Welcome to The Everything
There is no single “right” way to play guitar. In fact, it's the diversity of performers that keeps such a wide audience interested. This book will show you all the important techniques and concepts that make rock and blues guitar what they are.
This book is designed for players who have been playing guitar for a little while. To utilize this book effectively, you should know your basic open-position chords and moveable barre chords at a minimum. Advanced players will find plenty of material to keep their attention. The chapters in this book are organized in a logical order, but you should feel free to skip around. Whether you've played for 20 years or 20 minutes, there is something here for you.
This book covers all aspects of guitar from the most basic blues riff to extravagant and complex two-handed tapping. At first, new concepts and sounds may seem foreign, even unsettling. In time, these will become as familiar as your favorite power chord. You'll be able to see your own progress by revisiting old material. Melodies that are a challenge when you begin will seem easy after a few months of practice using this book as a guide.
A large portion of this book focuses on lead playing. In rock and blues, lead playing is a vital and important concept. In its relatively short life, lead guitar playing has found a permanent place in these styles of music. This book presents you with a logical and organized way to learn lead guitar and apply the concepts and licks to your music.
Throughout this book, musical examples help to illustrate ideas that are discussed in the chapters. All the examples use standard notation and tablature. If you can't read music yet, don't worry. That's covered here too.
By practicing, the musical examples, ideas, and concepts expressed in the text will become clear. The accompanying audio CD will bring the examples from the written page into rich living examples.
The focus of this book is application, not theory. Each chapter consists of new material followed by extensive discussion on where to use the new ideas and concepts. You'll be able to hone your skills and find your own sound with the skills you learn from this book. Let's get started!