Acoustic Blues Guitar/157 [Paperback]

Kenny Sultan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1993

This book for intermediate-level guitarists is a follow-up to Kenny's Introduction to Acoustic Blues. It covers blues in five different keys and positions, and incorporates slide or bottleneck playing in both open and standard tunings. All songs are primarily fingerstyle with a monotone bass used for most. The accompanying 70-minute CD features performances of every example and song, played slowly then up to speed to facilitate learning.

Product Details

• Paperback: 48 pages
• Publisher: Centerstream Publications (October 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0931759730
• ISBN-13: 978-0931759734
• Product Dimensions: 12 x 9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #335,854 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From Zero To Sixty in Three Months, September 5, 2000

By 

Reader "a_reader_999" (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Acoustic Blues Guitar/157 (Paperback)

I've been playing for two years. I've worked very hard at it. But I got nowhere. Then I bought this book. The guy at the store said, "This book ROCKS". He was right. It has lifted me from the "I can't play a thing" level to the "dude, you've really gotten good" level in about three months. I've bought maybe 50 guitar books, and although a few of them have been very good, none of them (except for a John Hurt book & CD combo) even approaches this one. If you've tried to learn fingerpicking and given up in frustration, then buy this book. It will make the difference. Guaranteed. The first things you learn are all very simple, but each successive tune cleverly builds on what you've learned so far, and adds just a little bit more. Kenny plays each piece slowly and then quickly, unlike those Mel Bay books where they play everything at blazing speed. In short, I can't find a single bad thing to say about this book. It would have been worth ten times what they charged me for it.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This MoJo is Workin' !!!!!!, April 17, 1999

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[e-mail] (Baltimore, MD, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Acoustic Blues Guitar/157 (Paperback)

I happened upon Kenny Sultan quite by chance when I was taking a fingerstyle class at the National Guitar Workshop. The teacher threw me a copy of this book to work on because I was too advanced for the beginners class I was in, but not at the level to check out any of the fingerstyle seminars with Martin Simpson, Paul Rishell etc.. In any case, my first love is the blues and ragtime, and those couple of days with this book had me hooked. When I got home I went right out and bought this book and, at the risk of sounding sappy, it changed my life. My work schedule prevented regular jam sessions and strumming chords was boring as hell with no one to jam with. This book took me to a whole new level of playing and has brought great joy to those hours between work and bed. The cassette is invaluable, the tunes soulful and you even get to dip a little toe into some ragtime and slide licks. You will quickly want to find other books by Kenny and probably start scouring the guitar shops for a National or Dobro. This is easily the finest fingerstyle blues guitar book I have ever seen. And the author is not only a helluva player, but a fine gentleman, too. A letter I sent him asking for some tips on double time bass runs was answered in a week.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fun book, but won't teach a lot, July 4, 2004

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"giaka" (Belgium) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Acoustic Blues Guitar/157 (Paperback)

Very fun book if you just want to impress your friends with a couple of nice songs (above all the not-Kenny songs are worthwile). Good for a starter to learn some blues basics (though picking technique is not explained at all!!!). But, if you are an intermediate that looks for a jump forward, beware: this book won't teach you a lot, no scale, no harmony, no improvisation, just some nice tunes.