Chord book recommendations

StefB

As the title says, I'm looking for a decent, preferably spiral bound chord book.  A jack of all trades, rather than being genre specific.

Is there a generally accepted go to book for chords that I should be aware of?  Amazon have 8,182 books listed, and its a nightmare choosing one.  This place is usually a font of knowledge on such things, so shout up please guys.

Don't want to spend any more than a tenner, and preferably no more than a fiver ideally.

victorludorum

I've got an encyclopeadia type thing, but to be honest, the best 10 quid I ever spent was on a lesson with a good teacher who explained the theory to me.

frankus

Are you looking for a chord dictionary or something to show you how to apply chords?

StefB

frankus said:

Are you looking for a chord dictionary or something to show you how to apply chords?

More of a dictionary really, although I see some dictionaries also provide a bit background into theory and how to apply chords.

frankus

So you want a dictionary of all the chords that provides some context on how to use them and isn't too blatant about the fact that it's a Jazz book ;0)

StefB

frankus said:

So you want a dictionary of all the chords that provides some context on how to use them and isn't too blatant about the fact that it's a Jazz book ;0)

Yes!

frankus

I'd recommend printing this out and throwing the guy a few sheckles

http://www.justinguitar.com/en/CH-000-Chords.php

Barney

victorludorum said:

 the best 10 quid I ever spent was on a lesson with a good teacher who explained the theory to me.

i agree with this ...i think a great way to start is learning triads then add the flavours you want you want ....its a better way than trying to learn 2000 chords without knowing how they are built...

Lixarto

Careful what you say - Frank is doubtless edging towards mentioning Ted Greene.

*makes throat slitting gesture*

Bellycaster

frankus said:

I'd recommend printing this out and throwing the guy a few sheckles

http://www.justinguitar.com/en/CH-000-Chords.php

I don't know your level of knowledge, but I go with this^

Barney said:

victorludorum said:

 the best 10 quid I ever spent was on a lesson with a good teacher who explained the theory to me.

i agree with this ...i think a great way to start is learning triads then add the flavours you want you want ....its a better way than trying to learn 2000 chords without knowing how they are built...

and this^

Thing is, with a Chord Dictionary, it explains the chord as "what it is" not "Why it is"

He's good too, here.

all the way up to lesson #11, he is very knowledgeable and explains clearly.

Also this.

http://www.fretjam.com/learn-guitar-chords.html

All the way down to the Guitar Chord Finder, that's a very handy thing too. Sorry if you know half of this already.

frankus

Lixarto said:

Careful what you say - Frank is doubtless edging towards mentioning Ted Greene.

*makes throat slitting gesture*

Have you not noticed I've never recommended him after you said you didn't like it.

When I play through Modern Chord Progressions I can hear all sorts of pop songs... but since you got nothing from it, it seemed likely others wouldn't either so... *makes zipping mouth closed locking and popping key in a pocket gesture*

mellowsun

frankus said:

Lixarto said:

Careful what you say - Frank is doubtless edging towards mentioning Ted Greene.

*makes throat slitting gesture*

Have you not noticed I've never recommended him after you said you didn't like it.

When I play through Modern Chord Progressions I can hear all sorts of pop songs... but since you got nothing from it, it seemed likely others wouldn't either so... *makes zipping mouth closed locking and popping key in a pocket gesture*

Don't stop recommending it if you find it useful! I bought it on your recommendation, it's still sitting on the shelf. My problem with it is the handwritten-looking typeface of the notation, it's very dense and not welcoming. I'm sure the content is top notch, I just need to feel brave enough to try it

frankus

that Modern Chord Progressions or Chord Chemistry - I wouldn't recommend Chord Chemistry to anyone but the msot commited - halfway through there's a little island of text in a sea of endless chords that says "it should take you about 5 years to get here"..

It might be a result of my left handedness (although mentally reversing the diagrams is a pain) or just a result of being an auditory and kinesthetic person (aka blind as a bat and a mouth breather) but the process of learning the chords takes minutes and transitioning is pretty fast too - so I'm hearing each progression inside 5 minutes and then playing with the timing... after a week, I totally own the progression and pretty much the same time my ears are telling my brain I can slip in that nice III VI II V I from page 40 (although thankfully only as a set full sounds like an auditory halucination) ... my hands are playing it by which time all the brain can do is nod and  say "yes that does sound nice" kinda hurt not to have been involved.

It's really that experience of ingrained experiences making great music and also ingrained combinations during sparring that made a massive shift away from theory for me.

Since it's made such a brilliant impact on my life, I used to like recommending it, maybe all it's worth really sharing is how it helped me.

Lixarto

frankus said:

Have you not noticed I've never recommended him after you said you didn't like it.

When I play through Modern Chord Progressions I can hear all sorts of pop songs... but since you got nothing from it, it seemed likely others wouldn't either so... *makes zipping mouth closed locking and popping key in a pocket gesture*

Yes, I had as a matter of fact - but it's probably a great book and I'm a philistine.

frankus

do you know Goliath?

Seriously, there's no point recommending something (regardless of how I like it) if it doesn't work - I've raved about it a few times and I feel I've let people down.

Since Justin Sandercoe pointed out Ted Greene to me (and Tommy Tedesco) and is a brilliant teacher - seems better to refer to his books in the first instance

Barney

Joe pass guitar chords is really good ..and not just for jazz...there is not loads of chords and he dosnt identify them by name ..just by type....and sound..

frankus

that's quite a short book too if it's the one I'm thinking of really nice sounds..

ThePrettyDamned

Barney said:

Joe pass guitar chords is really good ..and not just for jazz...there is not loads of chords and he dosnt identify them by name ..just by type....and sound..

Sounds like something useful for me.  

I came up with a neat progression the other day in A or E major (not big on theory ) and I have no idea why it works, so maybe a book like that would help me work out why the sounds in my head work or don't work when I put them on the guitar.

imalone

Worth a look maybe, one of the incarnations of Johnny Rector's book:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Deluxe-Encyclopedia-Guitar-Chord-Progressions/dp/0786634421/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398966869&sr=1-2&keywords=deluxe+chord+encyclopedia#reader_0786634421
(you can at least preview a bit in Amazon for an idea of what you're getting)
The first section is very much these standard progression worked through, the second half becomes denser and is lots of crazy stuff. I'm still firmly in the first half...

Barney

ThePrettyDamned;227048" said:

Barney said:

Joe pass guitar chords is really good ..and not just for jazz...there is not loads of chords and he dosnt identify them by name ..just by type....and sound..





Sounds like something useful for me.  

I came up with a neat progression the other day in A or E major (not big on theory ) and I have no idea why it works, so maybe a book like that would help me work out why the sounds in my head work or don't work when I put them on the guitar.

Yeah ..its a really good book and ...you dont need to know theory ...it just has a lot of nice voicings that will work over a particular chord....I use quite a few of the in blues stuff....really ..highly recommend it..even just adding a couple of chords a week to your repetoire it wont take long to have lots of new material to work with ...