Berklee Essential Guitar Songbook

Publisher: Berklee Press
Editors: Sheryl Bailey, Kim Perlak

This collection includes some of the most popular songs and repertoire taught by the Berklee Guitar Department faculty. The music is taught and performed in our Guitar Sessions summer programs.

By learning this music, you will experience a diversity of styles: classic rock, blues, country, singer/songwriter, jazz, jam band, funk, progressive rock, funk, classical, and contemporary improvisation/microtonal music. Each piece is selected and introduced by some of Berklee’s most popular faculty members. This collection will help you become a well-rounded player and prepare you to participate in Berklee’s guitar programs. Notation varies, depending on the style of the selection, and may include traditional notation, tablature, and chord diagrams.

You will learn to:
 •  Expand your repertoire and stylistic diversity.
 •  Add new chord shapes and rhythm guitar approaches.
 •  Explore fingerstyle techniques.
 •  Discover new scales and modes for improvising.
 •  Gain a deeper understanding of how chord progressions work

Selections include:

• “Hey Hey,” by Big Bill Broonzy
• “Freight Train,” by Elizabeth Cotten
• “Wildwood Flower,” by Maybelle Carter
• “We Gather Together,” 16th Century Dutch
• “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away,” by Lennon/McCartney
• “The Weight,” by Robbie Robertson
• “Apache” by Jerry Lorden
• “Two Bones and a Pick,” by T-Bone Walker
• “Contemplation,” by McCoy Tyner
• “Watermelon Man,” by Herbie Hancock
• “Vicki,” by Jimmy McGriff
• “Summertime,” by George Gershwin
• “I Think I’m Paranoid,” by Garbage
• “Fade to Black,” by Metallica
• “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed,” by Dickey Betts
• “Diamond Dust,” by Jeff Beck
• “Marchinha de Carnaval,” by Celso Machado
• “Dolor de Amor,” by Frank Wallace
• “Rockin’ in Rhythm,” by Duke Ellington
• “One Note Samba,” by Antonio Carlos Jobim