Thelonious Monk for Guitar

Rating:
Summary: A Worthy Challenge!
Review: No longer is the idiosyncratic style of Thelonious Monk inaccessible to the guitarist.

For the guitarist who has ever spent time listening to the genius of Monks music - feeling at the same time enlightened by it's wisdom, and saddened by the ever nagging feeling that you, as a guitarist, could not truly benefit, this book is the answer to your unspoken wish.

If you have a desire to go beyond the limitations of the instrument - which turn out to be false - and are looking for your own unique voice, this book can be part of that journey for you. Somebody has finally done it for us. Gary has put in much time and effort, and he has found all the essential notes - those required to express Monk's style, and he's figured out how to put them on the fretboard. Every measure brings awe and surprise to the player. You won't believe that the sounds are coming from your guitar!

The book is well written, and each piece is a distillation of the essentials from numerous recordings. Gary Wittner has an encyclopedic knowledge of Monk's music, which is apparent in this book. There are extensive performance notes for each piece, some detailing almost every measure. These are essential, as they point out points that may not be obvious to you on first or even subsequent reading. For example, the duration of certain notes are very important to bring out the melody which is sometimes "hidden" in the chord voicings. The chord names are included at each measure. Fingerings are included when necessary, and everything is in TAB as well as standard notation. It couldn't be clearer.

It's not an easy journey - Monks' wasn't, and I don't imagine Gary's was either, but when you begin to work through the material you will start to see the connections. You'll start learning that wisdom that Monk was trying to pass on to us. It was meant for all of us.

Rating:
Summary: No solos???
Review: Well I have to say Im partly pleased with this book. The good part being that fact that it is very acurate and makes Monk immeadiatly accesible to guitarists. The only disappointment was that there arent any transcribed solos. Which is one of the most important aspects of Monk, since he's the jazzer that has used the least amount of notes to make his improvisations...
Its a good buy anyway.