The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    Full Title: Your Choice of Top 3 Technique Books for Intermediate (or non-Beginner) Guitarists, Preferably with an Interest in Jazz.

    Started to make a poll but realized it it would need at least a dozen options and even then, I'd probably leave out good books deserving mention.

    So let's do it this way. Suppose you have a friend, or promising student, or a fan who comes up to you after a show and asks you to recommend a good book or two on guitar technique. What would you say?

    If you think there's only one obvious choice, then that's that. If you think there are two or three that are very good, any one of which should help the aspiring player along, name all three. Or two. Or four, if need be.

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

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    alan kingstone's barry harris harmony book, and the two barry harris workshop books

  4. #3

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    If you mean books for somebody who already plays guitar and wants to dip his/her feet into jazz, I'd certainly recommend Garrison Fewell's "Jazz Improvisation - A Melodic Approach" and for further in depth study "Jazz Improvisation - A Harmonic Approach".

  5. #4

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    I only have one book that's called a technique book. That's "Jazz Guitar Technique" by Andrew Green. One of the few books I own that I really spent a lot of time with.

  6. #5

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    I would recommend the 3 volume series by William Leavitt called "A Modern Method For Guitar".

    He covers a lot of different picking techniques as well as scale patterns and chords with numerous interesting sounding solos and duets to play that help build technique.

  7. #6

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    Thanks for the responses, gang.

    I have been giving this question some thought vis a vis: "Do I need another technique book or do I need to work more in one (or more) I already have?"

    For the moment, I'm thinking "work more with what I have."

    I got a lot out of an old Mel Bay book called "Technic" by Roger Filiberto (sp?). After a few preparatory exercises, the program began with a series of exercises that are to be played for a week each, adding one more each week. So it would take months to work through them all. Of course I rushed through it and was not as much improved as I could have been. But I was somewhat improved and I've kept that book handy all these years and dip back into it occasionally. There is a lot it does NOT cover but what's there is solid, foundational stuff.

    I also like the "daily exercises" from Mickey Baker's first book, as they are based on chord shapes. Mickey calls them "runs". They're things you actually play a lot while improvising.

    Sal Salvador's "Single String Studies" is a mother lode of material. It's a book-for-a-lifetime. (The sort of book that should be spiral bound.)

  8. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by DanielleOM
    I only have one book that's called a technique book. That's "Jazz Guitar Technique" by Andrew Green. One of the few books I own that I really spent a lot of time with.

    Danielle, could you say a bit more about the book? I don't know much about it. (Approach, focus,...)

  9. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by MarkRhodes
    Danielle, could you say a bit more about the book? I don't know much about it. (Approach, focus,...)

    The book has been discussed several times before on the forum. Strangely what I liked about it was not universally liked here. There's a lot of exercises, arpeggios, on 2 and 3 strings. For a lot of the exercises the books shows both the string number and the finger to be used for fretting. He advocates no rolling of the left finger for sequential notes on adjacent strings.

    There's some rhythmic studies and triad studies as well.

    He has a web site here with more information: Andrew Green, Jazz Guitarist

  10. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by MarkRhodes
    Full Title: Your Choice of Top 3 Technique Books for Intermediate (or non-Beginner) Guitarists, Preferably with an Interest in Jazz.

    Started to make a poll but realized it it would need at least a dozen options and even then, I'd probably leave out good books deserving mention.

    So let's do it this way. Suppose you have a friend, or promising student, or a fan who comes up to you after a show and asks you to recommend a good book or two on guitar technique. What would you say?

    If you think there's only one obvious choice, then that's that. If you think there are two or three that are very good, any one of which should help the aspiring player along, name all three. Or two. Or four, if need be.
    I like the Jody Fisher book for improvisation. I believe it is called “Intermediate Jazz Guitar”


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  11. #10

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    Mark, the Filberto plan of doing a week on a study and adding to it is the very best way to really build a technique, that's the way the classical players work. Think about this: if you had done that, you'd have been finished long ago and would have a better technique, most likely. The fact is, we are never finished, our brains can learn until we are very old, and taking a week at a time to really get the moves programmed into your brain really works well. Generally, something like that only needs 10-15 minutes daily, at most. I'm finding that 2-minutes of concentrated practice at slow tempos, increasing gradually, ends up creating amazing improvements, two weeks later, you're doing things you only dreamed of!
    Many of the great players I'e met, talked or studied with spend 15-20 hours every week working on, as Barney Kessel told me, "what I can't do as well as I want to yet". I find that mapping out a program of study with goals to improve certain weaknesses, but not setting a "finish line", results in constant improvement. The brain wants to learn and retain the RIGHT moves, so practicing slowly is important so we don't teach it mistakes. We must also be self-aware and flexible enough in our thinking to change our routine every once in a while, letting our hands lead us to the next area of study. I've found, many times, that spending two weeks on a technical problem for 10 minutes a day can actually solve the problem forever!

  12. #11

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    I believe the content of every book should be learned and applied to tunes by using:
    SuperChops by Howard Roberts
    Last edited by Tal_175; 10-15-2018 at 06:30 PM.

  13. #12

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    Quote Originally Posted by ronjazz
    Mark, the Filberto plan of doing a week on a study and adding to it is the very best way to really build a technique, that's the way the classical players work.
    I actually did that! Took six months. It was a few years ago. I improved but not so much as I might have but for a picking difficulty. That seems to be solved---I use a big pick now, a Golden Gate MP 12 Deluxe, and it never turns around in my hand. I'm much more consistent with it than with anything else I've tried. Some of the benefits of the work I did long ago may pay off between now and Christmas. Good things come to those who wait, I guess....

    Thinking seriously of working through that book again. Some of the exercises I have down solid. I will focus on the ones that eluded me before.

  14. #13

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    Most of the many jazz books I have spend very little time on technique. That includes the Mickey Baker book and the Leavitt books. However those books are good for practicing technique but don't spend much time directing you on technique. I'm making a distinction between 1) playing tunes vs. 2) theory vs. 3) improvisation exercises vs. 4) technique. Many of the books mentioned in this thread have very little written about what I consider technique.

    I have a few classical books that are much more technique instruction. Including very specific instruction of posture, arm, hand, and finger positions, specific fingerings including right hand fingerings etc. When I'm back home later this week I'll get the titles of those books for this thread. I can't think of any jazz books that have that kind of specific instruction.

  15. #14

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    Well that's certainly not true about Leavitt. He was actually quite thorough on modern guitar technique. The "how to" of playing scales, chords, and arpeggios is indeed, "technique". And for that matter, pick stroke direction instruction, challenging tremelo, sixteenth, and triplet studies. Picking etudes, speed studies, all kinds of stretching studies, adjacent position shift studies, three octave scale and arpeggio studies and their fingering approaches, 12 fingerings for diatonic scales and related arpeggios, additional fingerings for symmetric scales. It's really quite extensive.

    Oh. And he covers how to sit, hold the guitar, left hand posture, and right hand pick grip in his "Phase 1" book, which is his beginning book (not Modern Method Volume 1). It's not overly descriptive but it' there, in illustration and text.
    Last edited by Jazzstdnt; 10-16-2018 at 08:44 AM.

  16. #15

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    Quote Originally Posted by MarkRhodes
    Thanks for the responses, gang.

    I have been giving this question some thought vis a vis: "Do I need another technique book or do I need to work more in one (or more) I already have?"

    For the moment, I'm thinking "work more with what I have."

    I got a lot out of an old Mel Bay book called "Technic" by Roger Filiberto (sp?). After a few preparatory exercises, the program began with a series of exercises that are to be played for a week each, adding one more each week. So it would take months to work through them all. Of course I rushed through it and was not as much improved as I could have been. But I was somewhat improved and I've kept that book handy all these years and dip back into it occasionally. There is a lot it does NOT cover but what's there is solid, foundational stuff.

    I also like the "daily exercises" from Mickey Baker's first book, as they are based on chord shapes. Mickey calls them "runs". They're things you actually play a lot while improvising.

    Sal Salvador's "Single String Studies" is a mother lode of material. It's a book-for-a-lifetime. (The sort of book that should be spiral bound.)
    My first teacher had me working out of the Roger Filberto book from the very beginning of our lessons. I spent an insane amount of time doing those 1-4-3-4, 2-4-3-4, etc... exercises when I was only 12 years old

    I remember being excited about his promise that the series of exercises he called No. 1, No. 2 etc... were going to put me in the "special artist group" once I mastered them, so I used to spend hours every day working on them. I'm still looking for that special artist group, Roger!

  17. #16

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    The best pure technique book I know of is Pumping Nylon by Scott Tennant. He's a virtuoso classical player and many of the exercises are for the right hand, but the left hand exercises would benefit anyone at any level.

    There is also some useful material in Guitar Lore by Dennis Sandole, although students of his will tell you that the book is only the tip of the iceberg.

  18. #17

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    Quote Originally Posted by unknownguitarplayer
    The best pure technique book I know of is Pumping Nylon by Scott Tennant. He's a virtuoso classical player and many of the exercises are for the right hand, but the left hand exercises would benefit anyone at any level.

    There is also some useful material in Guitar Lore by Dennis Sandole, although students of his will tell you that the book is only the tip of the iceberg.
    Pumping Nylon is a good book for classical guitarists for sure.
    I already had acquired a fair level of classical technique by the time this book came around(think I bought it on VHS and then the book). But I still got some good info and drills.

    There are about 5 or 6 drills for the left hand using contrary motion that I used and taught to some students. good stuff.

  19. #18

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    Quote Originally Posted by sgcim
    I remember being excited about his promise that the series of exercises he called No. 1, No. 2 etc... were going to put me in the "special artist group" once I mastered them, so I used to spend hours every day working on them. I'm still looking for that special artist group, Roger!
    But you're far outside the "average guitarist" category, am I right? If that (and beginner) are the only other categories, then you ARE in that special artist group. As Dylan would say, "How does it feel?" ;o)

  20. #19

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    "Guitar technique" books means they have to focus on the mechanics of guitar playing, right? Not just general musicianship which you could apply to any instrument?

    That eliminates several of the books I've found most helpful, including Complete Rhythms and Mark Levine's Jazz Theory.

    So, for the guitar:

    Brazilian Guitar Styles by Nelson Faria. If you happen to be interested in Brazilian grooves this book will show you exactly how to play them, including transcriptions of bits of famous recordings.

    Any of Almir Chediak's song books -- which include the composers' own guitar voicings -- very clever voicings. Even if you saw some of those voicings in a chord book, you'd be unlikely to figure out how to use them in a song. But, these books are song books. Every chord with a perfect application.

    I have the usual shelf of books, but I can't think of another guitar book which actually made a significant impact on how I play.

  21. #20

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    If you're just talking mechanical technique, I'd refer the friend to the various Troy Grady videos and offerings. Not "jazzy," but these are some great insights into various picking mechanics.

  22. #21

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    Quote Originally Posted by rpjazzguitar
    That eliminates several of the books I've found most helpful, including Complete Rhythms and Mark Levine's Jazz Theory.
    Bugs Bower's "Rhythms, Complete" is next up on my music stand. (I'm working in his Jazz Rhythms and Blues now, which is helping me learn to read a few dozen common rhythms.)

  23. #22

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    Don't have any technique books, frustrated as hell all those wasted years on that unmusical boring Leavitt books cause a guitar teacher said this is the path.

    Now enlightening by the people here, technique development now centred on songs and transcribing, personally so much more rewarding and beneficial, have had an amazing 12 months:

    - Articulation Chet Baker Summertime

    - Speed and string skipping When Will the Blues Leave fast like Gilad Hekselman

    - Timing Chet Bakers I'll Remember April

    - Swing'n Grant Green's Greens Greenery

    - Coolness Clifford Brown Sandu

    - Chords My Funny Valentine my own version Autumn in New York Kenny Burrell

    - ii v i Tune Up

  24. #23

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    Quote Originally Posted by gggomez
    Don't have any technique books, frustrated as hell all those wasted years on that unmusical boring Leavitt books cause a guitar teacher said this is the path.
    I'm sorry you feel you wasted so much of your time on technique books but happy you've found something that works for you.

    Here's a bit from the other side: Elliott Randall. He studied with Sal Salvador as a teen. (He said Sal was his third and last teacher.) He says Sal's technique book is still on his music stand. He doesn't play from it daily, but he still 'sheds from it from time to time.

    Here he is on Steely Dan's "Reelin' in the Years." Pretty killing guitar from a guy who studied long and hard with a jazz player teaching technique in a fairly conventional way.


  25. #24

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    Quote Originally Posted by MarkRhodes
    But you're far outside the "average guitarist" category, am I right? If that (and beginner) are the only other categories, then you ARE in that special artist group. As Dylan would say, "How does it feel?" ;o)
    Do I make that check out to you or cash?

  26. #25

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    Quote Originally Posted by gggomez
    Don't have any technique books, frustrated as hell all those wasted years on that unmusical boring Leavitt books cause a guitar teacher said this is the path.

    Now enlightening by the people here, technique development now centred on songs and transcribing, personally so much more rewarding and beneficial, have had an amazing 12 months:

    - Articulation Chet Baker Summertime

    - Speed and string skipping When Will the Blues Leave fast like Gilad Hekselman

    - Timing Chet Bakers I'll Remember April

    - Swing'n Grant Green's Greens Greenery

    - Coolness Clifford Brown Sandu

    - Chords My Funny Valentine my own version Autumn in New York Kenny Burrell

    - ii v i Tune Up
    A "Leavitt only" approach is not really a jazz guitar path. That's certainly true past Volume 1, but even true while studying Volume 1.

    But unmusical? no.

    And boring? Well, yeah. But not any more than Pumping Nylon, with its Guiliani right hand studies, digital patterns etc.

    One must put things in their proper perspective, and proper place. There is no single magic book - in any style.

    I take it you dropped that teacher? :0