Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #227230 in Books
• Model: 00-0059B
• Published on: 1997-11-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 64 pages

Customer Reviews

Excellent!
Great great book.
I've played guitar now for over 30 years. Started out with camp-fire music, you know, The Beatles and Stones, and then moved on to Bob Dylan, CSN&Y.
Then got into fingerpicking. I have a lot of fingerpicking books from the guitar workshop series by Stefan Grossman - basically i stuck with those because i didn't know there was other good material about.

I much prefer this book, because it gives you a good, solid, proper grounding in the blues. Very straight forward 12 bar blues, mostly in the key of E (with some for the key of A). But it gives you just about all you need to know and all the building blocks (from rhythm playing, preferably with pick, to fingerpicking, with or without pick).

The reason why i rate it above the Stefan Grossman books, and why i like it so much, is that it gives you the TOOLS, which you can then use whichever way you like - and once you've got these basics under your belt (or rather in your muscles, your bones)that is exactly what you can do. And the transition is so easy! Heck, i can now even IMPROVISE on a night gathered with some friends and whisky. (As opposed to - as in Grossman - learning specific songs, but not being able to move beyond them.)

Highly recommended: wish i had it 20 years ago.

Simplified - not simple: Wyatt when he's good
Nine Chapters, 79 tracks to study: There's just a lot of good time to be spent with this manual for those who want to benefit from their effort to learn to play.
The lessons are a pleasant challenge to your ear, and both hands. In his laid back manner Wyatt takes you through the basics: chords and the 12 bars - as well as through the subtleties (listen closely to the examples!) of the rhythm patterns of basic blues.
You end up with a solid understanding of the structure of the E-blues (12-bar) and enough building blocks (licks) to go way beyond the mere copy.
Wyatt focusses on the music in the music - the craftmanship. He leaves you to your own expression, but provides you with really good tools to do exactly that.
I have played folk guitar for almost 40 years, and I am glad, that I have come across this and other fine instruction books by Wyatt.
I'm over 50 years old, thus I never give more than 4 stars.
Thank you.

Beyond Basics ... well just about !
I really bought this for the section on fingerpicking... and that is OK..what there is of it.

Its an OK tuition booklet with cd - some useful tecniques - its a book aimed at 'improvers' I guess and if your good at working through books like this......... technique by technique you should get a good bit out of it. Plus it was not especially expensive - so if your on a budget - theres a fair bit to get stuck into.

I am not so good at working progressively through these kind of books - and like to find some really great jewels to start with. So for me its just an OK tuition book .but it won't be the one I turn to 1st
To be honest there are better specialsit books on blues guiyar, blues techniques and especialy fingerpickin.