Customer Reviews

Mel Bay Complete Country Blues Guitar Book/ CD set

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

 

 

Stefan Grossman has been the world authority on fingerstyle blues guitar for decades now, and this book is the biggest compendium of his work as an educator. He tabs out fifty-seven (fifty-seven!) songs in a variety of styles and tunings, enough to keep any student busy for a year or more.

This isn't so much a method book--though I taught myself to play country blues from it--as a large tab compendium with helpful tips about each song. Each song has at least one fully-transcribed verse. Many have intros and outros, and some are complete arrangements. Most of the book covers the alternating bass and ragtime traditions of the Memphis and Piedmont blues, but there are seven Delta tunes, and excellent seven-song chapter on Texas blues, and even a good number of bottleneck tunes. Most of the songs are old standards ("Crow Jane","Vestapol","Hard Time Killin' Floor") taken from the original recordings by artists like Reverend Gary Davis, Mance Liscomb, and Blind Blake.

The "handwritten" tab is large and easy to read--you'll never be able to go back to that tiny Hal Leonard/Guitar Player tab after this. There are lots of photos of old bluesmen as well as atmospheric old-South pictures from the Library of Congress collection. It's so attractive I keep it on my coffee table. The CDs feature Grossman playing the tabbed arrangements (and then some) as well as original Blind Lemon Jefferson tracks. They're listenable in their own right, even if you aren't learning the guitar!

If you're interested in pre-war blues guitar, and you already known how to play five or six chords (remember, this book teaches country blues, not guitar), this is easily the best bang for your music buying buck.

At first I did not like this book. The tab is a bit different and takes some time to get used to and the tracks are often capoed (sometimes the book tells you this and sometimes not). However, after having this book for around a year and enjoying it as thoroughly as I have, my mind has changed. One gets used to the tab and having to figure out where the capo goes is not bad for one's ear at all. I have not encountered another book with as nice a variety of country blues songs. Grossman includes country blues styles from various regions and does a great job explaining the differences in techniques. He tells one everything he or she needs to know in order to be able to, not only play the notes on the page, but to get the proper sound. He also includes some of his own compositions. Normally, I do not like when an instructor does this, but his pieces are very cool! All of the arrangements included are good ones and, as stated before, the book doesn't just teach songs, but how to play country blues! The tracks included on the cds are excellent, if not always note for note versions of the tab; I believe this has been done intentionally so that students will try to figure out solos and create their own. As a hardcore blues fan, and competent electric blues guitarist, I always tried to play country blues songs before. The problem was that, though I hit the right notes etc, I was approaching the right hand like a classical player. Grossman really teaches the best way to play country blues. I cannot recommend this wonderful book highly enough. It will give the country blues lover months and months--perhaps longer--of material to study and enjoy.

I haven't played guitar for about ten years, and got this book to get myself back into it. It's great, I can't put it down, and I'm actually learning the pieces!
Defintely recommended, but not for a complete beginner.

This is the kind of high quality training material you expect from Steven Grossman. Well organized, easy to understand tab and notation and recordings. Well done.

This is a great book with clear tabs and notation of many classic country blues tunes. I only have one minor complaint which is that it should have a plastic comb binding that would make the book lie flat when open and make much more durable.

This has to be one of the best values for country blues guitar lessons! The TAB book is huge, with a generous amount of songs nicely tabbed out, and would be worth the price alone, but the two CDs are an additional value for both lessons and simply enjoying the music.
Although I am more a fan of DVD lessons, this set is a wonderful addition to the DVDs by Stefan Grossman for students. This is for late Beginner through Intermediate, with those Advanced able to take the TAB and dress it up even more so.
The print is large and clear, and the TAB is accurate. 5 ***** for quality, but off the charts for value.

This is a good book for learning a fantastic guitar style which was almost totally unknown to me before. This is pre-war acoustic "country" (as opposed to "city") blues. These are very cool songs, very playable by anyone who has the fingerpicking basics down.

The Complete Country Blues Guitar Book has tabs for a wide variety of blues styles, including Delta, Rag, Texas, and bottleneck. The one point that keeps me from rating it 5 stars is the CDs, one of which was defective. I contacted Mel Bay Publishing by e-mail, advised them of the problem, and they promptly sent me a replacement along with a nice apology. That issue aside, I am very pleased with the overall collection. Get this if blues is your thang...