5 comments about The Art of Contemporary Travis Picking: How to Play the Alternating Bass Fingerpicking Style (Bk & CD).

1. The whole series of Mark Hanson books is excellent. I have this one as well as "Beyond Basics Fingerstyle Guitar", "The Art of Solo Fingerpicking", "Hymns & Spirituals For Fingerstyle Guitar". All highly recommended. He has a talent for breaking a piece down into manageable chunks. And his arrangements are accessible to the beginning to intermediate picker while still sounding awesome.
   
   "The Art of Contemporary Travis Picking" rates at the bottom of the list due to the corny vocals on the CD. Perhaps incorrectly seeing this one as a follow on to "Beyond Basics," I was also a bit disappointed with the complexity of the arrangements. Otherwise, it is a decent book for beginning Travis pickers. "The Art of Solo Fingerpicking" is an excellent follow on.



2. Many have already described how good the instruction in this book is. And rightfully so. So I will bring up the one negative which made me regret getting this book.
   
   Apart from 2 or 3 songs such as John Barley, Sloop John B, etc., the songs used for demo are mostly lame ballads and fail to generate much excitement about playing them in me. The best tune is probably the opener, written by Mark Hanson himself. Also, most of these are sing-along types in which the vocal does most of the work instead of letting the guitar stay front and center. It would have been much better to feature mostly instrumentals where the lessons learned can be displayed in full glory.



3. With most guitar books I have the problem that they start real easy and then start spinning out of control. Not so with this book. I never had the feeling that I was lost or that there was to big of a level increase from one exercise to the other. What a great book! Other authors should use this book as an example. This book will teach you the basics of Travis Picking step by step. It is suitable for beginners and advanced players that like to learn the basics of Travis Picking.
   
   -D



4. This is an excellent book to start finger picking. The techniques you learn will go a long way in a short time. My only complaint is that the songs that are used are very cheesy. Maybe some Johnny Cash or Beatles would have been much better. However, the techniques learned are very good and makes the purchase of this book well worth it.



5. This book has easy-to-follow instructions and enjoyable songs to play. I am only 1/3 of the way through this book, and thoroughly enjoying it. It has some familiar and not-so-familiar folk standards, leading the player through basic patterns first, then adding variations, melodies, ornaments and finally culminating in a full fingerstyle selection that will challenge almost any player at any level. However Mark Hanson gives you all the tools you need to get there, in step-by-step detail. The book would be great without the CD, but the added audio instruction is also extremely helpful. I recommend this to anyone interested in fingerpicking and fingerstyle guitar.

5 comments about The Guitar Amp Handbook: Understanding Tube Amplifiers and Getting Great Sounds.

1. It's very informative. I wish it had more on rebiasing an amp, but according to people I talked to, that would take a whole-nother book. Other than that it was great.



2. This is a very well written book intended for the person who wants to know more about how an amplifier works. The sections are broken into easy to decipher catagories - great for the newbie neophyte. I covers all the primary areas from tubes to speakers to boxes re: TONE!
   
   IF simpler is better then this is as simple as it can get for such a complicated subject.
   
   Don't forget to heed his warnings in the back of the book re: voltages. Messing around with a part at the wrong time CAN kill you - ESPECIALLY charged up capacitors! Learn the very simple trick used to discharge capacitors by going to your local electronics store and just asking them! I could tell you but its better to go and seek the answer yourself because you'll be more likely to retain the knowledge!
   
   The forever bottom line: Make sure you KNOW with perfect clarity what you are doing before you do it!
   
   Thanks for completing this undertaking Dave! God Bless!
   
   Sincerely,
   
   Charles Thomas



3. I've read many books on tube amps. Some try to get into the meat and potatoes and some are just garbage put out by amp makers to help sell more amps. I'd say Dave's book is in the middle of that mess.
   
   I found this book to be very well presented, written and reasonably unbiased. The electronics knowledge that's presented is mostly about the basics of what these parts are, what they do and the truth about the variety of parts and how they effect an amp's sound and quality. Also, a nice section on amp evolution and circuit breakdowns that are more about why and the end result than how it works. Great for the average player.
   
   He does an excellent job of demystifying much of the marketing bull that is used to sell tube amps today. All these marketing ploys weren't used 20-30 years back because the business didn't really focus on "Class A", Channel Switching, Built in Bells and Whistles. Plus, I'd bet with so much competition all these companies are scrambling for market share.
   
   Dave points out how much of this is just marketing and he does a great job with explaining what a person SHOULD look for in an amp. He doesn't so much give his opinion as a "how to" evaluate what you as a buyer and player really needs.
   
   That's what this is really about, Understanding Tube Amps. If you've bought ten amps in your life and always wind up trading it in for the next one that the sales guy, more importantly Rock Star advert, says is the latest and greatest, this book can maybe end that misery and SAVE YOU FAR MORE THAN THE PRICE OF THE BOOK in the process.
   
   Every guitar player really should read this book from cover to cover. Especially the interviews section with the present greats of the industry. The chapter on building your own amp is purely there if you want to actually get your hands dirty. I plan on building the amp eventually but that's the one chapter I skipped as it's not going to help me sort out why I OWN FOUR HALF STACKS AND THREE COMBOS!!! Any one else fall into this category?



4. The writer never explains how a tube works or capacitors or resistors work. For example, he doesn't explain specifically how a resistor can be used to affect treble. I don't know how many times I read about a .2 microfarad capacitor with absolutely no meaningful explanation of what it does. .2 microfarad capacitor, .2 microfarad capacitor, .2 microfarad capacitor. There! You've read the book.



5. This book is in an interesting spot between real electrical engineering description of tube amplifiers and the opinion of a guitar player. The author clearly knows his stuff as a user but has very little knowledge of electrical theory. As an engineer, I did not gain any insight on how tube amplifiers work or are designed. As a guitar player, I gained a lot of knowledge on how users judge and modify their amplifiers. The many schematics on well known tube amplifers and interviews with their designers are good but the engineer in me needs one more level of actual tube design theory.

5 comments about Banjo For Dummies (For Dummies (Sports & Hobbies)).

1. I purchased 2 intro to banjo books. This one is CLEARLY the one to get!



2. EXCELLANT CHOICE FOR A NEW "PICKER". SHOWS HOW TO PICK SCRUGGS STYLE AND CLAWHAMMER. STARTS SLOW AND EASY FOR THE BEGINNER AND MOVES INTO ADVANCED PICKING. REALLY WORTH THE MONEY TO LEARN HOW TO PLAY.



3. I'm a beginner and found this book very helpful. It covers everything you could want to know about banjos, from tips on purchasing one to playing every thing. I am delighted with this purchase and would recommend it to anyone who wants to learn to play this instrument.



4. Alright book. The chord section could have been a little bigger to read. There is no order either. It really bounces around. I recommend just getting information on Youtube or banjo sites. This book is probably going to collect dust.



5. "Banjo for Dummies" is by far the best banjo-tudoring instruction manual that I have viewed for teaching banjo playing. It is very clear and easy to follow. It is my opinion that this is an excellent product and a great teaching tool! Thank you.

5 comments about Suzuki Violin School: Violin Part, vol. 1 (Suzuki Violin School, Violin Part).

1. So many other violin instruction books become dull and boring with their scales and two-line practices. Suzuki, however, is fun. It teaches you to play the violin through songs instead of through hundreds of exercises on boring items. Exercises are provided, of course, but they are icing on the cake.
   
   I began violin with a different method that nearly turned me away. I didn't see the fun in playing a hundred and fifty repetitions of "hot cross buns." I did see the fun in playing Minuets, however, when a new teacher had me switch to Suzuki.
   
   I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone. The method is fast, fun, and head-over-heels better than those...other books.



2. There are only 17 songs in this entire book! NO fiddle music. All the notes are much smaller than all the other books, hard to read. There are finger numbers above all the notes, so you don't learn to read the notes, you read the numbers and make mistakes because you don't know which string you should put the finger on. The accompanying CD is way too fast to play with! The other books give you more to play, to read and contain twice the melodies which are from all different styles.
   
   Just don't get what all the fuss is about with this method if you don't learn to read right and don't play any worthy exercises.



3. Suzuki is a collection of some classic pieces of music which many of us violin players grew up on. It has exerpts from many famous composers (presented progressively in terms of skills level) which can be perfect for performances. However, it needs to be supplemented by other method books which allow more practice, especially in order to develop pitch, sight reading, and techniques.
   
   For those starting out, volume 1 may not have a clear enough presentation of the basics of reading music. I usually start my students on "String Builder," which gives a more step-by-step instruction and offers a whole lot more pieces to practice on (and it also has short duets to play together).



4. I have played the viola for 5 years and started with Suzuki. Most of the songs are the same in both books. I am now in viola book 4 and it is great. I have been making it into All-County Orchestras by starting with the book!



5. I ordered this book back in April 30 the impression from the website that was in stock and hence could be shipped out immediately. However, I wasn't given notice that it was shipped until MAY 8 and they have not yet arrived by MAY 11! Who knows about the book itself, since i have not yet received it, butI am NOT satisfied with this order. BEWARE - consider ordering from another music or book website.
   
   Suzinne

5 comments about The Fiddler's Fakebook (Fiddle).

1. This fiddle fake book was recommended by my fiddle teacher. I ordered one; my fiddling friend saw it and took it; I ordered another for myself. Has more fiddle songs than anyone can play in a lifetime. Laid out horizontally so it's easy to fit the song on a page. Best of all it has enough info to let you play the song and improvise (also includes some harmonies), but not so detailed as to look like an ant convention. Does everything but play the tune for you.



2. This book has a great assortment of tunes ranging from traditional tunes, Irish and English favorites, French Canadian tunes, Bluegrass, and some Western swing tunes. Arrangements are pretty true to what I have "heard" in live performances. Presented in alpabetical order. This book and the "Portland Collection" volumes will keep you playing and learning for quite some time !



3. This book is a wonderful resource for any fiddle or mandolin player who appreciates traditional American music. The songs are charted in standard musical notation, playable by either fiddle or mandolin, and many have chords included for accompanists. A caveat, tho' - This is not a TAB book - if you are not familiar with picking melodies on your instrument, you will not find fingering assistance in here. The only other down-side I found is that if you use it as frequently as I do, the pages eventually start to tear at the junction with the plastic binding! P.S. - if you like the mandolin piece they use on the Time Warner ads, look at Soldier's Joy!



4. A must for those interested in building a repertoire of tunes for Bluegrass, Old-time, and Irish can't go wrong with this excellent collection of nearly 500 tunes in notation. The discography alone is worth the price. I have given away several dozen copies at jam sessions to encourage more diversity among my musician friends. More tunes than the similar mandolin and guitar versions.



5. This is a great book of fiddle music. There's easy music, there's harder music and there's stuff I probably won't attempt for awhile. The only thing I could want is a CD of the songs. You won't be disappointed in this book.

5 comments about The ABCs of Violin for the Absolute Beginner: Violin, Book 1.

1. I am 30 years old and never touched a violin in my life, but had always wanted to learn how to play. I ordered this book, along with her DVD, and have learned a lot! The ABCs of Violin for the Absolute Beginner - DVD The book teaches basic note reading, as well as warm ups and short songs. The DVD helps with knowing the parts of the violin, proper handling, and tuning. I recommend this book, but also some sort of video accompaniment. Youtube has a lot of free videos on violin basics, as well.



2. I purchased this for my wife and she loves it. It is a nice violin starter guide with a great assortment of songs and instruction. I was very pleased with the incredibly fast shipping!!! Thanks! I'd highly recommend this item!!!
   -Mel



3. I've never played violin. I have a cheap one and just wanted to mess around and this book seemed like a good way to get started. There is a companion DVD that does not come with the book and unless you know something about playing the violin already, you need the DVD. They should either bundle the DVD with the book or stress that the DVD is required if you are really an "Absolute Beginner".



4. This book is really no good without also buying the DVD and CD. The book does NOT give any information about placement of the bridge (searched the web an I think it should be by the notches in the F holes, low end by E string) or how to tune or use rosin. The DVD gives some information about tuning and a little about finger placement. I don't have the CD, but think it is probably necessary so you can learn where to place your fingers to get the sound right.
   
   Edit: Well, I bought the CD and it does not have any commentary, or announcement of the song or enough pause to follow along. So I would downgrade this series to a 1 star. There are better choices. I feel like I really wasted the money, especially on the CD.



5. I was very disappointed in this book. The title ("The ABC's of Violin for the Absolute Beginner") really should have been something like "The Beginner's Violin Class Primer" and/or come packaged as a set with the CD/DVD.
   
   I am an absolute beginner at age 37 and was expecting a little more instruction about how to hold the violin and other basics. There was nothing in the Amazon "blub" about needing to purchase the separate DVD or Audio CD. I'm not expecting to become a 1st chair concert violinist at my age....I just wanted to learn a little about the violin and we live in a rural area where violin teachers are about as plentiful as hen's teeth.
   
   This really seems to be a book for students who have access to a violin teacher. The lessons also seem to move very quickly. So far I prefer the "Learn to Play the Violin" by Frank Cappelli that I got from our local library. The Cappelli book at least has photos and descriptions of how to hold the violin and bow (it's not great, but it helps) and has more exercises on learning to play the correct strings...which isn't easy at first! I'll keep the "ABC" book for the songs, which I know I'll enjoy when I become a little more proficent.
   
   Good luck to you all!

5 comments about Hal Leonard Bass Method - Complete Edition: Books 1, 2 and 3 Bound Together in One Easy-to-Use Volume!.

1. This a very cool book, I've been playing guitar for a while and now I'm switching over to bass.
   Learned to play bass on my own but I learned some bad habits and believe me bad habits or difficult to unlearn! But I'm trying to unlearn them with this book.
   All by all great book with great basics!



2. Whether this is actually three books in one or just one full-featured book is up to the marketing department to decide. From an objective perspective, the Hal Leonard Bass Method Complete Edition is put together nicely and is capable of taking someone like me from the "complete beginner level" to the "almost intermediate level" as quickly as my practice schedule will allow. This is no small accomplishment for a do-it-yourself manual with three compact discs. Given its amazingly-reasonable price tag, the Hal Leonard Bass Method Complete Edition is a bona fide best buy. Bravo!



3. This book is the best I have seen for someone wanting to learn the Bass. With this book anyone can teach themselves to play and read music. The knowledge contained within the pages AND the CD's you'll be playing in no time at all, GREAT BOOK.



4. This book includes 143 jam-packed pages and two CD's into a great package for the self-taught and beginning-to-intermediate players taking lessons. The book takes a well-rounded approach to bass playing, giving attention to essential scales, triads, ergonomic issues, and several styles. The book also touches on specialized techniques such as hammer ons and pop-and-snap.
   
   Using this method at a slow and studied pace will equip the muscially-inclined bass player to hold their own in most pop-music settings. If you want to be the next Jaco Pastorius, however, the journey only begins here.



5. This is a very good book if you already have the basics of reading music. Gives more emphasis to playing than practicing hand/fingering technics. Not realy for a first time player.

5 comments about The Guitar Player Repair Guide - 3rd.

1. Not much to say about it, if you play guitar and you care about details, you cannot go without it!



2. I was about 5- to 7-years-old when I watched Dan Erlewine and his band, The Prime Movers, rehearse in my basement and across the street in my neighbors' living room. Then, in 1969 at age 8, I started playing guitar and haven't stopped. Finally in April 2008, I bought Dan's books, "Guitar Player Repair Guide" and "How to Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great." Wish I'd had this information 30 years ago.
   
   Brilliant.



3. I waited for the most recent edition to come out, and I'm glad I did. This is THE repair guide to have for guitar. Covers just about everything (or at least points you in the right direction).



4. A great guide to guitar repair! Highly recommended to those who wish to learn more about the whys and whats of guitars and how to do your own modifications. If not doing your own modificiations, at least to know more
   about how they are done, what to look for and feel more confident when
   dealing with your guitar tech as you will be better educated and more informed with respect to the guitar and its components after reading this book.



5. You will not find a more comprehensive guide to guitar repair nor will you find a more knowledgable or experienced guide then Dan. You will not be disappointed.

5 comments about Chord Tone Soloing: A Guitarist's Guide to Melodic Improvising in Any Style.

1. This book is helping me more than any other book I have ever had. I went to GIT for nine months, completed a one year professional guitar certificate through Berklee School of Music (online) and have been studying music for over 25 years.
   
   Barrett Tagliarino, you are awsome!!!



2. Excellent for any musician who wants to know how to play solos over changes. Highly recommended - I bought this for a friend as well!



3. I was expecting intermediate to advanced instruction from this book about chord tone soloing. This book starts from VERY BASIC instruction, and works itself up to basic/intermediate soloing. The first solo in the book, as the author calls it, consists of two notes! Just two, in order, played over and over. Don't buy this book unless you are a very basic beginner!



4. Chord-Tone Soloing is one of the few books on the market that looks at a very important topic in guitar playing. Athough most amateurs are unaware of it, the majority of great guitar solos, especially those that aren't blues based, are very tied into chord tones, and most great players, whether they are fully conscious of it or not, hit chord tones at just the right moments in their solos. That's why theirs sound so much better than ours do!
   
   In this book Barrett Tagliarino, who is much more concerned with teaching than he is showing off, tells you what notes to target and just as importantly, when to hit them. Indeed, there is a lot in here about timing, which is something those of us who have never practiced with a metronome or had formal training need some help with. I'm not just talking about having a "natural" sense of rhythm; I'm describing the ability to hit certain tones on certain beats so they really stand out. Barrett explains this quite well.
   
   If you are wondering why just wanking around the pentatonic scale doesn't sound right in some songs, or if your soloing is in a major rut, check out this fine book. And give it time--many of these exercises take practice and patience, but in the end, your soloing will be vastly improved.



5. The title of the book is a litle deceptive. I would have guessed that it would be about arpeggios, when in fact it covers scales/modes as well. Of course, as you play the scales, the chord tones are the connecting points. In short, I can see how this book could be useful for a guitarist who wants to move beyond the basic rock stuff and start playing music with a more sophisticated harmonic basis. However, if you're already conversant with using scales and arpeggios over chord changes, you're not going to pick up anything new here.

5 comments about Hal Leonard Guitar Method, Complete Edition: Books & CD's 1, 2 and 3.

1. A very good primer for the beginning guitar student. Well written and easy to understand.



2. Its red,who doesnt want to own a red book!
   
   but seriously:
   downs:
   has tab
   information saturated compared to qty of music material
   the 4,5,6 strings are basically glossed over yet any student i teach needs this in qty, especially ledger line notes
   slow and fast versions of a track are on 1 track number
   
   ups:
   the backing tracks,they rate!
   amount of information presented
   the binding is spiral!no more fantasy where publishers dont expect the books to be opened
   
   summary
   any teacher of young students will need the easy pop melodies and easy pop rhythms series to complement this (or other stuff).
   this book is a lot less value without the cd's,rather minimal on its own,the written musical material doesn't give much joy.
   why does it have tab? why does the guitar student continue to be treated like a special citizen.get rid of it.
   throwing in some pictorial reminders of left hand techniques and other things like this would make a huge difference, even more so to anyone attempting this book on their own.
   and the chords begin in a strange manner: c & g7,practise the 1 finger version then do the real one.its a big step using those chords as examples, especially when the bass notes of those chords have not been dealt with yet.



3. Never played a guitar in my life, but after 3 days I was reading music and by the end of the first week, playing 3 strings. It's a great book for the beginner, even if you're only 50!



4. This book is reasonably priced and good for beginners in general. The only thing I found to be lacking is the short number of songs which go with each "lesson plan". It seems that by page 25, you are expected to play at an intermediate/pro level. To me, I would have preferred that the author included several more practice songs at each level of progression. Also, with the CD they have songs at a slow pace, and then a fast pace. Well, the slow version is easy to learn to play along with, but then the fast versions seem almost impossible to keep up with. Again, this book is very good and I recommend it. The only way to have made it better would to have been to include more practice songs at each level of progression. Best of luck, and remember this: learning to play the guitar is very difficult and requires time and patience. If you think you will play like Jimi Hendrix in 2 weeks, then think again and just keep playing those stupid video games.



5. I got this book set about 3-4 months ago. I've been trying to play the guitar for over a year now. I don't want to play for lessons yet but I know I'm going to have to soon to make sure I go to the next level. Until then though, these are some pretty good books. I'm about finished with the first CD/book and trying to go onto the next. It starts off slow and gets you up to speed quickly. The first book is entirely in normal music notation, and it teaches you how to read it and slowly adds an additional string until you're playing all 6 strings but just the top 4 frets after which is switches to fret/music and chord sheet music. I bought some song books before but they were more for people who knew what they were doing...not for me...at least not yet. I also tried a PC program where you plug your guitar into it and play with the PC and it grades you. That went ok but it just haves you play random riffs over and over and it doesn't teach you the reason why you're playing what you are nor was it any fun since I wasn't really playing any song, even it was a simple song.
   
   This book seems to teach you a little more than that but I'll still end up getting lessons at some point to have someone show me one on one some different styles and how I can progress further. These 3 books/cds should give me a really good head start though. Highly recommended for the $20 it costs.