Over the course of my career as a musician I have always been interested in other styles of music; although I started out playing rock I have also studied classical, flamenco and jazz to name a few. Having studied other styles has come in extremely handy as a guitar teacher because inevitably a student comes in who is interested in: joining the school in jazz band, playing some country licks or even getting into some finger picking.
This month I wanted to wrap-up the series of “Building a Reference Library” by noting several books which are wonderful starting points for students (and teachers!) with the basics of a given style. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list by any means, but some books that have been in my library which have been helpful to me over the years.
By Dennis Koster
This is a fantastic book for dipping into the flamenco pool, introducing flamenco forms and rasgueado technique in a structured and easy to understand manner.
By Charlton Johnson
This is a great book for understanding the basics of “four-to-the-bar comping in the style of Freddy Green”.
By Mike Christiansen
One of my favorite books for getting into the rhythms and chord changes which are indicative of Bossa Nova/Samba style.
Mel Bay’s
Getting Into….
This is actually a pretty neat little series Mel Bay put out. Two books I have from the series are Funk Guitar by Ronald Muldrow and Slide Guitar by Steve Dawson.
By Frederick Noad
This is a book about the classical guitar and has been around for years. It covers the basic seating position, techniques, note reading and includes a ton of music examples. However, if classical is a style your student (or yourself) and interested in learning I would highly recommend finding a qualified instructor. Classical guitar is one of those styles in which a well versed teacher is required as learning bad habits can take years to undo.
Hope this is helpful and if anyone else has some style recommended books feel free to comment – thanks!
