Jazz Guitar Books

[GuyBoden]

I always question any 'Music Theory' that's stated in a Guitar specific book.

[tbeltrans]

A couple of more recent Mel Bay releases I would like to mention. These are not specifically jazz, but focus on arranging for solo guitar and there are two books in the series. Written by Stan Ayeroff, I have every book of his solo guitar arrangements of standards, movie themes, pop tunes, etc. and have long enjoyed his arrangements. All those books are sadly out of print and some bring hefty price tags, probably due to some percieved rarity.

The two recent books on arranging for solo guitar are "Beyond Chord Melody" (Volumes 1 and 2). The first book goes through the "how to" in detial in 190+ pages using bits of the arrangements that constitute Volume 2 with 35 arrangements (128 pages) of tunes ranging from simple folk tunes to some standards. Mine are spiral bound and both books also have downloadable audio tracks (MP3).

You can find some people playing some of Stan's arrangements on youtube if you search for "Stan Ayeroff". These will all be from his arrangement books that are out of print, but you can probably find some of those arrangements online somewhere as PDFs to get a taste of what he does. I have 6 of these out of print books, but there may be more I am not aware of. The ones I have are:

"Love and Marriage Wedding Songbook"
"Play It Again, Stan As Time Goes By and 24 Great Standards For Solo Guitar"
"Cavatina and 20 Movie Themes Arranged For Solo Guitar"
"Best Of Gershwin For Guitar" (might well be his best!)
"21 Christmas Songs and Carols For Solo Guitar" (Simple arrangements that can be beefed up)
"Best In Contemporary Standards For Solo Guitar" (pop hits from the 1970s)

These arrangements are all for fingerstyle, but could probably be handled with a pick with some minor adjustments. They are a whole different thing than what Robert Conti teaches, kind of like to parts of the same big picture.

Tony

[StormyMonday]

Some of the ones I've liked over the years (because of my masochism)
Tal Farlow The Elements of Bebop Guitar (by Steve Rochinski)
Intervallic Expressions - Joe Diorio
The Bill Evans Guitar Book - Sid Jacobs
Reaching For the Uncommon Chord - Alan Holdsworth

Much of what's in some of these is painful for my old, arthritic fingers, I don't use them as much as a course, more like when I can't get my ears around something I'm trying to do in song I go hunting in there and find things that work for me. The Sid Jacobs book and CD especially is beautiful.

[alltunes]

I love the idea that I might become better by buying a book. Funny thing it never happens. Usually I get a few tidbits from each.


How does everybody organize the vast amounts of information? At times I’ve kept handwritten notebooks trying to sum up all the concepts/ideas but even that can get overwhelming.

What does everybody else do to keep grounded?

[wolflen]

I love the idea that I might become better by buying a book. Funny thing it never happens. Usually I get a few tidbits from each.
How does everybody organize the vast amounts of information? At times I’ve kept handwritten notebooks trying to sum up all the concepts/ideas but even that can get overwhelming.What does everybody else do to keep grounded?

yes..the "information monster"..

ok..first take the pressure off yourself...you will never know it ALL.

What I found is..its the application of the information that unlocks the secrets..and the many ways to use them.

You have to be realistic about your abilities and your own growth rate.

Wanting to know something is far different than constant exploration of a single element of a topic.

example: I want to know more about dominant and altered chords. OK .. do you want to know how to form them..name them..how they function..their inversions
what scales work with them..what scales are they embedded in..and so on

Lets explore a common dominant chord..D9 we will explore it without the root so its just a four note chord F# A C E

OK now you find it all over the fret-board in as many fingerings as you can..and then you may notice its also the same form as

F# Min7b5 .. and that has a much different function...and further study you may discover it has the same form as

Ab7#5b9..ahh..this is getting interesting .. you could use alot of different scales over this one..Melodic Minor..diminished..augmented and various pents

and then it is also a Minor 6 form that can be found in the melodic minor scale but may have other names.

So all the above would take alot of time and effort to apply just this small amount of info into your playing..

Its not isolated! .. all these chords are part of harmonic foundations/progressions/harmonized scales and more..

Using these chords in tunes is one of the best ways to hear how they work.

So what I am saying is .. all the musical info...its like a restaurant menu..you cant eat it ALL at once..it takes time to digest and become
part of you..

I would estimate it would take several months of constant study to use those chords with some confidence .. and remember is only ONE chord form.

[Litterick]

I love the idea that I might become better by buying a book. Funny thing it never happens. Usually I get a few tidbits from each.


How does everybody organize the vast amounts of information? At times I’ve kept handwritten notebooks trying to sum up all the concepts/ideas but even that can get overwhelming.

What does everybody else do to keep grounded?

I stopped reading books about playing and started to enjoy playing.