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Hello,
New guy here, Quentin,
. I recently purchased Howard Morgens concepts book. Mainly because I'm getting so much out of his fingerboard breakthrough course and his style of teaching. Unfortunately, I'm not much of a notation reader.
That said, I'm curious to know if his book preparations would be a good introduction to some of the more tradition music things like notation reading and playing. Does any one have experience with this book? I know its going for an arm, leg, kidney, and bad liver right now, but hey, Howard is gold in my book. I can't find any info or excerpts on this book online. So any info is greatly appreciated
Q
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09-05-2013 03:11 PM
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i'm sure it is a good book, but not at the current price!!
for basic music thing get frederick noad introductory books---thorough and much cheaper.
Solo Guitar Playing Volume 1: Frederick Noad: 9780825636790: Amazon.com: Books
Frederick Noad HomePage
Howard Morgen: Reviews
these might be good:
Mel Bay Fingerstyle Jazz Guitar/Teaching Your Guitar to Walk Bk/CD set: Paul Musso: 9780786603145: Amazon.com: Books
Mel Bay Fingerstyle Jazz: Corey Christiansen: 9780786666461: Amazon.com: Books
Mel Bay Complete Fingerstyle Jazz Guitar: Alan De Mause: 9780786665594: Amazon.com: Books
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I bit the bullet and purchased a copy of preparations, which set me back 124 smackaroos. I look it at as also a collectors item . So I'm really eager to hear what other peoples experience with it has been. I already own concepts, and from chord melody and beyond, so I figured, maybe preparations would be a good foundation for me to have so I can really sink my teeth into concepts.
I'm going to check out those books you suggested as well, thank you for the recommendations
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I'v never heard of them or him. Good luck!
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Howard morgen is a gem of a teacher. Look up his fingerboard breakthrough course, which was released under truefire.com Talk about a change in perspective.
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Well I'm ok. I'm not really a student like that any more. But I hope it does it for you!
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No worries, what I really mean to express is that, if you don't know who he is, youtube his name at least. He is an amazing player, and has some great chord melody arrangements. He has a youtube channel still up with some of his performances. He's passed on from this life already, but, I think any one can appreciate what he had to share. If not, no big deal, thats just how I feel about him. To me, he is up there with Wes Montgomery in terms of players I appreciate.
I check out your site, I know you are a teacher. So I didn't expect you were looking for something to learn from :P
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No worries back! I'm always interested in great players! I'll check him out. I'm just not interested in finding methods or studying new ways of slicing up the fretboard. I've done that part already. Thanks. Happy hunting!!
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There he goes again. Rich simply cannot help himself. Actually some of the best teachers aren't great players themselves. And some if the best players make absolutely lousy teachers.
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Originally Posted by Richb
maybe Im a poor judge of ability, but his rendition of still crazy after all these years, as seen here
, sounds very nice to me.
This version of Round midnight is also nice .
That said, the way he undersands harmonic concepts, and teaches them, is what has stuck with me more than any thing from any other course I've taken. Sometimes a persons ability to physically transfer the knowledge they hold in their minds isn't as beautiful as others, but that doesn't mean that it invalidates the understanding. I also learn from other people, like Robbie Calvo, he is an awesome teacher as well. If not for him I would probably still be wondering how to understand and emplore modes. Any who, I believe howards knowledge and how he presented, at least in his fingerboard break through course, was amazing. Mind you its called fingerboard breakthrough but its really a deep and very logical path of understanding harmony and the reason chords are played they way they are. I've been able to write music I wouldn't have been able to if not for how he explains the guitar and harmony.
Basically I went from just playing open chords and barre chords, to being able to build chord voicings with little thought, along the entire fretboard. This, along with using triad shapes and inversions, have given me an arsenal of tools to use creatively. How I play it and use it though, is up to me and whether or not I can physically play well, which is based on practice.
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The end of that last line should probably read, practice and style.
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If you truly believed that, you'd never provide your opinion on topics relating to playing guitar on this site or any other. Originally Posted by Richb
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Try contacting the site with your interest in the book.
If enough do so, perhaps they will consider printing some more at it's original price.
Howard Morgen: Links
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I think he was a great player, I like his style, you may not....I bought a copy of his cord melody beyond and I gave it try...I didn't get far...My problem with a book like this, he has a very personal style with lots of open strings, it was difficult for me to get through his arrangements because they are so personal...I think I would have had to sit down with him and go over the material to get the hang of it.....That being said I'm now more aware of adding open string cords into an arrangement....I may get back to his book at some point and give it another try......A truly great teacher in my opinion was Ted Greene...That man worked so hard with his students to get a concept explained so the student got it.....but we all have our own opinions and they are all valid.
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Not really. Originally Posted by artcore
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Of course all of our own opinions are valid. Of course they are. They're our opinions.
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Copy of Howard Morgen Preparations available for purchase
I have a copy of this that I might be persuaded to part with. If interested, contact me...we may be able to work something out.
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To the OP, PREPARATIONS is a rather basic book on note and rhythm reading, and basic playing techniques. I bought a used copy for completion's sake and it is not something that you would miss not having.
For the amount of money that you are looking to pay for a used copy, there are better books available today. The aforementioned Frederick Noad Solo Guitar Playing Book 1 has more of the same basics.
Unless you are a compleatist, it is not worth tracking down a copy. I paid $9.99 for mine.
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This thread turned into a party. I bought it any way, so I could have both books. It is basic, very basic, but for me that is partially good. I've always avoided or shied away from getting better at sight reading. The minute I opened up Howard's Concepts book, I knew I lacked some things in order to follow along properly. So it's good in that I need to relearn basic things I learned and forgot because I didn't keep using them.
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Great! As long as you did not pay silly money for it, it is good to have. I remember Howard Morgen from his Guitar Player columnist's days in the 70s and I was rather sad to learn that he passed on. Originally Posted by Qtinuum
This thread turned into a party. I bought it any way, so I could have both books...Snip...
Last edited by Jabberwocky; 09-12-2013 at 03:45 AM.
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Funny this thread was resurrected, I just played through most of Concepts and some of the tunes in the "10 from Guitar Player" the other day.
Howard"s books were a great help to me because they are so jam packed with useful info and I still like going through them, very enjoyable.
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alléluia !
for those interested,Howard Morgen and Jim Ferguson wrote 3 masters series #12,#14,#15 " named "all about chord progression", in Guitar Player,July,August and September 1988
HBLast edited by Hyppolyte Bergamotte; 07-31-2018 at 06:00 AM.
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If you don't have the Guitar Player magazines, the "All About Chord Progressions" series is included in the book:
Howard Morgen's Solo Guitar: Insights, Arranging Techniques & Classic Jazz Standards
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Did you know Howard Morgen was really left-handed? He was like one of those orchestra musicians who were forced to conform by playing righty.
One of the sweetest memories I have that illustrated the beauty of life was the very last time I saw him. He had been in and out of the hospital, and even he admitted that the doctors couldn’t figure out why he was still alive. (His explanation was that he wasn’t going anywhere until he finished his last book.) We sat in his studio, and Howard was really frail and sickly by then—I tried to pretend that I hadn’t noticed. All we did was to pass his Eastman back and forth, playing for each other. He’d say, “Hey, have you heard this one? Listen to this,” and I’d counter with, “Hey, what about these chords right here?” It was a beautiful afternoon, and I’m pretty sure both of us knew that we’d never talk again. Howard died soon afterwards. It was just one of those once-in-a-lifetime moments that you look back and smile about.
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