recommend a lesson book for me

[thrush40]

Hi all.

Is there one stand out book for guitar players new to jazz?

I can read treble clef. I understand basic theory. And I can spell most of the standard chords and extentions (although it takes me a minute to work it through), flat/sharp fives, nines, etc. I don't know modes or jazz scales beyond dorian! I'm just now wraping my brain around tri-tone subs.

I am interested in basic tools and lessons so that I can begin modest improvisation, extend my chord/ voicing vocabulary, and understand music theory just a little more.

I don't want to be bogged down by too much minutiae, too quickly. I'm and adult with somewhat limited practice time.

So, from all that, does it sound like any of the books and lesson programs out there might suit me?

Thanks in advance for your recommendations!

[pierre richard]

try the berklee guitar series ( in 3 volumes)

also look into bert ligons books...

a bunch from Mel Bay...

even jamie aebersolds site has many books..

so many choices from so many different sources...

check out as many as you can...

time on the instrument...pierre

[Drumbler]

Get some slow jazz ballads and transcribe them, memorize them, put them in your book. Kenny Burrell is a good one to listen to.

The major scale is really all you need to improvise jazz. Add blue notes and chromatic passing tones and go from there. Don't over-complicate it.

A good chord book can take you far. Read up on chord substitution.

[Helgo]

Hi thrush40.

I have a thing for music instruction books so I know a few.

First of all, my experience is that no book is the best book. Hal Galper said that if you learn one thing from a certain book it is a good book. If you learn two things from it, it is a great book.

This is oversimplified but it bears a certain truth, so keep that in mind.


That said, I would recommend two books to you to work with simultaneously.

The first one ist "An Introduction to Jazz Guitar Soloing", published by MI Press (written by Joe Elliott). This is the best introduction to playing scales and arpeggios over changes that I have seen so far.
Very practical, thorough and still not overwhelming.

In the aforementioned books there aren´t a lot of written examples, it´s mostly concepts. So I would back that up with "Jazz Conception: 21 Solo Etudes for the Guitar" by Jim Snidero, publ. by advance music.
These are solos that are sounding good and are fairly easy to learn. The solos are over famous chord changes from standards, so this even helps getting known to some standards.


From what you have written I would go with that combination if I were in your shoes.

Cheers,
H.

[Greg Brouelette]

I'd almost shy away from theory books at first although "An Introduction to Jazz Guitar Soloing" looks interesting.

I'd suggest getting a Real Book or Google "557 jazz tunes pdf" to get a pretty good pdf version of an excellent real book. THen make sure you can play a few variations of these 4 chord types with roots on the E and A strings:
Major 7th (and Major 9th)
Dominant 7th (and 9ths and 13th)
Minor 7ths (and 9ths)
m7b5
diminished.

You can probably get away with knowing just dozen basic chord shapes. Then find a buddy to play with and pick a few tunes to play. Just play the melody and chords and pass the melody back and forth each time around. You'll gain a ton of experience and understanding just doing that.

Then start collecting licks from various solos. 2 of my favorite sources are Truefire lessons: Mimi Fox's "Graduated Solos" gives you an easy, intermediate and advanced solo for 5 jazz standards. Frank Vignola's "50 jazz licks you must know" is fun as well.

Remember that every lick you learn can be modified to fit other chords and other rhythms. Every lick is just a starting point for that musical idea.

Then you can start looking into modes and scales. Modes are important to understand but as a base onto which you construct new musical ideas they suck. If you learn modes first you tend to play scale like solos. Their just scales without a musical context. By learning riffs and licks you start to develop a musical context, a vocabulary to your jazz language. Then you go back to the modes and realize "Oh THAT'S why that lick works over that chord".

To start learning to solo by learning the modes is like giving a person nice paints, a canvas, nice brushes and tools and then saying "Paint me the Mona Lisa". You have the tools but not the artistic context. You would first have had to learn to draw shapes, do some shading, work on your perspective and so on. That's what learning licks does for you. It gives the the basis on which the further knowledge is based upon.

Also, I'd sign up for Google+. If you have a web cam then there are Google Hangouts where several guitar players get together and have a jazz "conference call" to talk about and show what they're working on. I invite you to add me to a circle and we'll see if we can don a hangout

This invitation applies to everyone else here as well.

[eddy b.]

I love books...My favorite for Guitar is the George Van Epps Guitar Method Book(not the Harmonic Mechanism) this will pretty much cover all of the triad/chord information...the Omnibook for seeing an interpretation of all of Bird's Lines/licks/melodies...I think this helps until your ears develop and then it's all about learning the tunes by ear and listening. Also any of the "Real" books...cuz you gotta play tunes to get the gigs...

[frankiemachine]

Originally Posted by Helgo

Hi thrush40.

I have a thing for music instruction books so I know a few.

First of all, my experience is that no book is the best book. Hal Galper said that if you learn one thing from a certain book it is a good book. If you learn two things from it, it is a great book.

This is oversimplified but it bears a certain truth, so keep that in mind.


That said, I would recommend two books to you to work with simultaneously.

The first one ist "An Introduction to Jazz Guitar Soloing", published by MI Press (written by Joe Elliott). This is the best introduction to playing scales and arpeggios over changes that I have seen so far.
Very practical, thorough and still not overwhelming.

In the aforementioned books there aren´t a lot of written examples, it´s mostly concepts. So I would back that up with "Jazz Conception: 21 Solo Etudes for the Guitar" by Jim Snidero, publ. by advance music.
These are solos that are sounding good and are fairly easy to learn. The solos are over famous chord changes from standards, so this even helps getting known to some standards.


From what you have written I would go with that combination if I were in your shoes.

Cheers,
H.

I'm working with the Joe Elliot just now. Generally I feel positive about it but with some reservations. I'd be interested in discussing progress, pros and cons etc with other users.

[frankiemachine]

Originally Posted by Helgo

Hi thrush40.

I have a thing for music instruction books so I know a few.

First of all, my experience is that no book is the best book. Hal Galper said that if you learn one thing from a certain book it is a good book. If you learn two things from it, it is a great book.

This is oversimplified but it bears a certain truth, so keep that in mind.


That said, I would recommend two books to you to work with simultaneously.

The first one ist "An Introduction to Jazz Guitar Soloing", published by MI Press (written by Joe Elliott). This is the best introduction to playing scales and arpeggios over changes that I have seen so far.
Very practical, thorough and still not overwhelming.

In the aforementioned books there aren´t a lot of written examples, it´s mostly concepts. So I would back that up with "Jazz Conception: 21 Solo Etudes for the Guitar" by Jim Snidero, publ. by advance music.
These are solos that are sounding good and are fairly easy to learn. The solos are over famous chord changes from standards, so this even helps getting known to some standards.


From what you have written I would go with that combination if I were in your shoes.

Cheers,
H.

I'm working with the Joe Elliot just now. Generally I feel positive about it but with some reservations. I'd be interested in discussing progress, pros and cons etc with other users.

[Helgo]

Originally Posted by frankiemachine

I'm working with the Joe Elliot just now. Generally I feel positive about it but with some reservations. I'd be interested in discussing progress, pros and cons etc with other users.

Hi frankie.

Good idea. You can either email me or set up a new thread...

Cheers,
H.

[fep]

Originally Posted by frankiemachine

I'm working with the Joe Elliot just now. Generally I feel positive about it but with some reservations. I'd be interested in discussing progress, pros and cons etc with other users.

I'd join in...

And I don't have any reservations about the book so far, I'm at Chapter 14 so I have a ways to go. Imo, this is one of the best books I have. As the author states at the beginning of the book, "Learn Tunes, Build a Vocabulary". Makes sense to me.

[Helgo]

Hey frankie and fep (and everybody else who is interested).

To not highjack the OP´s thread I set up a new thread here:

http://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/impro...r-soloing.html

Cheers,
H.

[frankiemachine]

Originally Posted by fep

I'd join in...

And I don't have any reservations about the book so far, I'm at Chapter 14 so I have a ways to go. Imo, this is one of the best books I have. As the author states at the beginning of the book, "Learn Tunes, Build a Vocabulary". Makes sense to me.

I'm around Chapter 14 too (although naturally I've had a desultory browse through some of the later chapters). It's quite likely that some of my reservations will disappear as I make progress - I'm not being negative, I've bought a couple of other books covering similar(ish) territory and although they seem decent it's the Elliot one that I've decided to stick with for the time being.

A separate thread sounds a good idea.

Edit: Helgo cross post with yours - glad you've opened up a new thread.

[darionapoli74]

I'd recommend Chord Chemistry by Ted Greene. He uses some outlandish chord shapes at time but you won't have to use them, you could stick to the information he provides and it's great information

[jazzplayer]

I'm just starting out with jazz guitar and the hardest part for me was learning about the songs and artists out there. I recently bought 'Jazz Standards for Easy Guitar' and find that it is a great way to learn classic songs. It has notes and tab which makes it easy. The music is simple, but you get an idea for songs you enjoy and can move on to more advanced lessons if you want.

[Pass echo]

For a real starter kit try "Four & More" Play along has a CD backing track for each song.

I have used this extensively, every one of these Jazz standards can be heard on youtube.com by the original artist and as guitar lessons.

Jamie Ambersold Jazz series. www.jazzbooks.com.

Hope I am not too late to be of help here.

regards to all Jazz -ists.
Edward Ingram

[edspyhill01]

Originally Posted by Drumbler

Get some slow jazz ballads and transcribe them, memorize them, put them in your book. Kenny Burrell is a good one to listen to.

The major scale is really all you need to improvise jazz. Add blue notes and chromatic passing tones and go from there. Don't over-complicate it.

A good chord book can take you far. Read up on chord substitution.

Don't you think transcribing would be around the end of Volume 3 of William Leavitt's method? Transcribing demands knowing chords, scales, progressions, the special chord voicings guitarists use, how to read and write music - at least. I think your heart is in the right place, but nto sure the advice is doable

To the O.P. My recommendation is to find a Jazz guitar instructor and take lessons. It's expensive and time consuming, but you'll progress as a jazz guitarist. All trying to find method books will do is enlarge your collection of guitar books.

Ed S.

[raylinds]

Originally Posted by Helgo

In the aforementioned books there aren´t a lot of written examples, it´s mostly concepts. So I would back that up with "Jazz Conception: 21 Solo Etudes for the Guitar" by Jim Snidero, publ. by advance music.
These are solos that are sounding good and are fairly easy to learn. The solos are over famous chord changes from standards, so this even helps getting known to some standards.


From what you have written I would go with that combination if I were in your shoes.

Cheers,
H.

I am a newbie to jazz guitar, and I would say that this books has made a huge impact on my development. This is mainly because within a day, I was playing very nice jazz leads. These are easy to play, so they do not take a great deal of time to get sounding good. This progress of actually playing jazz songs very quickly, rather than just scales and chord progressions has really made me look forward to practicing and makes me work harder than ever before.

I think this sort of incentive is important. I don't look at practicing as a chore and find myself practicing every day and for longer periods. It has also got me learning to sight read, and learning the notes on the fretboard, as it is not in tablature notation. It makes me want to work harder on tedious studies and exercises that I always disliked.

I highly recommend it, but it shouldn't be the only book (as Helgo mentions).