A good Jazz guitar book??

Getting into Jazz without learning to read music will be difficult. The Jazz scene is based around the idea of playing over standards and reading lead sheets. I understand that this is not what you’re looking for, but that’s how the genre works.

However:

http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Jazz-Guitar-Book-DVD/dp/073902406X/ref=sr_1_3?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1279396609&sr=1-3

That might point you in the right direction. It includes tabs. But, just as a recommendation, you may want to learn to read music. If you do, get this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Berklee-Press-Modern-Method-Guitar/dp/B001UH10F6/ref=sr_1_2?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1279396665&sr=1-2

It’s the book used at Berklee for the Guitar alumni. It teaches how to read music, along with what you’re looking for. Scales, arpegios, etc. As for theory, you need a harmony book, or maybe the Aebersold books on improvising. Those are gold, here’s the link: http://www.jazzbooks.com/

Good luck.

legatofix, shoot me an email bro. I have TONS of E-books and materials for ya.
I’ll provide you with a list, and you can pick and choose.

@Richard Lundmark 11455 wrote:

EDIT: Unfortunately this material only has sheet music, not tabs.

Hey Richard, 🙂

Maybe “at-the-end-of-the-day,” it won’t be so unfortunate for McLaughlin’s shhet-music/lessons to be in standard-notation?!? – LOL! After all, the visual beauty and revelations of elements such as melodic-contour, phrasing, and intervals in general seem to “leap-off-the-page” when presented in standard-notation – IMO! Also, when reading music in standard-notation, the process of trial & error as it applies to “personal-fretboard-positioning/fingerings,” can be quite educational in it’s own right (Whereas TAB pigeon-holes the student into a pre-determined set of “string/fretboard-position/fingering” decisions, thus forging a “one-size-fits-all/cookie-cutter mentality!”) 😉

…Having said all of that, I tend to be a “lazy-sack-of-poop” who prefers TAB 99%-time also – LOL!!! – 😉 😎

~Bill Meehan~ 😀

@billmeedog 11473 wrote:

Hey Richard, 🙂

…Having said all of that, I tend to be a “lazy-sack-of-poop” who prefers TAB 99%-time also – LOL!!! – 😉 😎

~Bill Meehan~ 😀

Hi Legatofix, 🙂

I DID NOT mean to imply that YOU are a “lazy-sack-of-poop” for not being able to read! I was just poking fun at my own propensity towards TAB!!! You are an excellent guitarist BTW! 😉

Sorry if any offense was taken bro! 😮

~Bill Meehan~ 😀

+1 for the above book by Mark Levine. I’m taking a jazz improvisation course in school right now and it is a great resource. But like others have said, learning standard notation is pretty much step #1 in jazz these days, but I guarantee that learning it will open up a whole other world of possibilities in your playing.

– Jeff

This is really informative thread. Thanks for the info.