Understanding Chord Progressions for Guitar: Compact Music Guides Series [Paperback]

Arnie Berle (Author)

Book Description

Series: Guitar | Publication Date: August 1, 1995

Learn some of the most frequently used progressions in folk, blues, pop, and jazz.

Product Details

• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Music Sales America (August 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0825614880
• ISBN-13: 978-0825614880
• Product Dimensions: 11.9 x 4.7 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #431,375 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #29 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Entertainment > Music > Reference > General

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great introductory jazz book, April 1, 2002

By 

David Landes (Redwood City, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Understanding Chord Progressions for Guitar: Compact Music Guides Series (Paperback)

This is a great little book to start jazzing. Very helpful for me. Due to the small size, the information is very straightforward and clear (notes, tabs, roman numerals and chord diagrams are all used!). It is understandable, however, that one reviewer below gave this book one star and another gave it five stars. This is because the book is ONLY an outline of jazz guitar that just begins to scratch the surface. It gives basic tools (chord extensions, substitutions, various progressions etc.) and a quick example by which to learn each concept. No musical guidance or application is given. If this is what you want, this is the book for you. Overall, it's great for learning what can be done but gives no advancing information beyond that. This book is a staring point for jazz guitar that is best if supplemented by an instruction book that explains and tells how to use the tools from this book.

If this is your first jazz book, it is a seven bucks very well spent.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great value in need of an editor, May 15, 2005

By 

S. J. Raaen "steve r" (NYC, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Understanding Chord Progressions for Guitar: Compact Music Guides Series (Paperback)

This booklet has some inadvertant gems of contextual theory. I bought it as a rank beginner and couldnt make heads or tails of it because it assumes a certain level of knowledge. If you're like me, you've eased into a core staple of patterns and progressions - this booklet helps me break out of that limited universe and expand.

There are some pure errors that are a big problem for an instructional book. They can be found very early in the book and diminish it's value, since when I play a progression in the book that doesn't sound right I wonder if it's me or the book that's doing something wrong. Example, the chord chart on the top of page 8 labels an F7 chord as F major.

For the $5.95 price however it's a good deal. It'd be a great deal at $9.95 if the extra $4 were invested in an editor.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great reference book, November 27, 2010

By 

Volha Kuzina - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Understanding Chord Progressions for Guitar: Compact Music Guides Series (Paperback)

I was looking for a concise guide on altering jazz chords. Arnie Berle's guide is a hands-on reference if you're looking to embellish chords progressions, AND if you're intermediate to advanced in jazz harmony and guitar playing (this reference will hardly be helpful to beginners, imho). This is no sheet music, but as a narrowly focused guide this is the most helpful reference. In this book I found everything I've been scrapping up bit by bit in other chords&progressions books. This one is an ultimate source, highly recommended.