Top notch stuff!

I've been playing for about 6 years, and was looking for something to put some "tastefullness" into my playing. this book is excellent for that. It's composed of 21 lessons - each lesson includes a rhythm part and a lead part. There are several pages of text with each lesson, explaining in detail what you're learning, laying out the theory behind it, and telling you how to use it. For instance, you start with a basic 12 bar blues progression using 7th chords in open position, then move to moveable 7th chords, then 9th chords, and learn some variations on those chords and how to use them. You learn the pentatonic minor scale box by box, then once you've got it over the whole fretboard, you start moving from one position to another within a solo. You learn this piece by piece, a little more scale work, a little more rhythm work, in each lesson. Then you play a song that uses what you just learned. There are quite a variety of styles of blues on the CD, from delta blues to funk, minor blues, major blues, and a fair amount of rock/blues stuff.

I think it's excellent the way the book is laid out. As soon as you've learned something new, you immediately get to use it in a song. And the songs get progressively harder as you go. You also gain a real understanding of how to play the blues, not just how to play the specific songs in the book.

I wouldn't really recommend this if you're a complete beginner. Although the first few lessons are very easy, by the middle of the book I think a beginner would start having a really hard time with the solos. It's more for people who have been playing for a while and want to get into the blues. One small complaint is that on the CD, the rhythm guitar is way in the background. It's hard to hear the strumming patterns, you really have to pay attention. On the good side, each solo is played twice on each track, and that makes it much better to practice to. If you don't get it quite right the first time through, you get a second chance! I think that's a neat motivational technique.

I'm enjoying this book immensely.

A great buy!

This is an excellent course! Easy to understand, it builds in a coherent manner right to the end. The beginner should have at least a basic knowledge of chord changes and a few chops but that's about it. If you are a rank beginner use it with an instuctor and you'll have no problems. Too many course's promise to teach you how to play the Blues and then give you some scales, a couple of riffs and then turn you loose with a track telling you to "Jam along with what you have learned". The problem is you have learned just enough to confuse yourself. If you are real sharp,fine. But if not, about ten pages of most courses and you are wondering if you wasted your money. This one is an exception. It's worth the money!! Stick with it and when you finish you'll be able to tackle something more advanced with a basic understanding of what you are doing!

Gets You Off The Beginner Plateau

I've played guitar for over 20 years but never graduated beyond just playing chords and singing my favorite rock & pop tunes. This book actually got me off the guitar playing plateau I've been stuck on for decades and renewed my interest in the guitar which I had lost. For me this book/CD has proved to be priceless.