I have collected roughly 20 websites’ contents on music theory for the guitar. Some of them are very well done and all have provided valuable insights, enough so that I have found that trying to unify the information I’ve gotten from the various pages is a task in itself. I liken it to the assimilation of approaches to chess that books and magazines have provided. The subject is much larger than any one approach or method.
That said, have any of you guitarists located a website that does an above average job of covering the essentials of Jazz Theory, such as chord construction, melodic invention, progressions, the how-to of improvising, etc., that you feel strongly enough about to link to?
My latest quest is to gather the essential information about the logic of the fretboard without having to purchase the renowned book Fretboard Logic. On that topic, if you own that book or have seen it enough to pass judgment on it, what’s your opinion of it?
Not too long ago I bought the two-book Mickey Baker “Complete Course” series and have been working on it, but as Mickey says, it’s light on theory. I also have The Jazz Theory Book by Levine, and it’s great for what it does, but it’s basically for piano to the point that the ideas are demonstrated on the keyboard, some of which need drastic modification to work on the fretboard.
One issue I’m struggling with is the idea of chord voicings and inversions, including the “Drop 2” (etc.) notion. Any guidance here from those who’ve already dealt with that?
Just the exceptional sites please, since I have wandered through hundreds by now and find many to be barely worth the trouble of clicking on them.
These ideas have been covered (sometimes in passing) in the better guitar-oriented theory treatments I’ve run across, but I can’t help wondering if most instructors prefer the brute force rote learning of the fretboard, chord formulas, scales, etc. It just seems to me that if the logic of the system can be presented in an easily visualizable form, all the difficulties with terminology and the private language that music theory seems to operate with could be bypassed and more intuitive discussions with lightly informed people could take place.
I just bought the first two volumes of the Fretboard Logic series and am working on digesting it. It seems like its going to be very valuable in that helps tie chord fingerings to scales to lead patterns to specific positions on the neck.
I haven’t played much at all for the past several years. I felt like I had reached a plateau and couldn’t progress without private lessons or much intense effort. I think this book could help me progress. I haven’t decided yet whether I’m willing to put in the time, though. It was a pretty good read either way.
Thanks, Frankd6, for that endorsement. I think I flipped through FL the last time I saw it at a music store, but didn’t buy it at the time. Since then that store has closed and I haven’t seen the book(s) again. I’m going to try one of the bigger stores today and if they have it go ahead and buy it. There’s mention of an “SE” (Special Edition) of it at Amazon and such places. Is that a noteworthy improvement or just a fancy packaging of the same stuff?
I am not sure what you are trying to do but Wilbur Styles puts out some really good books on basic theory (Everything about Guitar Chords and Everything about Guitar Scales) that helped me when I was first learning. They aim at how and why chords and scales are built. They don’t teach you about using them. For that, you will need to actually get into some higher level theory.
On a side note, as a former classical guitar teacher (I am writing a classical guitar method right now but that is an asside) the thing that helps students most when learning the fretboard is seeing how octaves and fifths are formed across the board in one position. If you notice, most of them have a similar shape. Then if you learn the positions to the 12th fret on the E and A string you can find anything almost instantly. (Besides, that is 1/2 of the strings right there.)
And don’t hesitate to add to your musical lessons with A Real Person!
A friend of mine coasted along at about the same level until he actually sat down with a “famous” (well okay, Milwaukee-famous) jazz guitarist who gave lessons. His skill and passion for the instrument took off.