords and the major scale. The melodic minor scale is just one note different than the major scale and the harmonic minor scale is just one note different than the melodic minor scale. So if you know the major scale on the fretboard then you should be in good shape.

You definitely need to have a good idea of where the notes are on the fretboard. You don’t have to know where the notes are super quickly yet as the almanacs will really help with that but you should be able to work out where the F# note is on the B string for example.

Students who are interested in jazz, modern harmony, solo guitar, composition and/or reharmonization should really explore this course as should those who are willing to write their own music.

Every guitarist can explore the almanacs and the course but those with the above capabilities will get the most out of this course.

What Famous Guitarists Say About The Mick Goodrick Almanacs

“Most of what I got out of the Almanacs were probably more ways to compose.” — Ben Monder

“Just play through this stuff… no hard analysis… just play it and get a feel for the sounds and their movement.” — Julian Lage

“The Goodchord Almanacs are endlessly fascinating and provide composition material that would last several lifetimes.” — John Stowell

The Last Drum Beat

Each volume of the Mick Goodrick almanac is a treasure and at Modern Guitar Harmony we are proud to carry Mick’s educational matter and approach forwards for new generations to discover.

Creating courses such as the Harmonic Explorations course carries Mick’s path forward in a very practical way.

Whether you are a creative guitarist interested in writing your own material or an intermediate guitarist wanting to learn the fretboard better with all the benefits listed higher in this post the The Harmonic Explorations with the Goodrick Almanacs could be a great course for you.

Modern Guitar Harmony

Harmonic Explorations For Guitar - Advanced Jazz Guitar Instruction Online