Birth of the Groove: R and B, Soul and Funk Guitar: 1945-1965 (Inside the Blues) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Five stars and I stand by every one of them. For me, this is the perfect book focusing more on rhythm than on lead guitar. But of course it's not about rhythm guitar in the (boring) strumming sense. This is a book on double stops, licks and fills. Instead of teaching you how to play one hundred notes in three seconds, this book teaches you how to play one note at the exact right point in time.
Yes, it's about timing, about economical use of notes. In short, the secret of what makes music funky and groovy.

I am an intermediate player, but I do think even better players might find it interesting. The book is also a guide to a lot of great guitarists who haven't been put in the spotlight like Clapton and Hendrix. The session men behind a lot of great music who know how to play for the song not to ruin it with stupid solos.

33 songs/examples on the CD. I have only gotten til example 7 yet, but I'm really looking forward to doing more. Each new thing might take me a day or two to master, but I already feel I'm making great progress.

In short, for me this book makes practising fun. And well, that's a whole lot more than could be said about all other books around.

Great historical info, tips on recordings etc.UPDATE (years later): I'm still very happy with this book. I went through almost the whole book in my honeymoon phase. In fact, now it's probably time to go back through this book again and do a refresh. A comment to this review expressed disappointment to the fact that many of the licks are very short. He's right about that. For me it was the exact right book at the right time in my development. I really got a fresh start into electric guitar after having played acoustic (mostly strumming) for many many years. Short licks and phrases that I managed to master in a day or two turned out the perfect practise companion. In that sense it's also a book you'll work yourself through quickly and not have that lasting quality. In that way it could seem expensive and disposable - but I compare price/value to how much I've improved with paying for lessons. And in that way - this book has been my best investment in tutorship ever.The short examples for me was what makes this a good practice book. I'm a better player after it and it has opened up my fretboard to a lot more lead/rhythm-stuff that I never managed to get into before. After all, I've bought many books before where the examples and songs are so long that I never manage to get through them.

As a result of my enthusiasm over this book I ordered a few more books by the same author. They still look really tempting, but so far I haven't really gotten around to finish them like with this one. Maybe because the examples in the other ones are longer...

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Product Description:
The years 1945-1965 saw a radical and exciting shift in American popular music. Blues and swing jazz helped to produce a new musical form called rhythm and blues, which in turn set in motion the development of soul and funk, not to mention rock Ã-nÃ- roll. What united these genres was an emphasis on the beat, or the groove, over the melody that would culminate in the syncopated monochord workouts of funk. Along the way, some of the greatest electric guitarists of the postwar years explored the boundaries of the new instrument with a rich array of hot licks. This book/CD pack explores everything from the swinging boogie of Tiny Grimes, to the sweaty primal funk of Jimmy Nolen, to the styles of Mickey Baker, Billy Butler, Steve Cropper, Cornell Dupree, Jerry Jemmott, Curtis Mayfield, Ike Turner and everyone in between. Includes in-depth lessons, historical analysis, rare photos, and a CD with 33 full-band tracks.

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