The symbol error probability of M-ary PSK (MPSK) and QAM (MQAM) systems using the branch with the largest signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at the output of L-branch selection combining (SC) in frequency-nonselective slow Nakagami fading channels with an additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) is derived theoretically For integer values of the Nakagami fading parameter m, the general formula for evaluating symbol error rate (SER) of MPSK signals in the independent branch diversity system comprises numerical analyses with the integral-form expressions. An exact closed-form SER performance of MQAM signals under the effect of SC diversity via numerical integration is presented. These performance evaluations allow designers to determine M-ary modulation methods for Nakagami fading channels.