Back in the 70s, Kicking Mule Records and Stefan Grossman started putting out some of the best educational material for acoustic guitar pickers that wanted to learn about how to play jazz, blues and bluegrass. Barry Solomon literally picks up where Grossman left off with these two books that each contain 3 cds of instruction. Solomon wisely teaches by taking only a handful of tunes such as “Lady Be Good” or “The Way You Look Tonight” and dissects the tunings,melodies, chord progressions, rhythms and tempos so you get a deep appreciation and knowledge of the piece that you’re working on . Tablatures and charts are in abundance, even to the point of showing how a song can be delivered in either swing or bluegrass.
I started out on acoustic guitar and eventually switched to clarinet because I just couldn’t get over the various fingerings. If these books were available then, I would have hung in there with my old Martin!
Stefan Grossman’s Guitar Workshop
Mel Bay Productions
www.melbay.com