(Part 2) Top products from r/jazzguitar

I've played a decent amound of rock, (mostly into Wilco, Sufjan type stuff) and I feel that playing Bach helped me a lot for writing memorable parts with good voice leading. It's mostly about giving yourself a solid harmonic framework to go off of. Like building a house... you can kinda do whatever you want with the decorations, but the framework and structure has to be there. Bach gives us that framework, even for rock/pop/jazz (to an extent).

Some things of his that might help you for guitar parts: his solo violin (and solo cello) stuff. He was able to coax polyphonic sounds and a sense of harmony out of two instruments which are mostly monophonic, and you really learn how to write a good melody. For two-part structure (bass+melody, the most important voices), check out his Inventions, and for 3-part, check out the French Suites. For heavier stuff, check out the Well-Tempered Clavier or B Minor Mass. It's mostly about being aware of how you're moving the voices, and how your parts are moving melodically... thinking of harmony as melody.

Obviously, there's a huge difference between Bach and something like funk or afrobeat, which are groove-based, but I think studying him is really helpful for writing parts that "just fit" with the rest of the band, or knowing how to keep strong harmonic structure with minimal instrumentation (solo, duo, etc).

Some other books to maybe consider:

Exploring Jazz Arranging (He also talks about Bach)

Contemporary Counterpoint

Tonal Counterpoint for the 21st Century Musician

Voice Leading: The Science Behind a Musical Art

I've been in a similar boat for years, just now breaking free from it. Stuff that's helped me the most:

1. Memorize all the notes on the guitar. I just went fret by fret for a few weeks (maybe there's a better way to memorize) but that helped me identify notes and chords infinitely better.
   
2. I got this book and it has been a great help understanding basic music theory https://www.amazon.com/Leonard-Pocket-Music-Theory-Comprehensive/dp/063404771X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1499725981&sr=8-2&keywords=hal+leonard+music+theory
   
3. mattwarnockguitar.com -- This site has a ton of great stuff and it's where i'm primarily learning from now. There's great sections on drop-2 chords, drop-3 chords, major scale, arpeggios, etc

Harmony is complicated, jazz harmony even more so. If you are not willing to read the details on extended harmony, then you will never learn how to play chords very well, and definitely not jazz. There are references out there in book form and on the web if all you want to do is learn how to comp like Freddie Green. FG's comping isn't exactly the highest you can aspire to for jazz comping, but it has it's place. I can't think of an exact perfect book for what you want, but one book I have has an entire chapter devoted to FG style comping, and other chapters on other styles of jazz comping, maybe you would find it useful: https://www.amazon.com/All-Blues-Jazz-Guitar-Comping/dp/0786631287/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1497796334&sr=8-2&keywords=jim+ferguson+jazz

I recommend William Leavitt's Reading Studies for Guitar. I've been reading two pages a day and it's been really helping me to improve. The key is to read through them with a metronome and don't stop at all to correct your mistakes- that's how you really get better at sight reading.

Now when it comes to reading in big band, you've got the right idea. I always check, in order: key, time signature, road map (repeats/coda), highest/lowest note you'll be playing in the part, then determine best caged position(s). If you still have time left after doing those, try to learn the trickiest parts (difficult rhythms, lines with accidentals). If you can do all that while the band director is still talking to the horn section or whatever, you'll be set when he counts you in! Hope this helps!

Here's the book I mentioned:

http://www.amazon.com/Reading-Studies-Guitar-Positions-Multi-Position/dp/0634013351

There are a ton of fake books out there, I would suggest buying one called The Real Book Sixth Edition. It's the most popular one to my knowledge and is a great resource. I'd say its a little better for developing harmony than it is melody (since most melody that actually gets played in jazz is soloing), but it's a great tool for familiarizing yourself with jazz standards as well as seeing what kind of chords appear in jazz and how they function

You need to start counting rhythms. You don't need a guitar to do this necessarily. There are a number of books with written out rhythms to practice, such as Louis Bellson's Modern Reading Text in 4/4 For All Instruments, Ted Reed's Progressive Steps to Syncopation for the Modern Drummer, and Gary Hess's Encyclopedia of Reading Rhythms. There are numerous ways to practice the rhythms in these books - counting the rhythm while clapping a steady pulse, counting a steady pulse while clapping the rhythm, tapping a steady pulse with your left hand while clapping the rhythm with your right while also counting, and so on. When I say "count" I mean count out loud. Your goal is to learn to keep your place in measures while accurately executing and eventually feeling rhythms.

You can also do these steps with a guitar in your hand. Just pick a chord - maybe one you're trying to work into your repertoire - and play the written rhythm with that chord while you're counting.

This will probably seem awkward and "unmusical" when you first start, but trust me when I tell you this is going to radically improve your rhythmic vocabulary and time feel over the long haul. This is the kind of thing band and orchestra kids learn as a matter of course and most guitarists don't get because we don't learn to read in ensembles.

Listening to music, be it jazz, classical or whatever you are interested in, is important. You'll pick up a lot just by being immersed in the music.

What I'm doing these days is playing and learning tunes. You can pick up a lot by seeing how the great songwriters put together melodies and harmonies, and you get practice playing single lines, chord progressions -- and learn songs you can play for people at the same time.

This is the fake book I'm using: https://www.amazon.com/Real-Little-Ultimate-Jazz-Fake/dp/0793520053/

I don't think it's any better or worse than the others, but I like that it has lyrics. I recommend listening to the tunes you are learning -- both by singers and instrumentalists.

As far as instruction books go, right now I'm using Joe Pass Chords https://www.amazon.com/Joe-Pass-Guitar-Chords-Progressions/dp/0739019333/

That and the fake book are pretty much it. I have tons of other jazz guitar method books, but I'm just not using them right now. It's all about playing tunes.

Louis Bellson's Modern Reading Text in 4/4, and there's also an odd meters version.

Joe Allard's Advanced Rhythms series, though you may want to avoid the seller who is asking $2,100.99 for it. I wouldn't pay a penny over $2,000 myself. Seriously, though, the Allard books are more difficult not because of the rhythms, but have a lot of accidentals and unusual interval skips.

There is a companion to Melodic Rhythms called Reading Contemporary Guitar Rhythms that is like a 16th note version of the first volume. It's out of print, but if you're OK with the price it's a pretty good book to read from.

There's a series of books called Fretboard Roadmaps, written by Fred Sokolow. I can't really speak to their general quality, but this book is extremely accessible, and gives you some great tips for chord voicings, voice leading, basic improvising, and comping.

I've read a lot of guitar specific books which only show you the shapes and maybe a basic lesson on intervals, but this is one of the most comprehensive books I've read for getting into jazz guitar. It also doesn't have goofy 6 string voicings you'll never use in a real setting. Each chapter, lesson, whatever is kind of laid how it would be in a text book, basically summarizing each point and giving you tips for practice.

Good enough reason for me. I'm reading a great book and Eddie Lang's name has been mentioned a lot as being an influence on many many players. If anyone's interested the book is here: http://www.amazon.com/Conversations-Great-Jazz-Studio-Guitarists/dp/0786651237

Mel Bay Complete Book of Harmonic Extensions for Guitar https://www.amazon.com/dp/0786623519/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_yg2gybJT5GMHD

this one is pretty good too

Instead of running numbers (and you may end up with focal dystonia instead), think about your practice (and take one day /week easy and watch for early tendinitis, lighter gauge strings are my friend). Lots of good blog entries on jazzadvice.com, and the books by Kenny Werner, Dave Berkman, Finnerty, Jerry Coker, ran blake: https://www.amazon.com/Primacy-Ear-Ran-Blake/dp/0557609127

http://www.jazzadvice.com/3-simple-steps-to-a-productive-practice-routine/

http://www.jazzadvice.com/20-practice-hacks-for-the-busy-musician/

At my school everybody takes classical theory for at least 2 years.

We used this book

Here's the work book

You'll probably need the answers too since you're teaching yourself

Really what I got out of it was being able to just instantly know chord spelling. I don't really have to think about a lot of things any more. It's just second nature. You don't really use classical counterpoint rules unless you plan on composing classical music. But it's a good vehicle for learning theory since it's rather specific and you have to consider a lot of things at once.

We use this book in our jazz theory class

But mainly I learned most from the lectures since our professor is really good. We also have to write a jazz tune every week and learn and improvise on it. As well as the ear training.

I wouldn't really even say that theory is "extremely challenging." You just have to spend a lot of time on it. There was a lot of assignments from the work book every week during classical theory. Probably spent like 6+ hours a week just on the homework for those classes. And that's not even including ear training. With any of this stuff you just have to be consistent, I don't think it's really that hard to understand and I started playing music much later than a lot of my peers.

But if you're trying to understand jazz before understanding really basic concepts like knowing your key signatures, how to spell basic triads, the chords in a given key, simple time vs compound time, etc, you're going to have a lot of trouble. Everything builds on to itself so you really have to understand the basics first which might be a little boring but you have to do it.

The Charlie Parker and John Coltrane omnibooks are probably good places to start.

There is a Louie Bellson book devoted to reading in odd meters. You could extrapolate melodic ideas from that maybe

https://www.amazon.com/Odd-Time-Reading-Text-Instruments/dp/0769233724/ref=nodl_

http://www.amazon.com/Comprehensive-Technique-Jazz-Musicians-Instruments/dp/0634001760

Advanced Rhythmic Concepts for Guitar by Jan Rivera covers metric modulation, polyrhythms and polymeters.

Oh OK, I'm afraid I don't know anything about their program. At UNT, sight-reading made or broke students. The most incredible soloists and comp-ers went nowhere (in terms of the University program) if they couldn't sight-read. My first audition was pathetic. But stay hungry and don't give up if you really want it. Check out Advanced Rhythms by Joe Allard or start reading through the Charlie Parker Omnibook with a metronome. I hope you do great!!!!!!!