The Complete Guide to Playing Blues Guitar Book One - Rhythm Guitar: Master Blues Rhythm Guitar Playing (Learn How to Play Blues Guitar)

The book starts easy enough, laying the ground with the basic 12-bar blues structure. But then it introduces 7th chords, extensions, nice turnarounds, fills, how to play an intro, etc. It concludes with minor and other forms of blues. Recommended for guitarists that want to start with a good foundation.

I am a beginner guitarist and found this book very helpful and easy to follow. Lots of great exercises. Will be buying more books in this series as soon as I finish this one.

I was a metal guitarist for 20 years. Always had problems playing the blues. Just could grasp the structure. I know is a slow version of a lot of heavy metal. I’ve only had the book for a few days. I love how engaging the author is with the reader. It is a nice approach compared to a lot of music books. The book moves you forward quickly. But not too fast. It is simple to read. I have book 2 in the series ready as soon as I finish this one. So far I am very happy with my purchase. Once I finish I review again on my progress and ability to adapt to blues.

So far I have enjoyed using this book to educate myself about blues guitar playing. Each chapter I have worked through really break down each individual lesson in a way that is easy to comprehend and understand. Plus, the audio that is included make it extremely convenient to practice on whatever lesson you are working. However, I have not given it five stars at this time since I have yet to complete the entire book. When I do, I will update my review.

I retired this year and learn to play the Blues Guitar was on the top of my to do list. I have been messing around with trying to learn to play the guitar for over 40 years. I have tried private lessons, books and videos but nothing has ever really clicked for me. After giving it a go I usually give up in frustration and my guitar returns to the deep recesses of my closet waiting for the next time I get inspired.I started by digging out my old materials and started watching lessons on YouTube. Although this was helpful I soon discovered that I had no real direction and was not sure that I was progressing. So I decided to look for a book series that would give me a framework or curriculum to work with. After a lot of research I found this book and have been using it for two weeks. I can say that I have made more progress in this time than I have ever made in my past attempts. The lessons are easy to understand and build in a very logical order. They get to the point and get you playing right away. The audio and backing tracks make the lessons fun and challenging. I look forward to practicing every day and believe I have finally found a book that will help me reach my guitar goals.

perfect book, thank you

This is an incredibly well written, accurate series. Every system includes tab and score, so if you know how to read music you don't have to try to decipher meaning from the tabulature, but if you want to just read tabs you can. This may seem a silly detail, but when I first started learning guitar I remember being confused by the usage of the word "seventh". When I first heard guitar players say "7th chord", I just assumed they meant "major 7th". It's a silly thing to be confused by, and easily clarified, but I notice that Mr. Alexander makes the effort to consistently refer to the chord as "dominant 7th". Standard notation (eg "A7") persists in the music, but in the text the chord is always referred to as "dominant 7th". Perhaps not a big deal, but details like this smooth out the bumps in the road.

I bought the first three volumes of this series, and figured I'd review this one since it's the most likely one someone would purchase first. I've been playing just about anything with strings for more decades than I'd like to think about, and I own hundreds of technical music books. I'm always looking for interesting approaches, different ways of looking at theory and application, and, especially pertinent regarding Mr. Alexander's works, the most efficient ways to teach. So here it is: if you're a relative novice looking to play blues or rock, you'll be wasting a lot of time if you buy any other book.'Complete Guide' bypasses everything you don't need to know (you can waste years on that stuff), and provides a comprehensive, standard, easily applied method of learning rhythm and lead for blues, which is the basis of rock and much of jazz. With a bit of effort, you'll get to the point that you can play with others faster using Mr. Alexander's method much more quickly than if you'd gone to music school or tried another approach. The sound files are very helpful, later books in this series seamlessly build on the material presented here, and if you want to later try any of the Jazz or 'modern guitar' material, you'll be treading comfortably familiar ground.I'd thought it had all been written, and than nobody could add much to the genre. I was wrong. Buy this one, you'll be glad you did.

Ho comprato il secondo dei tre volumi dedicati alla chitarra blues dopo aver iniziato con profitto a studiare il primo. Sono scritti in un inglese facile e ben comprensibile, le lezioni sono progressive e veramente utili, se si scaricano le tracce audio si entra in un mondo web di lezioni gratuite, esempi di tecniche solistiche e lezioni teoriche che sono davvero una garanzia di qualità. Molto consigliato insieme a tutti gli altri libri sulle varie tecniche chitarristiche.

Got this book because I've needed direction after watching too much 'tutoring' on the net.This is the ideal beginners book, from standard chord changes alongside backing tracks (once downloaded), to the hard part of how to barre effectively.Once through this book, I'll be going on to 2.Thoroughly recommend.

I have come across most of the information included in this book in the past, but the way it is presented makes it easier than other sources to digest and then apply. I can say that I am closer to understanding it and am now able to play it. The best part is towards the end where the book introduces shell and dropped 2 voicings which sound very pleasant.One improvement I would make is the tabs. In the front part of the book the numbers are large enough to clearly see, but towards the end they get smaller and fainter and are very difficult to read.

I was a campfire guitarist for years and then I stopped playing for about a decade. When I got back into I decided to take a more structured approach to my study and I thought Blues guitar would be a good place to start. So I am presently working my way through this book and the Blues lead guitar book in the same series.This would be a good book for an advanced beginner or an intermediate guitar player wanting to improve their blues skills. For a complete beginner I would look for a more general book on rhythm playing first.I see a number of negative reviews complaining that you don't get the audio files with the Kindle version. However you can actually download the audio files from the Fundamental Changes website. They're just regular mp3 files. With an iPad/iPhone you might need to transfer the files via iTunes and for Android just connect your device to your computer via USB and transfer the files manually. There are various apps that will allow you to loop sections, slow (or speed up) the music and change the pitch (if you need to).

El libro es muy ameno de leer y tienes descargas gratuitas de audio de los ejemplos y 'backing tracks'. He comprado varios de sus libros y son todos muy buenos. Todavía no he leído el libro entero pero el comienzo me ha convencido lo suficiente como para recomendarlo, sobre todo para guitarristas que quieren aprender teoría del blues y no saben por donde empezar, ya sean principiantes o que ya sepan tocar incluso y quieran aclarar conceptos.