Many of my students ask me if there are books they should buy or online resources I recommend to further their learning outside of lessons. These are a small collection of books and online resources that I have found helpful as a teacher and as a student of music myself. This is definitely not representative of all the great knowledge and resources available, but I think a great starting point to dive deeper into playing and understanding music.

A note on YouTube: While Youtube is in some ways my biggest competition, I think it can also be a wonderful resource for students as a supplement to more personalized private lesson instruction. Youtube as a platform is awash with instructional content, much of it inaccurate or reductive in nature. Here I have listed some youtubers that I think do it right, presenting accurate and precise quality content in various focuses. These resources are great to expand playing and are also just fun to watch!

You can click on the title of each resource — they are all linked to where you can find the resource!

Guitar for Beginner Students:

• Hal Leonard Guitar Method Book 1 - This book is a guitar education standard and for good reason. It slowly builds systematically from playing single notes on one string to playing chord progressions, strumming patterns, and duets. This book moves at a fairly slow pace and is accessible for everyone. For this reason I especially recommend this book for younger students, or adults intimidated by the process of picking up a new instrument. One of the main focuses of this book is the establishment of music fundamentals as well as note reading. While reading music is definitely valuable, it is not an essential skill for all guitar students, so be sure to keep this in mind when choosing this book.

Guitar for  Intermediate Students:

• A Modern Method for Guitar Volume 1: by William Leavitt - This is an excellent book for the ambitious beginner or the intermediate player who is looking to develop their note reading, music theory, and technique. I was first introduced to this book when I was in high school and had been playing for 6 or 7 years. It totally kicked my butt! When using “The Leavitt Book” a student can expect to learn open and movable scales, arpeggios, simple and complex chords, sight reading in multiple positions, alternate picking, hybrid picking, complex rhythms including syncopations, and solo guitar pieces. Similar to the Hal Leonard book this book focuses mainly on note reading and playing in more of a classical and jazz style. While probably being overkill for most rock players, this book is extremely helpful for students looking to get deeper into understanding the way the guitar functions and melody and harmony. 

Guitar for Advanced Students:

• Fundamentals of Guitar: A Workbook for Beginning, Intermediate, or Advanced Students - This book was released several years ago by my former teacher Miles Okazaki. Studying with Miles changed my playing in a drastic way, and many of those ideas that shaped my playing are present here in this book. Organized into the categories of pitch and rhythm this book explores the depth of possibility presented by the guitar as a harmonic, melodic, and percussion instrument. I have had this book for about 6 years and have still only scratched the surface. Miles uses a unique visual representation of music, relying on geometric shapes to represent key rhythmic and harmonic concepts. This one is definitely a thinker, don’t expect to breeze through the exercises in this book, I have spent months working on a single page. While not for the faint of heart, this book is great for advanced players looking for deeper understanding or a new perspective, but concepts are also accessible for students of all skill levels. You really get out what you put into this book.

Jazz Guitar:

• The Real Book - This book is considered by many to be the definitive jazz book for students looking to explore the jazz idiom. This book is a collection of lead sheets for the most commonly played american songbook and jazz standards. While not entirely accurate, this book offers a great general survey of the classic jazz repertoire. However, I strongly recommend that students use this book in conjunction with close listening and transcription. Jazz is an aural tradition and although printed music can help us begin to explore, it is in no way a substitute for the primary source material: original recordings. All that being said, this book was an integral part of my early forays into jazz music and I think is still a very useful tool.

• The Charlie Parker Omnibook - Again, this is not a substitute for transcription, but this book is an excellent resource to use in order to unpack and understand the composition and improvisation of the creator of bebop Charlie Parker. It contains the melodies and solos to all the “bird” classics as well as lesser known tunes. In my opinion, Charlie Parker's music built the foundation for most modern jazz improvisation. It can almost all be traced right back to here, so study of a few of the classic solo’s and melodies is a must.

Classical Guitar:

• Julio S. Sagreras Guitar Lessons Book 1-3 - The essential introduction to classical technique and repertoire, the Sagreras book is a right of passage for the classical guitarist. This book introduces the core techniques of the genre as well as some beautiful repertoire. Definitely a must have.

• The Segovia Scales - Similar to the Hanon exercises for Piano, these scales are a great way to develop better classical technique and a more robust working knowledge of the fretboard. One reason I love these scales is that they break the habits formed by most guitarists. Guitar is a positional instrument, meaning that everything can typically be played in one position or area of the neck. While great for certain situations, this positional playing can lead to players becoming stuck “in the box”, unable to move vertically across the fretboard. The Segovia Scales on the other hand require the player to traverse the entire fretboard, which I feel is a super useful skill to practice. These scales are great for classical and non-classical players.

• Pumping Nylon - Ridiculous cover aside, this book is fantastic for building technique. I was first shown exercises from this book when I was studying classical music with a teacher after I had graduated from college. They blew my mind. While simple in concept these exercises are extremely hard to play and require frequent practice to improve upon. They play into the structural limitations of the hand and push muscles in the left hand to stretch and become more flexible. Definitely not easy, but also definitely worth the work.

Guitar on Youtube

• The-Art-Of-Guitar -This guy is a super serious player, amazing technique and attention to detail. If you are interested in learning more about hard rock and metal guitar he is your guy. In addition to his instructional content, he has some really entertaining videos about music generally. Great content!

• Guitar Lessons 365 - Another great source for students into rock and metal. He is generally pretty accurate and has video lessons on 100’s of popular rock songs. I don’t always agree with him on interpretation, but definitely a serious player.

• Shutup and Play - A great resource for acoustic guitar content, especially fingerstyle. His videos are for the most part very accurate and he offers a wide variety of classic rock and folk acoustic guitar lessons. As with the other content on here though, would generally recommend using in conjunction with private lesson instruction, but this guy is one of the better ones out there.

• Michael Palmisano - More on the entertainment side of guitar youtube, Michael does these great “guitar teacher reacts” videos where he unpacks what is happening in videos of internationally recognized players. It’s super fun, and also his technique is enviable. Worth checking out!

• Miles Okazaki - While more on the performance side of things, Miles’ videos on the “fundamentals of guitar” are extremely helpful to any students trying to explore his fantastic book by the same name. The concepts in the book are challenging so having him talk through them is very useful.

• Eric Haugen Guitar - Eric’s channel is a great resource for beginner-intermediate guitar info/instruction that is super easy to digest and laid out in a way that is really direct and makes a lot of sense. I think one thing that sets his work apart on youtube is his focus on Indie Rock and 60’s Underground music. Also he just seems like such a nice affable guy!

• Anyone Can Play Guitar - Adrian has a comprehensive library of guitar lessons and covers focusing on alternative, Indie, and Underground Rock music primarily from the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s. I have done transcriptions of songs myself and checked my work against his many times and he is usually right on or at least close. If you are super underground rock stuff he is a great resource!

• Troy Grady- This guy is a master of right hand technique, he breaks down the mechanics of right hand movement and uses unique camera angles to showcase different applications of technique. I have been learning a lot as a player myself from his videos lately. If you are trying to be a shredder or if you are just hitting roadblocks with your technique I highly recommend giving Troy’s videos a look.

Ukulele Books:

• Hal Leonard Ukulele Method Book 1 - Very similar to the Hal Leonard Guitar Method Book 1, this book is an essential for the absolute beginner ukulele player. Lots of common chords, strumming patterns, and simple melodies here. A very well constructed book.

• Ukulele Aerobics - A great supplement to the Hal Leonard book, this book starts with the basics and quickly progresses from there. Expect to learn lots of great scales, chords, strumming patterns and right hand technique, and riffs. A very fun and well structured book.

Ukulele on Youtube:

• Ukulele Underground - Awesome resource for players of all skill levels. My favorite part of this page is its specific right hand technique offerings. Being more of a chordal instrument and less of a melodic instrument than guitar, percussive right hand stylings are very important for ukulele. Ukulele Underground does a great job of breaking down these illusive techniques. Really great content.

• Cynthia Lin Music - Especially good for beginners, Cynthia breaks down popular songs and makes them easy to understand. She has a wide range of repertoire, most students should be able to find something interesting here. Great stuff!

Bass Guitar on Youtube

• Scott’s Bass Lessons - Scott Devine is an amazing bassist, with unbelievable technique and feel. He offers in depth video’s on technique, groove, and feel. He is one of the most popular Bass Guitar youtubers with good reason, great lessons from a truly fantastic player.

Piano Books

• Faber’s Primer Level - Lesson Book: Piano Adventures - This book is a great introduction to piano for beginners, especially children. It presents many music fundamentals in an easy to read and understand format. Sight Reading, Technique, and Rhythm are some of the essentials covered.

• Alfred’s Basic Adult All-in-One Course: Book 1 - This book is a wonderful starting point for adult students. It methodically progresses from finding notes on the keyboard and playing simple melodies, to playing some nice simplified arrangements of familiar songs. It also incorporates some theory and technique to further round out the learning process. A very well done book.

• Hanon: The Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises - book 1 - A classic of piano practice for well over 100 years, “the Hanon” as it is often called is a right of passage for most pianists. A collection of exercises designed to build technique, this book establishes finger independence and mobility across the keyboard. A very useful tool to almost anyone seeking to develop technical ability on the piano.