Customer Reviews

The Heavy Guitar Bible: A Rock Guitar Instruction Manual

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Since playing classical guitar for a few years and recently picking up an electric I've been diving into really "getting it" as far as a path for learning and understanding the big picture of what's involved in playing the electric guitar. It's truly a different instrument than the acoustic, and a practice regimen is a difficult challenge to plan. This book, while serving as a great practice reference will give every electric/rock guitarist a complete explanation as well as instruction on the full array of "elements" that will make up your skills not just as a player of a guitar but someone who can work towards "owning" the instrument. From scales, chords, soloing and rhythm, this gives such a clear overview of the art of electric guitar that only now after reading this cover to cover have I found a new inspiration and clear direction on what I need to do to "get there". "There" being the goal of playing with other musicians and improvising knowledgeably.

If you're looking for a book to help make you feel comfortable that you're studying the right things, get this, read it cover to cover and then go from there. Outstanding, a must have. I wish this was the first book I bought on electric. While at first the book will seem rough around the edges from a design and editing standpoint, it will soon become obvious that this is truly a labor of love for the author.

I will add though, that this book should function as the center of the wheel of your quest to learn. Perfect compliments to this volume, for the self taught guitarist, would be a good scales book such as the "Guitar Grimoire Exercise Book", a book on chords and chord theory such as "Chord Chemistry", a method book, in my case classical is enjoyable for learning to read and play music so I'm working out of Noad's "Solo Guitar Playing", and any songbooks you would like to work on songs out of. Another outstanding book I've found indespensable, as have many others is Denyer's "The Guitar Handbook", it's truly a guitar encyclopedia, and explains clearly a heavy amount of theory and technique.

Hopefully this is helpful, I felt compelled to write this review to save those following a similar path as I am the trouble of unecessary purchases or a difficulty finding laser focus on their self taught direction. Good luck!

I bought this book over 12 years ago after growing frustrated with what my local guitar instructors were teaching me. For the price of one weekly guitar lesson I got this great book that opened up many doors. I never took another personal guitar lesson again. I gained so much from this book that I felt compelled to write this review all these years later since it has been just that important to me. This book is an outstanding beginner-to-intermediate learning system. The fundamentals are clearly described and everything is very easy to understand. This book can easily take an absolute beginner and help them get really good much faster than any other book I have ever seen. The book aims to get you familiar with your guitar and able to play up and down the neck using runs taken from the Pentatonic scale which is the backbone of Rock guitar. This book will help you get past the beginner level and very solidly into the intermediate playing level and does so in the clearest and easiest way. This is THE must-have book if you want to learn to play guitar in the most efficient manner. This book provides a very solid foundation to build your advanced musical skills onto. I highly recommend it!

This book is over 20 years old but has more information than a good deal of guitar teachers know. It explains many things for the guitar extremely well. You can not go wrong with this book; especially if you are learning electric guitar.

This book opened up the neck of the guitar for playing lead like no other. Daniels diagrams the neck and shows you how to play lead licks in the pentatonic(Blues) scale allowing you to play almost immediately. Clearly written and laid out from basics to advanced. I would highly recommend it!

i picked this book up almost 20 yrs ago that's hard to believe, and i'm living proof this book really works if you apply yourself to it (...). this is for those folks who don't really care about the theory thing or learning songs per say or reading music. but it is very geared to the person who wants to learn to play the guitar by feel, very easy to understand anyone can sit down with this book and learn the lessons, you WILL get out of this book exactly what you put into it and that's a promise i can say. very well written easy to understand terms for the beginer as well as the professional guitarist. i find myself constantley refering back to it just to freshen my skills. if you really want to learn this is the holy bible for the guitarist
richard lee wilson

Bought this book 10 years ago and it proved to be the best guitar book for any blues or rock interested newbie. Wonderfully written in style, approach, even the fonts and graphics. Not a huge book, but it has the essence...and teaches it very, very effectively.

Alas, lost my copy after loaning to my son (who learned even quicker BTW and quickly passed me), especially as my time to play diminished.

Recently I wanted to reteach myself, and sought out this book...was aghast! at the fact that it is out of print...Luckily, got one of the last new ones (thru amazon). Just as good now as it was then...possibly better as I have seen in the intervening years how few 'teaching' books attain this level.

I shall cherish it for it's own value, and the memories, forever.

Net: Highly, highly, highly recommended....a great achievement by the author worthy of note on his tombstone some day...

Well, it's been 23-24 years now, since I've been playing guitar, and this book was there with me in those first few years of learning this instrument. Not only did it help me a great deal in those first few years with scales, notes, and chords, and soloing techniques, but, it also educated me in other areas as well...(guitar terminology, amps, cables, picks, and other useful stuff)

If you've always wanted to play rock-guitar, but, maybe you didn't want to go for lessons every week, or maybe you already know someone learning how to play guitar????? If so, this book will help any guitar student a great deal.

Now, this book doesn't really dive into guitar-theory, but, it DOES provide an excellent starting point for ANY guitar student! Not only that, with it's easy to read diagrams & wording that easy for anyone to understand, the amount of knowledge it gave me when I was first learning, was astonishing. I bought this book when it first came out, (20+ years ago, I think?) and believe it or not, I still own it. hehe

This easy to read, well thought out guidebook to electric guitar playing is a true revelation to the begining guitarist.
The author organizes his lesson plan perfectly, showing how the primary major and minor scales are layed out on the guitar fretboard. Not only will you get the usual "here they are" dot matrix diagrams, you are also presented with a unique way to visualize and dissect these scales that allows for quicker memory uptake when it comes to key transposition. In other words, the author's insights on guitar fretboard logic are well worth the price.
Added info on attaining and sustaining technique, tone, and style while playing the modern electric guitar and amplifier makes this a must read for anyone having a love affair with their axe.

I have been playing guitar for about 15 years and I have never found a guitar instruction guide that is as good as this one. It takes the beginer/intermediate player to the next level. The way that Daniels explains the material is simple and to the point. You don't have to be a math wiz or music major to understand this book. If more writers wrote in this style, the guitar would be a much easier instrument.

Readers may note that in virtually every reviewer comment, this book received 5 stars and even in the case of one lone '4' star review [the first one back in 2000], the reviewer nevertheless "highly recommended" it! As do I with 5 stars but read my reasons!

First, confession time: Although playing classical 'piano' is my first love, I have never abandoned the joys of the guitar. Besides, once you do the 'callous' thing on the fretboard fingers, who wants to repeat 'that' process all over again! So I keep the guitar up! But here's the thing, some readers 'may' be put off by the book title when it talks of "heavy guitar" and perhaps think that it's just another recitation of the classic 'heavy rock' pentatonic scale and then fizzles out or otherwise deals only with 'heavy' and 'rock' guitar or indeed, 'metal' guitar issues and that may not be their thing preferring perhaps 'acoustic' guitar or the whole gammut of guitar music [acoustic or electric or indeed acoustic-electric models] from classical to folk to country-western to blues to light pop stuff to 'you-name-it' or others with regard to pick and/or finger picking [or both modes as I and many others do] ==but== and here's the key, no matter 'what' you play, the guitar "fretboard" itself essentially remains the same, yes? So whether you're 'heavy' into fixed chords or indeed 'moveable' chords [barre inclusive] or 'lead' or 'rhythm' stuff or, hey, 'whatever', a knowledge of that "as is" fretboard becomes fundamental! So too using various 'shapes' where in fact there can be changes [with the barre movements] of location =but= 'knowing' these changes and how to produce them still derives from a fundamental savvy, if you will, of the original and 'untouched' fretboard and what notes are located where.

As one reviewer put it, it's like a 'code' and once you learn that 'code' and thus the 'why' of it and how further sounds and shapes can be produced and "moved", it can make the process much easier. This book builds on the fundamentals and takes some of the mystery out of those folks you may know who can go up and down that fret board as if they were born to it and produce some astounding sounds . But the book does more than that because how many times have you wanted to really get into 'lead' guitar and even for no more reason than personal enjoyment of the challenge yet even though you can pick up speed with the immortal 'pentatonic' scale, well then, have you even said to yourself, 'I've got the pentatonic scale down and my speed is decent but .. now what?' You've got to be able to 'do' something with the scale [any scale for that matter] because going back and forth and developing speed is great practice, sure enough, but how to make 'music' with the thing becomes the key, yes? Otherwise, all you're doing is banging out scales but that's all you're doing until you put it together [ditto the piano, BTW] and see [and apply] how these otherwise isolated scales can be transformed into some great sounds. In effect, moving from scale exercises ... to making music! This book helps in that process.

The rest is up to you. Like 'any' instrument, you've got to apply the sweat and the motivation [and those calloused fingers!]. You read and then you apply. And build from the fundamentals to the advanced but the bottom line remains that if you want to do 60-ish Folk stuff or Classical pieces or take on the 'lead' and do barre chord shapes and power chords and all the rest, hey, you still have to know the fretboard! Its total duplication of note placements after the 12th fret notwithstanding. Believe it or not, I've come across new folks to the guitar and when they're informed that everything 'duplicates' itself after the 12th fret, I've heard, "It does?" It's a revelation to them! Good! That's how they learn and some of that perceived "mystery" becomes more digestible and 'doable' to them! It's not 'easy' , true enough, but then again, it's not impossible either!


Doc Tony