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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent idea that has been badly thought through, 24 Feb 2006
Another reviewer felt that this book was suitable for beginners as well as experienced players. I disagree. If you're an absolute or near beginner, this book might well be a problem for you. If you've already got some experience then yes, it should be very useful indeed.So what's the problem? To start with, although the examples as printed in the book are clearly demarcated in terms of the CD tracks, the CD itself is a continuous mixture of dialogue and examples. There are very few breaks in the flow. Also, each track consists of more examples than those that have been transcribed so to be able to work out the link between sound and page, you need to be able to read music notation or TAB. Some examples are played through twice, others just once, or they are ad-libbed after the first run-through. The text sometimes echoes what is heard on the CD. Sometimes it paraphrases it, and sometimes there is little or no link at all. You also need to know what is meant by such phrases as "playing in the key of A" or to understand that by moving an F chord up to the fifth fret you access an A. All of this would be beyond an absolute beginner and, I suggest,the disparity between book and CD would be offputting for anyone who can't associate what they hear with notation or TAB. Curiously, well into the book and CD, we are told that we are moving into the key of E which is easier because it is an open chord. Thus the book appears to begin with harder examples simply because they are truer to the usual keys that are commonly used by blues players. Having listed the shortcomings, I do need to redress the balance by saying that in all other respects this is a useful tutor. Maybe many of the riffs are rather too similar, or are extensions of another riff - but that, after all, is one of the founding principles of learning how (and where) to play and adapt riffs. So, if you're a true beginner, leave this book alone for a few months. Otherwise, give it a go. There's no particular reason why these riffs are limited to acoustic guitar - they'll be perfectly suited to electric blues. Maybe even more so with super slinky strings and a bit of compression or overdrive.
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