guitarist
sharps
flats
music theory
jazz harmony
counterpoint
rhythm
world music
study music theory
| ||
       
|
Our recommended study list:About these books:These are books which we have in our own library and share with our students regularly. There are many other similar books out there, and we encourage everyone to read and compare. In studying music theory, there is a lot to be said for reading a number of similar books, because concepts that are not clear on the first presentation will become familiar after having read similar presentations by several different authors. However, we haven't created that redundancy here; we have only included our number one choices. When you click through to the Amazon page, you will be offered a list of similar titles which you may choose to explore.There are several primary skills that are necessary to pursue the particular path of musical creativity that we (Jack and Frances of Guitar Vacation Retreats) have chosen. First, of course, is basic guitar technique, which comes in a variety of flavors. Aaron Shearers book is a good introduction to classical technique as well as to another primary skill, reading staff notation. We bypass as irrelevant to our concerns any arguments against reading music, or complaints that it is difficult or unnecessary. You, the reader, have learned to read words, or you would not be here. Reading music is not terribly different in terms of intelligence required (laziness or psychological issues aside). You do read words, after all. After learning to read treble clef on the guitar, learning the "grand staff" — treble and bass clef together — is the next task. You will need this skill in order to read the examples in "Jazz Theory and Practice". The Jeppesen book on counterpoint is a little more challenging: it presents the "C" clef, used only by viola players nowadays. Various readers have certainly complained about this feature of the book. We don't... you want the information, you read the book and you read C clef! Not a big deal. The study of modern harmony (often called "jazz harmony" nowadays) is the next essential skill for our musical path. "Jazz Theory and Practice" provides this knowledge. Our book on counterpoint, Jeppesen's study of Palestrina-style modal counterpoint, is a very valuable look at the other end of the spectrum: a study of how one note fits against another to create harmony out of musical lines. It gives a historical perspective and a view of the way that harmony developed. One more essential skill to be addressed is an understanding of rhythm. We usually find that we have to teach our students to consciously count rhythms, and we have never seen a textbook that deals with this directly in the most elementary form that our students usually need. However, a slightly more advanced look at rhythm is provided by Matthew Montfort's book on rhythmic practices from various musical cultures in Africa and Asia, and we find this book personally thought-provoking and stimulating. Page Contents:
Jazz Theory and PracticeRichard Lawn and Jeffrey HelmerAmazon Link 
Jazz Theory and Practice is, of course, supposed to be about Jazz, but most of the book is about basic modern harmony. It starts at the beginning, with intervals, scales, and chord construction, and builds in a logical and reasonable way through the first 6 or 8 chapters in order to get to the point where it can actually talk about Jazz improvisation, harmonies, and forms. This is the basic theoretical and practical background that we at Guitar Vacation Retreats feel is indispensable for a working musician in today's world, and it doesn't have anything to do with "playing jazz" as some sort of mysterious art, or even with jazz style, really, except in the later chapters. These are the tools that we ourselves use on a daily basis to create arrangements and compositions at every level - from improvised "on the fly" arrangements from lead sheets, to carefully worked out and notated written arrangements that may take weeks or months to learn to play. There have been, since the birth of the theory of harmony around 1600, 3 major systems for describing chord progressions: (1) Figured bass (17th century), (2) the Roman numeral system (19th century), which in modern use has evolved into the "Nashville Number System", and (3) the modern system of chord names as used in jazz and modern commercial music. This third system is featured prominently in "Jazz Theory and Practice" and is the one that we feel every music student should be thoroughly familiar with, as it is the common language of musicians today. An additional virtue of "Jazz Theory and Practice" is that it deals with concepts of harmony and form as though expecting the student to be an active composer and arranger, rather than a passive admirer of the works of great composers. This is a refreshing attitude which is all too often missing from academic music programs. 
Counterpoint: The Polyphonic Vocal Style of the 16th CenturyKnud JeppesenAmazon Link 
This is the modern classic among textbooks on counterpoint, and was written as an update and correction to the famous 18th century classic by Johann Joseph Fux (1660-1741). Jeppesen's book was published in 1939 and was based on his research into the polyphonic vocal style of the 16th century, particularly the music of Palestrina. Fux's book was also based on Palestrina, but (according to Jeppesen) Fux's work was colored by his own Baroque style. Of course, the Baroque period was one of the great ages of counterpoint, culminating in the work of J. S. Bach, but Fux's stated intention was to transmit the purity of late Renaissance style that marks the works of Palestrina, and Jeppesen's work represents a further refinement of that goal. Why do we recommend this book? In the "Jazz Theory and Practice" book above, intervals are presented as the raw ingredients for chords. There is a certain drawback to pure chordal thinking, which is that a guitarist may get in the habit of thinking in terms of chords as chunks of sound produced by means of a particular known fingering, and miss the possibilities for a more fluid way of thinking based on musical line. Jeppesen's book presents intervals as relationships between not only individual notes, but between moving musical lines, a valuable alternative point of view. Although the book is dedicated to an exploration only of the very pure harmonic relationships of the 16th century style of Palestrina, once having grasped the principles a musician may apply them to any modern style as well — just by breaking a few of the rules! The style of Palestrina represents the fullest and last flowering of the style of modal counterpoint, derived historically and theoretically from the Gregorian Church Modes, and representing perhaps as much as 7 centuries of cumulative musical evolution from the beginning of western music. This style was the last major style before the birth of modern harmony, which we may peg at or around the year 1600 with the beginning of Italian Opera and the Baroque style. To study the older style of Renaissance counterpoint, in which harmonies are derived strictly from the linear flow of the individual melodic lines within a modal framework, is to have a very different window into the nature and origins of harmony than a student gets from studying chord progressions and jazz changes, or from studying the contrapuntal style of J. S. Bach, whose counterpoint is strongly influenced by chord progressions and has an obvious similarity to jazz. Also, we observe that a great many guitarists nowadays obsess about learning the so-called "modes", which are the inversions of the Major Scale that have been given pseudo-Greek names (Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian and Locrian) but which have no actual modal values in most modern practice, compared to the authentic modalism of pre-17th century Europe. Jeppesen's book includes a brilliant discussion of the history and use of the "polyphonic modes" which were the intermediate form (current in the sixteenth century) between the Gregorian Church Modes of the middle ages and the modern pair of Major and Minor modes, which have been in use since the 17th century and are still dominant today. Knowledge of the actual historic use of the church modes and the polyphonic modes serves as an antidote to some of the silliness that accompanies the modern use of the Greek modal names, and also sheds some light on the modern use of the minor mode with its several variants, which is a true modal process. 
Ancient Traditions, Future Possibilities: Rhythmic Training Through the Traditions of Africa, Bali and IndiaMatthew MontfortAmazon Link 
Rhythm is not highly developed in the west. This excellent book contains practical exercises drawn from the musical practice of several non-western musical cultures, which may be mind-opening for musicians who think that the 4/4 rhythms of American jazz are complex. Some new technical terms are offered: "additive rhythm", "bi-rhythm", "multiple meter", and so on, and concepts such as the Hindustani triple-repeat cadence formula called "ti-hai" are explored. Some similar concepts were explored in western music in the late medieval period, and may be found hidden here and there in the works of Bach, but the exploration of rhythmic complexities in the west has been secondary to the growth of harmonic complexity. For the western musician who has never played in any rhythms other than 4/4 and 3/4, and who thinks that Brubeck's "Take Five" is the epitome of avant-gard rhythmic exploration, this book is an eye-opening breath of fresh air. 
Classical Guitar Method Volume 1Aaron ShearerAmazon Link 
Here's a very good introduction to classical guitar technique and reading staff notation. Many guitarists have successfully taught themselves out of this book over the last sixty years or so. The learning curve is gradual enough to make it fun to learn the progressive lessons, the repertory is carefully chosen, and a complete beginner may in six months or a year develop a small repertory just from this book. A quote from the introduction which resonates for us: The name "classic guitar" has misled many initially interested individuals into believing the instrument to be suitable only for classical music; certainly this is an incorrect impression. The description "classic" for the guitar more properly derives from its enduring interest and value, from being in the first rank of instruments, rather than from any rigid association with a particular type of music. The guitar can no more be confined to one type of music than can the piano...The book has the obvious aim of developing a basic classical guitar technique, and has the virtue of not doing this in a boring way, just because the little pieces in the book are quite beautiful. Even the student who does not have the self-motivated patience to follow all of the technical details (which will be accomplished better with the guidance of a teacher) will be able to learn a small repertory of beautiful pieces for the guitar, to learn to read fluently, and acquire a basic foundation in fingerstyle guitar technique. (There is some modern criticism of this older edition of Shearer's book, having to do with a detail of his rest stroke method: he recommended "collapsing" the tip of the finger in a manner now claimed to possibly lead to right hand tendonitis - a serious enough claim. However, it is very unlikely that you will take this technique to the extreme of hurting yourself, and this criticism does not detract from the genuine virtues of the book. There is a revised version available but it contains more text and less music than the original.) | |
Last page update 07-11-09 |
||