Learn how to combine chord sequences, melodies, and riffs to create your own music in any style. You don't have to be a great guitarist to be able to write songs for guitar. Only a basis knowledge of guitar is required, and you will build up your skills and understanding as you progress through the book. More experienced players will find plenty of unexpected, habit breaking chord progressions. You will find exercises to help put theory into practice, and an inspirational catalog of essential playlists from the greatest songwriters of all time.

A compact dictionary of over 500 popular chords in their most common form, featuring clear photographs and easy-to-follow diagrams and instructions. Includes tips on technique and recommended chord sequences to improve your song-writing skills.

In This Is All a Dream We Dreamed, two of the most well-respected chroniclers of the Dead, Blair Jackson and David Gans, reveal the band’s story through the words of its members, their creative collaborators and peers, and a number of diverse fans, stitching together a multitude of voices into a seamless oral tapestry. Capturing the ebullient spirit at the group’s core, Jackson and Gans weave together a musical saga that examines the music and subculture that developed into its own economy, touching fans from all walks of life, from penniless hippies to celebrities, and at least one U.S. vice president. This definitive book traces the Dead’s evolution from its humble beginnings as a folk/bluegrass band playing small venues in Palo Alto to the feral psychedelic warriors and stadium-filling Americana jam band that blazed all the way through to the 90s. Along the way, we hear from many who were touched by the Dead—from David Crosby and Miles Davis, to Ken Kesey, Carolyn “Mountain Girl” Garcia, and a host of Merry Pranksters, to legendary concert promoter Bill Graham, and others. Throughout their journey the Dead broke (and sometimes rewrote) just about every rule of the music business, defying conventional wisdom and charting their own often unusual course, in the process creating a business model unlike any seen before. Musically, too, they were pioneers, fusing inspired ideas and techniques with intuition and fearlessness to craft an utterly unique and instantly recognizable sound. Their music centered on collective improvisation, spiritual and social democracy, trust, generosity, and fun. They believed that you can make something real, spontaneous, and compelling happen with other musicians if you trust and encourage each other, and jam as if your life depended on it. And when it worked, there was nothing else like it. Whether you’re part of the new generation of Deadheads who are just discovering their music or a devoted fan who has traded Dead tapes for decades, you will want to listen in on the irresistible conversations and anecdotes shared in these pages. You’ll hear stories you haven’t heard before, possibly from voices that may be unfamiliar to you, and the tales that unfold will shed a whole new light on a long and inspiring musical odyssey.

This exhaustive study of scales is a must-own for any improvising guitarist. Published in collaboration with one of America's leading guitar schools, it provides the practical information you need to use each scale in a solo. With each scale, you get an explanation of the scale and its uses, a fingering on one string, six-string fingerings in all keys in a cycle of fourths, three-note per string fingerings, and a chord vamp to practice the scale over. Give your playing a unique edge with exotic scales from all over the world. This easy-to-use book even includes a section on how to practice scales. The Ultimate Guitar Scale Bible should be part of every guitarist's library.

The most complete and authentic guide to the greatest classic rock guitar licks ever played! In this book, the licks, styles, and techniques of the classic rock generation of guitarists are completely revealed and explained. The included CD contains every music example, performed with the authentic tones, techniques, and equipment as the original artists. All of the music is presented in standard notation and tab. Includes the licks, styles, and techniques of: Duane Allman, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Billy Gibbons, Peter Green, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Johnny Winter and more.

The Jazz Guitar Chord Bible Complete solves one of the greatest problems in jazz...the knowledge and use of chords. It is a complete guide to three- and four-string guitar chords. Every application is covered including passing chords and altered chords, but only the most logical, practical and applicable chord voicings are presented.

The country music superstar shares what the guitar has meant to him as a means of finding his own voice, who inspired his love of music, and memorable stories about the great guitar players he has encountered over the years.

A comprehensive book for today's amateur musician interested in creating and writing his or her own songs, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Songwriting, Second Edition, is the most complete and up-to-date book available. Beating coverage from other series competition, Oscar-winning (and Grammy and Tony award nominated) author Joel Hirschhorn shares his firsthand knowledge of coming up with ideas, rhyming schemes, hooks, melodies, lyrics, and even titles - everything readers need to create their own hit songs! This new edition features coverage of the music business along with the ins and outs of selling a song including working with publishers, producers, artists, managers, accountants, agents, and even attorneys. Best of all, this newest edition features special chapters on genre songwriting - with all new coverage of Latin music, Rock/Blues, Children's music, writing for television, film, and more.

Each chapter of Chord Progressions For Songwriters provides a comprehensive self-contained lesson on one of twenty-one popular chord progressions that every songwriter should know inside and out. Lessons cover ascending, basic (I-IV), blues, circle (VI-II-V-I), classic rock (I-bVII-IV), combination, descending, doo-wop (I-VIm-IV-V), ending, flamenco (Im-bVII-bVI-V), folk (I-V), introduction, jazz (IIm-V-I), minor blues, one-chord, pedal point, rock and roll (I-IV-V), standard (I-VIm-IIm-V), and turnaround progressions as well as rhythm and Coltrane changes. You will learn how key, duration, substitution, variation (adding or subtracting chords), and displacement (rearranged chord orders) are used to vary the sound of each progression. You will also take a look at the author’s songwriter’s notebook and work through exercises to reinforce key chapter concepts and get you started building your own progressions.