Customer Reviews

Blues Solos for Acoustic Guitar (Guitar Books)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the best blues tutor by far and the cheapest. The tunes to learn are entertaining and a wide range of styles is covered from lick and riff to walking bass-line. The accompanying CD is good enough to listen to in its own right. Johnny Norris is to be congratulated. Why cannot all guitar tutors be as good as this ?

Great book...Very well explained and very fun to play. The licks are basic, but author/performer uses them skillfully and demonstrates that these same licks can be used very powerfully if done within the timing of the song.

Also, the "catchiness" of the tunes will have you practicing everyday. Some of the later pieces are quite challenging (especially if you're new to the blues genre). The first five pieces are Beg-intermediate level (a beginner will not have the fret hand speed required for a smooth sounding tune). The rest of the tunes are quiet challenging, but if you listen to the CD (and memorize the first four pieces)I'm sure that a guitar enthusiast will like the quality of the arrangements because they are truly blues inspired.

Cons:
Author/performer has an accent, difficult to understand sometimes
Sometimes author/performer plays to fast in the later pieces when demonstrating
Some of the standard notation is wrong in song introduction.
Author/performer uses guitar symbols in standard notation that are not referenced in book.
I don't believe a beginner can handle the first song easily as the book assumes (not the riffs but the licks), so, beginners beware!
Guitarist should have modest practice of either a moveable blues and minor pentatonic scales.

Songs you actually want to learn to play! Not a lot of theory, but hands-on learning. Acoustic finger-picking that is fun! I hope the author writes another soon.

I purchased this book in the early '90's when I FIRST picked up the guitar. At the time I only knew Basic chords, I was hooked immediately. I use this book even today. The beginning is very basic and well explained. As the book continues it does get more advanced and has less explanations in setting up the pieces. As a guitar player I really don't mind this about the book, it's a great way for taking off the training wheels. I have learned finger coordination and am able to work with more advanced cord structures today, like jazz chords. I Love this book and have gifted it to many newbies with great positive results. A must have, definitely.
Don't worry about keeping up with the tracks, just learn the pieces, speed comes later.

This is a very good book. You'll learn some solid technique along with some surprisingly good solos (that really sound like solos and not just excercises)designed to put those new techniques to use. But as other reviewers have noted, the material here is not for beginners. I've been playing for over 40 years and playing some of these pieces up to Mr. Norris' speed was a challenge. A couple of things would have made the CD a little better: 1. some of the tracks are mistitled (easy enough to change), and 2. it would have been helpful to be able to play against backing tracks and not just along with Mr. Norris. Still, this was a worthwhile investment.

Not a beginners book. Before going thru this book I considered myself an intermediate guitar player. This book has greatly developed my fingerstyle ability. If you are already fair on guitar and want to learn fingerstyle blues tunes this is your book. First 8 songs not to hard but sound good. Last 10 songs all fingerstyle alternating thumb base with index, middle and ring fingers playing melody. Songs progressively get harder as he introduces and builds on each technique. It took me some serious practicing but I'm now hooked on fingerstyle acoustic.

I agree with others here that this is not for fresh beginners and that a basic familiarity with chords and blues scales is very helpful. The first several pick based tunes are pretty easy. The songs based on alternating bass finger picking is where both the challenge and the gain began for me. Having (sadly) never played this style before, I had initial difficulty getting used to the steady thumb lines, but after a couple weeks of practice, the alternating bass method felt much more natural and has expanded my ability and the direction of my playing a great deal. Once I had the finger style bass technique down somewhat comfortably, I again began learning the songs more quickly. I consider myself an intermediate player, someone who has played for a long time but has never moved beyond rhythmic strumming and very basic lead stuff. I've been working on this material for two or three very enjoyable months and have improved noticeably. Recommended.

Excellent book for beginners or for those who have training but would like to try playing the blues.

PROS:
1. The book does a good job of covering a wide range of songs and difficulty levels.

CONS:
1. Too many fingerstyle solos (just a personal thing)
2. The author plays the music too quickly. Personally, I think several of the songs would sound better at a slower pace anyway as blues tends to be a very passionate style of music.
3. Riffs are not explained thoroughly on several pieces. This could be more of an editing issue after the fact and may not be the author's problem.
4. Licks need to be slowed down a lot more and he needs to talk more about the positioning of the fingers on the licks.
5. Would have benefitted more from a video rather than audio but this book has been out forever. I think I bought mine back in the 90s.

Bottom line is that an advanced player would find the book better than a newer player.