Rating: 
Summary: An extremely fine tutor
Review: "Ultimately your playing will only be as good as your rhythmic drive is solid" - a (profound) quote from the beginning of this fine book. The rhythmic drive is established by the stomping foot & the alternating bass in the right thumb. The book then superimposes gradually more complex melodies & counter rhythms on top of this fundamental alternating bass with the three main fingers of the right hand - each finger dedicated to a particular string of the guitar. Always geared to playing actual 12 bar blues rather than just technical exercises, this book methodically & relatively painlessly takes the student deeply into this intricate & beautiful music - introducing hammerons, pulloffs, slides, bends, heel damping, walking bass, vamps, turnarounds etc. The accompanying cd is wonderfully inspiring. On it Mark Galbo talks & plays you through each section of the book, emphasising & demonstrating the importance of the solid alternating bass as the music gains in complexity. You'll find yourself listening to the disc for pleasure as much as for enlightenment. The book ends with 5 actual blues pieces in the styles of various great players (Robert Johnson etc). I honestly can't think of, or even imagine, a better book to get you started with this style of guitar - pure communication - from heart to heart!
Rating:
Summary: An extremely fine tutor
Review: "Ultimately your playing will only be as good as your rhythmic drive is solid" - a (profound) quote from the beginning of this fine book. The rhythmic drive is established by the stomping foot & the alternating bass in the right thumb. The book then superimposes gradually more complex melodies & counter rhythms on top of this fundamental alternating bass with the three main fingers of the right hand - each finger dedicated to a particular string of the guitar. Always geared to playing actual 12 bar blues rather than just technical exercises, this book methodically & relatively painlessly takes the student deeply into this intricate & beautiful music - introducing hammerons, pulloffs, slides, bends, heel damping, walking bass, vamps, turnarounds etc. The accompanying cd is wonderfully inspiring. On it Mark Galbo talks & plays you through each section of the book, emphasising & demonstrating the importance of the solid alternating bass as the music gains in complexity. You'll find yourself listening to the disc for pleasure as much as for enlightenment. The book ends with 5 actual blues pieces in the styles of various great players (Robert Johnson etc). I honestly can't think of, or even imagine, a better book to get you started with this style of guitar - pure communication - from heart to heart!
Rating: 
Summary: Good book...
Review: ...but the writers missed the most fundamental step of all when they wrote it: they jump write into a discussion of fingerstyle exercises without giving any kind of instruction about HOW to go about picking the strings with one's fingers, i.e. the exact techniques and methods. To the writers and to most guitarists this is probably obvious, but true beginnners will be lost. Otherwise this is a useful book, but for blues enthusiasts who just want to play guitar and have never really picked one up before, I would suggest taking this book to a guitar teacher and letting him/her go through it with you.
Rating:
Summary: Solid instruction material
Review: Fingerstyle is an obscure genre. It baffles many guitar buffs since there are hardly any established tutorials. I've been obsessed with this style ever since I heard the likes of Robert Johnson, Doc Waston, Leo Kottke etc.
Having scanned the web I purchased three books -
Beginning Fingerstyle Blues - Arnie Berle (the one in question)
Art of Contemporary Travis Picking - Mark Hanson
Art of Solo Fingerpicking - Mark Hanson
It only makes sense to compare these books since in addition to money, we are investing time. Choosing the right book would save you lot of time, and much exasperation. Beginning Fingerstyle Blues is one of the finest guitar instruction tutorials I've come across. The instruction is lucid and the approach very logical. The book takes you step by step through fingerstyle blues building up your right hand ability (and confidence) to the extent where you can play and sing (oh yes!) the blues with relative ease, only after 12-18 months of dedicated practice. 12 months is a fairly short period as fingerstyle tunes can get rather complicated. I've always been impatient when receiving instructions and tend to skip a section or two so as to reach the end ASAP. But this book kept me engaged throughout as it made me believe that everything was achievable, as long as I tried and didn't deceive myself. I rate it five stars, for the instruction and for keeping me hooked throughout (after all learning should be fun!). Like the others have said it also contains 5 full pieces at the end to add to your repertoire, which clearly is a bonus.
The books by Mark Hanson are equally profound in content and tutoring. Mark's books score a point or two above the rest of the fingerstyle books as he (Mark) gives very clear instruction regarding right hand placement, how many fingers to use, pinky finger placement, whether or not to use thumbpicks/fingerpicks and many other finer points which you will require answers to once you immerse yourself in fingerstyle guitar. There are awfully few competent sources who can give you these answers. You will not find these details in Beginning Fingerstyle Blues. It left me confused initially but thanks to Mark's books I figured the right way out.
Many of you may be confused about which books to buy so that you do NOT regret in 12 months time; after you have put in your best and expect returns. Having owned 8 fingerstyle books and 4 fingerstyle instruction videos, I strongly recommend Beginning Fingerstlye Blues and The Art of Contemporary Travis Picking. If you cannot buy both books for any reason, pick either and buy the other in a year's time. You will not need any video instructions if you have these two books. These two are the very best out there and I don't see any books better than these, in the fingerstyle genre. They both share common grounds such as:
1. Both cater to absolute beginners - you can manage even if you cannot change chords confidently
2. Both focus on Travis Picking (alternate bass with melody) which is quintessential to fingerstyle guitar
3. You will be a fairly advanced fingerstyle player after having successfully completed either book
In my opinion no book is bad. You will get to learn something or the other from every book. But there are very few that are jewels - these two books undoubtedly are. There is a reason both these books have been rated 5 stars; they work wonderfully well and the results they provide are truly fulfilling.
Rating: 
Summary: Dialogue With Author
Review: Guitarists! Thank you for your response. Currently at work on two new books. Questions and comments welcome at galbo@sanjuan.net.
Rating:
Summary: The Top - All the thumbs up !!!!
Review: Hi blues loversThis is definetly the best teaching book, I'd ever discovered. It's so much fun to learn with the passionate and relaxed instructor - You'll get into the great sounding picking techniques step by step -
(In my opinion you just need to know the basic chords to get started)
This book has it all to teach you perfectly well at home and to get the Real Blues sound, which most of the books out there really don't have.... I haven't finished it yet and I'm looking forward to be able to play songs from Robert Johnson and other guitar heros. Thumbs very much up !!!!!! Peter
Rating:
Summary: A superlative step-by-step guide
Review: I probably own 10-20 instructional guitar books, but this one is the best. It is sequential and the steps are neither too large nor too small. The CD tells you exactly how each example should sound, which was especially helpful to me in dealing with syncopated rhythms. The most useful thing about the book was its program to make my thumb move more independently from the fingers - an essential aspect of fingerstyle guitar. This has carried over in every style of my playing. In fact, although the examples in this book are taken from the blues, I would recommend it for any type of fingerstyle guitarist.
Rating:
Summary: Not just for beginners
Review: I really like this book. It is laid out in a logical progression that takes you from the beginning to more advanced techniques. It's suitable for beginners, but I would rate myself as a solid intermediate player, with some classical background, and I've enjoyed it too. It's fun to learn new techniques and a new style. The author covers alot, and even the exercises are interesting. This style of playing really makes the guitar a great solo instrument, and opens the door for playing a lot more music. If you are a beginner, and you take the time to learn this "fingerstyle", you will be able to play much more interesting pieces that just "strumming". I bought the book based on the reviews I read, and was not dissapointed. The CD really makes this a nice, easy to follow package. I'll be looking for book II? from the same authors.
Rating:
Summary: You can do it!
Review: I won't rehash what others have written; just let me say that this is one excellent instructional book. Buy it, pop in the accompanying CD and listen to the first track. It's beautiful - and if you practice, yes, you WILL be able to play this song and others, pieces you probably thought were beyond your skills, by the time you finish the book. My personal observations: - NOT FOR BEGINNERS. The book starts off slow, but you'd better have a good knowledge of basic chords and chord changes before you attempt to tackle it. I'd consider my skills as intermediate when I bought the book (though I had never fingerpicked), and there were some very challenging things for me - things I was able to get through with patience and practice. I fear the total beginner would be lost, though, and probably get frustrated. If you've been playing for six months or more and want to learn fingerstyle, you'll be OK. - If you buy the book, you'll be cruising along through the easier exercises, and then WHAM, you'll hit a difficult piece that will have you pulling out your hair. DON'T PANIC! You can do it with patience and practice - I did it and I'm no John Hurt. Just remember to go slow - keeping a STEADY BEAT is the important thing, not how fast you play. I found it helpful to plow slowly through the difficult pieces one day, then take a day off. When I returned to the book after a day, it was a lot easier. There's no hurry, after all! We do this for fun! In fact, don't ignore or just blow through any of the exercises. They all have a purpose and many of them are excerpts from the five full pieces in the back of the book. Take your time and practice each one thoroughly. Trust me! - Here's a secret: At one point, you'll be playing whole-note melody scales with an alternating bass in A, D, E, C, G and B7. The authors will tell you to play the scales in half and quarter notes on your own; they don't tab out some of them. Don't ignore the quarter-note scales! They'll be difficult at first, but I found them to be the key to fingerpicking a nice melody over a bass beat. Make your own tab if you have to, but by all means, practice the scales in quarter notes; it will make your life MUCH easier! I tabbed them out and I use them as a warmup now each time I practice. That's about it; the authors are very talented and are obviously passionate about fingerstyle blues, and this will carry over to you. You'll have to work hard, but the payoff is enormous. You'll grin ear-to-ear when you're able to play Robert Johnson's "32-20 Blues" in close approximation to the CD!
Rating:
Summary: You can do it!
Review: I won't rehash what others have written; just let me say that this is one excellent instructional book. Buy it, pop in the accompanying CD and listen to the first track. It's beautiful - and if you practice, yes, you WILL be able to play this song and others, pieces you probably thought were beyond your skills, by the time you finish the book. My personal observations: - NOT FOR BEGINNERS. The book starts off slow, but you'd better have a good knowledge of basic chords and chord changes before you attempt to tackle it. I'd consider my skills as intermediate when I bought the book (though I had never fingerpicked), and there were some very challenging things for me - things I was able to get through with patience and practice. I fear the total beginner would be lost, though, and probably get frustrated. If you've been playing for six months or more and want to learn fingerstyle, you'll be OK. - If you buy the book, you'll be cruising along through the easier exercises, and then WHAM, you'll hit a difficult piece that will have you pulling out your hair. DON'T PANIC! You can do it with patience and practice - I did it and I'm no John Hurt. Just remember to go slow - keeping a STEADY BEAT is the important thing, not how fast you play. I found it helpful to plow slowly through the difficult pieces one day, then take a day off. When I returned to the book after a day, it was a lot easier. There's no hurry, after all! We do this for fun! In fact, don't ignore or just blow through any of the exercises. They all have a purpose and many of them are excerpts from the five full pieces in the back of the book. Take your time and practice each one thoroughly. Trust me! - Here's a secret: At one point, you'll be playing whole-note melody scales with an alternating bass in A, D, E, C, G and B7. The authors will tell you to play the scales in half and quarter notes on your own; they don't tab out some of them. Don't ignore the quarter-note scales! They'll be difficult at first, but I found them to be the key to fingerpicking a nice melody over a bass beat. Make your own tab if you have to, but by all means, practice the scales in quarter notes; it will make your life MUCH easier! I tabbed them out and I use them as a warmup now each time I practice. That's about it; the authors are very talented and are obviously passionate about fingerstyle blues, and this will carry over to you. You'll have to work hard, but the payoff is enormous. You'll grin ear-to-ear when you're able to play Robert Johnson's "32-20 Blues" in close approximation to the CD!
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