This post contains affiliate links which help maintain this website through qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.
‘Listicles’ – diverse descriptive notifications of interesting books, films etc., too small to call reviews.
Solo Fingerstyle Jazz Guitar Books:
Barry Greene, Solo Jazz Guitar Method (2015, Mel Bay Publications)
40 pages. Notation. Brilliant little book with tips and tricks to transform your chord melody. Starts with foundational material then packs a punch.
Ben Monder Compositions (2016, Mel Bay Publications)
264 pages. 20 Tunes from Ben’s first 4 records. Flux, Dust, Excavation and Oceana. 6 solo pieces as well as duo and trio pieces. A peek into the brain of a master guitarist. Notation.
Ben Monder Compositions Volume II (2016, Mel Bay Publications)
148 pages. Many compositions from Hydra and previous albums. Consists of solo guitar, trio guitar, guitar and voice and more. An interesting journey and exploration into harmony and rhythm. Notation.
64 pages. Interesting book divided into two halves. First half of book is chord melody concepts. Second half 20 jazz standard arrangements utilizing said concepts. ATTYA to Yesterdays. Good book for jazz chord melody beginners.
Howard Morgen, Concepts:Arranging for Fingerstyle Guitar(1979 Miami Fl., CPP/Baldwin) 188 pages Notation, Easy intermediate to advanced.
Several dozen enjoyable arrangements of well-known standards, lots of instructive text commentary and instruction.
Howard Morgen,Through Chord Melody & Beyond: A Comprehensive Guide to Playing & Arranging Solo Jazz Guitar Based on 11 Classic Standards from the Great American Songbook (2008, Alfred, Van Neuys CA)
192 pages. Intermediate to advanced. Enjoyable arrangements of well-known standards (different ones from his Concepts book), Lots of instructive text. Notation and Tabs.
George Van Eps Harmonic Mechanisms for Guitar Volumes 1-3 (2015 Mel Bay Publications )
Volume 1 is 328 pages. Great book for learning major and minor triads in all keys. Gets interesting when concepts such as the sub and super are introduced. Follow the fingerings, they are different. Notation.
George Van Eps, Solo Guitar Pieces (2015 Miami Fl., CPP/Baldwin)
48 pages. Notation, tablature, online audio. Nine tunes, advanced fingerstyle jazz – poor reviews (errors and old-style tunes) but still worth a look. Original version was notation only.
Joe Pass Chord Solos: For Guitar, Vibes and all Keyboard Instruments (1987, Alfred Publishing).
20 pages. Book of 6 arrangements with some very tasty playing. You don’t have to learn the whole arrangements to get something out of them. Great little book, not only for playing but for analysis as well. Notation.
Joe Pass Guitar Chords (1986, Mel Bay Publications)
24 pages. Interesting chord book. All chords are a type of C chord but C with something. Joe Satriani used this book to teach himself interesting chords. Chord Grids. Very little explanation.
Johannes Haage, Voice Motion (2022, Mel Bay Publications)
316 pages. Systematic method of moving one, or more, voices to another voice in three-part harmony. Creates some very beautiful sounds and an inspiration to compose tunes yourself. Interesting ideas for improv and comping etc. Chord Grids and Notation.
John W Duarte,Twenty Jazz and Popular Songs (1982 Wise Publications London)
48 pages, notation. Harder intermediate to advanced, Good voice leading, lots of unusual chords, short introductions and endings
JS Bach, Fingerpicking Bach (no arranger named!) (2006 Hal Leonard Milwaukee WI. )
40 pages, 14 pieces. Medium intermediate. Notation and tablature. Enjoyable arrangements of well-known tunes including Aria from the Goldberg Variations, and an unusual version of the Gavotte BWV1006 transposed to C.
Martin Taylor, Beyond Chord Melody (2018, Fundamental-Changes.com)
96 pages. Brilliant book outlines 7 steps to arranging heaven. Book starts with single string scales, then two part harmony using 10ths and 7ths, before looking at bass lines and incorporating everything with the melody of the tune. Everything clearly described although some notational errors. Notation, tab and chord grids.
89 pages. Great book for learning walking bass jazz guitar. Starts with single notes before using chords, then combines single notes and chords before adding effects such as percussion. Very well explained and fun examples. Notation, tab and chord grids.
Mick Goodrick & Tim Miller: Creative Chordal Harmony For Guitar: Using Generic Modality Compression (2012, Berklee Press).
98 pages. Very interesting concept and book. Basic premise. Take a scale, omit the root, you now have triad pairs to work with. Get’s very interesting sounds and ideas. Systematic permutations listed. Notation,
Ralph Towner, Solo Guitar Works, Volume 1 (2002 GSP/Music Sales Corps. Chester NY)
56 pages notation Harder intermediate to advanced.
Ralph Towner, Solo Guitar Works, Volume 2 (2006 GSP/Music Sales Corps. Chester NY) Nine originals
52 pages notation. Harder intermediate to advanced. Mostly originals, Nine originals plus Towner’s arrangement of Bill Evans’ Waltz For Debbie. Good voice leading, unusual contemporary jazz pieces with additional improvisational lead sheets.
Ted Greene Chord Chemistry (1985 Warner Bros Publications )
109 pages. The Famous Ted Greene ‘Chord Catastrophe’ book. Chord dictionary starts the book then different sections such as composing chord melody, ear training, blues progressions etc. Notation and chord grids.
Ted Greene Modern Chord Progressions: Jazz & Classical Voicings For Guitar (1992 Alfred Music)
112 pages. Great book for chord voicings and moving notes within a progression. Will improve your chord vocabulary. Get ready to stretch! Chord Grids.
Tim Lerch, The Melodic Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary: A New Approach to Organizing Chord Voicings for the Modern Jazz Guitarist ( 2022 Independent Publication with Luke Lewis)
125 pages. Chord Grids. A chord dictionary with a difference. Organised by melody note on the top 3 strings. Great for learning and using new chords in your chord melody arrangements. Plus Bonuses.
Tim Lerch, Melodic Jazz Guitar Chord Phrases: Over 200 Chordal Licks, Riffs, Runs, and Phrases for the Jazz Guitarist:(2023 Independent Publication with Luke Lewis)
115 pages. Unique collection of chord phrases to use, or alter then use, in your own chord melody playing. All examples in the beautiful style of Tim Lerch. Plus Bonuses.
For Advancing Guitarists
Dennis Sandole Guitar Lore (2000 revised, Theodore Presser Company)
82 pages. Great little book divided into three sections. The student should use material from each section in each practise session.Great technique book. Notation
Miles Okazaki, Fundamentals of Guitar (2015, Mel Bay, Pacific MO) 160 pages. Serious beginner / intermediate / advanced. Notation, plus many fascinating illustrations (this book is out there in a particularly good way!). “Designed to be useful for guitarists at any skill level … for self-directed practice, with an emphasis on what the player ‘could’ do… “
Wayne Krantz, An Improvisor’s OS v.2 (2019, Available from https://www.waynekrantz.com ) 116 pages. No notation. No tablature. No pictures. Just words and numbers. (2048 unique tonal sequences)… and humour. “This book is an improviser’s Operating System. Its basic premise is that pattern playing can ultimately limit the growth of one’s skills as a creative improviser. Since most of us rely heavily on patterns to find notes, alternative means of finding notes must be used to overcome our pattern dependency…….WK.”
Jim Hall, Exploring Jazz Guitar (1990, Hal Leonard Milwaukee WI) 104 pages. Notation. Concepts, plus ten tunes tunes plus an in-depth ‘exploration’ of each A classic.
Vic Juris, Modern Chords: Advanced Harmony for Guitar (2004, Mel Bay’s Private Lessons Series) 48 pages. Notation, tablature, online audio played by Chuck Stevens. Braver intermediate to advanced. Unusual chords and some good ways to use them as compositional devices.
Jon Damian, The Guitarist’s Guide to Composing and Improvising. (2001, Berklee Press, Boston,MA) 156 pages. Notation plus 80 tracks of audio. Concepts, short pieces, theory, and diagrams. A thorough and inspiring examination of the guitar and guitarist’s capabilities.
Jon Damian, Welcome to Harmonyville 01625 (2021, Yo! Publications Cambridge, MA) 150 pages. Words and drawings. A genuinely funny cartoon book that also teaches/ helps us revise our harmony while it entertains and amazes us. Packed with facts, theory, surreal musical jokes, anecdotes, puzzles, great illustrations (on almost every page) presented in a unique format by Professor Damian, drenched in his inimitable humor. In Bill Frisell’s foreword he concludes that “this stuff is important”.
Mick Goodrick The Advancing Guitarist Applying Guitar Concepts & Techniques (1987 Hal Leonard Corporation). 120 pages. Great 2 part book, practical but very much a DIY book. Starts of playing on a single string, then adjacent strings, then the whole fretboard in major in all keys, major/minor scales. Part 2 introduces the materials. From triads to seventh chords to philosophical reflections and nuggets at the end. For the late beginner to advanced guitarist. A book for life. Notation.
Fingerstyle Technique Books
Dan Thorpe Fingerstyle 101 (Second Edition 2020, Independently Published)
138 pages. Probably the best book for beginner guitarist who want to play fingerstyle. Go from zero to hero .Tab.
183 pages. Notation and Tab. Brilliant book for fingerstyle technique for beginner student to advanced player. Very in-depth but easy to use. Maybe the only fingerstyle technique book that you will ever need.
144 pages. The classic classical guitar technique book. Great for finger independence and more. Includes Giuliani’s Left-Hand Studies and much more.
Jazz Comping Books
Andrew Green Jazz Guitar Comping (2017 Mel Bay Publishing)
135 pages. Progressive lessons in comping or just grab some ideas. Applies concepts to jazz standards and ends with modern harmony. Notation and chord grids.
Jazz Voicings and Theory Books
248 pages. Very popular book focusing on voice-leading with 4 note chords on the middle four strings. Lots of topics including chromaticism, quartal harmony and triads over bass notes etc.
224 pages. Documents usage of chromaticism in jazz music. Lots of little things to apply to your own playing. Upper intermediate and advanced players only. Notation.
Mark Levine The Jazz Theory Book (1995, Sher Music)
522 pages. Certainly one of the most popular jazz theory books. Maybe the only theory book that you need (before post-tonalism). Lots of examples written mostly for piano but guitarist can grasp the concepts which are explained very well. Notation.
Randy Vincent Three Note Voicings and Beyond (2011 Sher Music Co)
200 pages. Very popular book. Useful for solo guitar, comping etc. Creates independent moving lines to make your music more interesting, Goes beyond typical major/minor inversions on all strings with upper structures, slash chords, hexatonic triad pairs and much more. Notation and chord grids.
Steve Khan Contemporary Chord Khancepts (1997 Warner Bros Publications)
78 pages. COnstruction of interesting chords using small building blocks and small study units.
Sight Reading Books
William ‘Bill’ Leavvitt’s Berklee progressive sight reading books in progressive order of study;
Phase 1 64 pages. For those that have never sight read before. Very easy. Notation
Phase 2 64 pages. Continuation from Phase 1. Very easy. Notation.
A Modern Method for Guitar: Volume 1 128 pages. Can be a little difficult for those with no reading experience. Gets into duo pieces as well as two and three part chords quickly. Basic premise. Learn scale fingerings and use these when reading music. A great series for learning to read music but perhaps not the best jazz guitar method book. Notation and chord grids.
A Modern Method for Guitar: Volume 2 Continuation from volume 1. Nice chord etudes and duo pieces. Rhythmic reading, chords and much more. Notation and chord grids.
A Modern Method for Guitar: Volume 3 The Motherlode. All scale fingerings by type. A nice advanced level book to round out the series. Notation and chord grids.
A Modern Method for Guitar: Volumes 1, 2 and 3 in a single book. Very handy.
Ear Training Books
144 pages. The Berklee College of Music ear training curriculum. Written by the Chair of Berklee’ Ear Training department. Movable Do, sight singing, conducting(!!) and much more. Fun to do and your ear will improve if you do the exercises. Well structured. Notation.
Melodic Improvising Books
88 pages. Written by Berklee improvisation teacher. Uses techniques by other instruments (piano, brass, woodwind) to break out of the box when improvising).
103 pages. A great book for improvising in most styles. Starts with plain chord tone based arpeggios then goes into substitutions. Melodic minor scale gets a lot of weight, write your own licks using techniques discussed then improvise with them over tunes. All popular jazz standard progressions covered but not blues progression (which you can figure out on your own after using this book). Notation and chord grids.
Non Guitar Theory Books
Ernst Toch Shaping Forces of Music (2011 Revised, Dover Publications)
264 pages. Harmony, melody, counterpoint and form. Outlined in speech made in 1944, first published in 1948. Still pertinent today as the books popularity shows. Another angle on harmony and how it appeases the listener. Notation.
288 pages. Highly Recommended. From 1961 but very useful for modern harmony. Contains topics such as quartal and quintal harmony, Clusters, polytonality and touches on post-modern harmony! Each chapter comes with exercises and recommended listening.
Other Jazz Book and Handout Resources
The Modern Guitar Harmony Resources Page
The Steve Swallow / Carla Bley Library Page