Backbeat Books, publisher of books for performers and fans who are passionate about music, has published The Blues Guitar Handbook ($29.99), by leading guitar authority Adam St. James. This comprehensive book and CD package provides everything a guitarist needs in order to understand and master finger style acoustic blues, bottleneck, post-war electric blues, jazz blues, and modern blues-rock.
"The Blues Guitar Handbook will help players quickly make more sense of the blues and realize there is so much more to the blues than most players think. It isn't all just 12-bar, I-IV-V chords or minor pentatonic scales”, said St. James. “In writing the book, I really wanted to help players have more fun with their guitar, and gain confidence that they can become the ‘hot’ blues player in their neck of the woods!"
This latest entry in Backbeat's bestselling handbook series starts by exploring the humble beginnings of blues guitar through the early decades of the 20th century, moves into the '40s and '50s, then it's the blues-rockers of the '60s, '70s, and '80s before the story comes up to date, with today’s blues flame-keepers. Profiles of such players as Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Keb Mo’ highly the evolution the this great American art form.
The Blues Guitar Handbook contains a comprehensive section for mastering electric and acoustic blues from the very basics and leading into more advanced rhythm and lead techniques before examining four key styles: acoustic blues, classic electric blues, blues rock, and jazz blues.
The Blues Guitar Handbook includes:
A step-by-step course in playing the blues, from 12-bar to advanced soloing
Advice on guitars, strings, picks, and amps
Practical guidance on reading both TAB and traditional notation
Essential theory for blues guitar
Instruction on bends, harmonics, tremolo, and tapping
Extensive chord and scale diagrams
Complete songs to listen to and play
A CD of the books key examples and exercises
An encyclopedic history of blues guitar and its players
The many exercises in the book are supported by specially recorded audio tracks on the accompanying CD.
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Backbeat Books, publisher of books for performers and fans who are passionate about music, has published The Blues Guitar Handbook ($29.99), by leading guitar authority Adam St. James. This comprehensive book and CD package provides everything a guitarist needs in order to understand and master finger style acoustic blues, bottleneck, post-war electric blues, jazz blues, and modern blues-rock. 
