Jazz Guitar for Classical Cats: Harmony: Guitar Book & Online Audio

York understands the classical guitarist's instincts and builds jazz concepts from harmonic and melodic principles rather than assuming jazz fluency. The recorded examples performed by the author give students a reliable aural model for how these harmonic concepts should sound.

The book maintains the clarity and rigor of classical music instruction while opening doors to the flexibility and color of jazz. Moving through it feels like learning a new dialect of a language you already speak rather than starting from scratch.

Classical guitarists ready to explore jazz harmony without abandoning their technical foundation. This book serves students who think in terms of voice leading and functional harmony and want to expand that vocabulary into jazz contexts.

• Work through the harmony exercises systematically before moving to applied examples; these foundations determine how smoothly you'll navigate chord substitutions and reharmonization later.
• Listen closely to York's recorded examples multiple times before attempting to play them, focusing on how chord tones and passing tones interact rather than just memorizing finger positions.
• Practice the harmonic concepts in multiple keys once you've learned them in the written key; transposition deepens understanding and builds flexibility.
• Record yourself playing the exercises to hear how your harmonic choices sit against the underlying structure.

Use this as a supplement for classical guitarists interested in genre exploration or as a bridge into a broader elective on jazz guitar fundamentals. It works particularly well for students preparing recitals that blend classical and contemporary repertoire.

• Jazz chord construction and nomenclature (seventh chords, extensions, alterations)
• Voice leading in jazz contexts
• Harmonic analysis of jazz standards
• Chord substitution and reharmonization techniques
• Listening for and identifying harmonic functions in jazz recordings