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AcousticGuitar.com

The Acoustic Guitar Podcast

In this method book, guitarist and educator Cameron Knowler develops and shares a new perspective on the topic of flatpicking guitar. Analyzing the stylings of historically progressive backup guitar players (Jim Baxter, Norman Blake, Maybelle Carter, and Riley Puckett), you’ll be led through the bedrock tenets of American rhythm guitar. This conversation touches on technique, theory, and how to better listen to the information provided by the fiddle. Applying these interrelated points to the subject of melodic guitar, the last quarter of the book introduces a largely unknown guitarist (Kelly Lundy, son of fiddler Emmett Lundy) who conveniently exists as a crossover between old-time and bluegrass music, while setting in motion various points made throughout the narrative. It is with this information that you’re encouraged to reevaluate flatpicking guitar as a continuation of the dance traditions which later developed into bluegrass – as opposed to a genre of purely virtuosic instrumental music. The format of this method book includes longer examples in the back, neatly labeled in an appendix, with shorter examples woven into the manuscript to provide a focused learning experience. The book is 230 pages, with black and white illustrations done by the author, plus video for each musical example. "Heavy-duty."—Norman Blake Check out Cameron Knowler's lessons for Acoustic Guitar magazine here.

Guitars Have Feelings Too - A Method for Rural Guitarists

Learn to solo with 12 lessons from eight of Acoustic Guitar’s master teachers—Ron Jackson, Lisa Liu, Pete Madsen, Marcy Marxer, Sean McGowan, Jane Miller, Scott Nygaard, and Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers. This complete guide gives you the tools and concepts you need to avoid common pitfalls and to solo with grace and intention. Each lesson has four weeks’ worth of exercises of progressive complexity and difficulty, along with bonus examples and bite-sized tips sprinkled throughout. These Weekly Workouts will provide a solid foundation for learning to solo on acoustic guitar, whether you’re a fingerpicker or flatpicker, in virtually any style. You'll get the complete written instruction, standard notation and tablature, and 2.5 hours of accompanying video instruction to download instantly. Includes: How to spin endless variations on a simple tune Add a breath of fresh air to stale solos and progressions Expand your solo vocabulary by moving up, down, and around chord shapes Learn to use triads and dominant seventh chords to build blues and rock solos Fretboard exercises Counterpoint exercises And more!

Confident Guitar Soloing

Chord-melody is simply the art of supporting a melody with a chord voicing, where the top note of the chord becomes your melody note. This guide from Greg Ruby serves as a gentle introduction to chord-melody. It will walk you through the steps of finding melodies using only the first two strings of the guitar, generating inversions for any chord, using those voicings to support melody notes, and applying these techniques to popular songs. Throughout the guide, we will explore jazz standards such as "Whispering," "Careless Love," "I’ll See You in My Dreams," "After You’ve Gone," and "My Melancholy Baby." We’ll also cover a variety of musical contexts and techniques, including passing chords, tremolo, bass runs, and arpeggiated picking, to fill in the gaps. Deepen your understanding of how the guitar works, expand your chord vocabulary, and add beautiful songs to your repertoire with this complete digital edition. Your download includes six lessons, plus a bonus workshop, each with chord frames, standard notation, tablature, and more than 2 hours of accompanying video instruction with Greg Ruby. "This is an invaluable resource for guitarists looking for a way to explore swing-based chord soloing from the ground up. Greg Ruby dives right in and articulately lays out a step-by-step process for learning that is—to his great credit as a teacher—as approachable as it is thorough. Using jazz and swing standards as vehicles for developing chord soloing language will bring readers a great deal of satisfaction for their efforts, and the book’s problem-solution format will no doubt save students a lot of time and frustration. Chord Melody Made Easy(ish) is sure to reward readers with a solid foundation for getting hip chord solos under their fingers!" —Grant Gordy

Chord-Melody Made Easy(ish)

Renowned guitarists Adam Levy and Ethan Sherman offer a comprehensive and practical guide to boundless musical growth for the dedicated guitarist, as well as on-the-job lessons learned from both of their many years of experience as working musicians and music teachers. Originally adapted from Adam Levy’s popular YouTube series Guitar Tips, the essays and lessons in this book cover topics including: Effective practice strategies Fretboard technique Playing with other musicians Composition Improvisation Listening and reading recommendations And more Concepts are followed by practical music exercises and plans of action—things you can do today, throughout the week or month, or even all year. This book offers something different yet equally useful to the music student, hobbyist musician, or pro musician—and everyone in between. Offering a framework for lifelong growth on the guitar, it’s a book you can return to year after year as you evolve as a musician. “Equal parts practical and thoughtful, String Theories will guide any guitarist along the path that is focused learning and real improvement.” —Bryan Sutton “Adam and Ethan have written an affable yet rigorous guitar guide filled with sage observations and suggestions for anyone who is super serious about guitar.” —Nels Cline “String Theories is a brilliant and soulful exploration of the world of guitar—from practicing and performing to cultivating one’s own voice, Adam and Ethan so elegantly celebrate the multidimensionality of what it means to be a modern guitarist.” —Julian Lage Check out Adam Levy's lessons for Acoustic Guitar magazine here.

String Theories - Tips, Challenges, and Reflections for the Lifelong Guitarist

In this book and video guide, Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers gives you an array of tools for making chord progressions more distinctive, deepening your grooves, and getting outside the box of strumming block chords. Over the course of six in-depth lessons, you'll learn how to build dynamics in an arrangement, play bass lines on guitar, and expand your harmonic vocabulary with slash chords and cluster chords. Along the way, you'll explore examples inspired by classic songs, so you can hear and see how these tools work in actual music. You'll discover how varying the technique of both your fretting and picking hands—and often playing less—can do so much to make your guitar parts more dynamic and musically satisfying. This comprehensive guide includes written instruction, notation and tab, plus more than 2 hours of accompanying video instruction for all music examples, performed by Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers. "Most guitar teachers have heard this—or something like it—from students: ‘I’m so bored with what I know. Please show me something fresh!’ That’s what Dynamic Guitar is all about. With clear explanations and colorful musical examples, Rodgers shines a light on several novel approaches to arranging and orchestration for the guitar. As a companion to his Beyond Strumming, or as a standalone volume, Dynamic Guitar is an ennui killer.”—Adam Levy Bundle and save!Beyond Strumming offers 20 lessons from the fundamentals of strong accompaniment to more advanced techniques like cross picking, hybrid picking, and alternate tunings. Now comes Dynamic Guitar which shares six more vital tools for making the most of your guitar as an accompaniment instrument. We'll automatically take 10% off when you order both books together.

Dynamic Guitar - More Tools to Go Beyond Strumming

The magic of strumming lies in its ability to capture the listener’s attention while supporting the melody of a song. In this guide from master roots musician and educator Cathy Fink—culled from Acoustic Guitar magazine’s popular series of basics lessons—you’ll learn the fundamentals of rhythm and how to strum. Whether you’re a complete beginner or have a bit more experience, these lessons will help you make that magic—and develop a solid foundation on the acoustic guitar. This complete digital edition contains six lessons, each with chord frames, standard notation, tablature, and accompanying video instruction.