#000494
Chords & Progressions for Jazz & Popular Guitar
Arnie Berle
A hands-on course in guitar harmony for the player who knows their basic chords and wants the vocabulary of jazz. Arnie Berle, a prolific and clear-minded educator, moves from fundamental accompaniment patterns through jazz voicings, substitutions, passing chords, and blues progressions to chord soloing, tying every idea to exercises so the theory turns straight into playing. Use it with a guitar in hand, working the examples rather than just reading — it is a workbook to practice from, not a reference to shelve. Pitched at the intermediate player reaching for the logic of jazz comping, it is a solid on-ramp; from here many guitarists graduate to deeper harmony texts like Ted Greene's Chord Chemistry. Practical, unpretentious, and immediately applicable.
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The author
Arnie Berle (1925–2010) was an American guitarist, saxophonist and prolific music educator who wrote many instructional books and columns on guitar harmony, theory and improvisation. His teaching style favored clarity and immediate application, aimed at self-motivated players rather than academic study.
The book
Chords & Progressions for Jazz & Popular Guitar is a practical course in guitar harmony. It moves from fundamental accompaniment patterns through jazz chord voicings, substitutions, passing chords and blues progressions to chord soloing, connecting each idea to exercises and examples so that theory translates directly into playing.
How to read it
Use it with a guitar in hand, working through the examples rather than just reading. It suits an intermediate player who knows basic chords but wants the vocabulary and logic of jazz comping; it's a workbook to practice from, not a reference to shelve.
For more context
Guitarists often follow it with deeper jazz-harmony texts such as Ted Greene's Chord Chemistry or Mickey Baker's classic jazz-guitar course.
Sources
- Type
- Book
- Author / Maker
- Arnie Berle
- ISBN
- None
- Shelf
- Music
- Location
- Colorado