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Best guitar books to own
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michaelA



Joined: 22 Apr 2009
Posts: 8
Location: Australia

PostPosted: Wed Apr 22, 2009 11:17 am    Post subject: Best guitar books to own Reply with quote

hey, id appreciate it if a cool list can be made..im not really looking for any, im just curious on wat you guys like (being guthrie followers, you guys MUST have some high standards on certain things hah)...
i love guitar books...who needs a college or university when you got these!

over the past months ive gotten myself about 10 books, which are indeed worthy of a lifetime!
i got myself a copy of mick goodricks - advancing guitarist..havent looked at it too much, but as far as ive seen it it looks abit scary on some angles.. anyone own this? anyone finished it? hah
thx
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Cass679



Joined: 01 Oct 2006
Posts: 127
Location: Leeds

PostPosted: Wed Apr 22, 2009 6:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Creative Guitar 1 and 2 - Guthrie Govan

Chord Chemistry - Ted Greene

The Acoustic Guitar Bible - Eric Roche

The Advancing Guitarist - Mick Goodrick (great book, but very advanced and takes a while for me to completely digest some of his methods)

Although, these days I mostly get the same 2 guitar mags to learn from, Guitarist and Guitar Techniques.

In saying this, however, I've always found the best way to learn anything is to learn songs. Cool
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frankus



Joined: 13 Sep 2004
Posts: 1100
Location: Chelmsford/Arachnipus

PostPosted: Fri Apr 24, 2009 11:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Creative Guitar 1 and 2 - Definitely.

Not sure about Chord Chemistry, I'd say try Modern Chord Progressions by Ted Greene, Buy Chord Chemistry if you're a guitar teacher and want to scare your pupils!

The Advancing Guitarist - By Mick Goodrick is another must.. totally agree there.

For sight reading - Sight to Sound by Leon White, Reading Modern music in a 4/4 tempo - Louis Belson.

Being a guitarist: Guitar Players only - Tommy Tedsco, Zen Guitar - Phillip Toshio Sudo.
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sumis



Joined: 22 Feb 2005
Posts: 570
Location: gothenburg, sweden

PostPosted: Fri Apr 24, 2009 11:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

http://www.waynekrantz.com/newWebsite/IOSinfo.html

.
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frankus



Joined: 13 Sep 2004
Posts: 1100
Location: Chelmsford/Arachnipus

PostPosted: Fri Apr 24, 2009 2:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

sumis wrote:
.


In order to answer this post I bought the forumites OS and swatted up on the following functions:

HO
NO
NOT
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CFGIKNU
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HWY
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HWY?

Very Happy
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michaelA



Joined: 22 Apr 2009
Posts: 8
Location: Australia

PostPosted: Wed May 06, 2009 4:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

hey guys thanks heaps for the suggestions..ive actually now have a lifetime worth of books! now is time to study!

anyways how good can a sight reading book, like Sight to Sound by Leon White, be? what more do i gotta know other than just to practise and practise? i was actually considering buying that but, ehh..

i got chord chemistry from mr. greene; it was my first book, got it last year...i really cant go passed that huge lot of chords that takes up two pages cause im like 'how in the hell can i remember them' so i just put it aside for a year now...got this book 2 weeks ago called advanced harmony chords (or something like that) by vic juris..WOW thats how to practise rmembering chords..it makes chord chemistry look like just a "big book of chords"

i also finally bought frank gambale's technique book 1 after having a downloaded copy of it on my computer doing nothing for almost a year..its so much easier to work with when its a hard copy

all i need now is a jazz method book to motivate me to know standards and all that crap haha..ill also look into all your suggestions ..thanks again! and yes, this is all i spend my money on, i have no interest in anything else really
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michaelA



Joined: 22 Apr 2009
Posts: 8
Location: Australia

PostPosted: Wed May 06, 2009 6:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

oh and ive read guthrie's second book.. ive borrowed it three times off the library, 1st to try on guitar: didnt get far and just ignored it (it was last year and i was lazy at practising), 2nd time: i was better at reading tabs and rhythms (ive always hated tabs and theyd always make me dizzy) but had not guitar to play at the time so i just digested the main idea of a few chapter.. and the 3rd time: still no guitar, so i got off my arse and read the ENTIRE thing from start to finish; listening to the cd as i go along

fyi ive taken 1 year off from school or a job to focus on music before i take on a university..believe guys, its worth doing this if you wanna be a real guitar player/musician

as im well seasoned by now and with a guitar that plays like butter, the 4th time i look at it i might buy it to keep and learn to play everything

nope havent checked out the 1st one..not in the library
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sumis



Joined: 22 Feb 2005
Posts: 570
Location: gothenburg, sweden

PostPosted: Wed May 06, 2009 8:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

frankus wrote:
sumis wrote:
.


In order to answer this post I bought the forumites OS and swatted up on the following functions:

HO
NO
NOT
HIST
CFGIKNU
CDINOSU
AGIN
HWY
DGO
HWY?

Very Happy


i'll let you go this time.

.

ted greene's books are classics and really usable ... if you find a way to really use them Wink both the chord and single note books.

david bakers jazz/bebop books are great, if that's what you're into.

.
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jordan



Joined: 28 Sep 2004
Posts: 161

PostPosted: Wed May 06, 2009 10:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

michaelA wrote:
i got chord chemistry from mr. greene; it was my first book, got it last year...i really cant go passed that huge lot of chords that takes up two pages cause im like 'how in the hell can i remember them' so i just put it aside for a year now...


I found the best information in Chord Chemistry to be in Section 11 'Chord Substitutions and general information'. This is the section that tells you *how to use* the chords. I don't think Ted Greene was expecting anyone to memorize the endless pages of chords, except maybe the 'invisible chord' Wink

Rather than focus on memorizing chord shapes, a better approach could be to spend some time with Section 5 ('Chord formulas and families'). If you know that an E7b5b9 chord needs to contain R-3-b5-b7-b9, you have more freedom to find and create your own voicings, rather than having to rely on memorizing different shapes. A good starting point is to take your E and A shape barre chords, and learn where the 5,7,9,11,13 extensions sit on the fretboard relative to the other notes. This way, it becomes easier to see 5-7-5-6-5-7 as an A9, and 5-7-5-6-7-5 as an A13, etc....

michaelA wrote:

all i need now is a jazz method book to motivate me to know standards and all that crap haha..


It might sound like an odd suggestion if you're looking for a 'method' book, but I'd highly recommend Mark Levine's Jazz Theory Book. Armed with that and a good copy of the Real Book, you'd be set for a lifetime of jazz-based study. I've always found the most effective way of trying to incorporate new 'jazz' ideas is to read about them from a book, then apply them into an arrangement of a jazz standard.

Hope that helps....
Jordan
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frankus



Joined: 13 Sep 2004
Posts: 1100
Location: Chelmsford/Arachnipus

PostPosted: Thu May 07, 2009 1:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

sumis wrote:
i'll let you go this time.


Oh you're no fun at all Very Happy
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michaelA



Joined: 22 Apr 2009
Posts: 8
Location: Australia

PostPosted: Fri May 08, 2009 3:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

yeah i was gonna buy mark levine's jazz theory since everyone in the jazz world has creamed over it in reviews, and also some dave baker jazz improv book..but got beat on the biddings...i get all my crap from ebay hahah

about the chord chemistry stuff..i might just bout look at it this time since im way better now compared to last year and have a good (but not great) visual memory of chords and harmony on the fretboard..
back when i sucked, id get super frustrated when i saw a 9th 11ths and 13th chord hahah

oh, but one thing that i still dislike about chord chemistry, it does that "play this one chord...and remember to play it in all the other keys" thing that i hate... and doesnt explain chords in relation to anything that is already structured, like modes or scales. that sort of thing would help me understand a chord's sound and its name by using a reference point..pretty much just 'heres the chord, go play it'...

but then again i guess im better now thru other books and videos so ill try tackle it down
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Mirth



Joined: 25 Jan 2005
Posts: 160
Location: USA

PostPosted: Fri May 15, 2009 4:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hey don't forget...

Rhythmic Illusions by Gavin Harrison
&
A Chromatic Approach To Jazz Harmony and Melody - Dave Liebman

These are sure to melt your brain!
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Nocturne



Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Posts: 8

PostPosted: Mon May 25, 2009 8:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well for me the best books so far would be:

'The Guitar' - Ralph Denyer (best for just starting out)
'Speed Mechanics For Lead Guitar (when I was just starting out
I practiced this whole book time after time, I just loved the concept
of learning technique excersizes, it was a good start as now I am able to play almost anything that comes to mind - technically that is).

and of course:

'Creative Guitar Volume 1' By sir Guthrie Govan

I have a whole library of books by now, but I always find that I can learn more from actively playing pieces (Guthrie's, Shawn's, but also composers like Yanni, Vangelis etc.) then from studying theory from a book, that just doesn't work for me.
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timjackson



Joined: 03 Mar 2008
Posts: 4

PostPosted: Thu Apr 22, 2010 5:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Creative guitar 1 and 2 by govan are great, worth every penny. Some of the best books out there.


I've looked into some of the ted greene and mick goodrick stuff, but they seem very dense, and I don't like this "now you should practice this progression forwards and backwards in all 12 keys for the next 18 months before even THINKING about progressing to the next page". But I know there's a lot of useful information in there, so I guess I should be working on them from time to time.


Gambale's speed picking book is a must if you're interested in that kind of stuff , but be prepared to devote yourself to it for a long time, that stuff is NOT easy to get down fluently- I have managed to get a lot of small 3 note sweeps into my playing here and there, something that has has expanded my options a lot because there are a lot of lines (arpeggios etc) that a piano player might play very naturally , but that you can't really play on a guitar unless you're either sweep picking them or have a ridiculously fast alternate picking. But all the "combination licks" that frank presents that consists of a bunch of small 2 and 3 note sweeps in both directions, combined with altnernate picks and string skipping and just about everything... man that stuff is hard.


As far as chord voicings go, I learned a lot from the Scott Henderson song books, where the excact guitar chord voicings are written out. If there had only been chord symbols, I would have never been able to figure out as tasteful voicings as that. I'd really like to find more excact transcriptions of good player's chordal playing. Solo transcriptions can be found everywhere, and I find solos pretty easy to transcribe myself anyway, but I'm having a hard time finding good transcriptions of chordal playing, and it takes me forever to transcribe it compared to single note lines.
I can read a fake book and find some voicings that are "okey", but I'd really like to see accurate transcriptions of all the voicings Mike Stern would play on a tune, or something like that. Any ideas, anyone?




michaelA wrote:


i also finally bought frank gambale's technique book 1 after having a downloaded copy of it on my computer doing nothing for almost a year..its so much easier to work with when its a hard copy


I have bought all of gambale's books and videos. I never progressed through those books step by step, I prefer to just get an insight into his approach and pick up some ideas, check out all the example licks, pick out maybe 10 of them that I like, write them down on a sheet of paper of my own and try to make my own variations of them. I'm don't really fancy a "lick collection", but these books provide some useful information in addition to all the suggested licks. Gambale always presents things very clearly. I like to go back to these books every now and then to pick up some new ideas. I especially like his examples for chord voicings, they are all very tasteful, easy to play and easy to learn. I also like all his suggestions for using the same line over a variety of chords in different keys. Lots of ideas for exploration there.


Quote:

got this book 2 weeks ago called advanced harmony chords (or something like that) by vic juris..WOW thats how to practise rmembering chords..it makes chord chemistry look like just a "big book of chords"


Thanks for the recommendation, I'll definitely check that out.



Scott henderson's first video (jazz fusion improvisation) is probably the most useful thing I ever purchased. His second video (melodic phrasing), well.. the way I see it, his core message is simply "use your ears", which may be an important message to certain people, I don't know, for me it was all pretty obvious really. Still fun to watch though.
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ZeyerGTR



Joined: 30 Apr 2010
Posts: 6

PostPosted: Fri Apr 30, 2010 6:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I found "Chord Chemistry" to be really great - especially the substitutions chapter. Every so often when I want a break in my practice routine I'll go through a chapter.

Stetina's "Speed Mechanics" is pretty good, but I haven't put in as much time with it as I should.

This year I've (finally) been learning to sight read. "Modern Guitar Method Vol. 1" has been excellent. If you want to learn to read, it's a great place to start.
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