What are your favorite guitar books and DVDs?

[Redsfan79]

There are tons of guitar books and DVDs, but not all are good. What are your favorites, and which have been let downs?

[Jasco]

Zen Guitar has been a favorite guitar book of mine for a while.

[BydoEmpire]

Modern Guitar Method, Vol. 1 has been invaluable to me as I learned reading basics from it. It was presented well and at a great pace.

 

Victor Wooten's "The Music Lesson" is probably the single best book about music I've ever read. It really opened my eyes to a lot of things.

[jeremy_green]

Modern Guitar Method, Vol. 1 has been invaluable to me as I learned reading basics from it. It was presented well and at a great pace. Victor Wooten's "The Music Lesson" is probably the single best book about music I've ever read. It really opened my eyes to a lot of things.

 

 

Amen to Wootens book! 10000% in agreement.

 

Also Stetinas speed mechanics - for just that

Gamble's Chopbuilders DVD - very dated but very great speed building workout.

VanEps Harmonic mechanisms - if you want to twist your head in knots (no tab in it though)

Chord chemistry - for new voicings

Jon Finn's - Advanced modern guitar (can never remember the name of this truly great book. Jon, correct me here please) Fantastic book for recognizing shapes and various guitar anomalies.

Effortless Mastery - like Zen guitar or Wootens book.. The head side of playing.

Levines Jazz Theory book - my favorite theory book. Really nicely researched with tons of examples.

 

Those should get you started

[ScaleTrainer]

I'll have to check out Wooten's book. Didn't even know he had one.

 

"The Advancing Guitarist" by Mick Goodrick really got me thinking about guitar in a different way.

[monstermaker]

If you're thinking about chord-melody type playing Robert Conti has some great DVDs available. He fills them up and is easy to follow. Not to mention he's a phenomenal player.

[girevik]

Hybrid Picking For Guitar - Gustavo Assis-Brasil

The best book I've seen so far on this topic. The two supplementary books that were published later are also quite good.

 

How to Play the Music of Stevie Wonder For Solo Fingerstyle Guitar DVD - Adam Rafferty

Picked up some new fingerstyle techniques from this one. Rafferty breaks down each tune really well

 

Jazz Guitar Etudes - Greg Fishman & Mike Allemana

Not a substitute for copping lines off of real solos over real tunes by the jazz legends, but an excellent complement to that practice. The etudes were written by a sax player (Fishman), so they don't always lay out neatly on the guitar, which is sometimes good for forcing a guitar student out of a box, and placing higher priority on lines that sound musical than lines that are the most comfortable to play (eg. pentatonic box licks).

 

Just about any piece by JS Bach

[BydoEmpire]

Jazz Guitar Etudes

I've got an etudes book from Joshua Breakstone and it's pretty good, too. I've only learned a couple of them so far but he does a nice job of starting slow and ramping up, and outlining what each one is trying to teach.

[DCurtis]

My favorite books depend on what purpose.

In general, I still love Ted Greene's "Chord

Chemistry" and after over two decades, still

have only scratched the surface. "The Jazz Language"

by Dan Haerle is a great approach to theory and harmony.

Mainly because it simplifies everything and makes the complex so simple.

My favorite DVD's are Larry Carlton's first DVD, and Robben Ford's "Art

of Blues Rhythm" and "Blues and Beyond". I also really like Ray Flacke's

DVD as well as Albert Lee's.

[Tribal Techie]

 

Amen to Wootens book! 10000% in agreement. Also Stetinas speed mechanics - for just that Gamble's Chopbuilders DVD - very dated but very great speed building workout. VanEps Harmonic mechanisms - if you want to twist your head in knots (no tab in it though) Chord chemistry - for new voicings Jon Finn's - Advanced modern guitar (can never remember the name of this truly great book. Jon, correct me here please) Fantastic book for recognizing shapes and various guitar anomalies. Effortless Mastery - like Zen guitar or Wootens book.. The head side of playing. Levines Jazz Theory book - my favorite theory book. Really nicely researched with tons of examples. Those should get you started

 

I am digging back into Levine's book right now after having owned it for a while, skimming it, and not getting that far with it.

 

I think my approach this time around will be to play all the examples on piano so I can hear what he is talking about. My reading is not good enough for me to just hear all of it in my head as I go, esp. the chordal stuff, so this should be a great exercise for my reading skills and ear as well as improving knowledge.

[jonfinn]

 

Jon Finn's - Advanced modern guitar (can never remember the name of this truly great book. Jon, correct me here please) Fantastic book for recognizing shapes and various guitar anomalies.

 

 

Hahahaha!!! It's called "Advanced Modern Rock Guitar Improvisation" Always hated the title but it was the only thing the publisher and I could agree on. I wanted to call it "The Warp Refraction Principle"

[mosiddiqi]

I think the ones I've got the most use out of over the years are Stetina's "Speed Mechanics" which is just a really good breakdown of the mechanics required, and I always refer back to it when I feel I'm struggling withe those mechanics, and Don Mock's "Artful Arpeggios" which really taught me about using substitute arps.

[Mark Wein]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0634011685/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=markweinguita-20&camp=213381&creative=390973&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=0634011685&adid=0Y2A3ZD3ZFV84SVPSYXW&&ref-refURL=http%3A%2F%2Frcm.amazon.com%2Fe%2Fcm%3Flt1%3D_blank%26bc1%3D000000%26IS2%3D1%26bg1%3DFFFFFF%26fc1%3D000000%26lc1%3D0000FF%26t%3Dmarkweinguita-20%26o%3D1%26p%3D8%26l%3Das4%26m%3Damazon%26f%3Difr%26ref%3Dss_til%26asins%3D0634011685

 

 

one of my all-time favorites for basic rhythm guitar skills. Don't let the "funk" fool you....its useful for all styles. I have the video version here: http://markweinguitarlessons.com/forums/showthread.php?39776-Ross-Bolton-Funk-Rythm-Guitar-Videos-A-MUST-WATCH!!!&p=620386#post620386

[Lee Knight]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0634011685/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=markweinguita-20&camp=213381&creative=390973&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=0634011685&adid=0Y2A3ZD3ZFV84SVPSYXW&&ref-refURL=http%3A%2F%2Frcm.amazon.com%2Fe%2Fcm%3Flt1%3D_blank%26bc1%3D000000%26IS2%3D1%26bg1%3DFFFFFF%26fc1%3D000000%26lc1%3D0000FF%26t%3Dmarkweinguita-20%26o%3D1%26p%3D8%26l%3Das4%26m%3Damazon%26f%3Difr%26ref%3Dss_til%26asins%3D0634011685 one of my all-time favorites for basic rhythm guitar skills. Don't let the "funk" fool you....its useful for all styles. I have the video version here: http://markweinguitarlessons.com/forums/showthread.php?39776-Ross-Bolton-Funk-Rythm-Guitar-Videos-A-MUST-WATCH!!!&p=620386#post620386

Thank you Mark!

I just closed my office door for 45 minutes, had lunch and started on video 1. WOW! Great explanation. As a bassist, I still track a lot of guitar myself. There are some blues players here in town that just get that nice funky, spot on 16th rhythm thing going. I watched and fake played along with empty hands but ghost fingering a 9th chord and using a ghost pick, it all fell in place what's going on with these guys. Then he shifted to swung 16ths and... bingo. Hip hop guitar. Very nice. I'll be working this youtube vid quite a bit and will get the book.

Thanks again!