2 comments about 101 Magic Rock Guitar Rhythm Patterns (Book and CD).

1. This is a great book! While some might be looking for strums listed by genre category, I say this is much better. 101 variations in rhythm are given to you in tab, and in musical notation, with ideal fingering suggested where things might get dicey for you if you were left to your own devices. These strums can be applied to almost any style of music, just speed them up, slow them down, change your guitar sound etc. You are developing good playing habits while following the fingering, as well as invaluable rhythm skills for jamming with other people. You won't be spoonfed, this is the strum used on X, Y,Z song, but once you get familiar with the patterns you can apply them however you want. Plus, and this is a big plus, it comes with an accompanying CD in which the examples are played better than in any other book I've bought. Usually the rhythm examples in books fly by, but here they actually have the drums come in on their own and establish a groove, then you get the example played at a speed you can follow, with a bass joining in so you feel like you're really jamming. Larry McCabe rocks! He really wants to teach you something, and he knows how, unlike many.



2. This is not a book that gives you a bunch of generic fancy rhythm parts that show off a bunch of fancy techniques. Techniques are important but not as important as creativity. However, this is a book that will get in touch with your creative side.
   
   I consider it to be a rock song manual, so to speak. These patterns can be use as a spring board for coming up with some great ideas for rock songs, just add lyrics. With 101 rhythmic ideas to choose from and play around with, you can work out a new song on a daily basis. Plus, there is an index page that organized the patterns by rhythm style, e.g. single note, chordal or mixture. After learning the first fifteen patterns, you can began to create intros, hook, bridge, ending and just improvisational rhythm to practice your lead playing. The patterns are 2 bars or so in length and are written in TAB and music.
   
   When you play with other people, they will most likely want you to play rhythm guitar. So as a guitar player, you will need to equip yourself with plenty of ready to use on the spot rhythm ideas. And this book will help you accomplish that.
   
   I think this book is a great book to add to ones collection

5 comments about The Gibson Les Paul Book: A Complete History of Les Paul Guitars.

1. Bacon gets points for overall organization but looses a great deal for leaving out key details and making too many mistakes. For instance, the early years were covered well, but the end of and the post Norlin period was full of glaring ommissions and mistakes. As an avid Les Paul collector and frequent contributor to vintage guitar magazine I was sorely disappointed. There was no mention of the 1988 Showcase series where Gibson installed EMG pickups in its guitars. No mention of the experiment with Steinberger and the bizarre mutant Les Pauls that surfaced in 86-87 timeframe. The Norlin 81 Silverburst was not covered nor was there any mention of the Kahler tremelo collaboration, the Ferrari Red and other color experiments. The reference tables are packed with errors and more omissions. This book wont help a collector identify or understand Les Pauls. If you are going to write a book about the Gibson Les Paul then make sure it is accurate if not complete. This book has great photos and a very good summary of key early year facts....but enough already about the 59-61 bursts already. There is no much more to the Les Paul history.



2. This book is quite good, but I really think that the idea has a lot more to offer. The book is great for a quick reading of Gibson's history and the evolution of the Les Paul model in particular, but I think it could have been more clearly-structured. Not everything is negative though, there are great pictures, and I like the emphasis on descriptive details about the guitars. I wish this book had 30 or 40 more pages worth of text and pictures, that would have been great!



3. The book is rather small and thin -- despite that it contains quite a lot of information but unfortunately much of it is in a dry tabular form. That said, what text there is inside is quite enjoyable. The story of the magical 1959 Les Paul is insightful. They varied tremedously as they were hand made by old ladies for the most part -- so the whole concept of a 1959 specification and 1959 is really somewhat flawed. I also like the pictures: 2 of Jimmy Page's Les Pauls and Gary Moore's "Peter Green Les Paul" (yes that Les Paul, the one with the reversed magnetic in the neck pick-up). Some of these guitars have passed into guitar folklore -- they have become well known characters over the last 43 years or so of their existance. Pity they didn't have an image of Eric Clapton's Les Paul -- the one used on the seminal Beano album -- as it was stolen back in the 60's. [There was a rumor recently -- in Guitar Techniques magazine -- that another London professional, Bernie Marsden, is currently playing that guitar but who knows.]. The book should be brought up to date and some holes filled in - hence only 4-stars (actually more like 3.5) but if you like Les Pauls, I mean really like Les Pauls - then you will probably want to take a look at this.



4. The book is rather small and thin -- despite that it contains quite a lot of information but unfortunately much of it is in a dry tabular form. That said, what text there is inside is quite enjoyable. The story of the magical 1959 Les Paul is insightful. They varied tremedously as they were hand made by old ladies for the most part -- so the whole concept of a 1959 specification and 1959 is really somewhat flawed. I also like the pictures: 2 of Jimmy Page's Les Pauls and Gary Moore's "Peter Green Les Paul" (yes that Les Paul, the one with the reversed magnetic in the neck pick-up). Some of these guitars have passed into guitar folklore -- they have become well known characters over the last 43 years or so of their existance. Pity they didn't have an image of Eric Clapton's Les Paul -- the one used on the seminal Beano album -- as it was stolen back in the 60's. [There was a rumor recently -- in Guitar Techniques magazine -- that another London professional, Bernie Marsden, is currently playing that guitar but who knows.]. The book should be brought up to date and some holes filled in - hence only 3-stars (actually more like 3.5) but if you like Les Pauls, I mean really like Les Pauls - then you will probably want to take a look at this.



5. Depending upon your degree of knowledge about vintage guitars and Les Pauls in particular you may find this book a helpful and informative resource or a complete waste of time.

   Tony Bacon has written a lot of books on vintage guitars and guitar collecting. I like his stuff, but he very often gets things just plain wrong. I am certain it has more to do with mistakes in the editing process than anything, but there are some nit-picky errors in this book.

   The best treatment of Les Pauls and vintage Gibson electrics that I have seen is A.R. Duchossior's excellent and exhaustively researched book "Gibson Electrics - The Classic Years" (published by Hal Leonard).

   This little book is a good introduction to the history of this important model and it has some nice photographs of various iterations of the Les Paul model from 1952 to the date of publication in the late 1990s, but if you're looking for a completely comprehensive guide/history to the Les Paul guitar that is 100% accurate this is not it. Still, if you're a guitar nut (like me) it's a nice little book to have.

1 comments about The Electric Guitar: An Illustrated History Edited.

1. This book is packed with information that you need to know about guitars and looking through the book is as good as being in your local guitar shop, absolutely fantastic showcase of guitars throughout the years. Paul Trynka did a nice work on the book . If you love guitar then this is the book for you.

5 comments about The Player's Guide to Guitar Maintenance.

1. I have other books on the subject but this one helps me understand what on earth the other ones mean! If you have a lot of experiance in this field this will be mostly yesterday's news but i found it very useful as a beginner. Note: knoledge is required, someone who learned to play guitar yesterday will not profit from this otherwise great book.



2. A definite five star rating. If I had to choose two books to own for guitar repair and general info, it would be this one and the Earlewine book. The first thing you'll notice is the quality of the illustrations and the photos. The pages are coated stock and all the photos are in color and incredibly detailed, unlike many other guitar books that have "cheezy" grey scale photos and crude hand drawn diagrams.

   What really amazed me was how current and relevant the information is. Many of the pickups and bridges mentioned for example, are the newest models available. The wiring diagrams and modifications are very easy to understand and are quite useful.

   If you're looking for info on setting up your Gibson or Fender, this is the book. It's well laid out and written, informative without being boring, and has incredible photographs, illustrations, and diagrams.

   Once again, five stars and a definite keeper.




3. When I began shopping for a book to learn how to do basic guitar set-ups and basic maintenance, I was stuck deciding between this book and Dan Erlenwine's book. I ended up with this one because of the reviews here and the prospect of good color photos. Also, I had the impression that it was Strat focused, and I have two strats. First off, this book is very small...84 pages. The pictures are excellent... very high quality glossy photos. The problem with them is that many of them are useless. For instance, the entire first 10-15 pages or so are about the history of various guitars and very, very general guitar basic layouts. The photos are great, but if you don't know where the bridge on your guitar is, or what a Les Paul looks like, you should not be attempting to adjust things like truss rods. Another example is the intro to the bridge section, which features multiple pages of great pictures of bridges, all types. I know what my bridge looks like, I want to know hoe to work on it. I feel like this book scraches the surface of maintenance, but leaves out a good deal of the details that make for a thorough understanding of how to maintain your guitar. Take the section on cleaning...it is one page. One! Erlenwine's book has a whole chapter. The section on pickups and electronics has some good diagrams, but I think the sections in the other book ae far superior. Lastly, there is no informaion in this book on acoustics, which I knew before I bought it, but is still a mistake in my opinion. Erlenwine's book has entire sections dedicated to acoustic maintenance/repair. I ended up returning this book and buying Dan's book, which is excellent. If you have the money, I would suggest buying both, but if you only have the money for one book (or if you only want to buy one), but the Erlenwine book! Hope this helps!



4. In this book Burrluck gives the reader the opportunity to learn more about guitar maintenance. I believe it covers most aspects of guitar maintenance, from easy things like changing strings to not so easy things like electronics and so on. My overall opinion is that it is a good book and i don't regret buying it. I can recommend it to people who are beginners (like me). The book covers both Fender and Gibson style guitars, so the book should be helpful to you no matter what guitar you're playing. I haven't read any other books on this topic so I can't compare the book to others.



5. Dan Erlewine is great, but can be daunting when you are just starting to work on your own guitar. This is a perfect book for that player who wants to undertake that first guitar project; the guy who's been playing for a while, and decided it's time to finally change those pickups / that neck / those tuners / etc.

4 comments about How to Make Money Teaching Guitar (Learn How to Teach Guitar, Acoustic/Electric Guitar/Bass) by Desi Serna.

1. How to Make Money Teaching Guitar is a very helpful and informative book, and very easy to read. It is very useful not only for guitar teaching, but other music teaching as well. I would highly recommend it!



2. EXCELLENT!! FUN!! Many invaluable tips all in one book. Informative, focused yet entertaining writing style that gets right to the point. I've been teaching on & off for 40 years but I find this work "brings it all together again" for me...Well Done Desi!!
   
   RocknDave



3. This book is EXCELLENT! How to Make Money Teaching Guitar is a very helpful, informative and it is very easy to read. It give us everthing we need to teach guitar. This book have also gave me a very good idea where I have to work on my playing and help me to plan my own learning. I would highly recommend this book for every guitarist (teachers or not).



4. As a beginning teacher I bought this book for help and advice. I found the information easy to follow and very practical. After following the suggestions in this book I now have a good number of students who are making excellent progress and enjoying the lessons a great deal. Out of all the students who have started only one has stopped, which says it all. Desi's guidance is always right on the money and shows a great deal of experience. Thanks for the kick start my teaching needed.
   Simon

5 comments about Make Your Own Electric Guitar & Bass.

1. This book is intended as a starting point for the first-time guitar builder and it does its job well. Step by step processes to construct both a six string electric guitar and a four string bass guitar. Topics covered include wood selection, tools, electronic components and construction. There is even a small part on playing. While there is certainly many more avenues to take in the guitar building arena, this book will get you started by taking you through the entire process for two solid quality pieces. From there...you can certainly choose further research alternatives.



2. This book is the best of its type. I have seen two guitars built from the instructions in this book and they were beautiful, sounded great, and felt wonderful to play. This book has easy to follow directions, great photos and directions, and has an interesting history of guitars at the beginning. I would highly recommend this book to anyone wishing to build their own guitar.



3. I just purchased this book based on reviews read on Amazon. I would not at all reccomend this book. The book does have a nice layout and a lot of great pictures..... but thats it - a pretty book it is but the drawings and technical illistrations you need to build it are not included.... IMPORTANT things like neck thickness, neck thickness at the neck joint, any many other important things are not covered at all. A dimentioned neck end, and neck pocket detail are not even included. A body layout is shown and again not dimentioned. The only dimentions that are given are for a template to route the pickup and bridge holes... The most important topics are barely covered like setting the neck and bolting it on, alignment etc.....
   Nice - but I would not tell anyone to buy this book,



4. I recommend this book to experienced repair persons looking to get into building. The book covers all the basics of tools, preparation, design & layout, template making, body making, neck making, hand rubbed finish, electronic installation and setting up.
   The main point of the book is to give you the tools and knowledge to build your OWN guitar rather than just to hobby shop someone elses design together. If you're a beginner or hobbiest I recommend Oakhams book. It doesn't leave anything to the imagination and includes complete full sized plans for a strat.
   But for the skilled craftsman this book will have you building your own designs in no time at all.



5. If you'd like to build your own guitar, but nervous about the steps, this is a great place to start. The book is an easy read, it provides clear photographs and instructions, and it gives sufficient detail to understand each of the steps to designing and building your guitar. As noted by some reviews, the book does not dictate your design by giving you the dimensions of every cut (after all if you're building a custom guitar, why copy someone else's), but it does do a good job giving you the critical dimensions that relate to any guitar design.
   
   You may also want Martin Koch's Building Electric Guitars, it's not as easy to read, but it does provide more information.

No comments about Electric Guitar Lessons: Learn how to play Electric Guitar the Smart Way! (Smart Way).

2 comments about Electric Guitar Primer.

1. this book shows the in's and out's of the basic electric guitar. it is not to advanced and gives helpful tips for problems that may occur with beginners, like muffled sounding chords.



2. This is a clear introduction to rock guitar. There is also a companion video that I would highly recommend. The course covers different strumming and rock rhythm techniques (shuffle, power chords, chordal riffs)using a nice selection of songs ("Louie, Louie", "Wild Thing", "All Along the Watchtower", "Johnny B. Goode", "Old Time Rock and Roll", "Black Magic Woman", "Gimme Shelter", "Miss You", "Don't Be Cruel", and more). You can play along with both the video and the CD that comes with the book (the book/CD is more comprehensive than the video, but the video is great for showing proper technique).

   I became a performer and teacher starting with this book - and you can, too. Use this as your guide, put in the time, use follow-up books by Peter Vogl, and you'll get there faster than you thought possible.

1 comments about Hot Guitar: Arlen Roth.

1. This is a great book for knucklebusting hot guitar licks, especially in the American roots music/Telecaster style. I recommend this as a textbook for my guitar students.

No comments about Beginner Electric Guitar: Learn to Play with CD (Audio) and DVD (House of Blues) (House of Blues).