You've Got What Gets Me: Lead Sheet

This real book edition contains over 100 Gershwin standards in lead sheet format, making it an essential reference for any guitarist working in jazz, swing, or American songbook styles. The Gershwin estate approval and careful engraving mean you're working from reliable sources, and the sheer breadth of the collection eliminates the need to hunt through multiple books for classic material. Whether you're building solo repertoire, teaching jazz standards, or accompanying singers, this single resource delivers serious depth.

Gershwin's melodies sit somewhere between Broadway elegance and jazz sophistication, with harmonies that move with surprising grace and occasional blues inflection. These songs feel both timeless and distinctly rooted in early-to-mid 20th-century American life, offering warmth, wit, and harmonic richness that rewards repeated listening and playing. Working through them on guitar reveals why they became the foundation of the American songbook.

This book serves guitarists at intermediate level and beyond who are developing jazz vocabulary, learning American standards, or preparing for ensemble work in jazz or theater contexts. It's equally valuable for private teachers using Gershwin repertoire as core material and for musicians building solo or accompaniment skills. Singers and ensemble musicians will find it useful as a reference for understanding the harmonic and melodic architecture of these essential songs.

• Study the harmonic movement before focusing on melody; Gershwin's chord progressions often contain unexpected turnarounds and secondary dominants that reward close attention and reveal how the melody sits within the harmony.
• Work through the chord changes methodically, noting extended and altered chords that appear frequently in Gershwin's arrangements; these voicings define the sophistication of the sound.
• Listen to multiple recorded versions of each song to hear how different artists interpret tempo, phrasing, and rhythmic feel; Gershwin standards admit many valid approaches.
• Pay attention to the lyrics even when playing lead sheets without singing; understanding the emotional arc and lyrical content shapes your interpretation of the melody and phrasing.

Use this collection as a core reference for building a jazz standards repertoire or as the source material for a semester-long exploration of American songbook repertoire. Individual songs work well in casual performance settings, jam sessions, or as accompaniment for singers, while the breadth of the collection makes it ideal for solo recital programming or for selecting material suited to specific ensembles. Teachers can assign songs from this book as part of jazz history studies or as applied material for guitar students developing improvisation and comping skills.

• Reading lead sheets and interpreting chord symbols accurately
• Understanding jazz harmony, including secondary dominants and extended chords
• Analyzing song form and recognizing common Tin Pan Alley and AABA structures
• Developing fluency with standards repertoire across multiple tempos and harmonic contexts
• Building comping and accompaniment technique for jazz and popular contexts
• Connecting melody to underlying harmonic movement for interpretation