Here are my personal recommendations for instruction books that I’ve found very useful. These are the ones (out of the hundreds I’ve used) that I seem to come back to and have gotten most use out of.

I’ve added commentary on why I find the book useful, and how it might be useful for you.

So, in no particular order…

• The Jazz Composer’s Companion – Gil Goldstein
  • Mainly for the last section of the book which is a series of interviews about compositional process. Some stories from Herbie Hancock about how Miles got him to go beyond…

• The Guitarist’s Guide to Composing and Improvising – Jon Damian
  • Similar in a way to Mick Goodrick’s book ‘Advancing Guitarist’ in that he gets you to think differently. Full of good stuff.

• Standing in the Shadows of Motown – Dr. Lick
  • A book of James Jamerson’s bass lines. I unwittingly taught myself to read bass clef from studying this book. I’m so into the way Jamerson plays: the groove, syncopation and melodic content of his playing are one of a kind. Check out his playing on Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On? It’s a masterclass in bass playing.

• Guitar Secrets – Joe Satriani
  • When I first started playing I was really into Steve Vai and Joe. They both have loads of interesting ideas for getting away from the usual stuff.

• Improvisation and Performance Techniques for Classical and Acoustic Guitar – Ralph Towner
  • Some interesting things about right-hand control using accents and implying polyrhythms. Great for developing finger control.

• The Brazilian Guitar Book – Nelson Faria
  • Superb examples of Brazillian guitar styles – a must.

• Creative Guitar 1 and 2 – Guthrie Govan
  • I absolutely love Guthrie’s playing, and it’s always very interesting to hear his thoughts on guitar playing.

• Exploring Jazz Guitar – Jim Hall
  • Lots of great ideas from Jim Hall. He analyses some of his approaches to playing and composition. Especially like the tune Cross Court and his dissection of it. Good things on phrasing with other instruments, rhythm guitar and the magic of music. Inspiring stuff.

• Training The Ear Vol. 1+2 – Armen Donelian
  • Pretty systematic ear-training course.

• Ultimate Ear Training for Guitar and Bass – Gary Willis
  • I like Willis’s idea of physically connecting finger and thumb to reinforce the interval sound with the fingering.

• An Introduction To Sight-Singing – A. Forbes Milne
  • This is a really well laid-out book. It’s short and the exercises are condensed. Starting with a 5th, you sight-sing the intervals in a few keys so you get used to seeing the intervals as they occur in those keys. Thinking in keys is a fundamental skill that many guitarists miss because of the way we usually learn by patterns/shapes. Don’t overlook this! (and check out book 2 also)

• Music Notation – Mark McGrain
  • A great book on how to notate music well. Your music will look really nice after you’ve read this. I really love seeing hand-written music as there’s so much personality that comes through in a beautifully notated score.

• Rhythm & Meter Patterns – Gary Chaffee
  • I use the rhythms in the book and improvise my own notes. A great study in getting away the jazz curse of just playing 8th notes.

• The Advancing Guitarist – Mick Goodrick
  • Reams of material to work through in this. Sure everyone will have this already as it’s a classic but just in case you don’t…

• An Improviser’s OS – Wayne Krantz
  • I love all things Wayne Krantz. The first part of the book is a big list of permutations of note grouping possibilities from 1 to 12 notes. The rest of the book is how Krantz uses this material to practise. It’s full of good stuff.

• Elementary Training for Musicians – Paul Hindemith
  • Great basic training book.

• Drum Wisdom – Bob Moses
  • Lots of interesting rhythmic ideas here.

• Telemaster Guitar – Jerry Donahue
  • One of my favourite guitarists. An absolute master player.

• The Jazz Language – Dan Haerle
  • This is a really clearly laid out book on music theory.

• Metamorphosis – Sam Most
  • Reams of stuff in here, great to practice reading with. There’s a bit at the back that’s sort of a ‘basic stuff you should totally know backwards’ thing. Scales and what not.

• Guitar Comping – Barry Galbraith
  • Great book for practising sight-reading chords. And a good book to study 4-note voicings too. Solid examples.

• British Fingerpicking Guitar – Stefan Grossman
  • Transcriptions and interviews with three of my favourite guitarists: John Renbourn, Bert Jansch and Davey Graham. I’m always playing Renbourn’s ‘The Hermit’, a brilliant drop D tune. All three players have incredible touch on the instrument, and in totally different ways. Renbourne is very deep and precise, Jansch and Graham are really physical.

• Music Reading for the Guitar – David Oakes
  • Some good, practical ideas about sight-reading in this book.

• Modern Reading Text in 4/4 and Odd Time Reading Text – Louis Bellson/Gil Breines
  • Books for practising rhythm-reading. Improvise your own notes to make it more interesting.

• Creative Rhythmic Concepts For Jazz Improvisation – Ronan Guilfoyle
  • Great book on different rhythmic ideas.

• Jazz Theory Book – Mark Levine
  • Good examples and reams of info.

• Improvisation: Its Nature and Practice in Music – Derek Bailey
  • Enjoyed the TV series that went along with this book.

• Guitar Player Magazine – Secrets From The Masters
  • Some great interviews

• Down Beat – 60 years of Jazz
  • Interviews and articles from 60 years of Downbeat magazine.

• Harmonic Mechanisms for Guitar Volume 1, Volume 2 and Volume 3 – George Van Eps
  • A chord book that’ll put hairs on your chest.

• Chord Chemistry – Ted Greene
  • Some good stuff here. Best thing I ever did with chords was to write my own little chord book. There’s plenty of fantastic Ted Greene stuff on the net. Amazing chap.

• Voicings for Jazz Keyboard – Frank Mantooth
  • Interesting ways of thinking about voicings that you can easily apply to the guitar.

• Bach – Sonatas & Partitas for Solo Violin and Two Part Inventions.
  • My guitar teacher, Peter Bocking, made me learn some of these pieces, and the 2 part inventions are great fun to read with another guitarist. Good bass clef reading practice, too.

So, there you go!

If you’ve enjoyed this list, please feel free to share any other recommendations. Just add a comment below. I’d love to hear your choices. I’m always up for getting lost in book world…