Mel Bay Learn to Play Brazilian Jazz Guitar

Brazilian jazz is the combination of the energizing rhythms of Brazilian and North American jazz music. Playing this style requires special skills not normally taught to the guitar student. This comprehensive book is designed to provide the guitarist with all that is necessary to understand and play Brazilian jazz such as chord structures, chord progressions, rhythms, decomposition, memorization, arranging, improvisation, notation, chord symbols and accompaniment as well as an overview and history of this coloful music. Solos are provided that implement various concepts and skills learned. They include: Amor Docy (Sweet Love); Passaciaille (Theme and First Variation); Bossa Barocco (Bossa Baroque); Bossa Improviso (Impromptu Bossa); Minuet (from “The Notebook of A.M. Bach); Choro Classic (Classical Choro); Choro Menor (Minor Choro); De Vez em Quando (Once in a While); Marcha Populaire (Folk March); Melodo de Lua (Moody Melody); Samba Sonolento (Sleepy Samba); Samba Feliz (Happy Samba); Sonhador (Day Dreamer); Amor Descuidado (Careless Love); Play the Bossa Nova; and Samba de Amor (Samba of Love).

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars A Fine Primer for the Intermeditate Guitarist
If you have mastered the basics of nylon guitar fingerstyle playing, then this book will ease your musical journey into the world of Bossa Nova, Samba, Choro, and related South American styles. The book includes a very good chapter on how to read rhythm (probably the biggest challenge to newcomers of Brazilian style guitar), and chapters on chord construction and progressions. David Marshall’s writing style is informal and friendly. He covers some music theory — as it relates to the Brazilian guitar — in a comprehensible, non-intimidating manner. He includes numerous rhythmic examples written in standard notation and tab, along with a CD to help you learn those difficult patterns. The latter half of the book consists of fifteen solos written in standard notation only (no tab). The solos range from moderate-beginner to intermediate in difficulty.

For anyone interested in pursuing the Brazilian jazz style, “The Brazilian Guitar Book” by Nelson Faria is a good place to continue after working through the Marshall book. Faria’s instruction is more comprehensive, but geared more towards the advanced-intermediate guitar player.

I was very impressed with the well-structured layout of “Learn to Play Jazz Guitar”. Marshall obviously loves this type of guitar playing, and manages to convey his enthusiasm and expertise to the reader. Studying from this book is almost comparable to attending private lessons with a competent Brazilian guitarist. Highly recommended.

4 Stars Title should be “Learn to play Classical style Brazilian Jazz Guitar”.
This is follow up to Russell’s fine review.

I’m a jazz and classically trained guitarist who has been teaching for 12+ years. Every year our studio gets a fair number of students that list learning Brazilian guitar as one of the styles they are interested in. I finally broke down and bought this book a year ago hoping I could recommend it to those students (at the time there weren’t any helpful reviews on Amazon I could use to determine which method book would fill that need). While this book is very thorough, those who would benefit most from it would be intermediate classical guitarists looking to learn to play Brazillian style guitar.

One thing I would have liked to have seen less of is his arrangements which are mostly classical guitar pieces with Brazilian jazz style rhythms. Had he provided more traditional Brazilain pieces I would have given this book 5 stars.

Hopefully soon someone will come out with a good beginners Brazlian guitar book that features examples and songs that are authentically Brazillian.

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Mel Bay Learn to Play Brazilian Jazz Guitar is a post from: Learn The Acoustic Guitar

Product Description

Classic country guitar solos book by Larry McCabe

If you love the sound of a twangy, chicken-picked vintage Telecaster or Stratocaster guitar and want to learn the exciting lead guitar style associated with classic truck driving songs, drinking songs, and cheating songs, this book is for you. (The book is not for beginners; basic picking and chording skills are required before attempting these solos.)

The solos in this book sound like the breaks one might hear on classic country recordings by Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, Lefty Frizell, George Jones, and similar artists who defined the exciting honky-tonk sound of the 50s to late 60s, before rampant commercialism eliminated virtually all originality and feeling from popular country music.

Several hundred popular country recordings were researched to come up with the 25 chord progressions in this book. Each progression was found to be common to many songs. A solo incorporating various concepts and techniques was played over each progression. The result is an authentic-sounding collection of 25 country guitar solos through which various ideas can be analyzed. An ambitious and creative guitarist will find many opportunities for applying these ideas to real songs.

The book could have been named Learn Bakersfield Lead Country Guitar Solos (or something like that). The twangy, Fender Telecaster country guitar style actually emerged in Bakersfield, California, in the 1950s. With a 50s Tele (Telecaster) or 60s Tele (Telecaster) guitar and a vintage Fender Deluxe Reverb Amp, the Bakersfield Sound country musicians and bandleaders like Don Rich, Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, Roy Nichols, Lefty Frizzel, Red Simpson, Wynn Stewart, and others would eventually teach the Nashville guitar pickers a good deal about chicken picking and twangy country lead guitar playing.

Please note: This book is a 2007 reprint of Larry McCabe’s Country Lead Guitar, formerly published by Mel Bay Publications.

Prerequisite Ability

• Ambitious early intermediate guitarist who wants to learn to play country lead guitar.
• Intermediate guitar player.

User Profiles

• Serious hobbyist guitarist.
• Flatpicking guitar players wanting to learn the electric country solo style.
• A gigging rock guitarist, blues guitarist, or jazz guitarist who wants to learn the electric country guitar picking style.
• Guitar teachers who teach electric lead guitar.
• Country guitar, blues guitar, and rock guitar players who want to expand their rhythm guitar skills and knowledge.

Goals and Purposes

• Learn how to play Bakersfield Sound guitar, classic country lead guitar, Nashville guitar, honky-tonk guitar, chicken picking, etc.
• Explore the major pentatonic scale and the major scale on the guitar fingerboard.
• Practice country guitar solos with a CD.
• Study country chord progressions.
• Greater familiarity with guitar fingerboard.

Author-Recommended Supplemental Listening for Country Guitar Players

The author recommends that guitarists who use this book listen to as many of the following country guitarists and musicians as possible. Listening to these vintage guitar players and musicians will provide unlimited enjoyment, inspiration, and ideas.

Country Guitar Players

Chet Atkins, Norman Blake, Junior Brown, James Burton, Billy Byrd, Thumbs Carlisle, Maybelle Carter, Duane Eddy, Ray Flacke, Hank Garland, Billy Grammar, Albert Lee, Grady Martin, Joe Maphis, Sam McGee, Bob Moore, Scotty Moore, Roy Nichols, Carl Perkins, Riley Puckett, Mose Rager, Jerry Reed, Don Rich, Eldon Shamblin, Arthur Guitar Boogie Smith, Merle Travis, Doc Watson, Clarence White.

Features:

Amazon Rating: (4.5) (out of 7 reviews)
List Price: $ 16.95
Best Price:
Availability:Normally ships in 24 hours

Read The Amazon Customer Reviews – Nashville Country Lead Guitar

Nashville Country Lead Guitar is a post from: Learn The Acoustic Guitar

The First Stage Guitar Book Learn How To Play Guitar Easily and Quickly

The “First Stage” Guitar Book is for the anxious beginner who desires a direct no frills method to learning how to play guitar without pages and pages of reading before you start putting your fingers on the strings and begin strumming some music right away; it is also a great reference guitar book for those who already play some. Recently revised and updated with more easy to understand guitar learning information.

All instructions are boldly and clearly illustrated in the most easiest to understand finger shapes.

This must have guitar book is a generous welcome addition to better understand all other guitar books you may already have in your learn how to play guitar collection.

The “First Stage” Guitar Book introduces and guides you to learning:

* Clear and bold illustrations of the most commonly played guitar chords for every key in the easiest to play Open & Barre chord shapes, for example, Major, Major 7ths, Major Dominant 7ths, Minor, Minor 7ths, and 9ths

* The absolutely must have Chord Combination Chart which clearly illustrates which chords go with chords in the same key. Practice chord progressions galore in every key. You will enjoy putting your own creations together with this indispensible chord chart

* Simple techniques of changing one chord to other chords of the same root note names by just lifting a finger or two

* Transposing any chord progression to the key that is the most comfortable for your voice

* Power Chords

* How to read and write in Tablature (Tabs)

* A simple method to maintaining a steady rhythm while strumming

* Clear illustrations of every note on the guitar neck fret board and where each note is located in standard notation and sheet music

The coil bind format allows the guitar book to remain flat for easy viewing of both the left and right side of each page.

Special Note: Both The “First Stage” Guitar Book and The “Guitar Book” (red cover) contain the same learning information. Here you have a choice of which cover art you prefer. This text refers to both the Coil Bind and Paperback Editions.

User Ratings and Reviews

3 Stars Good Place to Start
I bought this book about three months ago and although it is a good place to get started, it does have a few mistakes. I’m now taking lessons and have learned that a few of the chord patterns in the book are inaccurate and/or wrong. For example, the book shows the correct finger pattern for an “A” major chord but does not omit the 6th string (open “E” note) from the chord diagram, thus leading you to believe the note should be played as part of the chord. My intructor corrected me the first time I played the chord. The mistake appears to be a simple publishing error but of course you can’t know this if you are a beginner like myself. All things considered, the book was helpful in getting started and I was able to learn a few helpful chords before my lessons began. If you purchase this book, and are not familiar with how each chord is formulated, I would recommend veryfing the finger patterns against another source before you become too comfortable playing the chords.

5 Stars 40+ guitar beginner
This was the first book I used to get started from scratch. The reason I like it is that it has NO songs, so it took the pressure off having to learn a song, yet the 4 chord sequences sound quite good (according to my wife). It includes barre chords, but also alterative figuring to barre chords, so you can learn them slowly/progresively without pressure. The other book a bought (for songs) is “The Complete Guitarist” by Russ Shipton

3 Stars OK
This book is better suited for people who already know guitar basics. You shouldn’t play chords if you’re not comfortable playing notes

5 Stars The First Stage Guitar Book
Better than I anticipated. I had expected the original version. What I received is a newer version which has been revised and updated: contains more pages with more examples, chord structures, and narrative.

Very, very nice.

2 Stars Good as a companion to another method
This is primarily a book on chord progressions. Starting with the most popular chords used in music, and then moving to other chords in open in barre position. Interspersed here and there are some tips on playing guitar. Not much more than that, and not very well organized.

I would consider this most beneficial as a companion to lessons or to a complete method found elsewhere. There just isn’t much to it. It’s 80 pages, but each page generally contains two 4-chord progressions. I also found that several of the chords listed are inaccurate — or at least inconsistent with several other sources I checked them against.

I’ve used about 6 different books and software on learning the guitar, and I found this to be the least helpful. But there are some great reference diagrams that I still refer to, and as it is entirely focused on popular progressions, it finds a home being used in conjunction with another book.

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The First Stage Guitar Book Learn How To Play Guitar Easily and Quickly is a post from: Learn The Acoustic Guitar

Hal Leonard Guitar Method DVD For the Beginning Electric or Acoustic Guitarist

The world-famous Hal Leonard Guitar Method has taught millions of people to play. Now learning will be even easier, thanks to this great new Digital Video Disc! Designed for anyone just learning to play electric or acoustic guitar, it covers: tuning, identifying the parts of the guitar, reading both standard notation and tablature, playing chords, strumming and picking, improvising basic rock solos and lots more. It features great camera angles, helpful on-screen music, guitar diagrams, hand-position close-ups, and the navigational freedom that only a DVD can provide, so you can go straight to the topics you want! You’ll learn to play the songs: Let It Be ? Wild Thing ? Twist and Shout, as well as the famous intro riffs to: Smoke on the Water ? Day Tripper ? Sunshine of Your Love. The DVD corresponds with all the books and supplements in the Hal Leonard Guitar Method, and features exclusive DVD Bonus Lessons covering chord progressions, songs, licks and jam tracks!

User Ratings and Reviews

1 Star No method, no teaching
As a professional musician (not guitar) and teacher, it is possible that I approach this with a higher expectation of what should happen in an educational setting than most; but I am hard pressed to find a “method” to this DVD, or really to identify where any actual teaching occurs. All this DVD contains are mediocre demonstrations with no explanations as to how to do things or why they work. If actually taught, the material in this DVD would be great, but its really nothing more than a play-along DVD that leaves figuring out the why and how to the student. Further, there is no technique taught past elementary tips on holding the guitar (“most people hold it kind of like this …”) and holding the picking (“grab it like this and then make fine adjustments”). I’ve encoutered guitar lessons with better content and clearer instruction on youtube and am very sad to have spent money to purchase this DVD. Look elsewhere!

2 Stars No impressed
I bought this dvd because of the list of songs in Product Description. It says: “You’ll learn to play the songs:….” but in most of the cases they are not the songs but small riffs. Also this dvd is difficult to navigate and you can not loop the exercises.

I learn some tricks from the dvd but the bottom line is that I was disappointed.

5 Stars This and the method books are a great way to start
I bought this in order to supplement the method books I am currently studying. Its much more informative than the “Dummies” dvd and you will learn more. My only complaint is when using it to do chapter searches(get to a specific point) it is very confusing. It also would be better with a supplemental book that contains the songs you learn. Still buy it you will be glad you did.I would also recommend Hal Leonards Method books as well. Enjoy!!!!

3 Stars Useful, but only along with the book
I recently purchased the Hal Leonard Guitar Method book, packaged with a CD and this DVD. The DVD is good, because there is a brief explanation by Kolb before each song, but a beginner needs to work on the book alone before jumping in to the DVD. The DVD should probably only be sold together with the book. One other catch: the written music that scrolls along the bottom of the screen is sometimes too slow and often doesn’t appear until Kolb begins to play. The viewer needs to see the music to begin the song. I had to get a quick look at the beginning of the song, then rewind before I could play many of the songs. Stll worth while, but get the book also.

4 Stars This is a good choice!
This course (DVD + Books) may not be the most fun, but it does cover all the bases better than any other SINGLE course out there. To tell you my honest opinion if having fun while learning the guitar is what you want to do, then I would say go with “Guitar Basics” by Bruce Buckingham and work your way up through the Musicians Institue series of courses. The main difference between these series is that Guitar Method starts with reading music and picking out “lame” melodies, where as Guitar Basics starts you out with playing chords and chord progressions. So the decision is really in the hands of where you want to start. Chords or notes?

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Hal Leonard Guitar Method DVD For the Beginning Electric or Acoustic Guitarist is a post from: Learn The Acoustic Guitar

101 Razor Sharp Slide Guitar Blues Licks in Open E Tuning

This superb Red Dog Music Book and CD allows you to learn/play slide guitar fill-ins while sitting in with a crisply recorded blues band and singer. The licks are clearly written in standard notation and tablature, and the companion CD contains all 101 licks, which are applicable to countless blues songs. A guide to symbols and several helpful fretboard diagrams are included. The licks are recorded on electric guitar but can also be played on acoustic. Overall, a very fine book that will provide unlimited learning and enjoyment. Many slide guitar books are confusing because they try to cover too many tunings. Everything here is in open E. Songs include standards such as Joe Turner Blues, St. Louis Blues, Sportin Life Blues, House of the Rising Sun, Midnight Special, along with several new songs written to standard blues changes. Like Hound Dog Taylor, J.B. Hutton, and Elmore James? Then you will like this book.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Good licks for real songs
I am a guitarist who has played in blues and rock bands and I have been working on slide guitar technique. I am very pleased with this book. Everything is here for anyone who wants to learn how to play blues slide guitar licks in the context of a blues band.

The licks are played in actual blues songs that follow standard chord progressions. I have already found ways to work the licks into songs by Muddy Waters, Elmore James, etc. Great book and I recommend it to others.

5 Stars back in print
This author had a similar book out with another publisher, but it is out of print, and quite expensive used. I understand that the author owns this publishing company, so I doubt if it will disappear. Good thing too. I have gone through three copies of the old book. They keep “disappearing”.

I teach people how to play slide, although I’m not at all scary doing it. This book is my secret weapon. It’s simple and all in one tuning, but not too simple. They (the licks) are what musicians call “solid”. By the time you work your way through the book, you hopefully have an ear, and trust me, that’s what slide requires. Then you play with the licks and make them your own. Most people have figured out where to go by the time they finish. I always recommend stealing solos from harmonica players when they get through this book. I’m glad it’s back.

5 Stars Like Sitting in With a Chicago Blues Band

I have been wanting to learn slide guitar for a long time. My teacher suggested this book and it is as helpful as he said it would be. The material is well-organized and includes everything a beginning slide player needs, including diagrams that serve as valuable roadmaps for open E tuning.

The slide licks sound just like the ones played by Elmore James, Hound Dog Taylor, Robert Nighthawk, and others on the classic blues records of the 1950s to mid 1960s. Some of the licks sound like Taj Mahal. The great thing is that a good blues band with a singer is playing model blues songs on the CD, so you are learning licks that you will actually be able to use in the blues songs you play. The singer on this CD is amazing-he sounds like Ray Charles.

I love that the entire book is arranged in the key of E. And the licks are smooth, tasteful, and accessible. The book gave me immediate confidence and familiarity with open E tuning. It is a lot of fun to play along with the CD – I feel like I’m sitting in with a blues band in a smoky bar on the Southside of Chicago. Very highly recommended.

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101 Razor Sharp Slide Guitar Blues Licks in Open E Tuning is a post from: Learn The Acoustic Guitar

The Acoustic Guitar Method

Homespun and String Letter Press, the publishers of Acoustic Guitar Magazine, have joined forces to create a DVD version of String Letter’s best-selling guitar instruction book. This clearly organized, carefully graded set of lessons by popular guitarist and author David Hamburger teaches beginners to play guitar using the techniques and songs of American roots music.

DVD 1 covers all the basic chords and flatpicking techniques; DVD 2 gives you a solid start on fingerpicking along with more advanced flatpicking styles.

David gives total beginners a great start as he teaches you how to tune up, use the capo, play bass runs, vary your strumming patterns and form all the most important chords and chord progressions. DVD 2 continues on an intermediate level, giving those with some previous guitar experience a solid start with fingerpicking and an introduction to more advanced flatpicking styles, including scales and single note playing.

Throughout the lessons you’ll learn to play more than two-dozen classic songs drawn from blues, folk, country and bluegrass traditions, including Careless Love, Columbus Stockade, Darling Corey, In the Pines, Scarborough Fair, Man of Constant Sorrow, Stagolee, Hot Corn Cold Corn, East Virginia, House of the Rising Sun, Banks of the Ohio, The Crawdad Song, The Girl I Left Behind Me, Gambler’s Blues and many others.

Bonus: A four-song play-along session with guitarists Happy Traum and David Hamburger gives you a chance to practice your newly learned flatpicking instrumentals.

User Ratings and Reviews

3 Stars Intermediate Musician
This product is for those who have next to no experience on the guitar. He teaches very basic chords, doesn’t even talk much about scales, and teaches 3 very basic fingerpicking patterns. I am a self taught guitar player and wanted to close some gaps in holes of my own teaching. I personally found no use out of this product. It doesn’t mean it’s bad, it’s just wasn’t for me. He’s not the greatest teacher, but he does get the point across for the most part. If you know basic major, minor, and seventh chords, can keep a rhythm, and know some basic fingerpicking patterns… I wouldn’t waste your money. If you’re just starting and you enjoy folk music (That’s all you learn is folk music), then this might just be the video for you.

5 Stars start from ground zero
Im just learning to play, self taught, and this 2 disc set is perfect. Its more than what I expected. All basic info from holding pik to strumming to switching chords and some runs with explanation of where notes are within chords. Hamburger has a great method and personality that really makes it fun.

4 Stars Actually Play Songs
I have previewed other high rated learning guitar instructional dvds, and this one seemed to be the only dvd that teaches you how to play songs. It was a lot of fun to me. The instructor is funny at times, as opposed to other instructors that are too serious and tended to be boring. This is the one guitar dvd I would recommend if you’re just beginning, because it kept me practicing to learn more songs. He teaches you the chords as an introductory of playing a song and the songs get tougher as you progress. The songs range from bluegrass to country. I also have an electric guitar as well as an acoustic guitar, and would like to learn to play music other than country and blue grass, although I doubt the songs I really want to play are available for lessons, but this dvd is a great start to the right direction of learning them later on your own.

5 Stars Does what it says
It’s easy to follow, interesting, not too slow and he has a very dry sense of humor, which I find entertaining

5 Stars Better than I expected
There are plenty of instructional DVDs for Rock and electric guitar, but not a ton of stuff for acoustic guitar. I don’t have a lot of time for guitar lessons, so I need to have materials handy for when I have time to learn. David Hamburger is a great acoustic guitar instructor. The DVD starts from the beginning learning basic open chords, which was a bit too basic for me, but each lesson intoduces a different strumming pattern and folk song to play using the newly learned chords and strumming pattern. Petty soon, you know all of these cool acoustic folk songs. I’m only half way through the 2 DVD set and my acoustic palying has become more fun to play and interesting to listen to. I recommend this DVD set to anyone who is interested in getting better at the acoustic guitar.

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The Acoustic Guitar Method is a post from: Learn The Acoustic Guitar

The First Stage Guitar Book Learn How To Play Guitar Easily and Quickly

The First Stage Guitar Book is Boldly Illustrated with a See and Do Approach….Only the Easy to Learn Guitar Information for beginners and for those who already play some.

Simplicity….This guitar book has been recently revised and updated with the addition of more easy to understand guitar learning instructions. Here is a brief sum Tuning your guitar. However, it is recommended to pick up a battery powered tuner at any fine music store which will offer a more precise pitch to each string.

Contains the most commonly and easiest chord form shapes for every key. In both Open and Barre chord shapes. Learn Power Chords. Learn how to change one chord into four different chords by just lifting a finger or two.

Illustrations of plenty of practice chord progressions in both Open and Barre chord shapes to prepare you to move on to the next level of learning more on the guitar.

Learn and understand tablature in minutes and how it relates to each string and fret on the guitar neck-fret board and to standard notation sheet music whether it be rock, blues, pop, country or your own compositions.

Learn a simple method to maintaining a steady rhythm strumming, also learn the basic fundamentals of playing basic scale patterns with chords and bending strings.

Guitar neck illustration displaying every note on the guitar neck-fret board and where each note is located in standard notation i.e., sheet music.

Learn to transpose any song to any key to fit your voice.

This is the only guitar book available today which contains the absolutely must have CHORD COMBINATION CHART which covers all the most commonly played guitar chords for each key. The CHORD COMBINATION CHART clearly presents to you which chords go with other chords in the same key….removing the guess work out. No need to have knowledge of music theory as the CHORD COMBINATION CHART has completed that for you.

The First Stage Guitar Book binding format allows this guitar book to remain flat for easy viewing of both the left and right side of each page.

Special Note: Both The First Stage Guitar Book and The Guitar Book-red cover contain the same information. Here you have the choice of which cover you would prefer.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars The First Stage Guitar Book
Better than I anticipated. I had expected the original version. What I received is a newer version which has been revised and updated: contains more pages with more examples, chord structures, and narrative.

Very, very nice.

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The First Stage Guitar Book Learn How To Play Guitar Easily and Quickly is a post from: Learn The Acoustic Guitar