25 Razor-Sharp Blues and Boogie Guitar Solos (Book and CD) (Red Dog Music Books Razor-Sharp Blues Guitar Series) [Spiral-bound]

Larry McCabe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 10, 2007

Open-flat spiral blues instruction book and CD by Larry McCabe

Red Dog Music Books is proud to offer this superb collection of 25 model urban blues guitar solos. This book was Mel Bay's Book of the Month in the June 1984 Guitar Player Magazine, and is still in print.

Blues guitar teachers, serious students, and blues band guitarists will all enjoy his large collection of 100% pure blues and boogie solos for guitar. Twenty-five exciting solos are presented here, each played over its own rhythm progression.

Every solo is transcribed in both standard notation and tablature, and played note for-note with a full band on the professionally recorded companion CD.

Each recorded track contains one chorus of rhythm section only, followed by one chorus with the solo played over the rhythm.

This book is for the guitarist of early intermediate ability level whose interests include authentic, non-commercial blues music, the good stuff that is seldom heard via mass-market channels such as radio and television.

Guitar teachers might use the book to introduce new hand positions, fingerings, chords, and theoretical concepts.

Each solo is made up of many interesting phrases (licks) that can be adapted and incorporated into your own style. The solos are relatively challenging, and can be used in blues jams and on stage.

The solos are in the urban blues style heard on recordings by artists such as Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, Jimmy Reed, Elmore James, Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, James Cotton, Little Walter, BB King, Albert King, John Hammond, Anson Funderburgh, Hubert Sumlin, Little Ed and the Blues Imperials, Pinetop Perkins, Willie Dixon, R.L. Burnside, Butterfield Blues Band, Otis Spann Charlie Musselwhite, Lonnie Mack, Boozoo Chavis, Ry Cooder, Gatemouth Brown, Freddie King, Sonny Boy Williamson, Robert Lockwood, Lonnie Johnson, and similar musicians who recorded for Chess Records, Delmark Records, Sun Records, Alligator Records, Arhoolie Records and other labels that focus on roots music performers and Afro-American music.

The book is an excellent resource for creative blues guitar teachers.

Prospective buyers are encouraged to use the Search Inside Book feature to examine the contents and music pages prior to purchase. Another SUPER COOL and USEFUL music book by Larry McCabe and Red Dog Music Books.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Larry has great guitar tone.

-Vintage Guitar Magazine --Vintage Guitar Magazine, December 2008

About the Author

Larry McCabe's credentials include an education degree from the University of Arizona, more than thirty years of music teaching experience, over eighty published music books, columns for Living Blues Magazine and Fingerstyle Guitar Magazine, and authorship of the Roy Clark Fiddle Magic Method and the Roy Clark Bluegrass Banjo Bible.

He plays electric and acoustic blues guitar, clawhammer and three-finger banjo, fiddle, and other string instruments. During his career, he has taught blues guitar lessons, banjo lessons, fiddle lessons, song writing, music theory, music history, and other subjects.

Larry has played in numerous bands including blues, classic country, rockabilly, traditional Irish, and Cajun, and he served on the prestigious W.C. Handy Blues Awards nominating committee for many years. With his wife, Becky, Larry is the owner and publisher of the popular roots music instruction book company Red Dog Music Books.

In the 1990s, he taught History of Jazz Music and History of Popular Music in America courses to adult education students at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida. As an amateur WWII historian, Larry collected and edited 160 interviews for his book Pearl Harbor and the American Spirit (2004).

Author-Recommended Supplemental Listening for Blues Music and Postwar Blues Guitarists

Luther Allison, Chuck Berry, Mike Bloomfield, Lonnie Brooks, Eddie Boyd, Clarence Gatemouth Brown, Ruth Brown, Roy Buchanan, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Canned heat, Charles Brown, Milton Campbell, Clifton Chenier, Eric Clapton, Albert Collins, James Cotton, Pee Wee Crayton, Bo Diddley (Ellas McDaniel), Floyd Dixon, Willie Dixon, Fats Domino, Jesse Fuller, Lowell Fulson, Anson Funderburgh, Buddy Guy, Jimi Hendrix (psychedelic blues), Bull Moose Jackson, Little Walter Jacobs, Elmore James, Etta James, John Hammond, Joe Louis Hill, Earl Hooker, John Lee Hooker, Howlin' Wolf (Chester Burnett), J.B. Hutton, Lonnie Johnson, Louis Jordan, Albert King, B.B. King, Freddy King, Eddie Kirkland, Sam Lay, Lazy Lester, J.B. Lenoir, Little Charlie and the Nightcats, Li'l Ed and the Blues Imperials, Louisiana Red, Robert Jr. Lockwood, Lonnie Mack, magic Same Maghett, Magic Slim and the Teardrops, Taj Majal, John Mayall, Percy Mayfield, Charlie Musselwhite, Louis Myers, Robert Nighthawk, Little Junior Parker, Carl Perkins (rockabilly), Little Esther Phillips, Jimmy Reed, Duke Robillard, Otis Rush, Son Seals, Johnny Shines, Slim Harpo, Carrie Smith, George Harmonica Smith, Mabel Smith (Big Mabel), Hubert Sumlin, Theodore Hound Dog Taylor, Koko Taylor, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Irma Thomas (New Orleans R&B), Big Mama Thornton (Willie Mae), Luther Tucker, Big Joe Turner, Eddie Cleanhead Vinson, Aaron T-Bone Walker, Muddy Waters (McKinley Morganfield), Johnny Guitar Watson, Valerie Wellington, Junior Wells, Sonny Boy Williamson (I and II), Johnny Winter, Johnny Young, etc. etc.

Product Details

• Spiral-bound: 46 pages
• Publisher: Red Dog Music Books (May 10, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1934777021
• ISBN-13: 978-1934777022
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.5 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,261,250 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Back in print, June 15, 2008

By 

James Kellum (Boulder Creek, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

The author of this book, Larry McCabe, is re-releasing books that have gone out of print for one reason or another. This particular book is an old friend. After I received it, I went into my library and found a copy. It has been in print in one form or another for 25 years. Most instruction books don't last anywhere near that long. First, this book (as the author warns) is not for beginners. You need to be familiar with the movable blues scales we all use. If you are playing out, and feel comfortable with the whole neck, get this book. The style of lead is closer to Gatemouth Brown and Freddie King than anyone else. If you don't know who these men are, buy their CDs. You are in for a treat. Please read the author's introduction. There is a lot of good info there. The Tab system is the older style. It should take about 30 seconds to adjust. It's actually easier to read than the current form. If you consider yourself a Rock guitarist instead of Blues, you really could use this book. If you use these solos as a "how to", instead of just memorizing them, they will give you some new weapons. You know, for scaring the heck out of other guitarists.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars very good book, August 19, 2008

By 

Lee - See all my reviews

I wish all music instruction books were written in this format. The song tabs just go from one page to the next without a bunch of talking/writing in between, and the song numbers in the book actually match the song numbers on the cd...what a rare and unique idea! Of course, none of that would matter if the material were bad, but that's not the case, the solos are great - quite diverse too. There is a lot of helpful information in this book: theory, writing your own solos, a guide to blues styles and artists,etc. - but it's all in it's own section of the book, not sprinkled throughout the book here and there making it impossible to find. As a full time guitar instructor I would just like to say "great job", "great blues solos" and "great, easy to use format". Thanks.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perhaps the Best Urban Blues Lead Guitar Book Available, August 30, 2008

By 

MusicTeacherCA - See all my reviews

This very fine book has been in print in one form or another since the early-to-mid 1980s. Not many music books remain in print that long, but this is an exceptional collection of model solos in the urban blues style.

The book is quite popular with music teachers (as evidenced by the other reviews) and it is enjoyable and productive for students as well. The book is aimed at the ambitious early intermediate student, and a few of the solos will challenge an intermediate guitarist.

There are 25 full-length solos in the book, each written in notation and tablature, and each recorded note-for-note on the accompanying CD. The band on the CD is excellent. There are five solos in C, five in G, five in D, five in A, and five in E. The solos are played to standard blues progressions, meaning that they may be "plugged in" to similar blues progressions that are found in many, many songs.

The solos sound exactly like the solos heard on real blues records. They are varied and performed with taste, authenticity, and feeling. You can hear why the author was a columnist for Living Blues Magazine and why his work has received consistently high reviews in a number of guitar magazines.

Great book, highly recommended.