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Explore bluegrass guitar with one of today's master musicians
Bluegrass Guitar Essentials
By Scott Nygaard
Bluegrass Guitar Essentials provides a thorough grounding in the essential musical elements of bluegrass guitar. Scott Nygaard’s concise and well-written lessons cover all the traditional aspects of bluegrass guitar, from a primer on bluegrass rhythm guitar, fiddle tunes, the blues, and crosspicking to more contemporary approaches to flatpicking, including unusual chords and solo flatpicking.
In each lesson you’ll find exercises and licks to play in both standard notation and tablature, along with chord diagrams and fingerings. You’ll find 13 full songs in the book. Includes CD with complete guitar transcriptions.
$19.95, 72 pp., Book and CD, 9" x 12", HL695931
For single copies, shop acousticguitar.com/books
Dealer inquiries
After many years of playing guitar, I’ve finally returned to taking regular lessons, a decision spurred by finding my hands going to the same old places on the neck. Undoubtedly many of you have come to that point in your playing where you feel like you’re in a rut, and maybe you’re picking up the guitar less often than you’d like. That said, just a month’s worth of lessons has renewed my dedication to practicing, and I’m starting to look at the instrument in a new way. Of course, that inspiration means a revitalized sense of guitar envy, which Associate Editor Charles Saufley and Senior Editor Teja Gerken were more than happy to stoke with their reports of the great guitars, accessories, and other gear to be found at Winter NAMM (see the link below for the full report). The real trick is going to be convincing my wife that I absolutely need a new guitar . . .
Mark Smith is managing editor of Acoustic Guitar. He lives in San Francisco with his wife, Judith, their three cats, and far too many records and guitars.
SPONSOR: MONTREAL GUITAR SHOW
FEATURE LESSON: KELLER WILLIAMS
Learn how the one-man jam band creates his deep-pocket grooves.
With video examples. [More]
PRIVATE LESSON: WILLY PORTER
The folk-pop acoustic rocker shows how he gets his percussive bass sound.
With audio examples. [More]
SPONSOR: ELIXIR STRINGS
FEATURED: HOT NEW GEAR
Check out the hottest guitars and accessories from Winter NAMM 2008. [More]
NEW GEAR REVIEW: ZEMAITIS GZA300
Brit-rock’s original boutique brand delivers a toneful, silky, and flashy flattop. With video. [More]
NEW GEAR REVIEW: YAMAHA CPX500
The latest Compass series flattop puts a great playing acoustic-electric guitar in reach of working musicians. With video. [More]
NEW GEAR REVIEW: BOSE L1 PERSONAL AMPLIFICATION SYSTEM, MODEL II
Innovative PA packs a punch and great range for acoustic performance situations. With video. [More]
Tyler Ramsey: A Long Dream About Swimming Across the Sea
Hailing from Asheville, North Carolina, guitarist and songwriter (and multi-instrumentalist) Tyler Ramsey has begun to make a name for himself playing with Band of Horses, and his new solo record, A Long Dream About Swimming Across the Sea, shows an artist with a compelling sense of creative wanderlust. On the lovely opening track, “A Long Dream,” Ramsey adeptly evokes a dream state with his understated yet quietly driving picking, which weaves in and out with a shifting keyboard line. Ramsey clearly understands restraint and minimalism, and he knows how to build off his influences—Leo Kottke, John Fahey, and Neil Young come to mind—rather than merely ape them. Nowhere is this more evident than in the simple, repeating riff and quiet vocals of “Once in Your Life,” which veers unexpectedly into sunny Beach Boys-style chamber pop, as well as the short-but-sweet “Birdwings,” featuring beautifully dexterous picking countered by subtle piano work. Although the album stumbles a bit on the lackluster “No One Goes Out” and “When I Wake,” the strength of Ramsey’s playing and ear for melody make this a record worth returning to over and over again. (Echo Mountain Records, www.echomountainrecords.com)
—Mark Smith
For more CD reviews, go to Media Reviews.
The Guitar Reading Workbook by Barrett Tagliarino ($19.95, Behemoth Publishers, www.amazon.com) is geared toward helping guitarists learn to read notation, from understanding the staff to recognizing time signatures, scales, triplets, and arpeggios. It includes practice assignments and more than 100 examples.
William Tiger Fitzhugh’s Classical Guitar for the Steel-String Guitarist ($16.95, Hal Leonard, www.halleonard.com) is an introduction to the basics of the classical guitar style, including playing position, technique, and repertoire. Packaged with a CD, the book provides dozens of examples and pieces for players interested in expanding their skills to the classical genre.
JULY 2008: Slide guitar lesson with Bob Brozman; interview with KT Tunstall; composite guitars; reviews of the Gibson J-45 True Vintage and the Fishman Matrix Infinity preamp; and music to Stevie Ray Vaughan’s “Life by the Drop.”
AUGUST 2008: Lesson with Grateful Dead and Ratdog guitarist Bob Weir; accompaniment in alternate tunings; acoustic guitar companies venture into electrics; reviews of the R. Taylor Style Two grand concert guitar and the Tascam DP-02 eight-track digital recorder; and music to “I Will” by the Beatles.
SEPTEMBER 2008: Beppe Gambetta lesson; the next generation of fingerstyle guitarists; dreadnought guitars roundup; reviews of the Huss and Dalton FS and the Godin Archtop; and music to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ “Into the Great Wide Open.”
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