Jeff's thread about the Tomo Fujita dvd and subsequent detractors brings an interesting question to my mind - what types of instructional formats work for most people? I am not the most creative musician and my 'style' is largely an amalgam of the various musicians I've tried to emulate over the years. I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing as I've read enough interviews with other guitarists that, unlike me, are actually talented that have come upon their style by the same approach. I've bought enough guitar magazines over the years to realize that it takes a great deal of determination on my part to take a nugget of guitar wisdom in abstract form and use it to spawn a variety of uses in my playing. I NEED to have at least the occasional concrete example - but that's me. Some people have raved incessantly about the Goodrick book 'The Advancing Guitarist' which convinced me to purchase it for myself. While I think it would be a great book for some, I think it's intended more for already great guitarists that tend to get in ruts with their playing as opposed to hacks like me that are simply in a rut :tongue: . I have two books that I have used (in varying degrees) over the past few years. One is an introductory jazz book imaginatively called Beginning Jazz Guitar http://www.amazon.ca/Beginning-Jazz-Guitar-Jody-Fisher/dp/0882847929/sr=1-1/qid=1170944708/ref=sr_1_1/702-4879829-4842465?ie=UTF8&s=books It is great in the sense that it starts off at a level which I believe is appropriate and building from that. The only problem I had with it is that I'm inherently lazy, which of course is a problem that cannot be fixed by any book.
The other book I've found somewhat useful is Joe Satriani's 'Guitar Secrets' http://www.amazon.ca/Joe-Satriani-Secrets-Lane-Cherry/dp/0895247380/sr=1-1/qid=1170944782/ref=sr_1_1/702-4879829-4842465?ie=UTF8&s=books Initially I was disappointed when I received it since it's really nothing more than a collection of his articles from Guitar For The Practicing Musician magazine without any real flow from article to article (which I would have realized if I actually read the description of what I was buying :confused-smiley-010 . However, I've come to appreciate it for what it is. Basically I can flip through it when I'm practicing and can't think of anything in particular that I want to work on. There are lots of digestible lessons in there that you can work through either occasionally or inject into your daily warmups or even become a focus of study.
Unfortunately I can't seem to find a book that makes you a better guitarist simply by reading it :tongue: - with the possible exception of this one: http://www.amazon.ca/Zen-Guitar-Philip-Toshio-Sudo/dp/068483877X/sr=1-1/qid=1170945332/ref=sr_1_1/702-4879829-4842465?ie=UTF8&s=books
The other book I've found somewhat useful is Joe Satriani's 'Guitar Secrets' http://www.amazon.ca/Joe-Satriani-Secrets-Lane-Cherry/dp/0895247380/sr=1-1/qid=1170944782/ref=sr_1_1/702-4879829-4842465?ie=UTF8&s=books Initially I was disappointed when I received it since it's really nothing more than a collection of his articles from Guitar For The Practicing Musician magazine without any real flow from article to article (which I would have realized if I actually read the description of what I was buying :confused-smiley-010 . However, I've come to appreciate it for what it is. Basically I can flip through it when I'm practicing and can't think of anything in particular that I want to work on. There are lots of digestible lessons in there that you can work through either occasionally or inject into your daily warmups or even become a focus of study.
Unfortunately I can't seem to find a book that makes you a better guitarist simply by reading it :tongue: - with the possible exception of this one: http://www.amazon.ca/Zen-Guitar-Philip-Toshio-Sudo/dp/068483877X/sr=1-1/qid=1170945332/ref=sr_1_1/702-4879829-4842465?ie=UTF8&s=books