Customer Reviews

Mel Bay Fingerstyle Jazz Guitar/Teaching Your Guitar to Walk Bk/CD set

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

 

 

This is not a book for beginners to learn jazz. There is almost no theory and the chords are much too hard for any beginner. There are also many typos, mostly in the tablature. But if you already have a couple of years of fingerstyle music under your belt (preferably classical) and want to learn a few cool jazz rhythms, then this book has a few. I particularly like Latin Lines, Southern Ragtime and Jazz Blues. These are fun pieces to play and most listeners will think that you're a real pro when they hear you play them, that is, unless they hear you play them twice which is when they might realize that you're playing what you memorized (jazz player mostly improvise). You might also learn to train your ear to recognize some jazz chords and progressions. But as I say, the book is not for beginners and is not comprehensive. You'll need much more if you want to learn jazz but this is great for noodling around.

Most Mel Bay books are junk or are meant to be studied with an instructor. The covers look good, the song titles look cool and they are filled with snippets of wisdom, but they are designed to sell books and not to teach music. If you really want to learn any style of guitar then you'll need to work with a good instructor, preferably someone who either plays in public or used to. There are just too many questions that a book can't answer and then there is the matter of correct posture, healthy hand positions and supplemental exercises and pieces that only someone who is working with you can recommend. Even many pros take seminars, master classes and even regular lessons from musicians better than themselves. People who bought this book and expected to learn jazz guitar had unreasonable expectations, probably are new to the guitar and fell for the "eye candy cover" and cloying promises.

I contacted Paul Musso a few years ago to ask him some questions but recently I tried his email address at the Mel Bay website and it no longer works. You can find most of the errors in this book by assuming that the music is correct and the tab is wrong.

I know where Mario Ratnaraja is coming from, I had a similar response to the book, although nowhere near as strong (I'm hanging on to mine!) The book is indeed as he describes, a lot of walking bass lines with jazz chords interspersed here and there. I was a little disappointed, as the scope of the book is very narrow, and I thought I was going to learn to play jazz melody over the walking bass. I look at the book as a very specialized course of study. If you want to learn to do this, then this is the book for you, and it gets five stars! I may go back and work on the book some more, as it would be cool to throw some of this into the middle of a song somewhere. Maybe over the rest of my life I'll get through the whole thing (then again, maybe not!)

If you are looking for something more melodic, try Musso's Graded Fingerstyle Jazz Guitar Solos Book/CD Set. These are solos based not so loosely on jazz standards, which you'll have to recognize on your own as they aren't identified.

If you're ready to break out of the 1-4-5 pop-rock rut and start playing jazz guitar, this is your book. This book will NOT turn you into Joe Pass, but then again, no book will. It is an introduction to jazz rhythm guitar, and as such, it is without parallel. If you work with this book, your guitar technique will expand dramatically. People will wonder where you learned how to play so jazzily, and with such swing. Buy this book today.

I love this book. It's great fun and really good to practice reading music too Because it's all so simple. (ie: if you can't read music and want to this book is great.) Of course the TAB is there for us music illiterates. The best part is getting that jazzy groove going which you can start doing from the moment you open the book! Fun is where it's at with this little course. I'd give it five stars if it was thicker and kept advancing.

Paul Musso has written an excellent method for learning how to play walking bass lines over jazz and blues progressions. As a professional musician and guitar instructor, I wanted to expand my technique and versatility, and this book helped tremendously! Mr. Musso presents the material well, laying out exercises in a step-by-step approach that allows you to apply the technique immediately to common chord progressions. The example songs he uses are some great jazz standards, but after going through the book you'll be able to walk over any tune. I have also used this book with some of my students and they love it. I highly recommend "Teaching Your Guitar to Walk" to all guitarists who want to enhance their knowledge of their instrument!

I had the misfortune of purchasing this book/CD set. I coudn't find a single piece that was worth playing - it was a painful repetition of a single technique (bass-chord, bass-chord, etc). Unfortunately, since I had written my name on the cover before checking out the CD, I could not return it and collect a refund. I am willing to mail it free to anyone who wants it.

Mario Ratnaraja nuages69@yahoo.com (formerly andrews2@sri.lanka.net)

P.S Incidentally, I heartily recommend Duck Baker's "Art of fingerstyle jazz' CD to anyone. I even played it on 'Jazz with a guest' over Sri Lanka Radio .

Lots of good exercises to learn walking bass lines. Some melodic pieces near the end of the book. You can modify the bass lines or add treble melodies to suit your own taste. I also really liked Mr. Musso's Graded Fingerstyle Jazz Guitar Solos. (I don't play professionally, but for sittin' around at night and trying to learn some new fingerstyle methods, this book is great.)

I haven't used this book long enough to make a valid review,
however so far the book has been helpful. The book starts out with
simple examples of walking bass lines with chords and gradually
incorporates different timing and chords. Easy to follow with the CD.

The material in this book is excellent. This is a great book to start playing walking bass lines with chords type accompaniment. He explains the concepts clearly and the examples sound excellent. It also comes with a CD to hear what the examples sound like.

The downside of the book is that there is a lot of typographical errors. So be careful as you through the examples to take care that you are playing the right thing with the fingering that makes the most sense.

This is a style that every modern jazz guitarist needs in his arsenal and this fine book to learn it from.

I am a guitar teacher that has taught several students with this book. I highly advise buying this book if you need to add a new texture to your playing. Paul Musso uses very effective examples that help to make some difficult concepts seem possible. I would not advise this book to anybody named DR Mario who may be overly negative. I advise that DR Mario go back to his "Guitar for Dummies" book for a little while longer. Let's save Mr. Musso's book for the real musicians with open minds.