14 Blues & Funk Etudes has been written for those who wish to work on improvisation, composing, sight reading and general musicianship. This book's focus is on playing melodically and simply, over a variety of funk and blues settings, thus allowing the student to understand the language of these styles of playing. Mintzer attempts to demostrate how to transform a simple melody into a gem of an idea and illustrates how solos are logical extensions of tunes.