Swing and Big Band Guitar [With CD] Paperback – 1 Jan. 1998

Written by recent guitarist with the Basie Band.Essential reading really.We'll worth buying.

To add my 10 pence worth - I fully agree with the other reviews here. If you are new to big band guitar, this book is absolutely THE required text. Other books will not get you half as far, and in some cases, just add confusion or misdirection to the learning jazz rhythm guitarist. How on earth did people pick up this style of guitar before 1998?!!Charlton Johnson tells you everything you will really ever need to know to get performing big band jazz to a high standard, and it is all set out in a logical and inspiring framework, mixing the essential principles and practice routines to get them embedded, allowing you to get playing from the outset (enough to busk your way through most standards) and then taking the learner onto the next steps of creative chord reduction and expansion to reach a smooth and interesting comping style that has both consistency and variety. My own background was as an experienced (Grade 8) blues/rock/indie player, and yet even as such, my entry into the jazz rhythm style looked intimidating, and its very easy to head off down the wrong path in trying to interpret the complex looking charts of a big band. But its not as hard as it looks if you know and adopt the right basic principles. And being able to play this stuff can only increase all round musicianship - certainly my blues rhythm playing has come on in spades too as a result of an enhanced chord understanding and toolkit.Buy it, woodshed it, never look back.

An excellent guide to 4-in-the-bar rhythm guitar, this book explains this noble craft from the fundamentals of time and groove through 3-note and 4-note voicings to their application in exercises and common progressions.This is an eminently usable book with clear explanations and chord diagrams and full of handy tips, with just enough theory to ensure an understanding of the different chord types and why a chord may have two different names. Using just 23 chord shapes, all of which are easy to play, the author shows how to deploy these effectively to accompany over 20 well-known jazz standards. A particularly useful section suggests how to reduce the more complex chords on a written guitar part to a simplified, playable rhythm guitar version which will sound much better. For any guitarist this is a fine, introduction to playing jazz chords on the guitar.

Great as advertised

This is a guide to playing Freddie Greene-style big band guitar.It deserves five stars for several reasons. It's really the only thing of its kind; it's severely practical - i.e., it tells you what working musicians actually do rather than what they might do in theory; it explains everything, rather than leaving the reader to work out why, for example, a particular set of voicings is being recommended; and it is comprehensive, in the sense that anybody who masters the contents will be well set to cope with the standard repertoire in a big band context. (And although it isn't intended to be a manual for the solo or small-group player, it's well worth a look for them, too.)Charlton Johnson also explains pretty well everything the aspiring player needs to known about playing in a big band - the history of the style, suggested listening, choice of instrument and so on.All examples and exercises are shown in traditional notation, chord chart symbols and chord boxes, and the exercises are logically arranged and progressive. There are 64 clear musical examples on the accompanying CD. This book is a model of its kind, and wonderful value for money.

Good but there was no CD with the book.

When I first knew that I going to join a Big Band, I started practicing lots of those tricky jazz voicings with flatted this, sharpened that, augmented 7th add #11 whatever...When I sat in with the band and I saw some of the charts with the changes racing along 2 to a bar at crotchet speed 120 I realised it wasn't going to work. After having spent a fortune on various books I came across this one.Not only does it teach you in a clearly laid out way all the voicings (about 15) you need for 90% of your big band work, it teaches you how to manage those nasty extensions and says basically ignore them or replace them with a simpler chord. If that principle was good enough for Count Basie then it is good enough for your Big Band.One possible criticism that could be made is that the book is pure swing big band. The voicings given aren't going to necessarily work for quartets, trios or when you need a bit of bossa nova. Ultimately though, the book delivers precisely what it sets out to. There's some good exercises throughout the book to ensure that the principles become instinctive.From my experience with a number of similarly titled books - this is the best.

This is a very comprehensive piece of work! Well laid out, practical theory is simply explained. I find some music books makes me feel like I am beating my head until it sinks in but the format of this is easily absorbed. Set up a loop of the tracks provided and hone your rhythmic skills! Well worth the asking price, highly recommended