Red Hot Country Guitar (Guitar Signature Licks)

I've studied mainly rock and blues guitar for over 30 years with a little jazz thrown in. my playing experience has been mainly in church praise and worship bands. The pentatonic approach of rock and blues is sometimes a poor fit for gospel music so I turned to country to find an approach to soloing over changing chords.I've been studying country lead guitar for a few years now and bought quite a few books on the genre, as well as any magazines I could find that had instructional material for country guitar. For a long time the UK mag Guitar Techniques had a regular column by Lee Hodgson (author of Hot Country Guitar), I had only just started checking them out when Lee moved on, to be replaced for a short while by Dario Cortese (GT now doesn't do ANY country ... sigh).Dario produced a short but concise series of columns each focussing on one the main technique areas of country lead, culminating in sample solos in the style of Albert Lee, Brad Paisley and Brent Mason. For the first time I had a systematic basis for developing techniques in each of the areas of single-note soloing, string bending, double stops and open or cross string techniques.I bought this book on the basis of the strong reviews here, along with a few other books. I admit when I first looked at it I wasn't terribly impressed and left it. I was also more interested in studying complete solos. Then I came back to it.This book takes the Dario Cortese approach and improves on it by a factor of 10. It may cover areas you may already know but that's the whole thing with music, the techniques may change but theoretical basis stays the same.It also crystallises and reinforces what I have learned previously especially in the area of string bending and due to the brilliant single-note soloing section I am much more fluent when I attempt to solo over my trusty playalong tracks in my lonely bedroom.I think if you study a few other books and then come back to this one you will find it to be a great companion volume. No one book can do it all.

Overall this is a pretty good book but I wouldn't pick it up if you are just learning country guitar. I think the arrangement of the book is somewhat disjointed. It starts with a section in hybrid picking which should have come later and after the explanation and of the scales and the open position and closed position licks. A big issue I have is with the close position licks section. The author sort of assumes you are a beginner but then proceeds into so many chromatic notes a beginner would have an impossible time figuring out what is going on in these licks. Also he should clearly explain alternate picking especially when it comes to 16th notes, which he never does. If you are newer to guitar I would recommend picking up Troy Stetina's speed mechanics for guitar before starting this book as this is the best book on alternate picking I have found. Overall this book does have some very good licks and as people mentioned the section on double stops is done very well. I would think of this book more as supplemental lick/technique/etudes book than as an actually book on learning how to actually play country leads guitar or country guitar solos.

A very useful, clearly written, and easy to understand book. Michael Hawley explains things eloquently and thoroughly, and offers tips which allow players of all styles to compliment their "toolbag" of guitar playing with country guitar licks, tones, and concepts.Instructional material is presented in both tab and standard notation, with accompanying text elaborating on the fine points of techniques involved. The overall format of the book is laid out in a progressive and logical manner.Supplementary audio examples are accessible online, using a code that is given within the book. Those examples are similarly laid out and presented in a very user friendly way, with each exercise counted in with a click track type beat. Audio examples can be altered in both tempo and pitch to suit the user's purpose and preference, and to make the example easier to assimilate into one's playing.Overall, the book is a gem of instructional material, and I highly recommend it to any guitar player looking to expand their knowledge of the instrument's capabilities.

I was very hopeful about this book initially because it looked more promising than the the other ones out there. I've been practicing on it for a couple months now and am finding it ultimately disappointing. It gives you a bunch of good licks, but no teaching on how to apply them. He starts off early with long licks using chromatic notes while ostensibly teaching licks to demonstrate closed position forms, which are confusing and hard to actually use with a backing track (that isn't included in the book). The couple examples where the licks are combined to form a solo are few and bad in many ways. Also, if I didn't already know the CAGED system well, I would have been very confused by the way he teaches it. I would give this book less stars but it is comparably better than all the other guitar books I've used over the years, which says more about the horrible pedagogy of most guitar teachers than anything else.

I've in my early 30s and have been playing for 20 years. I also went to Berklee College of Music. I've bought many instructional books across many genres. I bought this because even though I don't listen to that much straight country, I do love Alt-country and let's face it - country guitar licks are some of the most fun things you could possibly play on the guitar.This is one of the best instructional books I've seen bar none for this style, and a great resource not just for country, but frankly for any rock player. The scales, licks and concepts will work well in many rock styles, and it's all done within the context of highly playable licks you can use right away.Highly recommended for intermediate-beginners all the way up to experienced players.

I agree with the previous reviewer when he compares this book with the book by Greg Koch - both are good, but I would have bought this book first if I had been able to compare hard copy.

a lot to learn in this book so just starting

contra:1) die einzähler nerven wenn man sich schnell ein paar licks anhören will. einzähler bei backingtracks machen sinn, aber nicht bei licks bei denen eh nur der gitarrist zu hören ist.2) die licks sind viel zu langsam gespielt3) nur ganz wenige licks sind wirklich gut4) der gitarrist der dieses buch geschrieben hat ist nicht grad der beste (youtube vids ansehen...)5) und das wichtigste: die tracks sind ohne backup eingespielt. man muß sich also "denken" wie sich der lick über D-Dur anhört6) die beispielsolos klingen schrecklich

Das Buch ist das beste was es zu diesem Thema gibt, keine superkomplizierten Nachspielstücke von Gitarrenstars sondern von einfach bis schwierig licks die gut klingen und die man wirklich gebrauchen kann. Gute Grundlage um darauf seinen eigenen Stil zu entwickeln.

Wicked book. The CD allows you to listen to the licks and just steal the tasty ones you like. Perfect for someone who is just looking to add some flavour to their playing.