What's your favorite book?

[Neehan]

What book has had the most influence on your playing? Could be an instructional book, transcription, book or whatever.

 

Mine...

 

The Advancing Guitarist by Mick Goodrick - The holy grail of all guitar books. You can easily spend a year on each page of this book. And we would all probably benefit from doing that. Maybe one day I'll actually get through the whole thing.

 

A Modern Method for Guitar by William Leavitt - This book taught me how to read music which has opened up so many doors for my playing and growth as a musician. Plus all the gigs I've gotten because I can read unlike many other guitarists.

 

How to Develop Virtuoso Single Line Technique for Jazz Guitar by Adam Rafferty - A cool methodical approach to mastering the fingerboard and getting out of position playing.

[monto]

[gennation]

I would have to agree with the Hobbit. It took three books of Frodo's adventure to match one book of Bilbo's adventure. That one book was way more captivating than the three more drawn out (read boring) books. I did everything in my will just to get to the third book, and then half way through it I thought why bother. 20+ years I watched the ending of the third book at the movies.

 

Guitar wise, Chord Chemistry by Ted Greene is the book most other authors/teachers read before they wrote theirs. It could be retitled The Fretboard School.

[NorthernPaul]

 

I did everything in my will just to get to the third book, and then half way through it I thought why bother. 20+ years I watched the ending of the third book at the movies.

 

 

That is exactly the same as me, The LOTR trilogy was a real bore fest. You get crucified for saying that in certain parts of the internet:cop:

 

Guitar books, I don't have many but Hal Leonard's Guitar Method has been pretty good for learning music reading (as well as taking lessons of course). It's pretty cheesy, but teaches the basics.

 

I've just ordered Fretboard Logic from a recommendation in another thread here so hopefully it'll be a good read.

[jeremy_green]

The Jazz Theory Book by Mark Levine

The Music Lesson by Victor Wooten

 

those 2 had the largest impact on me

[mosiddiqi]

The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy..inspirational.

[Neehan]

The Jazz Theory Book by Mark Levine The Music Lesson by Victor Wooten those 2 had the largest impact on me

 

Yep, I was considering whether or not to put the Jazz Theory Book on my list.

 

I have never heard of Victor Wooten's book, but after reading about it on Amazon its an instant buy for me.

 

I was lucky enough to see a bass clinic by Victor Wooten when his band was playing at my college. It was mostly Victor jamming with his loop station. But he was shredding it for sure. He did some of the most amazing things I've ever seen done with a looper, and I've been to a lot of jam band shows.

 

The main teaching point I remember from the clinic was how he worked on ear training with his students. He would start a groove without saying what key he was in and then his students would have to improvise over that groove. Most students would play a note and hunt around playing other notes until they would eventually stumble upon the tonal center. Only then would the student being to improvise. This is not what he wanted, so whenever he saw them poking around to find the root, he would change the groove to keep them lost. The point was, he wanted them to play a note and hold it, and then listen to see how that note fits into the key, then start improvising from there. The goal is no matter what note you play, you should try to hear how it relates to the groove and be able to fly from there with no mindless poking around to find the root.

 

On another note, when I saw Bela Fleck and the Flecktones at a FREE show in high school, my mind was blown for about 2 hours straight. Still is one of my favorite concerts I've ever seen. The level of all those guys is out of this world.

 

P.S. I knew people would be smart @$$es and bring up novels. But its all good, The Hobbit and The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy and my top 2 as well. I guess we have more in common than just our love for guitar.

[Yngtchie Blacksteen]

 

[jeremy_green]

Yep, I was considering whether or not to put the Jazz Theory Book on my list. I have never heard of Victor Wooten's book, but after reading about it on Amazon its an instant buy for me. I was lucky enough to see a bass clinic by Victor Wooten when his band was playing at my college. It was mostly Victor jamming with his loop station. But he was shredding it for sure. He did some of the most amazing things I've ever seen done with a looper, and I've been to a lot of jam band shows. The main teaching point I remember from the clinic was how he worked on ear training with his students. He would start a groove without saying what key he was in and then his students would have to improvise over that groove. Most students would play a note and hunt around playing other notes until they would eventually stumble upon the tonal center. Only then would the student being to improvise. This is not what he wanted, so whenever he saw them poking around to find the root, he would change the groove to keep them lost. The point was, he wanted them to play a note and hold it, and then listen to see how that note fits into the key, then start improvising from there. The goal is no matter what note you play, you should try to hear how it relates to the groove and be able to fly from there with no mindless poking around to find the root. On another note, when I saw Bela Fleck and the Flecktones at a FREE show in high school, my mind was blown for about 2 hours straight. Still is one of my favorite concerts I've ever seen. The level of all those guys is out of this world. P.S. I knew people would be smart @$$es and bring up novels. But its all good, The Hobbit and The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy and my top 2 as well. I guess we have more in common than just our love for guitar.

 

Yeah Victor is a monstrous player and mind. That book was full of so many little tidbits. He outlines that "just start playing" approach in that book. Actually I did a small review of the book on my blog if you are interested in the read.

 

He actually read my review and sent me back a comment. Cool guy for sure. I love supporting players and people like Victor.

[classicalmurray]

 

The Jazz Theory Book by Mark Levine The Music Lesson by Victor Wooten those 2 had the largest impact on me

 

 

Wooten also put out a DVD that parallels a lot of the ideas expressed in The Music Lesson. The book did a lot for me, but the DVD was more effective for me hands down.

[Steadfastly]

 

What book has had the most influence on your playing? Could be an instructional book, transcription, book or whatever. A Modern Method for Guitar by William Leavitt - This book taught me how to read music which has opened up so many doors for my playing and growth as a musician. Plus all the gigs I've gotten because I can read unlike many other guitarists.

 

 

Whenever this subject comes up for discussion, this is the one that seems to get most of the rave reviews.

[NorthernPaul]

I received Fretboard Logic 1+2 after a recommendation on another thread here. They are pretty basic books, but straight to the point with no crap to bulk them out. They set out to give you an understanding of the fretboard using the CAGED system, and how the chords and scales relate to each other. It's very easy to read, and set out with good diagrams which make it easy to understand.

 

If you feel like you're on the verge of suddenly understanding the fretboard but can't quite put your finger on it (see what I did there?), then I believe this book will go some way to giving you that 'click' in your head.

 

Probably not for advanced guitarists, but I feel it's definitely worth a look.

 

Paul

[Darrell_Curtis]

Yep, Greene's "Chord Chemistry"

 

As well, the Goodrick book as mentioned.

 

"The Jazz Language" by Dan Haerle and

the Howard Roberts column that ran in Guitar Player magazine

for so many years.

[jonPhillips]

 

Read it over a dozen times, still don't fully understand all of it and am totally captivated everytime I pick it up.

 

Mainly on Jeremy's recommendation, have the Victor Wooten book on my Christmas list. As a former bass player, I love watching his videos and he just seems like such a cool guy and very unassuming for the sheer level of awesomeness he brings to his bass playing.