12 Bar Blues Inside Dave Rubin Survey If you want to play in a blues band, you better know these riffs. I would say memorize this book so you can play it in your sleep. There isn't alot of fancy stuff in here, but it is the foundation you need. I am a beginning guitar player and this book has been a tremendous help. This is a book that you will use a little at first then return to it over time. For me some of the chord shapes are still a little difficult so what I often do is use my chord book (ISBN 0947183094) to find easier versions of the chords. Also I just wanted to say that the thing that makes this book so valuable is the fact that after you learn one of the lessons you will find that you are now armed with a technique that allows you to play many different songs for example: the riff to good morning little school girl is in the book. After I got fairly comfortable with that I found that I could play born under a bad sign, sunshine of your love etc. there are many songs that use that same combination of notes just varied in timing and order a little. That seems to be the case with chord progressions as well. If you are a beginner like me, remember to play chords that are easy at first then progressively try to play the more difficult ones. Eventually you will be able to play the same chords the pros use. Also as a beginner you probably use open chords. You won't really see how the chords work until you use bar chords so start incorporating those into your playing. I would recommend the F bar chord and the B minor bar chord as there are really no good open chord versions of those. Also learn the A D E bar chord combination at the 5th and 7th frets. I used to think that the more guitar books I owned the better guitarist I will be. That has not proven to be true. I probably have 30 or so guitar books on the shelf and of those 30 I only use maybe 5, one of which is this 12 bar blues book, the other being Progressive guitar chords. This book introduces the fundamentals of blues chords and basic 12-bar progressions. It is on the beginner side, and while it provides a great basic course on blues styles and chords, it doesn't pay much attention to rhythm patterns, and theory is given out in small doses. The book has progressions in different keys to get you going with a variety of styles, including your basic slow blues, shuffle rhythms, swing & boogie, riff blues and some cool jazz stuff, etc. Most examples are moveable chords, so it gets you playing all over the neck. The explanations are low key but pretty good, pointing out info on the sounds and tonality of the different chords, and some advice on getting a good sound. There are also sections including some generic but cool turnarounds and intros, and a couple pages about soloing. Don't think you'll be blazing open mic night after this book, but you will have a good foundation in chords and 12-bar progressions. This book is a must have for any intermediate guitarist who wants to start playing blues with a band. Its appropriate for anyone who has played for a year or longer, learned basic chords, basic barre chords, as well as minor and major pentatonic scales. If soaring solos are the fancy main dish the rhythm guitar riffs and chord voicing in this book are the vegetables; you gotta eat them if your going to stay alive. No band is gonna want you to shred solos if you can't back up the singer and let the keyboards and harp solo once in a while. There are chord voicings/ progressions and riffs for every type of blues playing as well as a brief section on turnarounds and intros. The majority of the examples are movable and therefore extremely useful as you hook up with other musicians who may not prefer your favorite key. I'm well on my way to memorizing the whole book. Well worth the money and well worth the time. Cover mentioned like Audio included but no audio file and could not download from anywhere. There is difficult to learn/practice without audio.
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