Good guitar lesson book for guitar lessons?

[AtomHeartMother]

I'm just about done with another book at lessons. The book I'm finishing has a bunch of lessons detailing classic rock rhythm and lead styles.

 

So I'm looking for a new book.

 

Something with a bit of theory might be useful, but nothing drowning in it. The styles I like (blues and classic rock) mostly use pentatonics/blues scales, so focus on those and maybe major/minor scales would be good. More elaborate chords beyond the major and minor chords and variations of those would be useful as well.

 

The book has to be fun. The book must also have exercises in the form of progessions/licks/riffs/partial or full songs. A CD that plays the each exercise and/or has backing tracks is also necessary.

 

I would prefer something that has a mix of lead and rhythm with an emphasis on rhythm. I'm thinking about picking up that "Chord Chemistry" book to do on my own time, but I need something more lesson-oriented for lessons.

 

I'd also prefer something in the vein of classic rock and/or blues/blues rock.

 

Anyone have an suggestions?

[AtomHeartMother]

I'd like it if the book more into depth with pentatonics, such as connecting the patterns/positions along the fretboard and picking and choosing notes and such.

[Little Dreamer]

I really like the "Blues You Can Use" series by John Ganapes. The first book concentrates a lot on connecting the pentatonic boxes, then playing the scale all over the neck, then it gets into the major pentatonic scale, and then playing both in the same song. For rhythm, he start with dominant 7th chords, then 9th chords, then 13th chords, as well as minor progressions. It's broken up into 21 lessons, each with its own rhythm part and a lead part. It also has a CD with a full band playing all the songs. Some theory, not a lot. My only complaint is that some of the rhythm guitar parts are sort of buried in the mix on the CD. After that "More Blues You Can Use" just continues with more advanced stuff. There's also "Blues You Can Use Guitar Chords", which has a fairly thorough chord theory section at the beginning, then a chord encyclopedia, then a bunch of exercises which consist of examples of how to use all the chords in blues songs. No CD with the chord book though.

 

Anyhow, I'm always recommending his stuff - he should pay me a commission

 

By the way, what's the name of that classic rock book you just finished with? Sounds like something I might be interested in.

[AtomHeartMother]

I'll check out the blues you can use book.

 

 

I just finished (almost) this book.

 

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/079356042X/qid=1091155139/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-0911932-1597714?v=glance&s=books

 

It wasn't terribly difficult for me. Some of the songs I still really don't have down (especially the faster Van Halenish songs). It really does cover a lot of styles though. IThere's everything from psychedelic blues to latin rock to Van Halen type metal (tapping and all). It starts out with riffs and some licks that progress into full songs late in the book. There seems to be more of an emphasis on riffs and rhythm rather than soloing, but there are some really cool riffs. None of the songs are actual songs, but you can definately hear the influence.

 

The book really doesn't have much in the way of theory. Before each song, there is an explanation of what you'll be doing with maybe some scales, chord diagrams, progressions, and technique explanations. There's a bunch of good information though, but not a whole lot in the way of theory which is both good and bad.

 

I really liked the book though. I played a lot of styles that I probably never would have before.

[Little Dreamer]

That sounds like something I'd like - I think I'll pick it up. I'm mostly into hard rock and metal, and I'm taking a bit of a detour in my playing getting into blues, trying to add some tastefullness to my playing, and get into something other than power chords. But I'm about ready to get back into some rock stuff. That books sounds like a nice transition between blues and hard rock. Thanks for the info.

 

The Blues You Can Use book has 12 bar blues progressions, and the solos are 12 bars long, then they're repeated once. So, they're pretty short, but quite musical. A lot of different styles too. The first minor blues song sounds quite Gilmour inspired. I've been practicing it about a thousand times, but it sure doesn't sound like Gilmour when I play it Guess I'll have to practice it another thousand times. Nothing too technically demanding, but you know, it's the blues. Get it to the point of absolute perfection, it's brilliant. Get it to 99.9% perfection, it sounds pathetic.

[AtomHeartMother]

Well, I'm definately going to order "Blues You Can Use". I'm just a bit worried that my skill level is beyond it. I've already finished a Blues Basic book that was actually fairly simple. Amazon had a few sample pages of "Blues You Can Use" and it looked quite easy (it only showed the first lesson "Texas Blues" or whatever). I assume it gets a lot more complicated?

[pcvarney]

AHM, I am totally in love with the "Teach yourself (....blah..blah..blah) in 10 easy lessons" series, by Gary Turner.

 

My Mom is learning Keyboard from the same series.

 

They can be found on Amazon.

[Little Dreamer]

That Texas Rock song is by far the easiest thing in the book, but it doesn't really focus on technically difficult stuff - only a couple of the songs really require more technical skill than would be needed to play the solo to Comfortably Numb. The lessons in the book are more like a guy playing tasteful stuff, and not trying to show off his chops at all. I guess that's sort of to be expected - if he's teaching the pentatonic minor scale box by box, he's not going to be throwing Jimmy Page Heartbreaker solos at you. To play the stuff well, you have to get your bends down perfectly, so they're really expressive, and get into the subtelties of the phrasing. Personally, I think that's almost harder than playing something fast.

 

If you're concerned with building your chops, the More Blues You Can Use book would probably be a better choice, it gets into faster stuff by lesson 3 or so. There's some stuff that's about on the level of an average Stevie Ray Vaughan solo. But still the focus of the book isn't on chops. He'll follow up a really fast solo lesson with one that's slow and expressive.

 

The thing is, if you're not already fairly well-versed in blues knowledge, like the common chord progressions, using chord tones in solos, the minor and major pentatonics, etc., you'll kind of have a gap in your learning if you start with the second book.

[slindsey]

I'd suggest one of Troy Stetina's books. In particular Metal Lead Guitar volume 1, or Total Rock Guitar.

 

The Metal Lead Guitar has exercices and backing tracks. The solos start from easy, and quickly progess in difficulty. By the time you finish, most of the classic rock music (up to about the easier Van Halen music) will be in reach. The Rhythm series is good too, but it's a bit easier. I'd been playing for years when I found this book...and it really helped improve some of my weak points.

 

The Total Rock Guitar book has a few exercises...but it teaches by learning progressively more difficult songs, in a variety of styles. The great thing about this book is that it's recorded in stereo(lead gutar on right, Rhythm on left), so you can learn both parts of the songs.