Forty Essential Instructions Books

Following on from the 19 great books about music musicians and the creative process post a while ago, here are some great instruction books that I’ve found particularly useful. I have many more books than this, probably too many, but these are the ones I seem to come back to and have gotten most use out of. I’ve added links to Amazon if you feel moved to make an investment.

They make pretty good Xmas presents too :)

So, in no particular order…

• The Jazz Composer’s Companion – Gil Goldstein
  • Mainly for the last section of the book which is a series of interviews about compositional process.

• The Guitarist’s Guide to Composing and Improvising – Jon Damian
  • Similar in a way to Mick Goodrick’s book, but different. Still full of good stuff.

• Standing in the Shadows of Motown – Dr. Lick
  • A book of James Jamerson’s bass lines. Great for practicing bass-clef reading. The lines Jamerson played, the groove, syncopation and melody are well worth studying.

• Guitar Secrets – Joe Satriani
  • Some interesting ideas for getting away from the usual stuff.

• Improvisation and Performance Techniques for Classical and Acoustic Guitar – Ralph Towner
  • Some interesting things about right-hand control using accents and implying polyrhythms.

• The Brazilian Guitar Book – Nelson Faria
  • Superb examples of Brazillian guitar styles – a must.

• Creative Guitar 1 and 2 – Guthrie Govan
  • I absolutely love Guthrie’s playing, and it’s always very interesting to hear his thoughts on guitar playing.

• Exploring Jazz Guitar – Jim Hall
  • Lots of great ideas from Jim Hall. He analyses some of his approaches to playing and composition. Especially like the tune Cross Court and his dissection of it. Good things on phrasing with other instruments, rhythm guitar and the magic of music. Inspiring stuff.

• Jazz Harmony – Andy Jaffe
  • This is a great book about harmony. Very well laid out with good examples.

• Training The Ear Vol. 1+2 – Armen Donelian
  • Pretty systematic ear-training course.

• Ultimate Ear Training for Guitar and Bass – Gary Willis
  • I like Willis’s idea of physically connecting finger and thumb to reinforce the interval sound with the fingering.

• An Introduction To Sight-Singing – A. Forbes Milne
  • This is a really well laid-out book. It starts with a 5^th, and you sight-sing the intervals in a few keys so you get used to seeing the intervals as they occur at different pitches/note-names.

• Music Notation – Mark McGrain
  • A great book on how to notate music properly. Your music will look really nice after you’ve read this. I really love seeing hand-written music as there’s so much personality that comes through in a beautifully notated score.

• Rhythm & Meter Patterns – Gary Chaffee
  • I use the rhythms in the book and improvise my own notes. A great study in getting away the jazz curse of just playing 8^th notes.

• The Advancing Guitarist – Mick Goodrick
  • Reams of material to work through in this. Sure everyone will have this already as it’s a classic but just in case you don’t…

• An Improviser’s OS – Wayne Krantz
  • I love all things Wayne Krantz. The first part of the book is a big list of permutations of note grouping possibilities from 1 to 12 notes. The rest of the book is how Krantz uses this material to practise. It’s full of good stuff.

• Elementary Training for Musicians – Paul Hindemith
  • Great basic training book.

• Drum Wisdom – Bob Moses
  • Lots of interesting rhythmic ideas here.

• Telemaster Guitar – Jerry Donahue
  • One of my favourite guitarists. An absolute master player.

• The Jazz Language – Dan Haerle
  • This is a really clearly laid out book on music theory.

• Metamorphosis – Sam Most
  • Reams of stuff in here, great to practice reading with. There’s a bit at the back that’s sort of a ‘basic stuff you should totally know backwards’ thing. Scales and what not.

• Guitar Comping – Barry Galbraith
  • Great book for practising sight-reading chords. And a good book to study 4-note voicings too.

• British Fingerpicking Guitar – Stefan Grossman
  • Transcriptions and interviews with three of my favourite guitarists: John Renbourn, Bert Jansch and Davey Graham. I’m always playing Renbourn’s ‘The Hermit’, a brilliant drop D tune. All three players have incredible touch on the instrument, and in totally different ways. Renbourne is very deep and precise, Jansch and Graham are really physical.

• Music Reading for the Guitar – David Oakes
  • Some good, practical ideas about sight-reading in this book.

• Modern Reading Text in 4/4 and Odd Time Reading Text – Louis Bellson/Gil Breines
  • Books for practising rhythm-reading. Improvise your own notes to make it more interesting.

• Creative Rhythmic Concepts For Jazz Improvisation – Ronan Guilfoyle
  • Great book on different rhythmic ideas.

• Jazz Theory Book – Mark Levine
  • Good examples and reams of info.

• Improvisation: Its Nature and Practice in Music – Derek Bailey
  • Enjoyed the TV series that went along with this book.

• Guitar Player Magazine – Secrets From The Masters
  • Some great interviews

• Down Beat – 60 years of Jazz
  • Interviews and articles from 60 years of Downbeat magazine.

• Harmonic Mechanisms for Guitar Volume 1, Volume 2 and Volume 3 – George Van Eps
  • A chord book that’ll put hairs on your chest.

• Chord Chemistry – Ted Greene
  • Some good stuff here. Best thing I ever did with chords was to write my own little chord book, will blog about that sometime soon. I’ve found some fantastic Ted Greene stuff on the net recently that I really need to sit down and go through. Amazing chap.

• Voicings for Jazz Keyboard – Frank Mantooth
  • Interesting ways of thinking about voicings that you can easily apply to the guitar.

• Bach – Sonatas & Partitas for Solo Violin and Two Part Inventions.
  • Peter Bocking made me learn some of these pieces and the 2 part inventions are great fun to read with another guitarist.

So, that’s it. Hope my list is of use. Feel free to share any other recommendations. I’m always up for getting lost in book world…

Tagged as: Guitar, instruction book recommendations, Music, tuition, what to get for xmas