What Causes That?: Lead Sheet

This collection hands you over 100 Gershwin standards in lead sheet format, which means you can approach each tune on your own terms as a guitarist. The Gershwin estate's cooperation ensures these arrangements honor the original compositions while remaining playable and authentic to the jazz tradition that made these songs immortal.

These melodies glow with sophistication and warmth. You'll find yourself drawn into sophisticated harmonic spaces, then surprised by a blues turn or a syncopated phrase that swings naturally under your fingers. Each song carries the elegance of theatrical craft combined with the improvisational spirit of jazz.

Guitarists with intermediate to advanced chord reading skills who want to develop their jazz vocabulary and comping vocabulary through America's most durable standards. This book works equally well for musicians pursuing serious jazz study, performers preparing for jazz jam sessions, and anyone deepening their knowledge of 20th-century popular music composition.

• Study the original recordings to internalize the phrasing and rhythmic nuance that Gershwin's melodies demand; lead sheets preserve the skeleton, but your ear fills in the sophistication.
• Treat the chord symbols as a starting point, not a ceiling. Many of these tunes invite reharmonization and comping choices that reflect your own understanding of the changes.
• Anchor yourself in the melody first, especially on complex harmonic passages. Gershwin's themes are memorable for a reason; let them be your guide through the changes.
• Pay attention to song form and structure across the collection. Recognizing common patterns (AABA, 32-bar forms, turnarounds) will accelerate your command of the material.

Build a jazz guitar recital around themes drawn from this collection, perhaps pairing standards from different periods of Gershwin's output to show the evolution of his style. In an academic jazz study sequence, this book serves as a curriculum unto itself, offering endless material for transcription work, solo development, and ensemble arrangement projects.

• Reading chord symbols and interpreting harmonic progressions in jazz contexts
• Navigating complex song forms (AABA, 32-bar structures, modulations between sections)
• Sight-reading melodies across extended ranges and chord changes
• Understanding jazz standard conventions and comping approaches
• Recognizing harmonic language and techniques specific to Gershwin's compositional voice