Alfred's Easy Guitar Songs: Standards & Jazz: 50 Classics from the Great American Songbook: Solo Guitar
50 Classics from the Great American Songbook
By various artists and composers
Item: 00-PB-0001869
$19.99
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Description
For beginning musicians, Alfred's Easy series is the fast track to developing a repertoire of well-known and fun-to-play songs, while more experienced players will find an excellent resource of favorite songs. The Easy Hits Guitar TAB format provides melody in notation and TAB, chords, lyrics, and any integral "hook" parts---plus suggested strum and fingerpicking patterns. This Standards and Jazz edition features timeless songs from the Great American Songbook, such as "Ain't Misbehavin'," "Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue," "I'm in the Mood for Love," "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)," "Over the Rainbow," "Take the 'A' Train," and many more! Titles: Ain't Misbehavin' * At Last * All of Me * Blue Moon * Breezin' * Caravan * Do Nothin' Till You Hear from Me * Don't Get Around Much Anymore * Emily * Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue * Gentle Rain * Good Morning, Heartache * Here's That Rainy Day * I'm in the Mood for Love * In a Sentimental Mood * In Your Own Sweet Way * Invitation * It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) * Just Friends * Laura * Lush Life * Misty * Moonglow * Moonlight in Vermont * Moonlight Serenade * More Than You Know * My Foolish Heart * Theme from New York, New York * Nice 'n' Easy * On Green Dolphin Street * Over the Rainbow * Polka Dots and Moonbeams * Prelude to a Kiss * Satin Doll * The Shadow of Your Smile * Softly, As I Leave You * Solitude * Stardust * Stars Fell on Alabama * Stompin' at the Savoy * Straighten Up and Fly Right * Street of Dreams * Take Five * Take the "A" Train * This Masquerade * Try a Little Tenderness * What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life? * What's New? * You Must Believe in Spring * You Stepped Out of a Dream.
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Additional Details
Series:
Alfred's Easy
Publisher:
Alfred Music
Page Count:
120
SKU:
00-PB-0001869
More about this title
About the Composer: Various Artists and Composers
The Great American Songbook emerged from the golden age of American popular music, roughly spanning the 1920s through 1950s. The composers and lyricists represented in this collection include Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, and many other masters who shaped American musical identity. Their work defined standards that continue to anchor jazz, pop, and musical theatre repertoires today.
These songs endure because they balance sophisticated harmony and melody with direct emotional expression. Whether crafted for Broadway stages, jazz clubs, or film soundtracks, each piece reflects both technical mastery and accessibility. For guitarists, learning from this catalog means absorbing the language that professional musicians still speak.
Why we love this
Fifty substantial classics in one volume means you're building a working repertoire rather than collecting individual songs. The dual notation and TAB format respects different reading preferences without dumbing down the material, and the inclusion of strum and fingerpicking patterns gives students concrete choices to explore rather than one enforced approach.
What to expect
Stepping into a room where the best songs ever written are waiting to be played. These pieces carry the elegance and conversational quality of great melodies, the harmonic color of jazz sophistication, and the emotional directness of music that audiences have loved for a century.
Who it's for
Beginning guitarists who want substantive material that doesn't talk down to them, and intermediate players building a jazz or standards repertoire. Teachers looking for a single, reliable source of recognizable material for ensemble work, recordings, or solo study will find this collection saves preparation time.
How to get the most out of it
- Study the suggested patterns as starting points, then adapt them to match your own tempo and the piece's character. A waltz rhythm won't serve 'Stompin' at the Savoy' the same way it might suit 'Moonlight in Vermont.'
- Pay attention to where the lyric sits against the melody and harmony. These songs were written to be sung, and respecting the phrasing even on solo guitar transforms the performance from note reading into storytelling.
- Build familiarity with common chord changes and progressions across multiple songs. You'll notice ii-V-I sequences and turnarounds appearing again and again, and recognizing these patterns accelerates learning.
How to use it
These songs work beautifully as performance vehicles for student recitals, giving guitarists immediate access to material audiences recognize and respect. You might also use them as supplementary reading alongside jazz history or American music units, grounding students in the actual pieces that defined a musical era.
Skills your students will build
- Reading melody notation and TAB simultaneously
- Interpreting chord symbols and inversions in jazz contexts
- Choosing between strum and fingerpicking patterns based on style and tempo
- Recognizing and playing common harmonic progressions (ii-V-I, turnarounds, substitutions)
- Phrasing melodic lines to match lyrical intent
- Understanding the relationship between vocal melody and guitar accompaniment