Good Books for Advanced Jazz Guitar Players

[jordanklemons]

I think the only book I've ever read more than once. Think I've read it 3 times.

That's funny. I don't think I ever finished it. Got a lot out of what I did read... but I don't remember getting to the end.

[Moonray]

Talking about Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind .....I'm with Jordan.....never "finished" it.
You can't really finish a book like this one.

What a classic it is.

I've got it within easy reach in my music room and have had for over 30 years.
I've been known to get it down and quote little aphorisms in a lesson when I think it can
explain something better and more succinctly than I ever could.

The chapter headings alone almost put me in the space I want to be in.

Like....Nothing Special

Single-minded way

Zen and Excitement

Right Effort

Mistakes in Practice

.....etc etc.....



And a big favourite for me ....No Trace...."When you do something, you should burn yourself completely,
like a good bonfire, leaving no trace of yourself"

The book can not be finished because it is a series of transcription of talks given by Suzuki Roshi you
just dig into it ....and it will speak to you......well it does to me.....then you close it.

It's like you really could never finish the Advancing Guitarist ....you just open it and start working on
what speaks to you, or needs work....or if you're feeling uninspired or at a loss as what to practice
you can open it randomly in the way that some people throw the I Ching sticks and consult the text.

Sorry to ramble on about this book....but I'm so pleased that Jordan mentioned it.

And if you'll indulge me I'll tell you my little Zen story with this book....

I took it to the little room to read and somehow managed to drop the book into the toilet....luckily after I'd
flushed and retrieved it soaking wet but otherwise intact....I was so mad at myself but then
I thought ...oh well....it's still in print, I'll buy a new copy.
But then then I thought.....screw it....it's a sunny day, I'll put it outside to dry.....I was pretty
sure Suzuki would have approved whole heartedly .

[NoReply]

Little surprised no one has mentioned Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda since it is the book John Coltrane and many of the Post Bopsters read.

[Jabberwocky]

Pat Martino, I-Ching and the Chinese Hexagrams.

Zen in the Art of Archery, Eugen Herrigel.

[Jabberwocky]

That's funny. I don't think I ever finished it. Got a lot out of what I did read... but I don't remember getting to the end.

Finishing a book on Zen is not Zen...You're being Zen by not getting to the end but I see that you already figured that out. Congrats on true mastery.

[NoReply]

When you start to understand what the Jazz masters and even today's older cats mean when they say "it's just a sound" then you are moving into Jazz Zen. Ommm, de-ba, doo, dat, do-baaaa, Ommmmm!

[jordanklemons]

I-Ching and .

Zen in the Art of Archery, Eugen Herrigel.

Yes. Those are good ones too. Really enjoyed Archery. Nice and short. Forgot about that one.

[Moonray]

Nice picking metaphor in Archery....."let the arrow loose itself" = let the pick loose itself.

[jordanklemons]

Finishing a book on Zen is not Zen...You're being Zen by not getting to the end but I see that you already figured that out. Congrats on true mastery.

Who knew all these years of slacking off and getting bad grades was really just my training for the zen life!? My school teachers never seemed to reflect that depth back to me in my grades

So my all-time favorite zen story, which taught me a lot about life in general but specifically music (I'm trying to get us back to the thread topic slowly with this one). I honestly can't remember where I heard it. I don't think it was in Zen Mind. I used to meet a few friends every week for coffee to hang and just talk about this type of stuff, it was probably told at one of our little communions.

Anyways...

During the period when zen was starting to become more popular in America, a zen monk traveled here and was giving a talk about it to a room of curious and inquisitive Americans. At the end he opened the floor for questions. A man raised his hand, was called on, given the mic, stood up, and began to speak. To set up his question, he prefaced it by repeating some of the things the monk had just said during the talk.

While he was doing so, the zen monk started shaking his head 'no' at the man. After a minute of this, the man got confused and asked the monk why he was saying no? He pointed out that he was only repeating what the monk had just said. The monk responded, "Yes, but when I said those things, they were true."

It gets to the heart of the matter that the truth itself is not in the words themselves. The words were just the tools of expression the monk was using to talk about his experience and what zen is. But when the other man repeated them, the truth of the words vanished because he was not speaking from a place of truth but rather of parroting and repetition.

How often do we do that? Especially in music? How often do we hear a concept from a teacher or a book, accept the words and the concept as the truth and study those words for years trying to "master that truth" all while overlooking our own journey and life experience and exploration, giving up part of who we are to dedicate ourselves to parroting someone else? How often do people memorize pre-fab riffs and try and force them into their solos? Or quote Coltrane during a show and think that it makes their improvisation deeper and more truthful because of it? Who was Coltrane quoting when he was performing with his quartet? Who was he trying to sound like? Who's words was he repeating? How often do we place the truth in the notes themselves, and the perfection of an arpeggio and making the changes, over the expression of truth from the artist THROUGH the notes? (Anyone ever notice that gorgeous, P5 B natural in Blues for Alice over that twisted up E-7b5 chord in bar 2?!?!?! Seems like Bird had something to say that even the truth and perfection of the theory couldn't convey there... but it sure sounds sick to my ears... no matter how much we argue the theory and the notes are wrong, there is something deeply rooted in truth about whatever he was doing there)

That's actually why I brought up the non-musical books in the first place on this thread. Because I think it can be really helpful to balance the desire to accumulate musical knowledge and concepts and truths with the simpler approach of curiosity, imagination, determination, and exploration. Just my two cents.

[Moonray]

Back to the music front, I like all of Hal Crook's books.

"Ready, Aim, Improvise" [ha....I just noticed the subconscious link back to Zen in the Art of Archery]
Great book....Ready, Aim...that is.
Many would say it's Hal's primer for improv .....but there's going to be a lot even the advanced
players will get from it.
.....For a start, it contains the most in depth description I've ever come across on just what
constitutes :

- Beginner Improvisor [with Beginning, Intermediate and Advanced sub-levels]

...and then goes on to describe Intermediate and Advanced Improvisor levels ....within
those are also sub-divided into Beginning, Intermediate and Advanced.

Maybe some who think they're advanced might gain from checking against Hal's view of the subject.
....He is worth taking notice of as one of Berklee's most in-demand improv instructors....apparently
if you are in his combo class .....you're really getting somewhere.

The level thing comes toward the end of the book and is part of the Daily Practice section.
There is a list of suggested topics for each sub-division.
....Not as horrendous as it sounds....

Oh and he takes into account your level as an instrumentalist....same deal...Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced
and they are separate from your Improv level....so you could be an Advanced Instrumentalist but a Beginner or
Intermediate Improvisor.


Then there is "How To Improvise" an approach to practicing improv....and does expect you to have a firm grasp
of the material in Ready, Aim, Fire. ie Scales,modes,chord construction,key centers basic progressions etc

Then there's "How To Comp" - a study in jazz accompaniment.
Absolutely brilliant book....goes from single line comping through to increasing densities and widths of
voicings and then there's the rhythmic aspect.

Most recently is "Beyond Time and Changes" - a musician's guide to free improvisation.

To be perfectly honest ....as a very late bloomer I'd need another couple of lifetimes to cover what is in
these books.

I just dip into them and work with what I find intriguing, or something that I'm weak in. [Almost everything it turns
out...ha ha]

I don't give myself a hard time over "finishing" music books .....in fact I've become a bit anti-book lately
when it comes to jazz .....more into the inner ear, transcribing and doing creative work these days but I'm still a perpetual learning freak.


So what level would Hal Crook assign to me?.....maybe Advanced Instrumentalist but Intermediate improvisor.
[On a good day]

If you took these books together with Jerry Bergonzi's collection, a guitar and your record collection on
an iPod or whatever to your desert island......if you didn't get good....it'd be your own fault.

Stretching the point for effect, but hey it's cheaper than a board covered with pedals......

[destinytot]

That's actually why I brought up the non-musical books in the first place on this thread. Because I think it can be really helpful to balance the desire to accumulate musical knowledge and concepts and truths with the simpler approach of curiosity, imagination, determination, and exploration. Just my two cents.

Perhaps the desire to accumulate musical knowledge and concepts and truths is misplaced; surely it's more desirable to 'be' than to 'have' - and still more so to 'experience' (for which knowledge of 'concepts' is a very poor substitute)?

Curiosity, imagination, determination, and exploration - on the other hand - keep thirst for knowledge and experience 'alive'.

PS Nice to 'see' you back, Jordan. Best wishes to you, man.