Product Description

Face it, being a rock guitarist is just about the coolest thing you can be – next to a secret agent with a black belt in karate. But even if you were a butt–kicking international person of mystery, playing rock guitar would still be cooler because it involves art, passion, power, poetry, and the ability to move an audience of listeners. Whether "moving your listeners" means mowing down crowd surfers with your power chords or making the audience cry with your sensitive melodies, no other musical instrument allows you so much versatility. 

Whatever rocks your world, Rock Guitar For Dummies can help you bring that message out through your fingers and onto that electric guitar that′s slung over your shoulder. If you′re a beginner, you′ll discover what you need to know to start playing immediately, without drowning in complicated music theory. If you′ve been playing for a while, you can pick up some tips to help improve your playing and move to the next level.

Here′s a sampling of the topics covered in Rock Guitar For Dummies:

• How electric guitars and amplifiers work

• Choosing the right guitar and amp for you, and how to care for them

• Left–hand and right–hand guitar techniques

• The different styles of rock guitar playing
• Creating great riffs
• The history of rock guitar
• Buying accessories for your new toy
• Top Ten lists of the guitarists you should listen to, the rock albums you must have, and the classic guitars you should know about

Rock Guitar For Dummies also comes with a CD that includes audio of every example shown in the book, plus play–along tracks with a band.

So, if you consider yourself an air guitar virtuoso and would like to try the real thing, Rock Guitar For Dummies can help you on your way to becoming an accomplished guitarist.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17903 in Books
• Published on: 2001-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

From the Back Cover
"Have a blast learning the guitar!" ––Michael Molenda, Guitar Palyer magazine

Includes rock, metal, hip–hop, and more!

Your ultimate guide to playing rock guitar –– get ready to rock and roll!
Whether you′re contemplating a career as a heavy metal superstar or you just want to jam with friends, this friendly book–and–CD package make it easy to master the fundamentals of rock guitar. From simple chord progression to smokin′ rock riffs, Rock Guitar For Dummies delivers just what you need to get down and groove!

Discover how to:
∗ Strum power chords and rhythm figures
∗ Improve solos and play lead guitar
∗ Play licks, from rockabilly to rap rock
∗ Explore the mechanics of guitars, amps, and effects
∗ Care and maintain all your gear
included on the audio CD
Play along with:
∗ Blues– and early rock–based lead passage
∗ A variety of rock styles, including classic rock, heavy metal, southern rock, and progressive rock
∗ Rock licks using techniques such as hammer–ons, pull–offs, bends, and slides
∗ And more!
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∗ Choose from among 33 different subject categories
∗ Get news you can use on everything from money to health to computers

About the Author
Jon Chappell is an award winning guitarist and has a master′s degree in music composition. He has published over 20 method books and has performed with Grahan Nash, Judy Collins, and Pat Benetar.

Customer Reviews

Good book, but maybe not what you expect...
As with all 'Dummies' books 'Rock Guitar for Dummies' follows the same standards and humour as other books in the range. However, don't buy this book on the understanding that it will teach you how to the play the guitar from scratch, some prior knowledge is needed. This book acts as a guide to help develop your guitar playing into a rock sytle rather than teaching you from scratch. I'm guessing 'Guitar for Dunmmies' will cover the area's I expected to find in this book! Overall the book is well written and provides a wealth of information on all things 'rock guitar', 50% of the book is actual guitar playing, while the other 50% is theory behind the equitment etc...

Last Words: Not a beginners guide.

half-arsed in places
Ok, i'll review this book in 2 parts:

Firstly, the sections on hardware, maintenance, and general info about electric guitars. I bought this book expecting not to use this section at all, but has since proved invaluable. It's great for answering all those questions you had about guitars and equipment but felt too stupid to ask in the shop (the sections on amps and effects pedals is brilliant), and the maintenance bit contains all the essentials and more for keeping your guitar in top nick. Full marks for this bit.

Secondly, the (more important) tuition part. I was expecting the rhythm guitar section to explain in depth rhythmic timings and power chords, i.e. things important to ROCK guitar. However it concentrates on traditional chords and even barre chords, virtually irrelevant for a distorted rock guitar (the author himself even says so on page 73!!). The lead guitar section is where it all falls apart. It only concentrates on the pentatonic scale and nothing else, which i have since realised is only good for old-shool rock/indie and not much more. I remember finding this section particularly baffling as a beginner, not because it was too fast paced, but because the author tries to teach this scale without mentioning 2 very important things: a) what the pentatonic scale actually is and how it is formed, and b) what you're actually supposed to do with it once you've learnt it. In fact, a continuing moan throughout this book it that the author tries to teach without explaining the theory behind things, which would make it so much clearer.

Overall, this book is probably worth getting for the technical side alone, but you may find yourself skipping over much of the tuition section and as a result it won't last more than a month or two. You may as well start with 'guitar for dummies' then go on to more specific tuition books.

Really helpful, you can genuinely learn with this
Brilliantly written, particularly good at explaining things you feel you really ought to have already known. Great chapters on hardware, amps and effects; as well as actually *playing* rhythm and lead. The style is just right, not too dry and not too full of "humour".

I'm not sure a total beginner could work through this without a lot of work, but if you've played a few chords, have a helpful friend who plays or are coming from another instrument, you really could find yourself playing rock guitar with this book and plenty of practice and dedication.