Jazz Gems for Solo Guitar: 35 Chord Melody Arrangements in Standard Notation and Tablature by Robert B. Yelin

Jazz Gems for Solo Guitar: 35 Chord Melody Arrangements in Standard Notation and Tablature. The Series of books are very accurate and rich arrangements of the great jazz classics from the 20's through the 50's. Here's what they are not. They are NOT instructional books. They are NOT play along with the CD books. They are NOT books for jamming with others. What they are are very accurate and rich arrangements of the great jazz classics from the 20's through the 50's.

The original keys are preserved. The player moves from one 4 or 5 note chord to the next with each melody note and it is not unusual to go from the 3rd position to the 10th in one single measure. However, the chords, once mastered are very guitar player friendly and flow logically in terms of finger position. The arrangements make sense in terms of the music and the guitar and they are not watered down for the novice nor overly difficult for the sake of diffculty. You can always add a few bass notes or drop a chord for a single note run if you wish. The arrangements leave some space for you to do that. Actually, Yelin in the forward says he intends the player to learn from these arrangements and perhaps become inventive.
These books are for players whith a lot of playing experience who need some clean no-nonsense arrangements of great golden age jazz tunes to be played by the soloist. Well here they are in a 5 volume series. If you are a guitarist who is comfortable all over the fingerboard and has no issues knotting and unknotting fingers for jazz chords, these books are for you.
These books have the melody line, stock chords and lyrics, with the chord solo arrangement in both standard notation and tab – the top staff is the original and the lower staff the chord melody. If you need the fake book "original", just read the top staff and chord symbols.
These are performance standard, professional arrangements, melodic and rich in tone, yet they are easily within the grasp of an intermediate level guitarist. The grips are very usable and there are no crazy stretches. Each note of the melody has an associated chord, so you could easily simplify the arrangements by using some single notes.