Shows how to embellish and enhance any chord or chord progression to achieve new and more interesting sounds.

Everybody knows a few guitar chords, and it's fun to use them to accompany your favorite songs. This book is just full of ideas to help you sound like a pro while playing even the simplest chords. Concentrating on the most commonly used chords in the most frequently used keys, Dan Donnelly teaches enjoyable ways to embellish chords in a friendly, step-by-step approach. Learn what chords are usually combined and many great-sounding ways to go between them. Discover how variety and color can be added to your songs just by picking up a finger or adding another. Get started in this book today and become everybody's favorite accompanist.

Jazz Improvisation Using Simple Melodic Embellishment teaches fundamental concepts of jazz improvisation, highlighting the development of performance skills through embellishment techniques. Written with the college-level course in mind, this introductory textbook is both practical and comprehensive, ideal for the aspiring improviser, focused not on scales and chords but melodic embellishment. It assumes some basic theoretical knowledge and level of musicianship while introducing multiple techniques, mindful that improvisation is a learned skill as dependent on hard work and organized practice as it is on innate talent. This jargon-free textbook can be used in both self-guided study and as a course book, fortified by an array of interactive exercises and activities: musical examples performance exercises written assignments practice grids resources for advanced study and more! Nearly all musical exercises--presented throughout the text in concert pitch and transposed in the appendices for E-flat, B-flat, and bass clef instruments--are accompanied by backing audio tracks, available for download via the Routledge catalog page along with supplemental instructor resources such as a sample syllabus, PDFs of common transpositions, and tutorials for gear set-ups. With music-making at its core, Jazz Improvisation Using Simple Melodic Embellishment implores readers to grab their instruments and play, providing musicians with the simple melodic tools they need to "jazz it up."

This book and accompanying audio present a comprehensive array of ideas intended to add interest and decoration to basic melodies. Mastery of these embellishment techniques will also help in the development of complete arrangements. This project offers some familiar and possibly unfamiliar song titles. The accompanying audio is a valuable tool for learning both the melodies and embellishments, containing two versions of each song. The included techniques progress from basic to more challenging, and are varied to enhance the contrasting musical styles presented across eighteen songs. A variety of styles are covered, encouraging the player to apply new embellishment techniques to familiar repertoire. For someone who has completed Thomas' First Lessons Hammered Dulcimer (MB20066M), this would be a good next step. Includes access to online audio.

This easy-to-use book is the best guitar chord reference book available. It contains thousands of chords in an easy-to-use dictionary style and offers the best fingerings along with music theory, clear up-close photos, and easy-to-view diagrams.

The most highly-acclaimed jazz theory book ever published! Over 500 pages of comprehensive, but easy to understand text covering every aspect of how jazz is constructed---chord construction, II-V-I progressions, scale theory, chord/scale relationships, the blues, reharmonization, and much more. A required text in universities world-wide, translated into five languages, endorsed by Jamey Aebersold, James Moody, Dave Liebman, etc.

A complete easy-to-understand music theory method for guitarists to take your music theory knowledge from beginner through to pro level! Consisting of volumes 1, 2 & 3 in the popular Music Theory for Guitarists series, this in-depth method book gives you step-by-step lessons in most of the music theory you’ll ever need to know - explained in straightforward, confusion-free language with absolutely no music reading necessary, with hundreds of practical examples to play and study. Music Theory for Guitarists, the Complete Method Book also comes with over 100 downloadable audio lessons, demonstrations, backing tracks and practice drills to help you become the musician, guitar player or songwriter you always wanted to be. Volume 1 teaches you the basics all players need to know. Learn about the major scale, triads, basic intervals, major and minor keys, pentatonic scales, chord progressions and more In Volume 2 you’ll build on the basics with lessons on learning the fretboard, chord inversions, compound intervals (9ths, 11ths etc.), sus and add9 chords, seventh chords, the Circle of Fifths, and two chapters devoted to the modes of the major scale Volume 3 takes your music theory to almost pro-level. Master your fretboard with the CAGED System, learn about extended chords, improvising with modes, harmonic minor scale, diminished and augmented chords, key change/modulation techniques, ‘stand-in’ and substitute chords and much more Includes quizzes and assignments to test your understanding plus over 100 downloadable audio tracks so you can listen and hear how many of the concepts are taught in a musical setting No music reading skills required! For a complete easy-to-understand music theory method book for guitar players look no further than Music Theory for Guitarists, the Complete Method Book.