Method books for self-study

ah.clem · #1 01-13-2011, 10:48 PM

I've been searching through this forum the last 6 hours or so, checking out the recommendations people have made for learning chord-melody style and except for "Assembly Line" (which I haven't been able to find for sale on-line) I haven't come across very many method book recommendations. There are a few on amazon.com but no reviews other than one for a single-line technique. I"m really looking for chord-melody instruction. There is also a method book for the CAGED system but again, I don't know if it's worth purchasing.

I have a really good theory background (piano, bass and sax/flute) but I'm pretty new to the guitar.

Does anyone have a recommendation for a text that could be used for self-study? Opinions about the CAGED system method books? I don't have easy access to a teacher at the moment and I'm not too keen on on-line or Skype based lessons right now.

monk · #2 01-13-2011, 10:52 PM

The Chord Melody Assembly Line by Robert Conti is available at
http://www.robertconti.com/

along with some other chord melody and soloing products.

Regards,
monk

ah.clem · #3 01-13-2011, 10:54 PM

Monk. Thanks, I will certainly order it.

fumblefingers · #4 01-13-2011, 11:15 PM

a lot of material here:

Chord Melody Guitar Music: Guitar Sheet Music, Tab Books, Instruction Videos and DVDs

ah.clem · #5 01-14-2011, 06:55 AM

Thanks, Fumblefingers. I've seen that site but I have no way of knowing what they carry that would be good for self-study. For bass, piano, sax or flute I could recommend certain titles; I guess I was hoping someone here had that expertise for chord-melody and would share it.

0zoro · #6 01-14-2011, 06:56 AM

Check out JonnyPac. He presented his newly published book here, which I ordered. It covers chord building, modes, harmony etc. I am a relative beginner who has had not previous music theory training, and have in my posession several books. I honestly feel that his orderlyness and systematic approach has been good for my. Check out some of his exemples on this site, that ought to give you an idea as to its value for you. Cheers and berst of luck 0zoro

ah.clem · #7 01-14-2011, 09:38 AM

Thanks, 0zoro. I will Google him and take a look at his stuff. Thanks for the recommendation.

docbop · #8 01-14-2011, 10:04 AM

Check out Truefire.com they have online lessons at all levels and styles. You can signup for a month or two and get a lot material to jump start playing.

ah.clem · #9 01-14-2011, 10:05 AM

Thanks, docbop. I'll check it out this week-end.

fumblefingers · #10 01-15-2011, 10:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ah.clem

Thanks, Fumblefingers. I've seen that site but I have no way of knowing what they carry that would be good for self-study. For bass, piano, sax or flute I could recommend certain titles; I guess I was hoping someone here had that expertise for chord-melody and would share it.

There is plenty of useful material there.

Your concern related to self study vs. something else means what? That the alternative would be with a teacher?

You may want to keep in mind that virtually ALL of these books are intended for self study. These are not college text books, so there is no assumption that a master teacher is in the loop - other than the author.

If you have some knowledge and facility with the guitar and with theory, and you know the type of solo guitar playing that appeals to you (yes, so called "chord-melody playing" has different approaches/styles) then you should be able to pick a "method" book and go from there.

Let me give you an example - do you like Joe Pass, Martin Taylor, Wes Montgomery, etc? If so, get a book/books or other educational materials produced by them or others who analyzed them and start there. If you are not ready for material at that level, then I suggest the Berklee method by William Leavitt to get you started)

Also, remember that solo guitar playing (again, so called chord-melody) is really arranging. Arranging is a type of compositional skill. If you really want to get good at this you will have to work on it from that perspective too. Not to worry - you can study plenty of existing solos while you are learning the art of arranging your own. The availability of written solo jazz guitar arrangements is extensive.

pierre richard · #11 01-15-2011, 10:57 AM

mel bay has some...johnny smith...etc...

Abersold also has some great books...

there are lots of sites on the web that have chord melody transcriptions..some with fingering diagrams too...it takes time to find them though..I'll go through my list of sites and try to pinpoint the better ones..

angelfire.com has a book of Barry Galbrath (sp) chord melody arrangments that are super...as he was too...

time on the instrument..pierre

frogeye · #12 01-15-2011, 03:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ah.clem

Thanks, docbop. I'll check it out this week-end.

I recommend to check out Martin Taylor's Online Academy. While it is not a book you can subscribe 3 months for 60 bucks and that is a real bargain and if you put in the time you will get a awesome jump start on chord melody and solo guitar. I'm not affiliated with the site but am a subscriber myself.

http://www.martintaylorguitar.com

JonnyPac · #13 01-15-2011, 04:16 PM

Thanks for the plug, Ozoro! My book is not specifically CM, but it covers the building blocks to create most of the voicings you'd ever need. I hope inspire folks to fearlessly create coherent melodies and harmonies from the fretboard vantage point. It's a good theoretical suppliment to what you are after, though a good CM workbook would benefit you as well. Good luck. PM me if you want to ask questions. Thanks!

JonnyPac

matt.guitarteacher · #14 01-15-2011, 08:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by monk

The Chord Melody Assembly Line by Robert Conti is available at
http://www.robertconti.com/

along with some other chord melody and soloing products.

Regards,
monk

I got it for Christmas last year, and I'm now about 100 times the chord melody player I was then. I've spent the year reading through real books and such. I can read through pretty much anything now that's at a decent tempo. I highly recommend it.

You just have to understand that it's just the starting point though. The beauty of his approach is that he limits it to a couple of voicings per chord/scale tone. At first it's great to just play the voicing with that note on top to learn what you're doing. Then it's up to you to learn to use the other chord tones within each form, get new ones from books and recordings, figure out your own voicings, and use some arrangement techniques to make things interesting.

The reason I say all this is that sometimes he gets a bad rap for the method's being too "cut and paste". I think it's important, however, to have some kind of reasonable starting point for folks such as myself who have no access to a teacher. Now, I look back and realize if I'd just had a teacher to show me a few practical solutions, I could have saved a lot of time.

It gives you all the basic grips that real players already know. I got it because I couldn't really find anything else that looked like a real method. I labored through creating my own arrangements for quite a few years.
Things like Dominant and Major 7ths with a #5 in the melody for example, used to give me fits. Now it's simple and if I come across something new, I now know how to deal with it. With some basic forms under your fingers have the raw material you need to create your own voicings.

In the past Tony Beltran's excellent "Chord Melody, An Organized Approach?" has been offered as the "sane alternative" to Conti. I hope that Tony's own post re. Bob Conti's method has finally put to rest some of the Conti bashing. Tony's method along with books such as Ted Greene's Chord Chemistry and William Leavitt's Modern Guitar Method books are great recources for building on the basics of Robert's beginner method.

Best of luck,

Matt

ralfkrebs · #15 01-16-2011, 04:41 AM

I can recomend some great books by howard morgan: preparation, concepts, jazz and popular standards for fingerstyle guitar. you can order at least "concepts" at amazon USA.
A great book by lenny breau: "fingerstyle jazz" also at amazon.com
Two videos I recomend: tuck andress: "fingerstyle mastery" and joe pass: "solo jazz guitar"

check these out!

Ralf

ah.clem · #16 01-16-2011, 11:20 AM

Wow, lots of good replies, thanks! Frogeye, I'll check out the site. Ralfkrebs, I spent a few hours playing through some of the examples of Morgens' "Through Chord Melody & Beyond" and I have ordered it. Matt, I've spent about 3 hours watching the videos on Conti's site and I plan on ordering the "Assembly Line" book and DVD. I appreciate your insight into how to approach the Conti material; finding a reliable set of chord shapes to get started with is my goal right now. Once I have the fretboard memorized I know things will come together for me; I already have a good grasp of theory and chord spelling/substitution (from jazz piano study) and I have spent time arranging for combo and big bands. The guitar fretboard just intimidates me, lol. Fumblefingers, thanks for the thoughts. I've been looking at some of the arrangements on-line and I was pretty blown away at first and stopped looking. Then when watching a Robert Conti video on his site yesterday I heard something really basic but incredibly helpful for me (a real "D'oah <headslap!>" moment for me); "you don't have to play all the chords". Forest for the trees, I guess. I agree that many of the guitar method books I've looked at the last few days are set up for self-study; that's not strictly true for piano or reeds. Maybe because there are so many people playing guitar compared to other instruments. Jonnypac, thanks for the offer, I may hit you up with a question or two in the future.

matt.guitarteacher · #17 01-16-2011, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ralfkrebs

I can recomend some great books by howard morgan: preparation, concepts, jazz and popular standards for fingerstyle guitar. you can order at least "concepts" at amazon USA.

Ralf, the Howard Morgan books look great. How do the books relate to one another? Is there a sequence? Does some of the material overlap? Which one would you recommend as the first one to look at?

Thanks,

lilsnooppowg · #18 01-16-2011, 04:04 PM

Am happy for the replies so far it shows am not alone.

nomelite · #19 01-16-2011, 08:21 PM

+1 for Howard Morgen books !

guelda · #20 01-17-2011, 06:27 AM

Hi all,

I have several books intended for CM and I think the best one is the one by Fred Sokolow : Amazon.com: Building a Jazz Chord Solo: A Guitarist's Guide to the Art of Chord Melody Playing (Guitar Educational) (0073999958683): Fred Sokolow: Books

This one deals with several songs and demonstrates ideas directly in a real (song) context. Here's the description that can be found on the page :

"(...) Four jazz standards are presented, each with four arrangements at varying levels of difficulty: a beginner's arrangement, using mostly first-position chords * an intermediate arrangement, using moveable chords and featuring a more developed chord vocabulary * an advanced arrangement, including ample chord substitutions and reharmonization * an improvisational chord solo that leaves the melody behind. (...)"

Not to say the other ones I have are bad, but IMO the best way to learn stuff on the guitar is applied to a tune, and it's the only one I know really using this method.

Have swing
Guelda

[Edit] I forgot to mention that my CM improved a lot by creating my own CM on tunes I like. By doing so, you find ways and chords you might not have thought about only following a method. Another useful way to improve our CM playing is by transcribing (in my case : directly on the guitar) CM from great players, of course beginning with "easy" and slow pieces, for example the intro of "Baubles, bangles and beads" by Wes.