Fingerstyle Jazz Guitar/Teaching Your Guitar to Walk Bk/CD set

Rating:
Summary: Awesome Book
Review: I am a guitar teacher that has taught several students with this book. I highly advise buying this book if you need to add a new texture to your playing. Paul Musso uses very effective examples that help to make some difficult concepts seem possible. I would not advise this book to anybody named DR Mario who may be overly negative. I advise that DR Mario go back to his "Guitar for Dummies" book for a little while longer. Let's save Mr. Musso's book for the real musicians with open minds.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome Book
Review: I am a guitar teacher that has taught several students with this book. I highly advise buying this book if you need to add a new texture to your playing. Paul Musso uses very effective examples that help to make some difficult concepts seem possible. I would not advise this book to anybody named DR Mario who may be overly negative. I advise that DR Mario go back to his "Guitar for Dummies" book for a little while longer. Let's save Mr. Musso's book for the real musicians with open minds.

Rating:
Summary: Sorry folks, but it's absolute junk.
Review: I had the misfortune of purchasing this book/CD set. I coudn't find a single piece that was worth playing - it was a painful repetition of a single technique (bass-chord, bass-chord, etc). Unfortunately, since I had written my name on the cover before checking out the CD, I could not return it and collect a refund. I am willing to mail it free to anyone who wants it.

Mario Ratnaraja [e-mail] (formerly [e-mail])

P.S Incidentally, I heartily recommend Duck Baker's "Art of fingerstyle jazz' CD to anyone. I even played it on 'Jazz with a guest' over Sri Lanka Radio .

Rating:
Summary: Unlock the secrets of walking bass lines and jazz chords...
Review: I know where Mario Ratnaraja is coming from, I had a similar response to the book, although nowhere near as strong (I'm hanging on to mine!) The book is indeed as he describes, a lot of walking bass lines with jazz chords interspersed here and there. I was a little disappointed, as the scope of the book is very narrow, and I thought I was going to learn to play jazz melody over the walking bass. I look at the book as a very specialized course of study. If you want to learn to do this, then this is the book for you, and it gets five stars! I may go back and work on the book some more, as it would be cool to throw some of this into the middle of a song somewhere. Maybe over the rest of my life I'll get through the whole thing (then again, maybe not!)

If you are looking for something more melodic, try Musso's Graded Fingerstyle Jazz Guitar Solos Book/CD Set. These are solos based not so loosely on jazz standards, which you'll have to recognize on your own as they aren't identified.

Rating:
Summary: Great way to learn bass lines
Review: Lots of good exercises to learn walking bass lines. Some melodic pieces near the end of the book. You can modify the bass lines or add treble melodies to suit your own taste. I also really liked Mr. Musso's Graded Fingerstyle Jazz Guitar Solos. (I don't play professionally, but for sittin' around at night and trying to learn some new fingerstyle methods, this book is great.)

Rating:
Summary: You have to walk before you can run...
Review: Paul Musso has written an excellent method for learning how to play walking bass lines over jazz and blues progressions. As a professional musician and guitar instructor, I wanted to expand my technique and versatility, and this book helped tremendously! Mr. Musso presents the material well, laying out exercises in a step-by-step approach that allows you to apply the technique immediately to common chord progressions. The example songs he uses are some great jazz standards, but after going through the book you'll be able to walk over any tune. I have also used this book with some of my students and they love it. I highly recommend "Teaching Your Guitar to Walk" to all guitarists who want to enhance their knowledge of their instrument!