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A Modern Method for Guitar
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A Modern Method for Guitar. Volume 1
William G. Leavitt
Head of the Berklee Guitar department at Berklee College in Boston, Leavitt published this book in 1966, based on materials he used to concisely present the actual scale and arpeggio fingerings used by jazz players .
The series is oriented to single note melody playing and strummed chord accompaniment, but includes
many examples of fine sounding solo guitar. However fingerstyle (including classical) players will find that this is the best scale resource currently available.
Leavitt obviously has a thorough practical knowledge of many styles of music - this reflected, to
name one example, in the quality of the chord voicings.
He covers the keys C to E and C to E flat, in Major and Melodic Minor. Chords of the Major,
Minor and Dominant Seventh are covered.
He has included simple original duets which are quite suitable for the beginner.
They learn to play a melody in the given scale and position and accompany in various styles. Books 1 and 2 contain quite a lot of duet material, there is somewhat less in Volume 3 due to the quantity of scale, arpeggio and chord voicing material presented.
This should not be seen as a drawback however as the student should be reading melodic material from other sources as soon as possible.
I recommend this as a starting resource -
CLASSICAL FAKE BOOKS
He also introduces the important concept of a "position" based on the 4 fret span, with "extensions" of the 1st and 4th finger where necessary to reach notes.
A Modern Method for Guitar. Volume 2
William G. Leavitt
Volume 2 presents the 5 basic chord and scale fingerings which taken together cover the entire guitar fingerboard. Bear in mind that Joe Pass mainly played out of only 3 positions and
you can get the value of really knowing this material thoroughly.
He also covers the most useful chord voicings and rhythm patterns. The scales are presented in all keys.
A staple text which should be worked through by any professional level guitarist.
A Modern Method for Guitar. Volume 3
William G. Leavitt
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Volume 3 further develops the 5 fingerings of Volume 2 into 13 positions! Yes thirteen!
In my opinion Leavitt goes into overkill mode here... the 7 extra positions are permutations
and "half positions" based on the original 5. This book is worth working through
for the advanced player... but be warned... it is heavy going to do it all thoroughly. It took me over a year.
A thorough knowledge of a scale in a few positions is more useful than a sketchy knowledge
of the scale in 13 positions.
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2007 update: The books have been republished in one 432 page volume, and with Amazon's 34% discount on retail that
brings the price down to what one volume alone cost previously. I recommend buying the volume and getting it rebound
with ring binders at your local printer as 3 volumes.
I suggest that not only for practical reasons, but also psychological.... I used to tiptoe quietly around Volume 3 in the hope it wouldn't
notice me leaving the practice room, the 3 volume edition would have reduced me to tears! I would certainly have never finished the
project of learning the material. Being a wise man, Leavitt made the first volume the slimmest, then the 2nd volume, and so on to the
3rd volume.
LINKS
"Guitar Playing and how it works"
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