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Rating: 
Summary: MI Press Does it Again!!!
Review: I purchased this book over a year ago, and thought I'd check out what everyone else had to say about it. I was tickled to death to see (with one pragmatic exception) that the reviews for this book seem to be polarized: either ya love it or ya loathe it!
I must say I fall into the former category. I had been playing for about 15 years to that point, and by that time acquired a decent knowledge of theory and pretty good technique (one would HOPE so given the time frame, after all). My principle weakness, however, was my inability to improvise solos. I was one of these guitarists who had to sit down with the song/progression and write them out. Mind you, there's nothing intrinsically "wrong" with this approach, as Randy Rhoads and Steve Vai made excellent use of it in their own work. But being a fan of guitarists who rely on the spontaneous magic that the good "first take" can give you, I always felt I needed to climb that mountain. (Besides, you'll never even get your foot in the door of a Nashville session without this ability...)
The exercises in this book enabled me to do just that. I was able to piece to together much of what I already knew about theory and harmony to begin experimenting over the given progressions, and with great results in my opinion. My approach was simple: I would spend a week on each section's exercises, and practice at least 3 hours (usually longer) improvising over the given prog. I realize this might be too much for someone who has never studied theory, doesn't know scales, arpeggios, etc, and maybe needs to develop solid technique...but for those of you out there, I'd recommend a little outside study into these areas before I tackled improvisation, anyway. Perhaps that's got a lot to do with why so many of you hated the book.
No, it isn't the 'be all, end all' of instruction into guitar soloing. A book of that magnitude would likely be as thick as an unabridged history of Western Civilization, and I bet beyond the price range of most of us...but it's by far the best 'start' I've yet to see for unlocking one's off-the-cuff musical potential. If you're even thinking this might be the book for you...maybe it is!
Rating: 
Summary: this book is just plain frustrating
Review: I am a self taught guitarist playing for 2 years, and every time I sit down and try to learn something from this book I just get pissed off. The authors give you riffs to play over the cd, but don't explain where the riffs come from or how to play them. The very first riffs are difficult and frustrating. You are slapped in the face with scale after scale after scale and variations within them, then given an often too-fast chord progression and a riff that is hard to decipher. Find a better book to learn this.
Rating:
Summary: Really Good
Review: I've had this book for a long time now and I still haven't finished it. It's got a TON of stuff to learn in it. I think that's partly why so many people have gotten frustrated with it. It's almost overwhelming the amount of scales they have you learn. They cover a lot of different genres of music and what scales will give you what moods of music. It's a very good introduction book to soloing. Especially if you're not sure what type of music you would like to learn. I found that I enjoyed the section on blues the most. So I went and bought a book solely dealing with blues (John Ganapes "Blues you can use" which is a really good book by the way). I wouldn't get this book with the intent of covering every scale from cover to cover. You'll just burn yourself out that way. They do have a lot of good finger exercises that have proven to be priceless to me. I found that my finger speed, dexterity, and basic knowledge of the fingerboard has increased immensely with this book. The CD is ok. The music is a little poor on quality and some of the music is just plain cheesy. Some people in other reviews have criticized the CD for not being clear on the solos. But I think the authors of this book are trying to encourage you to improv your own solos over the backup music and not rely on what they have played already. I personally think that is a great way to learn. I have really acquired a unique and personal sound that way. Plus I have increased my ability to figure out songs on my own by ear that way. I recommend this book to anyone who is starting to learn guitar soloing.
Rating: 
Summary: Yeah the other reviewer is full of poop!
Review: Just to let the other person know. You are full of poop.
Rating:
Summary: Yeah the other reviewer is full of poop!
Review: Just to let the other person know. You are full of poop.
Rating: 
Summary: A very confusing, scattered approach to teaching guitar
Review: This book has held me back for way to long. I finally decided to try some different teaching methodologies, and I am finding that everything else is opening up my eyes to the fretboard. I went back to review this book last night after letting it sit for a year, and was horrified by the knowledge gaps that this book assumes the reader not know. This book is horrible. I think it is meant for people who already have music degrees (theory training) and want to transfer that knowledge to the fretboard. However, if you're a intermediate guitarist with basic theory knowledge, this is NOT the book for you....
Rating:
Summary: Guitar soloing: Daniel Gilbert and Beth Marlis
Review: this book is extremely valuable to learn some essential concepts of soloing on the guitar. No, it won't teach you everything you need to know playing this conplex instrument, but hey, it's a great start. If you have a basic knowledge of the guitar you can use this book to help develop an ear for music and also beef up ur chops...I don't understand the people that were doggin this book before. It is kind of hard and frustrating to get thru, I'm still working on it, but hey....welcome to the world of music, I am a long time musician and have had to work my rear off to become sucessful. This is a tool that will help! peace Don
Rating:
Summary: A Contemporary Guide to Guitar Improvisation
Review: This provocative book is eminently readable with it's demystifying approach to developing chops (as musical ideas are commonly referred to in guitarist parlance) and musicianship.This book's genius lies in it's ability to serve as a conceptual foundation for both the autodidactically inclined musician and the guitar teacher in search of appropriate instructional material to guide his/her students. Each chapter starts out with an objective, followed by an exercise, which serves as a transition into the lesson. I found the multitudinous exercises, that covered such topics as technique, stretching, and visualization (my favorite) to be especially helpful. The chapter layout follows a logical, that is to say conventional, progression: from from major scales, and their attendent fretboard patterns, to major pentatonic, minor, minor pentatonic, three note-per-string scales (a must for Holdsworthian, Henderson, Greg Howe, Kotzen forays), economy picking, major arpeggios, minor arpeggios, sweep picking (not as in depth as the Frank Gambale books), three octave scales chromaticism and passing tones (if only more rigorously). As well as, modulation, minor blues, the dorian scale, the mixolydian scale, major seventh arpeggios, and much more. Another laudable part of the book is it's play along CD, which is crucial in assimilating and ultimately nailing the licks. Unfortunately, Gilbert and Marlis seem reluctant to go to deep into reading notes on the treble clef and prefer to choke in the shallow water of tabulature. Truth be told, when teaching guitar, both must be integrated. It gives one reason to pause, however, in ratiocinating upon the parts that comprise the whole of Guitar Soloing. For example: why is an overview of the melodic minor scale (not to mention more unconventional scales)missing? Is it not essential to jazz, jazz improvisation, or essentially, musical harmony of greater depth? Are we to assume then that these concepts are beyond the abilities of beginners? And why are these musical vectors so commonly forborn in musical theory texts aimed at guitarists, of which Guitar Soloing is but one? And, to be sure, it isn't just melodic minor scales that are given short shrift here, but a sizable chunk of theoretical knowledge that lies outside of the purblind world of aural familiarity. To wit, I'm not arguing that musical familiarity, which the chapters of this book define, is a "bad" thing, only that when it's invisible it becomes dogmatic as in say a constraining paradigm. Perhaps melodic minor, but specifically unconventional tonality, is a hyperdimensional shift of sonority far removed from the ubiquity of homogeneous major/minor scales.True to form,Guitar Soloing holds a mirror up to a bland American musical custom, which often seems threadbare, hackneyed and overwhelmed with redundancy (that is to say, contemporaneous commercial radio convention ad nauseum). But soft, Contradistinct the book An Approach to Jazz Improvisation to Guitar Soloing and define your own reference point or reality grid (both published by the Musicians Institute). I think guitarists most assuredly, would benefit from such an in depth analysis that is missing from Guitar Soloing. Rather than limiting music theory to those who are inchoate, in these so called comprehensive improvisational guides, why not give the hungry guitarist (human being in search of knowledge) the benefit of the doubt and treat him to an intellectual experience countervailing the ravages of his 12 year public school sentence. Dangling a promise of revelation in front of the guitarist/musician is disingenuous and a real shill. Not that this is being perpetuated in Guitar Soloing, but as the hackers credo states: "information wants to be free", and that's the rub. When I bought Guitar Soloing I wanted more information, knowledge, yet, something more incisive and pithy than the mind numbing swill written by an obscure pianist or music pedant who has never touched the instrument. Guitar Soloing is an answer, a clarion call. So much disinformation and public relations glossolalia abounds in the laymans experience of what constitutes great guitar playing and instruction that, in no wise, mediocrity usually suffices for want of superlativity. Books such as Guitar Soloing go far in demystifying the art of playing the guitar. And Although I'd recommend this book, I'm quite convinced that it doesn't go far enough. This, of course, isn't to say that I'm maligning this wonderful book, indeed not, I'm merely pining for a more expansive text that unabashedly presents the warp and woof of music theory in toto, a comprehensive vision rather than fragmentation. Paradoxically, a book that has yet to be written, and yet can never be written. Perhaps Guitar Soloing is sufficient in the final analysis, indeed, an acceptable place to begin.
Rating:
Summary: If you really love guitar, this book is for you.
Review: Warning, this book is not for those picking up a guitar for the first time. The book focuses mainly on theory and therefore should not be used as a starting point for building dexterity.
However, once you build some dexterity, this book has a lot of information that a real guitarist needs to know. When i say real, i mean someone who knows how to actually create music as opposed to someone who knows how to repeat songs. That is what the book is for, to create music, and learning this difficult art takes time and patience, so don't rush through the chapters. Also, the keys to the riffs given are indicated and finding the right scale pattern(s) of each riff is a way of learning as opposed to having everything handed on a silver platter. This is what makes this book so effective. So if you buy this book, remember, this book requires a lot of patience, time, and dedication and is NOT for the lazy musician.
Rating:
Summary: What the?!
Review: Yeah, What the poop were you thinking, natasha?
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