Recommended Music Books: Shearer, Modern Guitar, Fake book

9 July 2011 by Bill Parsons | 1 Comment

The Early Years

I took a bed-sit near the red light district in downtown Toronto for fifteen bucks a week. It was the best I could find, not knowing the city at all. I had a strat, a pig nose amp, a cassette player, a dozen cassettes and a pair of guitar method books: Classic Guitar Technique, Modern Method for Guitar. Dave from across the hall played flute, and had a mini-drip coffee maker, a Fake Book, and some Bach duets.

Mornings began with a knock, then a squeak. Ten minutes later we’d settle in the common room at the end of the hall with steaming coffee and listen to one of my cassettes – often a Sarah Vaughan ballad to ease us into the day. After coffee, Dave and I would improvise on fake book tunes. A few coffees later we’d separate to practice alone: I worked from the Shearer and Berklee Books.

Ballad

Books

I still use these books with some of my current students. The Real Book has a nice collection of jazz standards that are fun to learn. The Shearer Classic Guitar is good for beginner/intermediate guitarists who want to improve the right and left hand technique. A nice introduction to classic guitar. The Berklee books are very useful for beginner/intermediate guitarists aspiring to improve technique, develop chord/scale knowledge and playing.