Reddit mentions of Music Reading for Guitar (The Complete Method)

Eric Clapton, despite making an album of standards, is not a jazz player. This is coming from someone who bought Disraeli Gears as a kid around the time it came out (Cream record with Eric as guitarist if you're not already familiar). I'm not saying he's not fine to listen to, but calling him "jazz" in the company of other jazz players is probably not a good idea. ;-)

I'm reading some of the other comments and see you're getting downvoted. If you're serious about learning this music I'm sorry other people are taking this attitude towards you.

First of all, music isn't about the gear, necessarily. Plenty of great jazz players such as Ed Bickert, Lenny Breau, Mike Stern, and Ted Greene used solid body guitars even Joe Pass used one for a while. Hollow body guitars, though, can sound great and have "the vibe." The main thing you'll want to look for in an amp is that it's clean and not too bright, as in too much treble. As others have mentioned most "traditional" jazz players don't use pedals, but some like Pat Metheny, John Scofield, Mike Stern, and Alan Holdsworth do in more modern settings. In what we call mainstream it's generally only some reverb, maybe a pinch of delay or a little chorus.

I read on one post that you have had trouble transcribing. Although there are a very few good players who say they don't transcribe the overwhelming majority of good players do/did. It can be really frustrating at first but it's one of the best bangs for the buck as far as learning to play. Louis Armstrong is a good starting point, so is Charlie Christian, the first electric guitar "star." The golden rule is "learn one note at a time."

If you're not up on music theory and how to read music you will probably want to start learning how asap. Here's a good book for learning to read. If you're relying on TAB you should quit using it immediately. This is one of the few things I think is non-negotiable. TAB is fine for rock and some other styles but if you want to play jazz it will only hold you back.

The vast majority of jazz players learn to improvise on a body of songs that are loosely called "standards." There are a lot of books out there that have these tunes such as the Hal Leonard Real Books and the Chuck Sher series of New Real Books. Another source is Jamey Aebersold's play-a-long albums and books, featuring real musicians playing backing tracks for you to practice soloing with. A lot of people use the phone ap iReal Pro, but the feel is quite mechanical and you only get the chords, no melodies.

Jamey Aebersold also puts out a free handbook called the Red Book that is packed with info about how to improvise. Download it here.

Keep after it and keep coming back to this sub for tips.

a good sight reading book will do you much better than an app. most sight reading apps will only work on identifying notes and clapping out rhythms, rarely the two as one.

here's a good book i've used:

http://www.amazon.com/Music-Reading-Guitar-Complete-Method/dp/0793581885/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1453592823&sr=8-4&keywords=sight+reading+for+guitar

if you're into jazz: get a book of standards and start working with the tunes that are very simple. as a beginner, you should mainly stick to whole, half, quarter, and eighth notes.

This is such an important (and IMO urgent) question for so many.

Sadly, the vast majority of guitar instructional material is either a) written for the unserious learner or b) written to not scare away the up-until-now-unserious learner.

That's why you see so many books and blogs on understanding theory (or playing jazz) that are full of TABs––in order to get the now-serious student to buy the book (or sign up for the course, etc) you first have to reassure them that everything is tabbed out and they won't have to read music, as if TAB and theory weren't at odds with each other.

Kudos to /u/igotthejack for this:

> While doing this focus on the note names while you play so by the time you're done you've also memorised all the notes on the fretboard.

And Ben Levin's youtube series is one of the few instructional pieces that doesn't make me want to stab myself in the face with one of the many pointy ends on a shredder's guitar.

Other quality standouts include:

First, Learn To Practice by Tom Heany

Music Reading For Guitar By David Oakes

Modern Method For Guitar Vols 1, 2, & 3 by William Leavitt

The Real Easy Ear Training Book by Roberta Radley


But there's good news in this too:

Because the vast majority of talented guitarists are so busy chasing their tails trying to figure out how to sweep pick faster or two-handed tap in the LandoCalrissian mode, even reasonably talented players with mediocre reading skills and a halfway decent knowledge of practical music theory get hired to play really great gigs.

That's my experience anyway. And getting hired for those gigs put me in contact with so many world-class players, which a) did as much as anything else to make me a "real" player, and b) helped me realize how so many of the things in the guitar-teacher-circle-jerk-echo-chamber are unimportant.

I think if you can get your practicing organized, fall in love with the metronome, record yourself (and listen back) often, and train your ear, you will be one badass player in a reasonably short time.

And if you learn the instrument in a way that lets you communicate with other non-guitarist musicians, you set yourself up to get actual paying work (and music theory gets waaaaaay easier).

My suggested order is:

1. Names of notes (to the point you prefer them to TAB coordinates: that's not the 8th fret of the 3rd string, it's Eb)
   
2. What notes go together in keys (ie know the Circle of Fifths so well you're never in doubt as to whether it should be called D# or Eb)
   
3. Understand how chords are built (so you're unfazed by something like | Fm7b5 Bb7b9 | Ebm9 | even if you've never played it before).
   
4. Understand how chords get built into progressions. (so when you glance that last example, you immediately think "oh, ii-V-i. Eb harmonic minor.)
   
5. Rhythmic notation (I'd say at least 80% of the guitar charts put in front of me on a paying gig are chords with rhythmic hits and no further melodic notation to read.)
   
6. Chart reading (knowing what "DS al Coda" and "second system" and "tag" and "ritard" mean, and what musician slang like "football" and "trashcan" and "railroad tracks" and "split the difference" mean.)
   
   Shameless plug, but I built a system that teaches these in a tiny daily lesson delivered by email. 1-4 are done, 5 & 6 are on their way soon. Free for now, just sign up for the first one (Note Names) and it'll walk you through all 6 in order (I'll be done with 5 & 6 by the time you finish 4).
   
   After that, read through the David Oakes & William Leavitt books mentioned above and you'll be 80% of the way to professional musicianship. A dedicated student (who already has a fair amount of technical proficiency) could pull that off in 6 months.
   
   TL:DR - The fact that you are even asking a question like this leads me to believe that you'll do just fine. Good luck!
   

This was a lifesaver for me. I taught guitar for many years and recommended this to all my students wanting to learn to read. It breaks it down very well and covers just about everything you'll need. Teaches chord chart as well as teaching you to read notes in open, 3rd, 5th, 7th and 12th position. Simple enough to go through it by yourself, but I'd recommend having someone else go through it with you. Even if you didn't necessarily get a guitar tutor, you could have a friend or family member with a good knowledge in theory (even if they play a different instrument) just check in with you every now and then to make sure you're on the right track. Anyway, that's my 2 cents :)

I have played for over 40 years... I am learning to sight read right now... I wish I would have started there... imagine if you could only get stories by having someone else read them for you... it really helps become an 'adult' in music... some of the things I found helpful are :

• Play any RHYTHM easily - perfect your timing and sight reading!
  
• Syncopation made easy! Interactive RHYTHM training.
  
• Music Reading for Guitar (It has taken me 2 months to get thru the first 25 pages... I keep going over them again and again because I REALLY want to master this)
  
  I play a dirt cheap guitar and amp (squire tele I spent a week working on the frets and a blackstar 1 watt combo... love this setup)
  
  I put my effort not in what gear I should have, but in how to be the best player I can be.
  
  I would have learned my scales AFTER learning to sight read. I would have learned at least 10 songs like the back of my hand before I ever learned a single scale. I would have taken Mel Bay a lot more seriously.

I'm in the same situation as you. 39 and been playing since I was 11 and now want to learn some real theory and how to read music. I decided to get some resources and created a practice routine 1-2 hours a day. Here are the simple things I have been using the last 6 months and noticed real improvement.

Chord wheel app for my phone
Chord Chemistry by Ted Greene
Book of scales
MI Music Theory For Guitar
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0793581885/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1474086489&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=reading+music+for+guitar&dpPl=1&dpID=61KkYuMxBZL&ref=plSrch

It's definitely worth it. It'll make you a more versatile musician able to communicate with other musicians better. I haven't read this book, but it looks like a good introduction to reading on guitar: http://www.amazon.com/Music-Reading-Guitar-Complete-Method/dp/0793581885/

David Oakes' book on Sight Reading for Guitar is a decent one for learning how to sight-read if you're a beginner:

https://www.amazon.com/Music-Reading-Guitar-Complete-Method/dp/0793581885/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1466625720&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=David+Oates+sight+reading

If you get through that one, try out William Leavitt's Melodic Rhythms for Guitar. This one is really solid:

https://www.amazon.com/Melodic-Rhythms-Guitar-William-Leavitt/dp/0634013327/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1466625895&sr=1-5&keywords=William+Leavitt

I've not looked through this one, but if you're interested in combining classical guitar and sight reading, it might be worth a shot:

https://www.amazon.com/Sight-Reading-Classical-Guitar-Level/dp/0769209742/ref=pd_rhf_se_s_cp_15?ie=UTF8&dpID=514XaC6KshL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_SL500_SR103%2C135_&psc=1&refRID=0E43T3ND9D1TG4KDPZVE

Good luck!

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.