Playin' the Blues: Guitar TAB (Book & CD) (Alfred's Artist Series) Review

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(More customer reviews)this book is very good it goes hand in hand with the video good for all levels.

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Product Description:
Robben lays out all the basics -- the scales, chords, licks and phrases that are the foundation of modern blues guitar style. He discusses his fingering technique, vibrato and string bending, and also shows his favorite chord forms and comping patterns. Includes a ""lick"" section and several complete solos. In notation and tab.

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Rhythm Guitar Encyclopedia Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I made a mistake when I bought this book:
- there was no cds with it, so I can't use it.
But it may be good for someone else!

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Product Description:
Includes over 450 rhythms in every musical style including rock, blues, jazz, folk, alternative, country and more. Examples are shown in an easy-to-read rhythmic notation, standard music notation and TAB. Fingerstyle accompaniment patterns are included.The CDs offer performances of examples.

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Scales and Modes for Guitar (Handy Guide) Review

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(More customer reviews)I have used this book, primarily when I am in a hurry to find a scale to blow over some changes, and have found that the suggestions are accurate, usable, and some are interesting.I think that this book is verycomprehensive and will take your playing to the next level if you spendsome time with it.

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Product Description:
This Handy Guide is a fast and fun way to learn how to use scales and modes from day one and will provide a strong foundation from which to build upon. This Handy Guide contains: 14 essential scales and modes Guitar TAB, neck position and standard music notation.

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Arpeggios for Guitar (The Progressive Guitarist Series) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This book's title undersells it: it shows not only arpeggios but the corresponding scales and chord forms as well.It does not actually name each chord, but gives chord-scale-arpeggios in fretboard diagrams for each chord type, for example, major, minor, 6ths, 7ths -- on through the various altered forms.As the editorial review says, five positions for each are given.All of this is on one page for each chord type. So for example, you can find five scales, five chord forms, and five arpeggios for Dm7 (assuming you already know where to find "D") all laid out logically in fretboard diagrams that correspond to one another by position-- all on one page!
You'll need enough guitar knowledge to figure out the root of the chord or scale you're actually playing.Also, this does not show you chord progressions.Those could be viewed as shortcomings, but if you just accept you'll have to learn those topics elsewhere, this book becomes extremely useful.In order to actually name each chord the book would be extremely lengthy and repetitive (I have another arpeggio book like that).As it is, it packs a wealth of information into a readily accessible format.One page gives you all the musical possibilities for each chord.This is a great tool for improvising, creating new licks, and composing on the guitar.Its should prove useful for the fairly new guitarist to the more advanced, as it covers simple major and minor chords through advanced jazz chords(-scales-arpeggios).This is a true "fretboard roadmap" all in one book that I expect will give me more material to work on than I can probably master in one lifetime!Its a very simple, logical approach to the guitar that I wish I had found a long time ago.
I use this both as an exercise book -- playing each scale/arp/chord up and down the neck -- and as a reference for particular situations: coming up with ideas for soloing over, say, a maj 7 chord - or creating musical ideas for a composition.I play both pick and fingerstyle and the book is opening my eyes to all sorts of new creativity and technical growth in both styles.
Other books of this genre force you to turn pages -- or go to another book altogether -- to get from scales to chords to arpeggios. Having it all "at a glance" on one page is invaluable.I've had this book for a year or so, and am only now beginning to realize what a gold mine it is!Obviously not the only book you'll ever need, but if I were marooned on the proverbial desert island (with my guitar of course!) this is the book I'd want.

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Product Description:
Shows each arpeggio in five positions in a simple diagram format. For every arpeggio the corresponding chord form and scale pattern are also shown. Covers all forms of the major, minor, and dominant 7th type chords.

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Joe Pass Chord Solos: For Guitar, Vibes & All Keyboard Instruments Review

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(More customer reviews)These are not "Chord Melodies". Rather they are chord improvisations over the changes of six tunes: Misty, Billie Joe, a Blues in Bb, Watch What Happens, Sunny and The Days of Wine and Roses.
Very dense chord arrangements showing different harmonic possibilities with the basic changes. I recorded these as I learnedthem, so I could listen to them to really absorb the material.
Joe gives no harmonic analysis at all, so it is up to the reader to figure out the theory, and boy, there's lots of it.
I'm a professional jazz guitarist and teacher....playing nearly forty years, and I still review these and pick chord licks that I like, transpose them to other keys, positions and strings, analyze the voice leading, chord substitutions, etc. I've had this book for years, and lots of it has slowly seeped into my playing. I'll play a piece, pick a chord lick that I like (like any one of them), and then try to apply it to my improvisations in other tunes.
In my opinion, for advanced players, this is one of the best books out there to dig into some really lush and melodic chord playing. I found it tough reading....and I'm a pretty advanced player. But I have worked through most of the major guitar books out there and this one is one of my mainstays.
While I'm here, I'll also recommend:
Fusion - Joe Diorio
Joe Pass on Guitar
Howard Roberts Guitar Manual Chord Melody
For players new to jazz and not so advanced, a standard book is
Mickey Baker Jazz Guitar Volume 1.

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Product Description:
The art of improvising chord-style solos is an important part of any musician's resources. This book has been written to improve that art for guitar, vibes and all keyboard instruments. A careful study of these solos will give you a thorough understanding of chordal playing and substitutions. It is great for voicing as well as improvisation.

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Chord Orbits (The Progressive Guitarist Series) Review

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(More customer reviews)If you want to be Guitar George, this is the book for you.

This book was my bible when learning to play Jazz guitar.Any time I saw a chord I just didn't know or understand, I turned to Chord Orbits to look it up.Or if I wanted a different voicing, this was the place to go.It is the thesaurus of guitar chords.

While it touches on the chord theory a little bit, this is not the book to learn the subject in depth.Theory is not book's strength.But if you are unsure how to form a Dom7#9 or any of 40 different chords, this book will show you 8 different ways to play each.

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Product Description:
Explores the sound and shape of a chord's progression up and down the fingerboard. Each chord type is presented in eight fingerings using a cyclic diagram that shows that after the eighth fingering you will have arrived back at the starting point -- one octave higher.

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Guitar Techniques (Bk/Cd) Hal Leonard Guitar Method Supplement Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is a great introduction for some of the most common guitar techniques that have been used for years. When i bought i was thinking: "Yeah, I'm gonna learn all this stuff and I'll improve my playing...". Well, i guess i was totally right because this book teaches everything with an amazing clarity. The book says in what kind of music is the technique used and how to do it. Though it shows you everything with great facility, it always tells you that you must practise, practise and practise until you master the technique.

If you wanna improve your guitar playing, you could buy this book and learn every technique and then practise it until you master it.

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Product Description:
This comprehensive book/CD pack will help beginning to intermediate guitarists master the techniques essential to becoming a great player. Lessons cover all the basics clearly and in detail. The CD includes 92 tracks for demonstration and play-along. A perfect supplement to any guitar method!

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Matt Smith's Chop Shop for Guitar Review

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(More customer reviews)I have had the oppertunity to meet, study, and play with Matt at the National Guitar Workshop at the Nashville site and was blown away by his knowledge of the art of music. I came home and as soon as i sat down, i forgot almost half of the information he gave me and i would try to understand the scribbles written on the sheets of paper that was given to me during my week in Nashville. I took the course again this last summer and i still needed more guidence. Thankfully, his book is out and it's like having him here in my own home! He covers everything you could imagine! I thank him for writting this excellent book and for the publishers who let him do it his way. Good luck to you Matt!

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Product Description:
Comes with an audio CD.
In this book, New York-based studio musician and in-demandclinician Matt Smith opens his bag of tricks and tells all.Mattdemystifies topics such as chord progressions, "cool notes" in solos,harp scales, harmonics, improvisation, alternate tunings and muchmore.His unique and creative approaches to composition, soloing andmastering the fretboard will inspire and motivate you to reach newlevels of musicianship and self-confidence in your playing.MattSmith gives you the tools you need to improve your guitar chops inthis fun-to-read and easy-to-use book-a must for all guitarists.

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Chord Tone Soloing: A Guitarist's Guide to Melodic Improvising in Any Style (Musicians Institute: Private Lessons) Review

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(More customer reviews)Barrett Tagliarino books are easy to follow. This one uses a format similar to his Fretboard Workbook. Ideas are introduced with easy to read chord diagrams that revolve around the CAGED system of chord organization. Chord tones are emphasized as one solos. This outlines the chord progression making the soloist sound "melodic," instead of simply playing the right scale over chords.

This book expects the reader to be new to soloing and progresses in baby steps. The other book on the same subject by Berklee Press called "Melodic Improvisation" is much more advanced and focuses on heavy weight jazzers like Pat Martino, Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, and monster players of that caliber. This book is accessible to rock, folk, bluegrass, and country guitarists, not just jazz cats. The secret to success, the point of the book, is to target chord tones as one solos, but how does one do that?

To answer that question, Barrett provides in depth guitar theory, a lot of break down and analysis, scalar choices, key center analysis, and a lot of down home humor along the way to keep things from getting overwhelming. All-in-all, Tagliarino has written another instructional book you'll want to keep in the library for continued study.

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Product Description:
Learn how the professionals create monster solos with this easy-to-use book/CD pack! The accompanying CD includes 68 tracks of exercises, licks, solo examples, and play-alongs. Includes all necessary foundation materials; detailed instructions on how and what to practice; essential concepts for players at every level; developing your real-time melodic reflexes; soloing over any progression in any style of music; using chords as an endless source of ideas; and more.

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Al Di Meola's Picking Techniques (Instructional) Review

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(More customer reviews)This book told me more about "Profit Techniques" than picking techniques. Practically all of the material is excerpted from the (mostly excellent) transcription book "Words, Music, Pictures", and not even presented in a very logical context. The few sentences that specifically deals with picking, are just general remarks that aren't very helpful in the practical sense. From a picking wizard such as Al, I'd expected some killer exercises and top-notch advice, but this book was probably hastily assembled to capitalize on his name (I doubt he had much input on it at all). Nothing wrong with the transcription excerpts, except that they aren't really right-hand etudes, and you can get the full versions in the other book (WMP).

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Product Description:
An insightful and helpful book written by Di Meola on his own personal technique of guitar playing.Includes exercises and excerpts from his music, which act as a step-by-step guide to help the guitar student play better.

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Exotic Scales and Licks for Electric Guitar: 16 Tantalizing Scales and 80 Great Ways to Use Them (Book & CD) Review

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(More customer reviews)I got this book looking for some ways to break away from the same old blues scales.

It is good for what it is - just a collection of licks in different scales.This is one of the only books I've read that contains licks in these scales.Other books just tell you the scale and that's it.There are only about five licks for each scale.What the book lacks is a complete diagram of the scales on the fretboard, but if you want that, you should get the Guitar Grimoire book.This book just lists the notes of the scale and the harmonization at the beginning of each section. It's a pretty slim book, only 35 pages.It doesn't contain notes on what fingers to use where either.I may be spoiled after reading so many Troy Stetina books, which map out everything exactly for you.Overall, this book met my expectations. Most of the licks are pretty cool and I'll have fun learning all of them and incorporating them into my playing.

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Product Description:
Expand your lead lines and scalar vocabulary with a whole book packed full of unusual scales and interesting ways to play them. The accompanying CD contains 80 demonstration tracks of all the licks in the book. Scales include: Prometheus, enigmatic, Hebrew, Hungarian Gypsy, Hindu, Neapolitan Major, Neapolitan Minor, East Indian, Romanian, double harmonic minor, Persian, double augmented, 8-Tone Spanish, Byzantine, overtone, harmonic major * and more.

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Scales Over Chords (Book and CD) Review

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(More customer reviews)A good tool for the beginning guitarist, however fails to go into more complexscale formations. Also, it includes very little music theory as to why the scales are formed how they are. If your just starting out, andcan't read music, this is a great book for you.

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Product Description:
All you need to know about the art of improvisation. Teaches the guitar player how to improvise and play lead lines over chord progressions. Also explains how to create and use intervals, scales, modes and arpeggios in any key. With helpful accompaniment cd containg back up and play along tracks.

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Maran Illustrated Guitar Review

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(More customer reviews)Back in high school (a LONG time ago) I dabbled in guitar, but haven't touched one in decades.I've been seriously thinking about taking up this instrument again when, lo and behold, a review copy of "Maran's Illustrated Guitar" showed up in my mailbox -- probably because I've reviewed other books with creative graphics layouts.It certainly wasn't because of any expertise on the guitar!But God works in strange ways, they say...

This book is absolutely the best beginner's guide I've seen, and the one I'm actually using to learn the guitar.It covers everything from the history of the guitar, famous guitarists, types of guitars (classical, acoustic, electric), how to buy, clean, repair, change strings, perform adjustments and maintenance -- and of course, how to play it.Not only does this book have the usual chord charts, it has actual photos showing how to place the fingers on the frets.And it doesn't just cover basic chords.It also includes a section on reading music and playing single notes -- something I did not find in other beginner's books.After learning the basics, you can turn to specific chapters for pointers on Rock, Blues, Country, Folk, or Classical guitar, with different picking and strumming styles clearly explained.(For each section, the model holding the guitar is dressed appropriately for the genre -- a nice touch!)There is also a chapter on amplifers and other equipment for electric guitar players, and a section on setting up a home recording studio.

One of the best things I learned is that there are now electronic tuners for guitars (and most other instruments) -- something that did not exist in my high school days.I immediately bought one. As with everything else in this book, there was a clear description of the types of tuners, the pros and cons of each, etc., complete with photos.

The graphical layout is very well done and pleasing to the eye.The photos are interspersed with the text to get away from the boring "Gutenberg box" effect.Another plus is that the binding is flexible enough for the book to lay flat while playing -- a major convenience when both of your hands are busy holding the guitar.In short, this is a beautiful book and a pleasure to use.Highly recommended!

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Product Description:
Produced by the award-winning maranGraphics group, Maran Illustrated Guide to Guitar is a valuable resource to a wide range of readers - from those who want to play a few songs with their family around the campfire to those who aspire to become serious musicians or rock stars. Maran Illustrated Guide to Guitar shows you the best way to perform each task, while the full-color photographs, music examples and clear, step-by-step instructions walk you through each task from beginning to end. Thorough topic introductions and useful tips provide additional information and advice to help enhance your guitar experience. Maran Illustrated Guide to Guitar is packed with essential information for readers who are picking up a guitar for the first time, and will provide more experienced players with a refresher course on the basics and the opportunity to add more advanced techniques to their repertoire. Maran Illustrated Guide to Guitar will cost less than the price of one private guitar lesson, and will be a permanent resource that will provide years of enjoyment.

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A Modern Approach to Jazz, Rock and Fusion Guitar (Musicians Institute Press) Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is not for beginners and geared toward advanced players who have a good technique and already grasped a solid understanding of the jazz music theory.Minimal explanations are given within the examples, though the musical ideas are not difficult to figure out if the player is equipped with a sound jazz theory background.There are totally 30 great modern sounding licks to learn and extrapolate, in the categories of:

(1) Major scale and chromaticism (applied in different harmonic situations).
(2) Triads (superimposition over chords, some with chromaticism).
(3) Arpeggios (superimposition over chords, some with chromaticism).
(4) Additional ideas (mainly arpeggios with chromaticism).

For a similar genre, the player might also want to check out Jazz-Rock Solos for Guitar: Lead Guitar in the Styles of Carlton, Ford, Metheny, Scofield, Stern and more! (REH Pro Licks), a work which is more accessible and diversified in style.

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Product Description:
Jean Marc Belkadi gives you over 30 great lines using a variety of techniques and melodic ideas. Covers: alternate, sweep, and skip picking; major scale, chromaticism, arpeggios, superimposing triads; legato, wide intervals, alterations; and much more. Includes standard notation and tablature.

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Barre Chords: The Ultimate Method and Reference Guide (Pocket Guide) Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a great book for beginners trying to learn all those chords. It presents the chords in simple chord frames with all the fingerings and alternate and partial fingerings of chords. It starts with the basic major minor chords in all the positions but quickly moves onto 7ths, 9ths, add9, etc. etc. This is the ideal book for rhythm guitarist or songwriters looking to add some interesting colors to their progressions other than the common chords.

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Product Description:
The best single source for learning to play barre chords on the guitar! This handy guide covers: all barre chord forms and fingerings; movable shapes and roots; major, minor, seventh, ninth, added tones, alterations and extended chords; sample chord progressions for application practice; and more!

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Outside Guitar Licks: Lessons and Lines for Taking Your Playing Over the Top (Private Lessons / Musicians Institute) Review

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(More customer reviews)Like all Jean Marc Belkadi books, or at least the 3 or 4 I own or have seen, this book is NOT for beginners. The author does NOT explain in great detail the examples of what he played. There is a short paragraph--usually just 2 or 3 sentences---stating the key andthe general concept of what is happening in the lick. If you do not know some music theory, you will struggle with this book. You must also have some 'chops' before even thinking about getting this book. You must also understand how to learn from these books. The author cannot play the guitar for you.The point with books like these is to grasp the underlying concept of the lick the author shows you and then EXPAND on it and experiment with it in as many different ways you can think of. With those caveats being mentioned, this is a WONDERFUL book. It has given me many freah new ideas on improvising. But again, youmust be prepared and willing to put alot of time and effort in applying the examples in the book. If you do, you will gain much from this book.

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Product Description:
Written by Musicians Institute instructor Jean Marc Belkadi at the request of his students, this book/CD pack will help guitarists understand, hear and be able to use modern outside playing techniques in their own compositions and improvisations. The book covers: four different concepts of playing outside (the chromatic, symmetrical, superimposed and 12-tone approach); the major, minor and dominant chord families; and more, all in standard notation and tab. The accompanying CD contains 82 demo tracks, with most played at full tempo, then repeated at half speed.

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Fretboard Knowledge for the Contemporary Guitarist Review

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(More customer reviews)I've been trying to learn the fretboard (to be able to jam or improvise)for years (scales, keys, notes), but I HATE rote memorization, and so many approaches require LOTS of memorization.This book shows you a VERY simple way, first, to find specific notes on the fretboard (using a "W" formation that locates notes by octaves). Then it shows you how to play the most-used scales (major and minor pentatonic) in the most efficient, easily-remembered way I have ever seen.(It also covers other scales.) I've struggled with the CAGED system using "boxes."Call me slow or stupid, but it never made sense to me, and there was SO much to remember with that approach.With this approach, I find my fingers flying up and down the fretboard, starting with any note, playing in any key. I can go, for example, from the first fret of the 6th string to the 16th fret of the first sting, and back down again, and play around in between, and not take the same "route," with NO problem.It's just plain FUN.And it's easy.
In my opinion, pages 14 and 15 alone are worth the price of entry. I highly recommend this book.

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Product Description:
Become a master of the entire guitar fretboard by learning simple pattern recognition techniques. Vivian Clement puts hundreds of scales, modes and chords at your fingertips, along with some new tricks for easy transposing.

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