The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #51

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    Quote Originally Posted by rsclosson
    Mel Bay Rhythm Guitar Chord System opened up the fretboard for me like no other book. It even improved my lead playing.
    That is a very good book. I learned a lot from it and it's one that I wish I still had. Might have to replace my lost copy....

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #52

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    The first book I had was "The Guitar Handbook" by Ralph Denyer. It had sections about different guitars and their parts, biographies of players, music theory, chords, etc. a lot of good info to start off with.

    I learned to read from the Joe Fava guitar method books, then went on to classical guitar...

    Another one I like is "Concepts" by Howard Morgen. A nice book for learning how to play solo arrangements. It has an appendix with quite a bit of useful info too.

    The books others have previously mentioned are well worth checking out, I have many of those and periodically go back to them. There's always something to find that you missed the first time through (or the second, or third etc.).

  4. #53

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    Just got the Barry Harris Workshop DVD 1. At first I thought it was step. However, I spent the whole day digesting the first 4 pages. Great stuff in the book and the DVD's.

    Not really a book, but Bruce Arnold's Big Metronome series totally opened up my world to the art of the melodic phrase. By feeling 2 bar, 4 bar, and 8 bar (still a work in progress with 8) phrases instead of fixating on the 2 and 4 or the quarter note, I can play phrases that make some sort of sense. They are certainly less wander-y than before.

  5. #54

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    Way, way before the interwebs, and even before guitar magazines were available, some hick kid might walk out of the music store with these....because that's all they had for sale.



    I still have my copies.

  6. #55

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    Arnie Berle's Book of Modern Chords & Progressions

    Howard Roberts Guitar Manual Chord Melody

  7. #56

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    Quote Originally Posted by cosmic gumbo
    Way, way before the interwebs, and even before guitar magazines were available, some hick kid might walk out of the music store with these....because that's all they had for sale.



    I still have my copies.
    I have a version of the Bredice book. (Actually met him once; he was teaching in Miami at the time.) Had a later version of the chord book but lost it along the way. I'm thinking of getting it back.

  8. #57

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    Has anyone mentioned (here) Mickey Baker's first book?
    http://www.amazon.com/Mickey-Bakers-...and+hot+guitar

    I still use that one.

    Our own fep (Frank) posts videos of some of the lessons and he does a fine job.

    If you check out post #51 of the following thread, you'll see Frank's application of Mickey's Lesson 17 to a standard (in this case "All Of Me")

    Mickey Baker Course 1 - mp3s and videos

  9. #58

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    I think most of what I've learned is by way of learning songs, pop, rock or jazz, and then seeking out explanations for the bits I didn't understand. So any number of reference books have been useful. And of course these days it's the internet that serve that purpose. I never was that good at sitting down with course books or studies as something divorced from the songs and practicalities of playing.

    One that warrants mention though, is Chord Chemistry. I never made it through all the examples, but on a conceptual level it was an incredible eye opener, making me think of chords as pitches and intervals rather than grips.

    Other than that - the Real Book, Fake Book, Parker Omnibook and David Baker's Jazz Style of Sonny Rollins continue to be important to me. It's stuff that is either immediately applicaple as music or representations of real world applications. It seems that I need that practicality to make any sense of it at all
    Last edited by Average Joe; 11-25-2018 at 10:07 AM.

  10. #59

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    The book the book that "caught" me and opened my eyes is the book that almost everybody either owns or has heard of - Mickey Baker's "Complete Course in Jazz Guitar."

    There is little to no explanation of anything in this book (and at least one of his few explanations is actually incorrect). It wasn't until I learned some basic music theory that I figured out what he was doing.

    When I came to realize that his Gmaj7 > G6 > Am7 > Am6 is really just a I > vi > ii > V progression all kinds of lights turned on regarding chords and progressions. The book took on a new meaning for me after that. I never did complete the 2nd half, but I go back to the 1st half every few months and discover something new every time.

  11. #60

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    Jerry Bergonzi's "Developing a jazz language, Vol. 6."

    You can spend a year on every chapter, and still not be done exploring. Even his "lists" in the book can keep your whole band creating new sounds for gigs to come! Highly recommended.

  12. #61

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    Essential Jazz Lines in the Style of Cannonball Adderley, Guitar Edition, by Corey Christiansen and Tamara Danielsson: full of good ideas, takes the player away from rote learning and copying other guitarists.

  13. #62

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    One of the books that really opened up the fretboard for me (and finally got me playing the rest-stroke (sweep/economy picking)) is Jazz Improvisation for Guitar: A Melodic Approach by Garrison Fewell.

    Really nice single line exercises and some solid chord building, too. I have a lot of books, and I think it's one of the best.

    When I first started getting into playing jazz I checked out a book from the library by Tom Anderson called "Playing Guitar in a Jazz/Big Band." I don't think it's necessarily a great book but it was the first one that opened my mind to play chords with muted strings.

    Joe Pass books are great too, the one that's just voicings (Joe Pass - Guitar Chords) is fun to just play through and expreiment with.

  14. #63

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    Quote Originally Posted by guitarmek
    One of the books that really opened up the fretboard for me (and finally got me playing the rest-stroke (sweep/economy picking)) is Jazz Improvisation for Guitar: A Melodic Approach by Garrison Fewell.

    Really nice single line exercises and some solid chord building, too. I have a lot of books, and I think it's one of the best.
    +1 on Garrison Fewell - glad someone else appreciates it the way I do. After stumbling around in the dark trying to get a grip on jazz guitar playing I picked up this book (on the recommendation of a member here) and it opened the door for me. Still a reference that I come back again and again. And: if you are ready to dig deeper get his second volume "Jazz Improvisation for Guitar: A Harmonic Approach".

  15. #64

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    Another vote here for Garrison Fewell's Jazz Improvisation for Guitar: A Melodic Approach.

    I didn't get as much out of the second volume (Harmonic Approach), though. Don't get me wrong - it's a great book but it didn't stand out above other similar books for me. Whereas the Melodic Approach was one that I got a huge amount out of and intend to keep going back to.

    Another one that really made a difference to me was The Blues Scales by Dan Greenblatt. The reason for this is slightly embarassing. Once I properly got into jazz, I guess I started thinking of all the simpler "blues" scales as being not as "good" or as "advanced" tools to use for improvisation as more complex scales. So I tended to avoid them.

    It took me a long time, and lots of frustration, before I realised that part of the reason why I struggled to sound anywhere near as good as the jazz greats over a blues was precisely because they weren't being as pretentious as me. They make liberal use of blues scales etc as well as all the other, more complicated stuff. [And, of course, there are plenty of other reasons why I don't play at their level as well]

    Long story short, Dan Greenblatt's book isn't anything revolutionary. But it presents a really nice way to use blues ideas creatively over jazz blues progressions and to combine them with other more "jazz" scales. And it has nice examples that inspired me to stick with things.

  16. #65

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    I got a lot out of the first Mickey Baker book too. Still keep it around. In part because his idea of "hot" guitar is still my idea of "hot" guitar. I think a lot of the lines in that book still sound good. (It's not the most complicated sort of guitar but it still pleases me to play it.)

    Another book I got a lot from was Herb Ellis' "All the Shapes You Are." (It's the 3rd volume of his series on playing from chord shapes; the first volume was "Swing Blues" and the second was "Rhythm Shapes.") Lots of great lines. Not much theory at all. (Not against theory but you won't get much from Herb.) If you learn the lines, you have a lot to work with and some idea of where to put them.

  17. #66

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    Another vote for Garrison Fewell's books. I worked my way into playing based on triads on my own just a short while before finding A Melodic Approach. It really solidified and expanded things for me. I also like Andrew Green's Jazz Guitar Comping and JG Structures books.

  18. #67

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  19. #68

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    Not sure if this counts as a book but this piece of paper definitely helped me more than anything else:

    Random Roots - Anton Schwartz – Jazz Saxophone

  20. #69

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    Alan Kingstone’s book, “Barry Harris Harmonic Method for Guitar”. By far. Absolutely changed the way I think of music.

    I also liked Garrison Fewell’s books, but it is a shame he didn’t do a companion DVD. His short video promoting the books is amazing with the books. Alas, there is no chance anymore for him to add to these books.


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  21. #70

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    A vote for Garrison Fewell's Jazz Improvisation for Guitar: A Harmonic Approach. His fans included Jim Hall and Larry Coryell. Until reading this thread, I did not know about his Melodic approach.

  22. #71

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    I don't think I have a music method book worth the money. I love to read, and I learn most things easily from books, but for music, the only books that are at all helpful are leadsheets, or chord charts. I just can't seem to get much from books that help playing. Playing with others, especially if they're better than me (and most are) is far better help than any book, and I have a lot of books on the shelves. Different people learn in different ways, and method books work for some, but not for me.

  23. #72

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    I have both Garrison Fewell’s books. Yes they are excellent, but they aren’t really a series. It is more like the Melodic book was written first, then some years later he wrote the second one that presents the same material matured, organized in a better way, and expanded. I think I could have skipped the Melodic book just fine and not missed anything.


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  24. #73

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    Here are the books that come to mind.

    Rhythms by Colin/Bower, which helped me learn to read syncopated lines when I was a beginner.

    The old fakebook with what looked like 3 index cards to a page. I learned to play standards from that book.

    Then, the original illegal Real Book. More tunes, reading, jazz harmony, being able to play at jams.

    And, one more, Brazilian Guitar Styles by Nelson Faria. You can learn some of the Brazilian comps from this book.

    I have the usual shelf of more advanced method books, lick books etc, none of which took me to a higher level, although I got something out of some of them.

    Combo lessons with a good teacher were more helpful.

  25. #74

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    Quote Originally Posted by rlrhett
    I have both Garrison Fewell’s books. Yes they are excellent, but they aren’t really a series. It is more like the Melodic book was written first, then some years later he wrote the second one that presents the same material matured, organized in a better way, and expanded. I think I could have skipped the Melodic book just fine and not missed anything.

    The way I see it is that "Melodic approach" is for the guitarist who knows his basic shapes and diatonic harmony and wants to get a foot in the door of jazz playing whereas "Harmonic Approach" digs deeper into the harmonic context.

  26. #75

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    So would you buy both Garrison Fewell books or skip to one over the other?