Reddit mentions: The best guitar & fretted instrument songbooks

> I have a good foundation in classical theory, and have a pretty basic understanding of jazz harmony, but what are some additional steps that I could take to improve?

I tend to tell people to start with this book. Mark Levine's "The Jazz Piano" is a great book and the most common recommendation, but I think it's a bit too dense and daunting to people transitioning from a classical background and not yet accustomed to being given a single example and then told "now just go play this progression in all 12 keys without music... then look up tunes and apply the concepts."

It's also not a book you can easily work out of without the guidance of a teacher. I think people who recommend it are often taking for granted their level of knowledge in the subject and not realizing how unapproachable it is to a fresh learner. Start with the Mark Harrison book and then move to the Levine book after you've gotten a primer.

>For example, what are some good beginner/intermediate piano performances I could transcribe?

Don't start with jazz. Start with nursery rhymes and traditional tunes you're already familiar with. Burt Ligon makes this suggestion in his Jazz Theory Resources book. If you can't transcribe Mary Had a Little Lamb, you can't transcribe most jazz performances, especially the intense ones. A good understanding of theory will really help you ear so that you're not just making blind guesses at things.

With simple children's songs, you can instantly apply your own theory knowledge. For many, you probably don't even need to listen to a recording. Just sit down and write out a lead sheet of something like Alouette or Twinkle Twinkle, or America. If you find that you can't hear the harmonic progression (I, IV, and V) of those, you certainly aren't going to be able to jump into jazz transcriptions.


I mean... you could, but I feel that people waste far too many hours taking that approach without the theory to help inform what they are hearing. When I hear a #9 chord, I know what it is because I know how it functions. It stands out to me and I'm not sitting down plinking at keys trying to guess the notes of the chord. I think "That's a dominant with a #9 coming from ii and going to I. I'm in X keys, so it's X7#9."

Once again, people who already have a solid grounding in jazz theory and a backing in ear will tell you to jump straight into transcription because they are taking for granted a huge amount of their own knowledge and not keeping in mind the numbers of steps behind them you might be.

>Are there any decent books of common jazz phrases?

I'm not sure exactly what you mean. I guess you mean like licks or comping patterns or something? Start with the one I mentioned above to actually learn the language so you know how things work. Once you do, you can grab transcription books, or make your own transcriptions. If you get a little backing in the theory you can steal ideas you like left and right very easily.

>How do you feel about using a real book?

It's useful, especially for applying concepts (like those in the Mark Levine book) to real tunes when your ear can't get there. Some would argue that you should evolve to the level where you never need a real book (relying entirely on your ear and memory) and that might be a fine goal, but it's a lofty one. Don't let the ultimate high end goal of very experienced players strongly discourage you from taking the steps you need to get there.

>What are some technical exercises I could practice?

Probably the most important starting exercise is in the "Intro to Jazz Piano" book I recommended... 3-7 voicings. They are written out in that book, but eventually being able to play them for ii-V-I in every key while just reading a lead sheet (you can scrawl your own) would be a good goal. Then applying that concepts to tunes is a good next step.

For a lot of pure technical stuff, you could look at some John Valerio books. I'd recommend this one as a pure technical manual. It's aimed at developing the type of facility that you might need to be able basically get anywhere from anywhere the way improvising pianists need to do when they can't always plan out every fingering.

This one is slightly more directly practical conceptual stuff for comping and realizing lead sheets which might be a better place to start considering improvisation at this point should be very little of your focus.

There's also Jazz Chord Hanon which I'm very uneasy recommending. It might provide you a lot of the technical facility used in jazz, but without any of the context. It doesn't make you actually know what you're playing and why. It might help your playing, but I think the John Valerio books would be a much better option as would just making up tons of your own exercises. However, the Hanon could be useful in just letting you find and clean up some technical limitation on your part.

There's also the companion book to Burt Ligon's theory book (Comprehensive Technique for Jazz Musicians), but this one is quite high level and deep in the weeds. Also, since it's not a piano specific book, you might want to be more comfortable working in abstract theory concepts before you jump in, but it's an absolutely magnificent book.

I would suggest actually not learning scales via intervals nor patterns.

Learn them by their actual note names. For example, a C major diatonic scale is C, D, E, F, G, A, B ascending in Ionian mode. From there, learn scale degrees. When I'm performing, I'm usually not thinking about theory at all, but when my head goes to theory, it goes to note names. This is ideal if you later intend to get into arranging, composition, and sight-reading.

Start out by playing a standard scale, for example the Segovia scales:

http://www.amazon.com/Diatonic-Major-Scales-Andres-Segovia/dp/1598060597

As you play them, say aloud "C," "D," "E..." with each one. Watch yourself do it. Feel your fingers do it. The idea is to engage as many of your senses as possible. Doing so will help with your memory.

Once you get a feel for how to play all the notes in C major around the fretboard, skip around the fretboard playing all the notes in the key. As you do, say the note names out loud. Then play them ascending. Then descending. Switch it up. Starting on the low E string, you should be able to play (while you say aloud) "E F G" (then onto the 5th string) "A B C" (4th) "D E F" (3rd) "G A" (2nd) "B C D" (1st) "E F G" and then back down to the open low E. Do this with a metronome while gradually increasing speed.

Then do the same thing, but this time say the scale degrees. C is 1, D is 2, E is 3 etc.

The idea is that you should eventually be able to play any note on the fretboard at random and instantly know what the actual note name is (e.g. F) and what the scale degree is (4). Eventually you will do this for all keys.

Running scales is good for working on picking technique and fingering, but you don't actually play those patterns when you're performing.

When performing, you play licks, and to improvise licks, you need to have an intuitive feel of what notes you're playing as they relate to the key you're in. That means knowing the note name and the scale degree without having to think about it.

If you don't already have the entire fretboard memorized (chromatically I mean), you should work on that as well. Play a random note on the fretboard and figure out what it is—count up the chromatic scale if you have to at first—and say it out loud. Do this as quickly as you can without making any mistakes, using a metronome to force you to do it at tempo. Gradually increase your speed until you instantly know every single note anywhere on the fretboard. The goal here is to be able to play any note at random and instantly be able to say "This is an F#" or "This is a C#" etc. If you set your metronome to 120 and play quarter notes and can randomly play any note on the fretboard and name it aloud, 2 per second, you're very well prepared to read any music you're going to face in the real world.

If you don't know how to read music, I recommend this book before the Segovia one from above:

http://www.amazon.com/Daily-Guitar-Reading-Technique-Studies/dp/0786682809

It's designed for absolute beginners to reading music on guitar and has 30 daily studies, just simple whole notes at first without any movement, on up to reading simple lines, and by day 30, you're sight reading whole chords.

USE A METRONOME.

If you don't already have one, my favorite is the Boss DB-90, although they're expensive. It's such an important practice tool, though, that I think it's worth it. They're $160 new or cheaper used. You can get a simple electronic metronome that doesn't do subdivisions for closer to $10 if that's more in your budget:

http://www.amazon.com/Qwiktime-QT3-Qwik-Time-Metronome/dp/B0002F75EM

USE A METRONOME!

I believe your tunings are incorrect; OppoKomn described things correctly. You should not try to tune the G string on your guitalele up an octave; you would instead need to get new strings, but I recommend against this. It is best to treat the guitalele when playing as a guitar with a capo on the fifth fret; the sound will be ukulele-esque, but the playing mechanics on your end will be pretty much guitar.

Many ukulele songs can be played by just using the chord diagrams and tabs in your ukulele books and using the four highest pitched strings on your guitalele. Sometimes your chord will sound a little off. (In the standard uke tuning, the GCE strings, barred at any fret, give a major chord with root on the C string, but your guitalele will give an inverted major chord, same root..I think. This will mostly sound okay.) I play a lot of uke music on my guitar, just by putting on a capo and doing this; I expect your guitalele will sound even better.

Also, you can just play guitar tab straight out on your guitalele. Everything will be transposed up a fourth, but it will sound fine. It's not what you had in mind, but a lot of Spanish and Mexican guitar music sounds great on these smaller instruments (I have the half-size Yamaha classical guitar, not much larger than the guitalele). The book 30 Easy Spanish Guitar Solos arr. by Mark Phillips is a good place to start (it has tab, and is relatively cheap).

You're not going to get a lot of people in r/classicalGuitar that are going to answer this without some kind of recommendation that you just improve your regular score reading skills instead. Tab can be a great tool at times, but more often it seems to be used as crutch.

My advice is to start sight reading as much as you can whenever you find tab-free scores because it is skill that you can only develop with dedicated and focused practice. Whenever you go to the effort to transcribe a score to Tab, you are still leaning on a crutch because when you start playing, you aren't using the music, you're using your Tab instead and not actually getting any score reading practice in. In your mind, you are probably translating your scores to Tab instead of actually reading the score. Tab and score notation are similar in that respect. In fact, I suspect that if you just force yourself to give up tab you'll see an amazing and very rapid increase in your ability to process standard scores.

Here is a personal example: When I read Spanish I am not actually reading Spanish... I'm translating it into something I am familiar with. I still have to learn to transform my thought process into Spanish before I am truly reading Spanish. Once I stop communicating by saying buenos noches to mean "good afternoon/night" and I just start saying buenos noches when I mean "buenos noches", I am actually speaking Spanish. Until then, I am just translating words. That won't change until I immerse myself in Spanish without clinging to English as my crutch. The same thing applies to changing from Tab notation to score notation.

http://www.amazon.com/Sight-Reading-Classical-Guitar-Level/dp/0769209742/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333574358&sr=8-1

I have this book and it is great practice in sight reading and you may want to check it out. It is nothing more than a bunch of short sight reading exercises. Teach yourself one or two of them a day without transcribing them to tab first and I am absolutely confident that your reading skills will improve noticeably.

If you are really insistent on using Tab though, classtab.org is decent.

This book has some decent stuff in it as well: http://www.amazon.com/Easy-Spanish-Guitar-Solos-Book/dp/1603780599/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1333575720&sr=1-1

Don't sweat it!

It's better than sitting home and watching tv, right? Now at least you have a good story:)

You probably had some nerves which along with the sheer volume of sounds going on will cause your adrenaline to spike, which will mess your playing up (finger control and hearing are affected). That plus not being able to hear what's going on and working with unfamiliar tunes is rough.

There's no magic to practicing chord changes, you just have to do it. Playing along to album tracks works great - I have the GK Bass Amp app on my phone that lets me slow down and loop over sections and whatnot. I'll generally grab the chord sheet online and then play along with the recording while looking at that. Here's an example, Loving Cup by the Stones that matches up with the album version:

https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/t/the_rolling_stones/loving_cup_crd.htm

For practicing the chord changes, you don't need to play the exact bass line note for note (although transcribing the bass line is a good exercise as well). You just need to hear the changes and be able to play with them - fake it 'til you make it.

If possible, find someone who can play acoustic guitar and sing and play bass with them (or sing the vocals yourself). Just those three pieces will really make you hone in on what the bass is supposed to be doing.

Jams can be tough for a good sound mix because there's a bunch of random people with random gear doing random things, so it's not good. Hell, it's tough for established bands to get a good sound mix. Don't be afraid to speak up about not being able to hear well. At a minimum, you probably want to be able to hear the drummer and another rhythm instrument (keys/guitar), depending how their skill level and personality. Some guys are hardwired to try to help other players out, other guys don't give a shit. Drummers are great to lock in with, but they usually don't know the chords/notes so it's not super helpful.

It's also definitely ok for you to ask about the song - key, tempo, format, etc.

Part of playing is reading people, both musically and personally. Guitar players will try to lead you with what they're doing, so know that the bottom four strings of the guitar are the same as your bass. Try to figure out who knows the song and follow them.

It's also OK to turn your volume off if you're completely lost during a song. Better to drop out than blow it. Make sure you tell them after the song's over that you were lost and stopped playing - they should try and help you.

Oh, and if you're going to be doing blues jams, this book is awesome:

https://www.amazon.com/Blues-Bass-Essential-Techniques-Supplement/dp/0634089358

Gives you all the things you need to jam on the blues - intros/outros/rhyhms/riffs/etc plus charts of songs you're likely to run into (Stormy Monday, Pride and Joy, etc).

Are you looking for just a good chord chart for the tune? That one was mediocre. I can give you a more accurate chart, no problem.

Or, are you looking for an EXACT transcription of what Les played on the Bing recording? I could make that as well, but honestly, I usually charge people (guitar students) to do it.

Aside from very popular recordings, most chord charts and TABs online are highly inaccurate. Often the "official" transcriptions you see in books aren't right either. I'm a huge Les Paul fan, particularly the pre-multitracking era (Les Paul Trio, this Bing session, etc). I've seen him play live a few times as well. Congratulations, you have good taste!

If you'd like to advance your skills in trad/swing/jazz rhythm guitar to get the skills to play through the chart, check out these books:

http://www.amazon.com/Mickey-Bakers-Complete-Course-Guitar/dp/0825652804

http://www.amazon.com/Mel-Bay-Jazz-Guitar-Method/dp/0786600365/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1411405636&sr=1-1&keywords=ronnie+lee+guitar

http://www.amazon.com/Mel-Rhythm-Guitar-Chord-System/dp/0871665158

Give me a few minutes and I'll post a chart.

Hey there! I hope this doesn't violate any rules, but I've written books on jazz bass playing that are geared towards someone with a basic understanding of the instrument: https://www.amazon.com/Low-Down-Guide-Creating-Supportive/dp/069240595X

All of the advice here is great, especially regarding the importance of SOUND and TIME. The group I play in was working with Kurt Rosenwinkel the other day, and he dropped this gem on us: "Confidence comes from sound. Feel confident in your sound... because if you sound good, you'll feel good." So much truth in that statement.

Sometimes figuring out the "how" element of things can be equally daunting. I do recommend a teacher if you can find one, even for just a few lessons. And of course, reach out and ask questions at any time!

It sounds like you have a good foundation both in what you have played and your knowledge of tab. I’m assuming that you mean ‘solo’ fingerstyle guitar (just one guitar but no voice) or fingerstyle as accompaniment to singing. In any case, the best place to start is with Travis Picking. More specifically, the styles of “Merle Travis” and “Chet Atkins.” Learning Travis Picking, even if you don’t pursue it, is an essential foundation to everything else you will do. An online program called True Fire (https://truefire.com) is an incredible place to go and is very oriented toward teaching you fingerstyle. Even Tommy Emmanuel teaches there! Beyond that, just listen to others. Listen closely to many pickers of many genres and styles, then pick and choose what you do and don’t like to create your own style. Finally, learn basic music theory (if you haven’t already). Music theory is in my opinion, a very important but often missed aspect of guitar. I wish you good luck, and I hope you found this helpful!

Some supplementary books I would recommend:

For music theory: https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Guide-Modern-Theory-Guitarists/dp/1503319210?keywords=Guitar+music+theory&qid=1540820080&sr=8-6&ref=sr_1_6

For Merle Travis Style: https://www.amazon.com/Mel-Merle-Travis-Guitar-Style/dp/078660266X?crid=1FDIX0PBK0ZS5&keywords=merle+travis+guitar+style&qid=1540819852&sprefix=Merle+Travis+guit%2Caps%2C164&sr=8-1&ref=sr_1_1

For Chet Atkins Style: https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Chet-Atkins-Guitar-Method/dp/0786691476?keywords=Chet+Atkins+method&qid=1540819891&sr=8-1&ref=sr_1_1

http://www.amazon.com/Matteo-Carcassi-Melodic-Progressive-Studies/dp/0793518679/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1405454838&sr=1-4&keywords=carcassi+etudes

these are the carcassi etudes. I've had a musical background on the trombone for years and I've played guitar for about 2 before my teacher put me onto classical. I already knew how to read music, and he taught me the technique behind the etudes. SO, I guess I'm saying I started CG knowing how to read music already, with a certain level of aptitude to applying it to the guitar. I didn't start off with any method books, but I eventually bought a bunch and saw that my teacher pretty much taught me all of it to begin with, apart from the flamenco stuff.

http://www.amazon.com/Solos-Classical-Guitar-Worlds-Favorite/dp/B002V4SIX4/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1405454901&sr=8-3&keywords=classical+guitar+favorite

This is a compilation of beginner to intermediate guitar etudes and short pieces. Also you will find some arrangements of songs that were not written for the guitar, but someone did good work and made it so. If you get bored of the carcassi, try some of these to take your mind off it and to practice your sight reading, but always go back.

With Pumping Nylon inbetween. There are a few things you're going to have to learn that come with basic general guitar playing. Chord forms, triad forms, rest strokes, note reading, (maybe some Italian lol) also, grab a musical dictionary for the Italian stuff.... If your piece says to play Andante, you don't want to play it Allegro. If your piece says to play staccato, you don't want to play legato. If it says Dolce, don't play it Pesante.

There are so many things you learn with time and practice, but learn to play the carcassi etudes, MIND YOUR FINGERINGS. Good luck!


One last thing, STAY ON ONE ETUDE BEFORE YOU MOVE ON. Perfect it, you don't want to be able to play 10 half-ass etudes... that defeats the purpose. Get them down pat as you move along.

There are excellent tabs books for DSOTM, Wall and WYWH. Also excellent tab books for division bell and on an island.

There really isn't much out there for animals but there are some fairly decent dogs solo transcriptions.

If you are looking for easier stuff check out this book:

Pink Floyd: Easy Guitar with Riffs and Solos https://www.amazon.com/dp/1476815305/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_tqL3wbVFHHFQ0

This one might be good too (somewhat strange mix of songs...):

Ultimate Guitar Play-Along Pink Floyd Book/online audio https://www.amazon.com/dp/0739050443/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_msL3wbYY60PH3

This book looks really cool. Sounds like it comes with slowed down audio and play along parts too which can be really helpful

Pink Floyd - Guitar Signature Licks: A Step-by-Step Breakdown of David Gilmour's Guitar Styles and Techniques https://www.amazon.com/dp/1476821240/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_XvL3wbTZ41WX6

In my opinion Troy Stetina's Fretboard Mastery is still the most comprehensive, well thought out and explained, and easy to understand guitar theory book. If you could only get one book, this book would cover all you need to understand the instrument.

Beyond that Troy's Speed Mechanics for Lead Guitar is very good book of technique building exercises, Dave Celentano's Monster Scales and Modes is a short, easy to read, and good book for referencing some of the most commonly used scales and modes, it also has some short but good description of when and where to use certain scales/modes.

For a more reference/appendix use, I like the Guitar Grimoire books as they have very complete information and are laid out in a fairly easy to read and easy to understand fashion.

Troy Stetina's book is a well-respected approach to developing rock lead technique: http://www.amazon.com/Speed-Mechanics-Lead-Guitar-Stetina/dp/0793509629

Probably not your style of music (mine neither) but I would definitely check out the free material on Tom Hess's site too, he has excellent advice in there and his chops are undeniable: http://tomhess.net/

Other than that, if you have a couple of months, I suggest picking one technical thing (e.g. alternate picking) and one vocabulary/learning thing (e.g. a scale) and staying focussed. I've spent too much of my time in the past switching between things that seemed interesting but not persevering with anything long enough to really master it.

I'm others will pitch in with good books / DVDs etc...

The short answer is: by going slow and slowly building up your speed with a metronome.

A more complicated answer would give you various exercises and stuff to play. That was one area where I struggled when I first wanted to build my speed up - I knew sort of what methods I needed to apply to my practice. But I didn't know what exactly to practice. I found this book: https://www.amazon.com/Speed-Mechanics-Lead-Guitar-Stetina/dp/0793509629/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8 pretty helpful in getting my mechanics on point and to make me comfortable with playing fast. I like it because it's got lots of focused little exercises to work on and I can take notes and stuff in the book.

Steve Stine's youtube is also a good free resource for some speed building exercises.

Here's an album I did a while back of some basic jazz guitar chord shapes. I've outlined some nice-sounding but simple voicings of Maj7, min7, dominant, and m7b5 or half-diminished chords. Most of these voicings also include the 9th and/or 13th, so you can use these as jumping-off points to learn how to alter chord tones for different voicings and tonalities. This is by no means a comprehensive list, and all the chords are in root position on the 5th and 6th strings, but it'll get you started.

Once you get these down, the next thing to work on would be some drop 2 voicings on the higher strings. I like to take a chord, Fmaj7 for example, and learn a voicing that has each note of the F major scale in the highest voice. So the root, 9th, 3rd, 11th, etc. The goal is to be able to play the entire scale using different inversions of the same chord. Here's an album outlining the inversions for that example. Transpose to other keys and work out how to alter these voicings to achieve minor, dominant, and diminished tonalities.

The voicings with 1, 3, 5, and 7 in the highest voice are drop 2, which means you stack the chord in a closed voicing and drop the 2nd highest voice an octave. For example, a root position Fmaj7, normally spelled FACE, becomes CFAE when voiced as a drop 2. This is particularly useful for jazz guitar because it eliminates the need to do huge stretches to achieve dissonance with 2nds.

I'd also recommend picking up the Mickey Baker jazz guitar book (amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Mickey-Bakers-Complete-Course-Guitar/dp/0825652804/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1464620721&sr=8-1&keywords=mickey+baker)

This post ended up being significantly longer than I planned, but I think it'll give you a good solid foundation to work off of. Hope you find this helpful!

Edit: This is not necessarily a "how to get ready for this particular gig" post, but more of a "this is a jumping off point for jazz rhythm guitar in general" post. Obviously talk to the band, get a set list, and practice practice practice.

So, I don't know if this is helpful, but have you seen the Hal Leonard Fingerpicking series of books? I've been playing guitar 4 months and they are challenging but doable for me, so they are probably WAY below your skill level. You could probably sight read through them the first time. They sound pretty good, though, and would seem to meet your requirements. I'm working on What a Wonderful World right now from Fingerpicking Standards.

this book of classical duets is a fantastic way to learn.
https://www.amazon.com/Carulli-Progressive-Student-Teacher-Classical-Guitar/dp/1530036623

get yourself a cheap nylon string guitar and find a player who can read the teacher parts. there is no way around that first task of memorizing all the names of the notes in open/first position. get your c major scale together, then start playing these duets. I've studied reading in a few different ways and I really think this is the best way to start. Once youre well into this book, also start looking at this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Music-Reading-Guitar-Complete-Method/dp/0793581885

those two together will make you a pretty solid reader. good luck.

I suggest you pick up a book for beginners, like this one maybe.

The Guitar Wiki is also a good resource for you I think.

Also make your way over to youtube, you will find tons of videos on guitar at all levels.

These are a few great ways to start to familiarize yourself with your instrument and playing the guitar in general.

Hope that helps

Right. Okay so this is one of the books that I used...Speed Mechanics for Lead Guitar and it talks about learning 'phrases.' So like...break the song down into different pieces/parts...whether that be verse/chorus or whatever...and then practice those different phrases. Rocksmith 2014 does this with 'riff repeater.' I've used that quite a bit to perfect different pieces in a slow, controlled way. Good luck and please let me know if you have any other questions!!!

That's pretty great! I don't know where you'd find sheet music for that particular piece but this book looks good. You might also enjoy checking out some Charlie Byrd.

Pure theory alone will not improve your technique on any instrument, but will enable you to understand the mechanics of the music being played, and communicate it to another musician. You might consider applying your knowledge to extended chords and harmonies available in Jazz. Books by the following would be useful:

• Mickey Baker - Book 1 and Book 2;
  
  
• Ted Greene;
  
  
• Mick Goodrick;
  
  
• Frank Gambale - Book 1 and Book 2
  
  ---
  An answer with useful music theory resources that I gave recently:
  
  https://www.reddit.com/r/Guitar/comments/4h5i2y/question_which_book_should_i_read_to_understand/d2njtxs

Links!

Chord Chemistry - Ted Greene

The Advancing Guitarist - Mick Goodrick

Mickey Baker's Complete Course in Jazz Guitar: Book 1

Also, remember that 85% of odd jazz chords that come about, you should be able to work out. -Maj7? Min7 chord with a sharp 7. 7b5? 7 chord with a flat five. Chords with tensions can generally be played without the tensions, so G13 can easily be G7. However, you will loose some nuance. As for jazz solos? Totally not a jazz guitarist. My rock soloing didn't go well with my jazz teachers. However, I was given some fantastic advice: Even if you don't play a style, solo in it like you would normally because that is where you are comfortable. If you find the groove, you'll fit.

JustinGuitar is awesome, if you are JUST beginning I really found this book to be fun / motivating to get you started also

http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Absolute-Beginners-Daniel-Emery/dp/0982599803/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1416441749&sr=8-3&keywords=learn+guitar

100% agree on books.
The best one I've seen for beginners is: Guitar for Absolute Beginners.
http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Absolute-Beginners-Daniel-Emery/dp/0982599803
It's the only one who actually sticks to what beginners should learn and nothing more. It's also pretty funny and a 'light' read.

But still, a book alone really isn't enough unless you are completely obsessed with learning at all costs (and have extra time)

Mickey Bakers Complete Course in Jazz Guitar

While the book is labelled as a jazz guitar resource, really what you're getting is a set of really good lessons which will instill a lot of habits that strong playing skills are based on. I must warn you though; the lessons can be tedious (he makes you transpose a lot) but they're very effective if you follow through with them.

I recommend Mickey Baker's Jazz Guitar Course to get quicly going with easy jazz strumming (really useful turnarounds and all), and Ted Greene's Jazz Guitar Single Note Soloing for some nice'n'easy soloing ideas over major, dominant and minor chords. Ymmv though

1. It IS available! http://www.amazon.com/Battlestar-Galactica-Songbook-Piano-Solo/dp/1617803677
   
2. Can't vouch for Linux software. I use Digital Performer, Pro Tools, Sibelius as primary software
   
3. Haven't jammed with those guys.
   
4. That heavy synthesizer pulse you're hearing is a combination of a number of synths, run through a number of processors including amp simulators and distortions. The pulsing sound comes from an LFO (low frequency oscillator) on a synth filter. Fun stuff!
   
5. No concert in Houston, but I'm going to be there at Galacticon! Maybe I'll play a little piano if the crowd wants to hear it ;)

A few quick questions?

1. Will the sheet music for Kara Remembers be available? Awesome tune by the way.
   EDIT: It's here, derp: http://www.amazon.com/Battlestar-Galactica-Songbook-Piano-Solo/dp/1617803677
   
   
2. What tools do you use? And if someone wanted to get started on the cheap, would you recommend Linux audio software/hardware (assuming you've tried it)?
   
   
3. Have you jammed with Zimmer, Newton-Howard, Williams, Jablonsky, any of those guys? If not, what kind of project would it take to make it so?
   
   
4. More technical: For the dark haunting pulsing beat in the soundtrack in the later episodes of the Walking Dead, how did you make it?
   
   
5. Concert in Houston? And can you sign MP3s? lol (though it might be possible as a pgp message in the comments section in the id3 tags...)
   
   Thanks!

Check out Danny Ziemann’s book “The Low Down” for great jazz bass lines. He has many other bass books, too.

Also, see if you can transcribe bass lines like Paul Chambers on the album “Kind of Blue” by Miles Davis. Bass is sometimes hard to hear on classic recordings, so play around with one headphone or the other, or boosting the bass in your media player’s EQ settings for more clarity.


The Low Down

Mickey Baker's book is a great resource for developing your comping skills and helps to connect the dots with musically coherent ideas. The second half of the book is on soloing, but I highly recommend it.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0825652804/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478195849&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=mickey+baker+jazz+guitar+book+1

Hey, OP. Here's a video series on the chords from a book many of the jazz guitarists from my generation and earlier started with, Mickey Baker's Complete Course in Jazz Guitar: Book 1. This will get you playing a good many of the common "jazz guitar" chords you'll need to play in a big band or small group setting.

I listed that one too. The music is amazing! And now Bear has released a piano book with that music: http://www.amazon.com/Battlestar-Galactica-Songbook-Piano-Solo/dp/1617803677

And he even plays many of the pieces as they are in the book on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuDQzr9Ryh8

Nice job!

I noticed you lift your fingers quite a bit from the fretboard, especially your pinky. If you're looking to improve your mechanics a bit, check out Troy Stetina's Book. It helped me quite a bit.

I don't know how to make your playing interesting but to get faster I recommend Speed Mechanics for Lead Guitar book

I hear that Simplified Sight-Reading for Bass (by Josquin des Pres) is awesome if you want to learn sight reading quickly.

Hi,

For a thorough blues bassline guide I like Ed Friedland's Blues Bass. It comes with a CD and Ed plays the guitar parts too. He builds up multiple styles using basslines and the price is not bad:

http://www.amazon.com/Blues-Bass-Essential-Techniques-Supplement/dp/0634089358/ref=la_B001JS9DZA_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1421892796&sr=1-3

HTH

Definitely start with sheet music. Pick up a couple of beginner's books (I'd recommend Hal Leonard which uses fairly conventional notations and starts from absolute basics. Since you can already read, start the metronome and run the basic exercises until you can happily find some notes.

The bass bible is also very good, and was an indispensible tool for me learning, but it's tied tab/notation you have to consciously avoid the tablature if you want to get anywhere with learning to sight-read for the instrument.

1. Get Speed Mechanics for Lead Guitar
   
2. Practice.
   
3. ???
   
4. Profit.

If you are looking for something that helps slide playing in standard tuning, this is a good reference: Warren Haynes - Guide to Slide Guitar

Wikipedia, for sure. It's got great information on every kind of chord, what modes are, what makes an arpeggio, etc etc

I don't use many guitar books, but I'm still working through Speed Mechanics, and it's been several months since I bought it. It's just exercises, though, so it's not really 'helpful', per se.

I've been working through this book and it's really good

https://www.amazon.com/Simplified-Sight-Reading-Bass-Instruction/dp/0793565189

This book Has helped me a whole lot through the years. It teaches finger position and technique and picking. It's a really good book.

This is an easy set of spanish-style songs. It includes a CD for reference.

If you can find an hour a day for this which is available at larger guitar shops, it will keep you busy learning the basics for a year or two. A good investment.

You don't need theory for this book. It might teach you some.

I got this book in a store a while back, which has been helpful.

http://www.amazon.com/Warren-Haynes-Guide-Slide-Guitar/dp/1575605244

[Warren Haynes] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRO9JqlyGJ4) plays almost all of his slide work in Standard tuning. He also has a [book] (https://www.amazon.com/Warren-Haynes-Guide-Slide-Guitar/dp/1575605244/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481343322&sr=8-1&keywords=warren+haynes+slide+guitar) that explains how and why he stays in standard.

I've got Nelson's book too. It's a good book too, but I think it's not a patch on another Stetina book... "Speed Mechanics" : http://www.amazon.co.uk/Speed-Mechanics-Lead-Guitar-Stetina/dp/0793509629

(Damn, Troy... you should be paying me man!)

Learn Jazz Guitar theory. Then start to learn some of the Jazz standards.

After playing Jazz guitar at a somewhat novice level for a few years I have decided to study this book. Apparently this is the book.

Here's one:
https://www.amazon.ca/Mickey-Bakers-Complete-Course-Guitar/dp/0825652804
I did get the name wrong to a degree.
But importantly, this link has a fair amount of material that explains the book:
http://www.jazzandhotguitar.com/

Minimum movement would be one thing: http://justinguitar.com/en/TE-004-MinimumMovement.php

And there's alternate picking.

http://www.insaneguitar.com/mc/alternate.html

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/lessons/guitar_techniques/alternate_picking_technique.html

You could check out Troy Stetina's Speed Mechanics for Lead Guitar: http://www.amazon.com/Speed-Mechanics-Lead-Guitar-Stetina/dp/0793509629

Speed Mechanics for Lead Guitar

Buy a copy of Speed Mechanics for lead guitar and look through that. Keep the your thumb on the back of the neck as much as humanly possible. Use your pinky. Work on minimizing and isolating your movements.

http://www.amazon.com/Battlestar-Galactica-Songbook-Piano-Solo/dp/1617803677/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1301784685&sr=8-4

Mickey Baker, should be first on the list:

http://www.amazon.com/Mickey-Bakers-Complete-Course-Guitar/dp/0825652804

It's in the official BSG songbook (Amazon).

Building Walking Bass Lines

https://www.amazon.com/Building-Walking-Bass-Lines-Builders/dp/0793542049/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1539965332&sr=8-1&keywords=walking+bass+lines

​

Blues Bass Method

https://www.amazon.com/Leonard-Blues-Method-Acc%C3%A8s-audio/dp/0634089358/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1539965415&sr=8-1&keywords=ed+friedland+blues