# Jazz Guitar Book



## ite89 (Dec 13, 2015)

What is that one Jazz Guitar Instructional Manual/Book that is a good combination of theory and tabulated exercises. Most jazz guitar books are really loaded with theory without practical examples, or most of them have musical notation that you would have to decipher the proper fingerings of. I'm looking for a good source for intermediate players. I'd really appreciate your help! thank you


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## wespaul (Dec 14, 2015)

Jazz Guitar by Jody Fisher

This book has everything. Scales, arpeggios, chords, improvising, chord melody, and more. There's a lot of information packed in the 300+ pages. It's in tablature as well as music notation. I don't think you'll find a better deal for under $20.


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## TheFightingCPA (Dec 16, 2015)

The Jazz Theory Book from Mark Levine

Although it doesn't have tab, the music notation is very simple. The book contains a plethora of examples by using actual jazz songs to demonstrate the concepts. It also comes highly recommended by most jazz musicians.


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## extendedsolo (Dec 18, 2015)

Seconding the Levine book. If you are looking to learn jazz via tab that's not really going to happen. Matt Warnock's site will get you places with tab but most jazz texts require sight reading. With jazz it's either learn to sight read or don't learn jazz.


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## wespaul (Dec 20, 2015)

The Jazz Theory book is good, but it's not really a guitar book, and a lot of the examples are shown for piano (both bass and treble clef). As a guitarist just getting into jazz, I wouldn't recommend it, and certainly not if you have any sort of trouble with reading music notation.

That said, it IS a good book to get into after you've established a solid foundation of theory and reading music notation. There's a lot of stuff to glean from it. But the Jody Fisher book will get you up and playing/understanding/applying what you're doing.

Also:



extendedsolo said:


> With jazz it's either learn to sight read or don't learn jazz.



This simply isn't true, although I would never discourage somebody from learning to read music.


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## extendedsolo (Dec 20, 2015)

wespaul said:


> This simply isn't true, although I would never discourage somebody from learning to read music.



Not in a literal sense of you have to, but I've never ever seen a lead sheet out of a real book be in tab, nor most of the best resources for more advanced jazz guitar instruction. Because jazz is so rooted in academia now, a very good portion of it requires some level of reading. Yes you COULD learn it by ear, random internet lesson, etc but not reading music for jazz (and classical obviously) is already handicapping yourself by tying an arm behind your back (figuratively). It would hinder the progress and enjoyment of it. The jody fisher book is a great recommendation that is in tab yes and will provide you with the basics, but several of the books that require you to read music advance your knowledge on the subject. So I do agree with you that it isn't true absolutely, it certainly would hold him back from enjoying playing jazz the most, which is with others. It requires a pretty basic level of sight reading to read a lead sheet, something most guitar players are capable of (not true beginners)


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