Customer Reviews

A Guide to Blues/Rock Guitar Soloing (Guitar Educational) (Book & CD)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a great book! If you're a beginner, it's probably not for you, but if you like to go into the deep water, you'll love it. Grissom also delves into subjects that are related to overall musicianship, not just the guitar. If you're a David Grissom you'll get even more from the book. The CD alone is worth the money.

I have quite a few guitar books. They are usually 1) technical and boring (and require tons of self motivation) 2) Guitar Licks and Ideas - fun stuff to learn but totally out of context musically and leave out how to PRACTICALLY find your own voice and 3) Creativity Stuff - i.e. sandbox for guitar so to speak, to remind you why you want to play in the first place (not to be a music theory teacher!). This book has a little of all these elements, especially #2 and #3. Check out his video jam on YouTube. If you like his playing style and hear some of your true guitar voice through his playing, then get the book. A little too short, but great licks that inspire a lot of ideas. I love his tone.

Just going through this book at the most superficial level, I learned enough that made it worth the price. If you have been playing a while-I have been at it 35 years- and are obviously a blues rock fan, you can't go wrong with this package.

Grissom's distinctive and raw country-blues-rock sound comes from a distinctive style that not many have under their fingers. Learning a few of David's ear-candy solo samples will open new frontiers on the neck and add a new twist to the vocabulary of all but a few players. And "raw" just describes his tone/attitude - he's a blistering, masterful player.

The CD and Book are truly a guitarist best friend. David Grissom has laid out some really good licks for us to study and become a better guitarist. He also shows you different picking techniques.

I just got this book this week in the mail, so haven't really had an opportunity to go thru the whole book and make a balanced review. But HEY there is a CD and complete tab for about seventy or so David Grissom licks, many of the tougher ones both in fast and slow versions. That's almost worth five stars in itself, assuming the tab is accurate ;-)

The first real lesson is chapter 3, and that went OK. Mean solo for a single note. I just finished trying Chapter 4. There should have been a warning on this Chapter's solo ... David is illustrating the use of the chromatic scale here, but uses techniques in this solo that he doesn't really cover until later chapters. You realize this as soon as you move to Chapter 5 which is the first real "technique" chapter.

Anyway it's definitely not for beginners, I have been playing off and on for many years and actually made a bit of money playing in a band on weekends about ten years ago, and this book is a bit tough even for me.

One minor point (I had the same beef with the Hot Licks video David had out) -- wish he'd recommend a good theory book. I have "the art of rock guitar" for that department and it's a bit weird.

I'll come back and revisit this review after I've worked thru more of the book.

Disclaimer: I have been a huge David Grissom fan ever since I heard him playing on James McMurtry's "Too Long in the Wasteland" ;-)

this book is a stellar learning aid for anyone wanting to improve tier blues rock solo capabilities.

David is an amazing guitar player.This guide is worth buying just to hear him play his licks on the CD. If you like David Grissom, you will love this!