Customer Reviews

Easy Pop Rhythms: Book/CD Pack

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I was looking for a book to use solo, not with an instructor. Unfortunately, this isn't it. While they do include a number of strum patterns at the end of the book, they do not show strum patterns for each song -- you're left to figure it out on your own.

I'd hope that the CD would make that easier but the other instruments sometimes make it hard to hear the guitar part. They didn't do what's sometimes done and separate the guitar on one side and the backing parts on the other side so you can't isolate the guitar.

The chords are the easy part. All the songs are transposed into simple 3-finger chords (C, G7, G, D7, Em, D, A7).

Overall, I'm disappointed.

From Rock Around the Clock and Bye Bye Love to Let Her Cry and All Apologies, this book provides a useful selection of rock and pop songs for the beginning rhythm guitarist. All songs are simplified to 2 to 4 easy chords and include the lyrics. Only the tiniest 2 bar melody notation is included. There are about 2 pages that deal with reading the notation (e.g. repeats, codas, al fine) and strum patterns.

This version of the book comes with an accompanying CD which contains a voiceless back up band. It is useful for learning the melodies or providing accompaniment. It is not necessary for learning, and the publishers have also made Easy Pop Rhythms: Book for those who do not want the CD.

I would recommend this book to beginning guitarists with 0 to 1 years experience. It certainly is more fun for learning than reading scales and playing single note melodies.