okay- after reading about the ted greene stuff- i thought maybe we could have a thread for recommended books and videos... i'll start with some books/videos that i have that i like:

Books...

The Advancing Guitarist- M. Goodrick- great book- touches on so many aspects of playing music- it's a do it yourself book with lots of insight provided about different aspects of music theory as it applies to the guitar- it also talks about things to open up your ears.. great great book.

The Guitarist's Guide to Composing and Improvising- Jon Damian- teacher of guitar giants scofield, frisell, rosenwinkel, metheny among others- this is another idea book- lots of things presented in different ideas- this book is a bit more abstract, but gets you thinking more about the possibilities of the guitar and ideas on how to approach them.. great book.

Modern Chords: Vic Juris- Vic is a teacher at the new school in new york- he's monster and his book doesn't disappoint. lots of finger stretchers- get warmed up before tackling this one


Videos:
Jim Hall- Jazz Guitar Master Class Vol 2- self expression- this is the best in the series IMO, great and talks about many topics for jazz guitar- very informative and some great jazz guitar playing.. great.

John Abercrombie- Jazz Guitar Improvisation- another jazz video dealing with all sorts of ideas for improvising and learning to develop your ears.. also features some great playing..

Frank Gambale: Chop Builder
thunder from down under brings it with this one.. lots of great technical exercises- forces a great understanding of the fretboard with great exercises to deal with technical things like sweep picking, string skipping and all of the other technical bs that guitarists have to deal with... also really funny.

The Guitar Artistry of Bill Frisell
if you like bill's playing- this is a great video- tons of great information- he has a very simplistic way of looking at the instrument and shares some of that insight here.. one of my personal favorite videos.

add yours on...

For me it's "modern chord progressions" - TG

Steve Khan - "contemporary chord khancepts" & "pentatonic khancepts"

Goodrick's - "advancing guitarist" (amazing book, useful for your entire guitar life)

Bona - "rhythmical articulation" (reading - really fuckin' hard)

Valenti - "intervallic studies" (more reading)

Tommy Tedesco - "for guitar players only" (all kinds of stuff but especially GREAT STORIES)

These aren't books that you "finish" or are ever done with (at least I don't seem to finish them). Like Moby Dick, Henry the Vth and the 3 musketeers they're constantly revealing of new things.

Ted Greene -Chord Chemistry

I also got another one on scales and modes that I don't remember the name of or author in fact it's been with me for 17yrs now and I only have a pdf version that I made of it before it was totally wasted. I remember I had to mail order it back then. Covers all the modes and scales with the theory and formulas behind them I still use it regularly to teach with and get ideas from. Sorry I can't give out the name of it I remember the front cover had some very 80's picture of a fretting hand with snakes at the fingertips or something like that.

i didn't realize bona has a book... i will have to check that out.. is that valenti book anything like walt weiskopf's intervallic concepts book?

One I really like, is "The Jazz Theory Book" by Mark Levine. It's a reference book. LOTS of info.

I like that it has every example tied to a specific Jazz recording. If you have trouble grasping a concept, he tells you exactly where you can hear it in action.

And my all-time favorite(s) is/are "PRAXIS: The Guitar Compendium" by Howard Roberts. It's a 3 book collection. Lots of his "sonic shapes", and thinking concepts.
These 3 books are probably the most "freeing" of any instructional materials, I have ever seen.

Sorry 'rsmeets',
I didn't see the latest posts here.

The Valenti book is similar to the Weiskopf book. Weiskopf is a little more jazz or "melodically" based. The Valenti book is probably more geared to modern 20th cent. classical music. I don't think it's in print.

The Pasquale Bona book I've had since 1980 (my 1st year of college) and is hands down, the most complete (and most difficult) set of exercises for reading rhythms that I've ever encountered. It is designed to be used with a teacher/coach. Mines' a G. Schirmer edition.

Hey Ken, how do you use the Modern Chord Progressions by Ted Greene?

I think I might buy the Mick Goodrick book soon, thought about it before.

quote:

Originally posted by John Stax:
Hey Ken, how do you use the Modern Chord Progressions by Ted Greene?

I think I might buy the Mick Goodrick book soon, thought about it before.

How do I use it? Not an easy question ... or, an easy answer.

Ted's got a little Bach reincarnated in him. Every one of the progressions in that book is beautifully and perfectly voice led - little mini songs in themselves.
The way I started using it was to replace a standard I vi ii V in a song I already knew, ie; "Stand by Me", or Sam Cook's "Wonderful world", and just start using "Ted" versions of the chords. There's so many, you don't even have to transpose at first.

Open it up to pg. 60 and play through the "historical" examples.

Try using ALL the examples of iii VI ii V on pgs. 66 and 67 for the last two bars(turn around)of a "jazzier" blues in G.

Hope this helps. It's an amazing resource. Go slowly. This book and the Goodrick are LIFE LONG tools for study - they're not meant to be "finished".

Thanks Ken! I kinda knew I had to play them all and substitute them in songs. The bit-by-bit aproach is a godo one.

And thanks for the turn-around tips, I was messing around lately with the blues variations in Chord Chemistry. I'll try to incorperate some turn arounds!

I agree it's an amazing resource, and every time you read it you learn something new or get reminded to something again. Amazing books, amazing guy!

yes, the goodrick book is really great.
the modern chord progressions is a great resource for different voicings. sometimes i think too much for one life...
i also like the kahn and the andrew green books (jazz guitar structures).

Advancing Guitarist is a great book!

I'd also recommend:

Nicolas Slonimsky's Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns.

Aaron Shearer's: Basic Elements of Music Theory for Guitar

Frank Gambale's: Chopbuilder Video

John Novello's: Contemporary Keyboardist Book. The exercises applied to guitar are amazing.

I'd also recommend the study of Paganini's 24 Caprices even if you do not plan to play Neo-Classical. This is a great way to see how soloing spells out chords. The book is available and Lick Library has some videos. The Danny Gill is the better of the bunch IMO.

Everyone should own a Real Book and at least try to study from it occasionaly even if you don't play Jazz or Standards.

Mel Bay's Joe Pass books on soloing and chords are also great references.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: musicman,

Technically not a book, but /care:

Guitar Techniques Magazine.

Said it before and I'll say it again, great, great, great magazine that is far more useful than all the other magazines that just feature interviews with emo bands, gear reviews and advertising.

and of course the great books from jerry bergonzi