Jazz Standards Recommendation?

teleman3726 · #1 05-31-2011, 06:19 AM

Can anyone recommend a good book of jazz standards (not the fake book), complete with a CD and tabs (I stupidly abandoned standard notation years ago and am working on getting it back). I like chord-melody approaches.
I've seen lots on amazon, etc., but want some opinions from players here.
Thanks to all that respond.

oldane · #2 05-31-2011, 09:36 AM

This is not what you asked for, but anyway:

I never learned to read standard music notation when young, but have done it later. I'm not at all good at it, I am in no way a sight reader, and I read really slowly, but I do read. I have always been hesitant to use tabs and haven't done so to this day. Tabs are good for guitarists, and many love them, but they are not understood by players of other instruments. Standard notation is the universal language used by players of all instruments the world over across genres. I suggest you practice that and stick to it and get a/some good fakebook(s). Both Sher Music (The New Real Book series) and Hal Leonard has some good and fairly accurate ones.

If you have Band-in-a-Box, you may like the following (free B-i-a-B files): RealBook - Phillips Music

There's also: www.realbook.us also free, just requiring registration.

+ lots more on the internet and in printed form.

If you only want the changes without the melody line, check out "Pocket Changes vol. 1 and 2". A total of more than 800 standards. Spiral bound. Available from Amazon and many other sources. Very compact - fits in the accessory compartment of your guitar case.

mr. beaumont · #3 05-31-2011, 09:49 AM

The Barry Galbraith books are chord melody arrangements of standards, with a CD and TAB. They're excellent.

Amazon.com: Mel Bay Barry Galbraith Guitar Solos (9780786665082): Jim Lichens: Books

Barry, however, were he still around, would tell you to get reading. If you want to play jazz, it's pretty much a must--unless you got an ear like Wes.

Eddie Lang · #4 05-31-2011, 11:23 AM

To continue on what Oldane wrote, you can also visit Wikifonia. Melodies and chords of lots of standards can be found and it transposes to any key you want before you download the pdf (for free!).

Reading notation is good, even if only slowly, but if you insist on tabs instead of notation, you could always buy GuitarPro ($60). You recopy the melody in notation in GuitarPro and it writes it in tabs for you. I know it takes a little bit of time, but most songs are 32 bars so it's not that long, plus recopying can be a very exercice to help improve your reading too.

Extrapolation · #5 05-31-2011, 12:11 PM

Thanks for the links everyone, Wikifonia in particular I find quite useful, and the Barry Galbraith book is now on my list. I have always been hesitant to buy the print Fake Books because of inaccuracy. Particularly the Hal Leonard one, since I've read reviews on amazon that there's a lot more than just a few inaccuracies here and there. Could someone with any experience with both Fake Books (Sher Music/Hal Leonard), or any others of there are any, tell us which are the most accurate?

In answer to Teleman's question, I don't know of any books of Standards with TAB/CDs on them, but as noted before Guitar Pro is a great tool for weening yourself off of TAB and improving your reading; the notation is right above the TAB and you can have the program actually play the tune with a line that highlights each note as it is played. Obviously it sounds terrible and there are some rhythmic inaccuracies, but it did help me in transitioning from tabs to notation, in addition to lots of standard sight-reading practice. You can download Guitar Pro tabs for free from http://www.ultimate-guitar.com; although Jazz tunes are the last thing the site specializes in, I have found Guitar Pro files of Wes' version of "Airegin", Coltrane's solo on "So What", Pat Martino's version of "Impressions", Chick Corea's "Spain" and a couple others. A lot of the time you'll find yourself coming up with your own fingerings since the tabs sometimes aren't very intuitive or efficient. As I said, Guitar Pro is a fine tool to transition from TAB to standard notation; I bought it years ago when the price was considerably lower though it looks pretty steep now unfortunately.

mr. beaumont · #6 05-31-2011, 12:16 PM

The new legal Real Books (The Hal Leonard, and the Sher) are pretty accurate.

The Sher books have hipper changes, but a fakebook's just a template anyway. You're going to eventually use your ears and substitute colors where you see fit...fakebooks aren't "law" they're a "suggestion." So when it comes to playing tunes, it's good to have a general idea, but if you listen to 10 versions you're gonna hear 10 different things...

There's certainly "wrong" ways to do things in jazz, but rarely is there one "right" way.

Extrapolation · #7 05-31-2011, 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

...but a fakebook's just a template anyway. You're going to eventually use your ears and substitute colors where you see fit...fakebooks aren't "law" they're a "suggestion."

Very true. Some of the reviews said some stuff in the Hal Leonard books had melodies that were flat-out wrong wrong pitch-wise or rhythmically, but yeah I'll see if they have them in some of my local shops so I can flip through them, never heard of the Sher music ones until now. Thanks

oldane · #8 05-31-2011, 01:41 PM

As for fake books and leed sheets - they are meant to be kind of shorthand for what the music as a whole - the whole band - COULD (not necessarily SHOULD) sound like. It's a common mistake for guitarists to play all the extensions and other bells and whistles of all the chords when playing in a band. If the chord symbol says Bb13 it doesn't mean that the guitarist has to play root, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 11th and 13th himself. If he does that, things will really mud up, and chances are he will not be called for the next gig. He may well be better off just playing a plain Bb7, maybe even with root and 5th omitted - and leave the rest of the extensions to the pianist and the horns.

If playing solo or as the only chord instrument, the guitarist must of course cover more of it himself, but it is still up to his personal interpretation of the music how much or how little he will include. Often less is more - for example listen to Jim Halls comping on Sonny Rollins' album "The Bridge".

So .... fakebooks and lead sheets is just a starting point, not the final answer.

randalljazz · #9 06-01-2011, 04:51 AM

Amazon.com: Mel Bay Jazz Guitar Standards: A Complete Approach to Playing Tunes (9780786666454): Corey Christiansen: Books

Amazon.com: Mel Bay Jazz Guitar Standards II: A Complete Approach to Playing Tunes (9780786672462): Assorted Authors: Books

yes, tab included...but do yourself a favor---learn to read.

carlescountry · #10 06-01-2011, 05:37 AM

Amazon.com: Mel Bay Jazz Guitar Standards Chord Melody Solos (Book & CD) (0796279092579): various: Books

Jake Hanlon · #11 06-01-2011, 06:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by randalljazz

Amazon.com: Mel Bay Jazz Guitar Standards: A Complete Approach to Playing Tunes (9780786666454): Corey Christiansen: Books

Amazon.com: Mel Bay Jazz Guitar Standards II: A Complete Approach to Playing Tunes (9780786672462): Assorted Authors: Books

yes, tab included...but do yourself a favor---learn to read.

I seldom use books with my students but I do give the solo etudes out of the 1st vol. of this series as I don't have the 2nd. Good lead sheets, good changes and some good lines to steal. It can also help your transition to getting standard notation together if you're honest with your practice.

Melodic Dreamer · #12 06-22-2011, 05:53 PM

The Wikifonia site is awesome!
Thank you so much for mentioning that.

Helgo · #13 12-25-2011, 10:09 AM

Hi!

I don´t have any book recommendations, sorry.
But: Start reading. I read slowly and I don´t think you have to be abled to play what you read immediately.

Reading and writing music is not hard at all. It is, in fact, very easy and I think it can be learned in one day. Just ask a piano playing friend of yours (or anybody else, for that matter.)

To me, not being abled to read or write music would be similar to a stage-actor who can´t read or write at all....

Cheers,
H.

Chet Force · #14 12-31-2011, 12:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oldane

This is not what you asked for, but anyway:

I never learned to read standard music notation when young, but have done it later. I'm not at all good at it, I am in no way a sight reader, and I read really slowly, but I do read. I have always been hesitant to use tabs and haven't done so to this day. Tabs are good for guitarists, and many love them, but they are not understood by players of other instruments. Standard notation is the universal language used by players of all instruments the world over across genres. I suggest you practice that and stick to it and get a/some good fakebook(s). Both Sher Music (The New Real Book series) and Hal Leonard has some good and fairly accurate ones.

If you have Band-in-a-Box, you may like the following (free B-i-a-B files): RealBook - Phillips Music

There's also: www.realbook.us also free, just requiring registration.

+ lots more on the internet and in printed form.

If you only want the changes without the melody line, check out "Pocket Changes vol. 1 and 2". A total of more than 800 standards. Spiral bound. Available from Amazon and many other sources. Very compact - fits in the accessory compartment of your guitar case.