Beginning Fingerstyle Blues Guitar (Guitar Books)

Ok, this is my first review so I will be as honest as I can. I am 48 years old and been dabbling with the guitar since I was 8. Like many other folk (it appears), I had become a 'bedroom player'. Two verses and move onto something else, a lick or riff (badly)or else bad timing and not very often in the key that suited my voice. But I thought I was poor to passable. I can fingerpick quite well, so I thought it about time I moved forward, hence this purchase.At the time of writing this review I am 36 pages on out of the 96 or so the book covers. The first thing I did was burn the CD to my hard drive so it stays in perfect condition - it also helps to have the lesson tracks (46) immediately on hand when the pc is fired up so I can listen to them, pause them, replay etc. This is in fact essential for someone who has no TAB or musical notation skills, not that you need them.The first lessons start at the very basics and if you doggedly keep practicing them until you can play along with the cd, I would say it is safe to move onto the next section. Using this method I have slowly progressed from the dull finger paterns, (which are totally necessary by the way), that ease you into the unusual rhythm. The hand / brain finds it difficult to co-ordinate thumb stroke and the other three fingers in a totally separate way at first. You have to stick with it and it will come. Once it does and you move on, you are introduced into three keys for playng blues and the finger patterns get more intricate. What you do not notice is you are also starting to become quite profficient at reading tab (or notation if you choose to follow that - the book does both), without noticing. Each section builds on the last and by P16 there is a 'Blues in A' piece that pulls it all together.Melody notes are added, and the pieces soon become more 'tuneful'. Dotted notes, eighth notes and syncopation follow, all building on previous work, which is why I stressed it being so important not to move on until you are comfortable with the section.As a side note - it is worth penciling the CD track number against the lesson in the book so you can pick up where you left off. I just noticed that the last page in the book details which track goes with which page/lesson - it might save the next person some time knowing that, but I had not even sneaked a peak that far ahead.There is not tons of mind-numbing information to digest, but there is some. However, it all just gets absorbed in the practice. I have seen books that would scare me off due to the encyclopedic tomes, but not this one. It got good reviews so I purchased it. I can say this - it does what it says IF you put in the effort. And there is the key to all your guitar playing skill. If you are hapy to settle for the same-old-same-old that is as good as you will be. If you work hard you will move on. As a bedroom player who knows a lot of other bedroom players, once you get beyond what you are prepared to settle for (the proverbial brick wall), you reach a new level that others wish they too could achieve.I must have put in 30 hours of practice (slow learner) so far, but the difference in my playing style is tangible. More accurate timing - because you have to be, better finger positioning, and a greater satisfaction.I am looking forward to being even better than this, but I know it will be a slow road. Good luck if you buy this book.

I've been playing guitar for a few years, but mainly strumming chords on an acoustic or playing lead parts on an electric, with only some very basic acoustic finger-picking around chords. I wanted to develop this technique a bit more. I found this book incredibly useful, and as I worked through I noticeably improved my finger-picking technique and range.The books includes basic finger-picking around chords, including melody notes to augment the basic chord notes, bass-line runs, picking rhythms, chord inversions up the neck, the structure and patterns of blues music, vamps (introductory phrases), blues singing/playing, and finishing on number of blues tunes. The music is presented in both music notation and tab.There were some interesting and summary explanations about the evolution of the basic acoustic 12-bar blues pattern and its origin from the Mississippi delta, with the twice repeated questioning lyric phrase followed by the answering phrase, and how this progressed through Memphis up to Chicago with the more modern electric Chicago-blues sound. I enjoyed this commentary and found that it contextualised blues music and explained its form very simply.This book was good for me and my level, however I would put a caveat on this. Although it is entitled as 'Beginning', I think a pure beginner might get frustrated by the fast progression. The book starts very simply with basic musical notation and chord shapes and exercises around these which are aimed at a complete beginner, but by about page 20 or so, melody notes are introduced requiring partial barring and 3-fret finger stretches for the A-Chord, for example. This isn't easy for a beginner. Similarly the 4-finger version of the E7 isn't going to be straightforward. Although the progression rate was good for me, I think a beginner will struggle with this. I'd recommend this for someone with certainly no less than 6-12 months experience of strumming/basic playing.

I think this is a very nice introduction to fingerstyle and the blues. If you've never played fingerstyle this represents one way to start. Others would be 'Contemorary Travis Picking' by Mark Hanson and 'Beginning Fingerstyle' by Lou Manzi. And the old original by Chet Atkins has some nice easy pieces that sound good as well - that's 'Mel Bay's Complete Chet Atkins Guitar Method' (although it doesn't tell you some basics of which finger on what string that you'll find in the other books).There's some nice DVDs around as well - try 'Beginning Fingerstyle' by Fred Sokolow or the brilliant Buster B Jones - a great intro into thumb-style and all shown on the screen. Fred Sokolow - Beginner's Fingerpicking Guitar [DVD]I know that a load of people have given this book a 5* rating, but 18 months on and I still think it's a 4. I think the CD could have had more instruction and guidance. And I think you'll still need a teacher to get the best out of it - but then I'm a teacher, but I still think that's true. Fred Sokolow is probably the easiest way to go right at the start because he's a good communicator and you'll get to see it all on DVD. My first book choice would be Beginning Fingerstyle by Lou Manzini -it's incomplete because there not enough good music to play in the book - but the instruction is right on. Try 101 Easy Fingerstyle Guitar Solos by Larry McCabe if you want some simple practice pieces. 101 Easy Fingerstyle Guitar Solos (Mccabes 101 Series) Then I'd go to Mark Hanson, Travis Picking then Blues fingerstyle. Hence a 4*