The Unorthodox Guitar

The Unorthodox Guitar is a comprehensive resource for experimentally minded guitarists and composers wishing to write for or perform on the instrument in new ways. The book focuses on unconventional approaches to the guitar, including alternative tunings, extended techniques, instrumental preparations, electronic augmentations, and issues pertaining to performing and recording with a computer.

“Make Air, Not War” is the personal motto of Dan Crane, the musician who decided to put his “there” guitar aside and reinvent himself as Björn Türoque: the take-no-prisoners future of competitive air guitar. Jeopardizing love and livelihood to join the ruthless international circuit of the World Air Guitar Championships, Björn Türoque (pronounced “b-yorn too-RAWK”) began a three-year odyssey to secure what was rightfully his (and America’s!)—the air guitar world crown. To Air is Human is the riotous tale of one man’s journey through a world of wheelchair-bound Christian air rockers, spandex-jumpsuit fittings, Finnish stunt wolves, catatonic ‘80s guitar heroes, air groupies, Aireoke™, Air Supply, dry-ice injuries, and ultimately, good vs. evil (in the form of Björn’s rival pretender to the air guitar throne). But it is also a sincere and penetrating account of the pursuit of an elusive, intangible, and perhaps nonexistent goal: to achieve “airness”—that is, when air guitar transcends the “real” art that it imitates and becomes an art form in and of itself. “Björn Türoque is so good that people with real guitars now have contests to see who can do the best imitation of his air guitar imitation.”—Malcolm Gladwell, author of Blink and The Tipping Point

If you've ever wanted to learn the newest "underground" and innovative guitar methods, this handbook is for you. Filled with cutting-edge and avant-garde techniques, the Underground Guitar Handbook contains detailed explanations and musical examples of such topics as: four-finger licks, unusual scales, diminished licks, tremolo bar flutters and gurgles, the wah-wham method, tritones and flatted fifths, Shawn Lane's "impossible" chord, speed-picking licks, pedal point phrases, new hardware ideas, atonal patterns, mysticism, finger-tapping licks, and much more. Links to the author's youtube videos in which he performs the techniques are also provided, (plus a handful of musical short stories for additional entertainment). For learning the most cutting-edge guitar techniques (many never before published), this manual is all you will ever need.

The same folk process that gave birth to the blues and ragtime guitar styles is at work today. In this book, Stefan Grossman shows what has been happening among today's innovative guitarists—and gives you a glimpse of where it all might lead. It begins with some original blues compositions, much in the spirit of his monumental Country Blues Guitar Series, then goes on to deal with the art of adapting fiddle tunes and classic piano rags to the guitar. It introduces you to a whole new range of tunings and chord positions, which are simply not to be found in any ordinary guitar instruction book. Songs and compositions by such outstanding modern guitarists as Dave Laibman, Eric Schoenberg, Eric Kaz, Marc Silber, and others make this book unique among today's guitar guides. Stefan Grossman is the author of numerous books on the blues guitar, including Country Blues Guitar, Delta Blues Guitar, and Ragtime Blues Guitarists, all published by Oak. He is also a guitarist's guitarist, veteran of concerts, personal appearances, and recording sessions in the U.S. and beyond.

This book was written by one of America’s greatest studio guitarists, the late Tommy Tedesco. It details his approach to mastering the guitar and his reflections on his remarkable career playing for motion picture and television soundtracks. He includes solos, magazine articles he authored, his reflections on technical aspects of the guitar such as sight reading, and even several guitar scores from motion pictures. A wealth of knowledge and experience in the music industry is contained in this book. It is a valuable addition to the library of any guitarist.

Named one of the world’s great blues-rock guitarists by Rolling Stone, Mike Bloomfield (1943–1981) remains beloved by fans forty years after his untimely death. Taking readers backstage, onstage, and into the recording studio with this legendary virtuoso, David Dann tells the riveting stories behind Bloomfield’s work in the seminal Paul Butterfield Blues Band and the mesmerizing Electric Flag, as well as on the Super Session album with Al Kooper and Stephen Stills, Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited, and soundtrack work with Peter Fonda and Jack Nicholson. In vivid chapters drawn from meticulous research, including more than seventy interviews with the musician’s friends, relatives, and band members, music historian David Dann brings to life Bloomfield’s worlds, from his comfortable upbringing in a Jewish family on Chicago’s North Shore to the gritty taverns and raucous nightclubs where this self-taught guitarist helped transform the sound of contemporary blues and rock music. With scenes that are as electrifying as Bloomfield’s solos, this is the story of a life lived at full volume.

A collection of 14 of Wes Montgomery's great jazz guitar solos transcribed directly from recorded performances. Included are such landmark solos as Work Song; Sack o' Woe; Unit 7; Fallout; Jeanine; Blue Roz; Full House; Mi Cosa; Doujie; Missile; Blues; and others. All solos are in notation and tablature. Most of the pieces can be heard on Riverside's Wes Montgomery: The Complete Riverside Recordings. The new revised edition matches the recordings much more closely than the first edition, with more detailed rhythms in several pieces. All of Wes' original solos are faithfully transcribed here in notation and tablature for your study. The book also contains general performance notes, a chronological discography, and a touching biographical essay.

"This book demonstrates and explains 45 incredible guitar sounds using common stomp boxes and a few unique techniques"--Page 4 of cover.