Guitar Books That Every Guitarist Should Have

With Christmas around the corner guitar instructional books are a perfect gift for a guitar playing relative, friend or even for yourself. Plus guitar books are a much more affordable gift option in comparison to that sought after expensive Gibson Les Paul or a Marshall stack 😉

What are the best and most recommended books for guitar players and students? In my years of teaching guitar I have come across many books some good and others not so good. Here is my list of recommended guitar instructional books that every guitarist should have. These guitar books are suitable for a range of guitarists whether they are a beginner, advanced or into blues, jazz or fan of a particular band.

Progressive Guitar Method Book 1 – Gary Turner & Brenton White
For beginners this is a guitar teacher standard being a great book to learn the basics of reading music and what the notes are on the guitar. It also includes a play along CD and DVD and a handy poster with all the main guitar chords.

Progressive Guitar Method is a great book for kids to learn music on the guitar as it is broken down into short lessons each showing 2-3 notes per string with melodies for each additional string. Keep in mind though that the tunes are pretty cheesy until you get to the 6th string where you learn to play a cool blues bass line and a simple version of the Spanish guitar piece Asturias.

A Modern Method For Guitar Volumes 1, 2, 3 – William Leavitt
This is also another book often used by guitar teachers. As a teacher I move onto Modern Method for Guitar once a student has completed Progressive Guitar Method 1. Like Progressive Guitar Method this book mainly focuses on music reading through it does include some chords and strumming patterns. The reading here focuses on reading chords and pieces in keys starting in C major moving to G major, F major and so on. While parts of the book are a bit dry many pieces are quite pretty and the duets are great to play with my students.

Blues You Can Use – John Ganapes
After much searching I discovered this great blues guitar book Blues You Can Use by John Ganapes. It provides a great introduction to the blues covering chords, theory and the all important pentatonic scale for soloing. The examples in the book are great pieces of music and fun to play. By the time you’ve finished this book you will be a decent blues guitar player. Plus learning the structure of the 12 bar blues and licks form a great foundation for rock, soul, funk and jazz music.

There is also a 2nd more advanced book More Blues You Can Use which is also great for guitarists wanting to develop their blues playing further.

Music Principles For The Skeptical Guitarist – Volume 1 – Bruce Emery
For guitarists wanting to learn music theory and how to transpose songs into different keys the Music Principles for the Skeptical Guitarist is the book to get. It explains simply and clearly how music and chords work in different keys with simple and easy examples. It also covers how the circle of 5ths works and why it is a useful thing to know as a musician.

 

 

Fretboard Logic SE – Bill Edwards
Fretboard Logic is great for intermediate to advanced players wanting to learn the layout of the fretboard in standard tuning. Topics covered include understanding the CAGED chord system, arpeggios and scales and how they can be used in playing songs and improvising.

 

Beginning Jazz Guitar – Jody Fisher
For guitar students who want to learn to play jazz the Beginning Jazz Guitar book is a great start. It is full of music examples that apply all the numerous chords, scales and arpeggios that every jazz guitarist needs to know. It also covers the necessary music theory and knowledge that is required when playing such complex music as jazz.

 

Vol 54 Maiden Voyage: Fourteen Easy-To-Play Jazz Tunes – Jamey Aebersold
Once you’re getting comfortable with the exercises in Beginning Jazz Guitar see how you can apply what you’ve learned by using the Jamey Aebersold play-along books and CDs. This series is legendary amongst jazz musicians with many players learning and practicing with them. Since the 60s he’s released 133 volumes covering all styles of jazz including the tunes of many famous jazz composers and players.

The Maiden Voyage Volume is a great one to start with as it contains easy to play (but well known e.g. Summertime, Autumn Leaves etc.) tunes in slow and medium tempos.

The format of this and all the other volumes in the series are “lead sheets” for each song which simply outline the melody and chords which is what professional jazz players use at gigs. Aebersold also includes recommended scales to improvise with for each chord. The play along tracks consist of piano, bass and drums played by very high quality players. The bass and piano are panned to alternate sides of the track so either instrument can be turned off by panning to one side which is great for practicing bass with just piano and drums or guitar with just bass and drums.

Album Guitar Transcriptions
For those guitar players who are into other styles or more specifically into certain players or bands you can’t go past getting into a good quality transcription book of one of their albums. For me when I was teenager learning guitar I had (and still have!) the Guns n Roses – Appetite for Destruction book which taught me much about playing rock guitar riffs and solos.

The other book I still have in collection is the transcription of Metallica’s And Justice for All album. While I don’t play much metal nowadays I still learnt a lot of guitar technique from songs such as One, And Justice For All etc.

There are range of these transcription books including bands such as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and many more. These books are great fun as you’re learning songs that you know and love while at the same time learning techniques and tips on how these bands play their music.

Learning To Play The Guitar – An Absolute Beginner’s Guide
Finally of course I can’t neglect to include my own beginner guitar book, Learning To Play The Guitar – An Absolute Beginner’s Guide. This book is aimed at absolute beginners covering chords, strumming, arpeggios, basic scales and an introduction to the blues.

It includes 13 songs, 30 videos and 74 audio samples that along with the extensive diagrams and photos will get you playing the guitar. So far it’s received many 5 star ratings on Amazon such as “Excellent Guitar Guide From a Talented Teacher” – LA

Plus this last year (2016) I also released book 2 in the series Learning To Play The Guitar – Intermediate Rhythm Guitar which is written for intermediate guitarists includes 17 structured step by step lessons to improve your rhythm guitar playing. Just Like An Absolute Beginner’s Guide this book includes 18 songs, 23 videos and 107 audio samples that along with extensive diagrams and photos.

You can even get both books together in the An Absolute Beginner’s Guide & Intermediate Rhythm Guitar Bundle and save yourself some money. This great value pack is perfect for beginner/intermediate players.

This list of recommended instructional books for every guitar player and student should help you or your guitar playing friend/relative this Christmas whether they’re beginner, advanced or into blues, jazz or a big fan of a particular band.