First 50 Jazz Standards You Should Play on Guitar

I wouldn't say these would be your "first" 50 solo jazz standards --- they are not at the beginning jazz guitarist level and certainly not the beginning guitarist level. There is another book, "First Jazz Standards (Beginning Solo Guitar)" that is the right thing for new jazz players (but still not new guitarists). That latter book is about at my current level (jazz beginner/guitar intermediate).So this book gives me three good things: one, a real challenge; two, a real workout; three, something to grow into. The 50 arrangements of well-known songs are in really nice chord melody style. They make full use of the fingerboard and contain some fingerings that at first the newer jazz guitarist will find require some concentrated practice. Listening to some youtube arrangements will also help understand and count the rhythms. (A pity there is no accompanying audio.)But there is really a lot here for the money. 50 nice arrangements which will make for a fabulous repertoire and it just might take you (that means me) from an early jazz guitarist to the brink of intermediate.(One final comment: be aware that some of these seem correctly playable only fingerstyle, but this is not stated or noted.)

This book is a great compilation of those jazz greats that we know and love. To make it user friendly, I took it to the local print shop to have it spiral bound so it can lay flat on the music stand. This book is not as comprehensive as the "Real Book" series but is easier to use for those starting to play jazz guitar. I gave it a 4 star because it was not spiral bound, but the content is a 5.

Great Jazz songs and since I read music it is even better. I can not think of anything negative to say other than words to the songs would be helpful. Tell the author to come out with book two and that would be wonderful!

Pretty challenging book. Not for beginners at all! More appropriate for intermediate-advanced players. I am now struggling with a part of "Fly Me to the Moon" that has 13 chords in 3 bars! If you're playing this at a moderate tempo that's more than one chord per second. That said, I am enjoying the arrangements and I am having fun trying to understand what the author had in mind. I'd recommend this if you are already a jazz player or are already familiar with jazz chord voicings.(There are a few notation errors too, but I haven't found anything truly major.)

This is a nice collection. But as a beginner in jazz it would have been much more helpful if chord diagrams were included. Also I miss not have the words shown in the appropriate places under the staff. All in all it is probably too tough for me to use at anything beyond a snail's pace.

This is a commercial music product; not the real standards. It's a useful summary and the notation is good. But it omits a lot of music that is not 'establishment' commercial product, (for example My Old Flame?) and contains many tunes that are not really viable jazz standards that you'd know. At least it is not over priced. All copyrights to music officially in force and stated. Don't steal!

Great

good to start

This is an excellent set of jazz standards for a beginner / intermediate jazz guitarist. Nice arrangements and plenty of scope for "adjusting" things as you develop ideas. Could do with more of this type of book being available. I would have liked the lyrics thrown in (to act as a reference guide) but no matter as it is easy to listen to a few YouTube versions to get the feel.

I think the arrangements are good, but they are exactly the same as the jeff arnold books. if you have some of those books their may be some overlap.

Nice arrangements, but mostly not ‘jazz standards’ but songs from shows. No lyrics to songs included in the book.

Am working my way through it just now we’ll laid out easy to understand

Lovely book.