This blog is in response to question I’m asked regularly. I’m not usually too keen on the “magazine feature” style of these things but where it works, I don’t mind so much. This is what I currently consider to be the best books for developing an understanding of general music concepts, notation reading, approaches, creativity, and musicianship (focussed on guitar players needs). This doesn’t include books (or online resources) which serve to build technical skills, or have a specific technical purpose:

 

  1. Elementary Training for Musicians – Paul Hindemith
  2. Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns – Nicolas Slonimski
  3. The Advancing Guitarist – Mick Goodrich
  4. Musicianship and Sight Reading for Guitarists – Oliver Hunt
  5. Music Reading for Guitar (The Complete Method) – David Oakes
  6. For Guitar Players Only – Tommy Tedesco
  7. William Leavett – Modern reading guitar method 1, 2, 3