Jazz Guitar Voicings - Vol.1: The Drop 2 Book

I'm a long time guitar player -- 41 years -- and a long time systems analyst -- almost as long.I set out to end my guitar music illiteracy about 5 years ago. This was the result of trying to play jazz, feeling ashamed at how poor I was at dealing with the music and working with some very patient bandmates who are literate.So, I began a journey through the myriad of guitar chord dictionaries and, especially, books that claim to have discovered THE secret to all guitar chord playing knowledge.Unfortunately, because I'm a systems analyst, I get splinters in my mind when I read books that don't get to the essence of what they are trying to say. (Or worse, have an essence that is just bogus.) Most of the many books on chords for guitar suffer from these problems.On the other hand Jazz Guitar Voicings is crystal clear about a profoundly fundamental idea: arrangers have standard ways of arranging the notes in a chord (i.e. voicings), low to high. One of them -- Drop 2 -- is the key to playing chord scales and melodies in a way that doesn't induce hand cramps. That is, people like me (Tal Farlow or Lenny Breau I am not) can can play these chords.These skills are essential for playing jazz, soul, funk, bossa nova and even a surprising number of rock tunes. In fact the only styles of guitar music I can think of where you probably couldn't use these ideas are 3 or 4 chord folk music and metal. (If you are into those styles, this is probably not the book for you.)Any of you who are Wes Montgomery fans (and if you're into jazz guitar, you'd almost have to be a Wes Montgomery fan) know of his single note, octaves then chords solo structure. When he gets to the chords, much of what he's doing is in Drop 2.It may take me years to absorb all that Randy Vincent has put into this book. There are so many great ideas, examples and scales to master. But this is one book where I know that the time invested will pay off enormously.

As a rock guitarist I am expanding my knowledge and horizons. After playing roots on E & A for so long the world of jazz chords on 5432 and 4321 is quite different. I agree with some of the comments that more time should be spent organizing this book. But on the good side the content is downright excellent.This is a decent amount of money to pay for a book and really the -1 star is for the shoddy condition of the brand new book. The publisher should shrink wrap this or make a deal with Amazon to protect it better. The first book had some scratches and indents on the front cover, and was missing CD #2. I contacted Amazon and really just wanted the missing CD. They don't have a mechanism for partial fulfillment. So I returned the book and they very quickly sent another copy. This one had both CDs but they weren't in place and the Rubber Cement made to hold them had glued the back page to the back cover, just like the first delivered book. The front cover had a folded corner, and the back cover was partially folded. You all (publishers and Amazon) should understand by now that those who still pay good money for books, out of pure love for books, and who shy away from all of the free resources like YouTube, would like our hard-earned brand new books to look......BRAND NEW!

After playing guitar for thirty years, I finally have a book that brings the logic of chord progressions and the logic of the fretboard together. Thank you Randy Vincent!This is probably not a book for beginners. Indeed, I'm not sure that I would have been ready to absorb it early in my playing life. I think it takes some time, for most of us, to be able to define our musical directions, and a bit more to recognize that a particular batch of instructional materials is the right batch to move us toward our desired musical destination most quickly.So if you have wanted insights into the abilities of some guitarists to chord almost seamlessly up and down the fretboard, and if you've also wondered why the chords they use almost always seem to be the perfect choices, and if you are ready to challenge yourself musically, this is the book for you.The chord progressions are logically developed and presented as they relate explicitly to the scales from which they are drawn. If I could add one thing to the presentation, it would be naming the chords in the progressions. The musical staff notation is accompanied by the chord diagrams, but unless the reader takes the time to identify the chords by name, he or she will be building useful patterns that could be so much more so if their components were explicitly named. Maybe Mr. Vincent will add that to the next edition.Despite this minor point, this is easily the best and most useful book I've found in twenty years.

It's a great book. But you are only going to benefit from it if you work hard.

Again, Randy has gone a remarkable job with this book. Everything is laid out very clear with standard notation and chord box diagrams. He goes into great depth with the drop 2 voicings and it's unlikely that you will find the information presented in this book in any other book. The book has very few pages, but the information presented is gold.

Do not buy this book from this seller. Despite clearly advertising two free audio cd's, no cd's were received with the first order. I requested a replacement and again there were no cd's. I have been unable to get a refund, and the book is less useful without the cd's. I recommend going to another seller for this book.

Simply- buy this book if you wish to improve your chord voicings, I have a lot of guitar theory books and this is in the top three

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