John Renbourn Fingerstyle Guitar Book/3-CD set [Paperback]

John Renbourn (Author), John Renbourn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2000

This comprehensive Guitar Workshop Audio Series book/3-CD set brings together a variety of fingerstyle arrangements featured in three of John Renbourn's video lessons. Illustrates unique and exciting fingerstyle techniques in the performance of traditional ballads and other tunes, using standard and several alternate tunings. In notation and tablature. Includes an extensive discussion about the tunes in the collection.

Product Details

• Paperback: 120 pages
• Publisher: Grossman's Guitar Workshop (June 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786650249
• ISBN-13: 978-0786650248
• Product Dimensions: 11.7 x 8.6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,195,355 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fulfilling a life-long dream, July 5, 2002

By 

Ira Herskowitz (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: John Renbourn Fingerstyle Guitar Book/3-CD set (Paperback)

I have been a great fan of John Renbourn's for a couple of decades and never thought I'd ever have the opportunity to learn some of his exquisitely beautiful pieces. This book and companion CDs now make that possible. I am particularly taken by the "Celtic Melodies & Open Tunings" CD, which includes several relatively straightforward pieces in open tunings. The book has a literal transcription of each piece, and the CD has each piece played at least twice, once an "official, performance" version and a second, with Renbourn talking through the piece. I found the latter particularly charming. If you don't know John Renbourn, get one of his CDs, e.g. "Black Balloon", or get this book/CD collection. John Renbourn is one of the most tasteful and delightful guitarists of all time.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lessons from John Renbourn, January 18, 2008

By 

A. Naamani "fingerstyle guitarist" (Louisville) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: John Renbourn Fingerstyle Guitar Book/3-CD set (Paperback)

Having recently bought a copy of John Renbourn Fingerstyle Guitar, I was pleased to find the book (with accompanying CDs) gives a balanced representation of the different styles of music for which the master is known. Standard notation coupled with tablature and the CDs offers a student of fingerstyle guitar an opportunity to learn these tunes regardless of your level of written musical literacy. However, this is no beginners book and at least an intermediate level of fingerstyle guitar fluency is required. For most of us, it will require work -- but the rewards of learning some of the arrangements of one of the all-time great guitarists is worth it.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Most definitely not for beginners, February 25, 2011

By 

Thomas M. Kara "dilettante extraordinaire" (Douglas County, Missouri) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: John Renbourn Fingerstyle Guitar Book/3-CD set (Paperback)

Hm. I agree with another reviewer, not a book for beginners. However, I can't give it 5 stars, because if you're at the level of playing which apparently is assumed by Mr Renbourn as he introduces a piece and then says "ok, let's play it together" then you probably don't need all that much instruction at all - this is more like an "advanced players' workshop" where he discusses stylistic ideas rather than the nuts and bolts of learning to play fingerstyle guitar. I would say Mr. Renbourn is a wonderful player but perhaps not the best teacher. I'm basically writing this review so that another hopeful guitar player who thinks they're going to get three hours of fingerstyle instruction understands that unless they already have a very good grasp of technique, they will feel rapidly overwhelmed. This isn't to say someone with enormous desire and effort couldn't deconstruct the pieces using the music/tab and listening over and over Mr Renbourn play and talk, but that would largely require the student to create their own method. I would recommend rather the books by Mark Hanson, who takes apart the pieces in his books phrase by phrase, slowly, patiently and clearly, and gives you patterns to practice so that you can build on those and eventually take on the entire piece.