21st Century Pro Method / Jazz Guitar - Swing to Bebop [Spiral-bound]

Doug Munro (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 3, 1999

The most modern, complete, and musical approach for the serious guitar student. Covers music theory, scales, modes, chord voicings, arpeggios, soloing, and comping. Over 180 music examples and 16 complete solos in the styles of many jazz greats are used to place all concepts into a practical musical context.

Product Details

• Spiral-bound: 136 pages
• Publisher: Alfred Publishing Co., Inc. (December 3, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0769289312
• ISBN-13: 978-0769289311
• Product Dimensions: 11.9 x 9.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #710,811 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book for intermediate/ advanced-intermediate players, May 9, 2007

By 

MV (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 21st Century Pro Method / Jazz Guitar - Swing to Bebop (Spiral-bound)

This is the first method book I've ever been happy with, and I've bought quite a few guitar books over the years. It assumes you already know your way around the fretboard but aren't a virtuoso. The passages are often challenging, but always attainable after a few days practice. The examples are often interesting (but not always, i.m.h.o.), and the sample solos given at the end of each section are wonderful. I've been skipping the scale exercises, as they're pretty bland (get Barry Galbraith's book #2 from Jamey Aebersold's series if you want to practice scales instead). Doug Munro's comments are easy to understand and written in a nice casual style, and the accompanying CD is excellent. Highly recommended!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A bit dissapointed..., October 8, 2006

By 

Christopher M. Kirby - See all my reviews
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This review is from: 21st Century Pro Method / Jazz Guitar - Swing to Bebop (Spiral-bound)

To start, this book isn't really a jazz method book, but rather a very well illustrated book on jazz keys (Imaj7, IIm7, VIIb5, ect.). Guitar method books are supposed to be designed to teach and usually go very in depth about each of the topics. This book however, only show the various key that make jazz music distinctive from other types of music. It does a great job of explaining the music theory behind jazz, but does little to help teach technical aspects of playing jazz (i.e. left hand fingerings, tempo, etc.) After you get over the fact that this book won't teach you a lot about jazz, it does have some cool solo pieces. The music CD included is decent as well, my only gripe is what is being played isn't exactly the same as the music is written in the book. Overall, if you're an intermediate player looking to understand jazz music theory a little better, this is a great buy. If you wanting to actually learn to play jazz you should look at buying a good method book rather than this one.

4.0 out of 5 stars Good exercises, although not a lot of direction, December 23, 2011

By 

Michael J Edelman (Huntington Woods, MI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: 21st Century Pro Method / Jazz Guitar - Swing to Bebop (Spiral-bound)

The title of this book suggests that it follows ah historical progression, from the Swing era to Bebop. That's not the case. Rather, Munro presents a series of chapters centered around different modes found in Jazz- Major, Dorian, Mixolydian, Aeolean, Locrian, diminished, whole tone. Each chapter presents scales, chords, arpeggios, and riffs, culminating in a few sample pieces illustrating the use of the material presented so far.

The reader is pretty much left on his or her own as what to practice, and how much of the material relates to other material, and how to put it all together. The presentation of the scales and arpeggios isn't terribly systematic within each chapter, and some of Munro's fingerings are somewhat idiosyncratic. This is not a book I'd recommend a beginner study on their own, but I can see it being used as an adjunct to other study. The beginner to Jazz study might be better served with a book like Mel Bay's Complete Jazz Guitar Method or Mel Bay Complete Jerry Hahn Method for Jazz Guitar.