Posted February 21, 2012 at 4:49 am | 2 comments
Throughout the past century, guitar students the world over have been introduced to the instrument through the publications of Mel Bay, Hal Leonard, the Royal Conservatory and the Suzuki Method. As these books have grown in popularity, especially the Mel Bay Guitar Book 1 which is an institution in itself, these instructional books have become ingrained in the minds of students, teachers and parents as they have made their way into countless practice rooms and teaching studios the world over.
Posted in: Book Reviews, Reviews
Posted January 3, 2012 at 2:24 pm | No comments
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, scales are important to any guitarist. Everybody knows the box method, with the five different patterns for each scale, and some guitarists subscribe to the 3 notes per string approach, but other than that, there haven’t really been any innovations with scales on the guitar lately. Enter New York jazz guitarist Adam Smale with A New Approach to Scales for Guitarists, which puts forth an interesting and useful 4 note per string method of learning and implementing scales.
Posted in: Book Reviews, Instructional Book Reviews, Reviews
Posted December 21, 2011 at 2:56 pm | No comments
When the British rock group, Badfinger, hit the airwaves there was a rumor that it was The Beatles, working under a different name. They had the pop sound of Paul McCartney with guitar work that hinted of Harrison, as well as some very melodic harmonies that could easily be mistaken for the Fab Four. Of course, Badfinger was on Apple Records and McCartney did write and produce their hit “Come and Get It”, so the rumors had an edge of truth to them.
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Posted December 17, 2011 at 2:00 pm | No comments
Clapton: The Ultimate Illustrated History by noted rock author, Chris Welch, landed in our shop a short while ago and at first glance, we knew it was worth checking out. Sure, there’s the Clapton connection, but the book exudes high quality and we’re familiar with past books by Welch.
Posted in: Book Reviews, Reviews
Posted December 14, 2011 at 12:53 pm | One comment
For those who are Fender obsessed and love the contours and sounds of Fender guitars, author Tom Wheeler’s latest book, The Dream Factory: Fender Custom Shop, offers up the comprehensive story of the Shop, complete with its compelling history, a series of stunning photos, highlights on some very cool CS axes, and the inside scoop on the genesis of the Custom Shop straight from some of the custom builders.
Posted in: Book Reviews, Reviews
Posted December 10, 2011 at 1:03 pm | 2 comments
Scale books for guitarists seem to be hitting shelves in record numbers these days. With the evolution of the ebook, there has been a boom of self-published books being released, providing more options for guitar consumers than ever before. Because of these myriad options, it seems like a great time to be a guitarist, because of the wide variety of teaching materials available. But, at the same time it’s harder than ever to decide which product is worth buying, especially when money is tight.
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Posted December 4, 2011 at 8:27 am | One comment
Guitar players usually fall within two camps when it comes to how they pick their instrument. On the one side you have the players that use a pick to play and strum all of their notes and chords, and on the other side of the aisle you have cats that fingerpick to pluck each note and chord. While both approaches offer merit, depending on the style of music played and the tastes of the guitarist using them, many players often ignore a third option when it comes to their choice of picking technique.
Posted in: Book Reviews, Reviews
Posted December 1, 2011 at 1:22 pm | No comments
With the explosion of guitar books over the past two decades, first in hard-copy form and now through the ebook phenomenon, it is harder than ever for guitarists to sift through all of the material available to them and choose a good book to dig into in the practice room. While some books are aimed at specific genres such as metal licks or blues chords, playing in the style of your favorite player or learning a certain technique such as tapping or fingerpicking, one of the most popular formats has been and is still the “umbrella” approach to teaching in book form.
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Posted November 26, 2011 at 5:46 pm | 2 comments
The “For Dummies” series has been around for as long as I can remember, and while I know a few people who got a lot out of their books in the information technology field, I never had any personal experience with them before I picked up guitar playing. Like a lot of people, I was slightly put off by the title, and even more so by the idea of toting the book around with the only-too-recognizable “For Dummies” on the cover, but out of curiosity and my liking for simplicity, I invested in Rock Guitar for Dummies.
Posted in: Book Reviews, Guitar News, Reviews
Posted May 3, 2011 at 1:46 pm | No comments
When people hear the words “jazz chords,” pictures of giant, five or six-note chords often come to mind, often with big stretches and funny names like augmented b9 and 7b9,#5 and such. But, it is more often than not that professional jazz guitarists, such as Lenny Breau, Kurt Rosenwinkel and Ed Bickert for example, prefer to use smaller, more manageable chords, which are often only three or four notes and based on material that many of us already know such as triads and fourth voicings. In his new book, Three-Note Voicings and Beyond, author, guitarist and master pedagogue Randy Vincent sheds light on this ultra-important, but often
Posted in: Book Reviews, Reviews
Do you love the guitar and all things guitar related? 