McMurray

Review #26: The Complete Acoustic Blues Guitar Method by Woody Mann

January 1, 2026 by joemcmurray Leave a Comment

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Is this one of the best or worst method or repertoire books for learning to play acoustic fingerstyle blues guitar?

You can learn to play music using a variety of resources including teachers, online resources, and books.

Despite the book’s title, this is not a traditional method book for learning to play fingerstyle blues guitar. This is a repertoire book containing fingerstyle blues arrangements in a variety of subgenres (i.e. ragtime and delta blues). The book does offer more than a traditional repertoire book in that it has technical and historical notes before each tune, and then it occasionally introduces a new technique through a tune. This book is suitable for late beginner to advanced fingerstyle players but is best for intermediate players. I really like the organization of the book: tunes are organized by subgenre, and within each section the tunes are arranged from easiest to hardest.

If you have zero experience playing fingerstyle guitar or fingerstyle blues, this is not the best book to start with. If you do have some experience, this is a great book for learning fun tunes, improving your skills, and learning some background history.

What stands out about this book is that some tunes include multiple choruses. If you’ve studied fingerstyle blues from books, you’ve seen one or two page arrangements that, as written, are too short for a full performance. You might have gathered that you should play the original arrangement and then create multiple variations to instrumentally simulate different lyrics for each verse of a vocal tune, to extend your performance, and to make it your own. However, most books don’t actually write out any variations. The Complete Acoustic Blues Guitar Method is wonderful in that some of its arrangements do contain 2^nd and 3^rd chorus variations. These are great for beginners and players that just want to play a tune that lasts more than 30 seconds, and they are even more valuable for players that want to see and study concrete examples of variations. You can learn a lot from analyzing these variations and then you can implement these ideas into other tunes in your repertoire.

Difficulty ramps up quickly in this book with the majority of the arrangements in that intermediate difficulty range. Beginner players may want to first use a traditional method book:

A general fingerstyle method like Alfred’s “Beginning Fingerstyle Guitar,” or
A more focused method like Bruce Emery’s “Travis-Style Guitar from Scratch.”

Then you could utilize Woody Mann’s book as a supplement as you’re working through the method book. Later beginners should aim for the first tune or two from each different section and see what specific styles of fingerstyle blues catch their ear. You will improve faster and have more fun if you play tunes that are aren’t too difficult, so don’t get bogged down with the hardest tunes in the book.

The Complete Acoustic Blues Guitar Method provides both treble clef and tablature for each arrangement, but neither fretting nor picking hand fingering is provided. At least you can tell which notes should be played with your thumb by looking at the treble clef – bass notes have down stems. Regardless, the skill of choosing sensible fingering is important, and you will need to look elsewhere to further develop this skill.

Recordings are available online through Hal Leonard’s website. These will be very helpful to many readers. It’s fun and educational to hear some of the author’s little variations and stylistic techniques (slides, bends, etc.) that aren’t written into the music.

The book doesn’t use the modern percussive techniques used by modern players like Michael Hedges, Don Ross, Andy McKee, Mike Dawes, etc. No thumb slaps, guitar body percussion, or tapping.

My own books:

Fingerstyle Blues Guitar: An In-Depth Study of the 12-Bar Blues in E Major – Books 1 and 2 are available in paperback or as an eBook through Amazon [https://a.co/d/g7Udsso (Book 1) and https://a.co/d/aDbh4H0 (Book 2)]. The first priority of these books is to quickly get you playing a solo instrumental 12-bar blues, and then to build on it until you can freely improvise or “jam.” You should be up and running by the end of the third chapter, and each following chapter will add icing on the cake.

Arranging for Fingerstyle Guitar: go to http://joemcmurray.com/checkout/ to purchase a pdf of my eBook. Learning to arrange melodies will also help your fingerstyle songwriting and your understanding of the inner workings of fingerstyle guitar.

My upcoming book, Arranging for Fingerstyle Ukulele, will be published by Mel Bay in 2026.

My music is available on all streaming platforms at https://open.spotify.com/artist/5dcokTG6C598OhTslHH5uo?si=hrQb7FViSZewDRSgECw9Ew:

Pins on the Map: my third fingerstyle guitar album was released on January 19, 2024. Watch the first single, “Open Road,” on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/uPBh8sZQsT4?si=EM_wAwnHFqU1VC9C.

Riding the Wave and Acoustic Oasis: my first two fingerstyle guitar albums.

Winter Wonderland: Solo Fingerstyle Guitar

December 15, 2025 by joemcmurray Leave a Comment

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Original solo fingerstyle guitar arrangement of Winter Wonderland by Joe McMurray. One of my favorite Christmas tunes, Winter Wonderland was written in 1934 by Felix Bernard and lyricist Richard B. Smith.

TABs are available for purchase through my PayPal link at https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/6ZEEQXVEQ7MFA

If you are interested in purchasing the TABs, be aware that this arrangement is suitable for players with a intermediate+ skill level.

Performed on my treasured 2023 Collings OM2H guitar.

My books:

My upcoming book, Arranging for Fingerstyle Ukulele, will be published by Mel Bay in 2026.

My music is available on all streaming platforms at https://open.spotify.com/artist/5dcokTG6C598OhTslHH5uo?si=hrQb7FViSZewDRSgECw9Ew:

Pins on the Map: my third fingerstyle guitar album was released on January 19, 2024. Watch the first single, “Open Road,” on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/uPBh8sZQsT4?si=EM_wAwnHFqU1VC9C.

Riding the Wave and Acoustic Oasis: my first two fingerstyle guitar albums.

Review #25: Christmas Rep for Solo Fingerstyle Guitar, 2025 Update

December 1, 2025 by joemcmurray Leave a Comment

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Christmas repertoire books featuring solo fingerstyle guitar arrangements are great for the holiday season! Whether you simply want to get into the Christmas spirit or you need to perform Christmas tunes at your gigs, there are a number of great Christmas repertoire books. Last year I did a similar multi-book review, but I need to put out an update since I have since gone on a buying spree and purchased 4 more books that I’d been curious about. In this review I will look at the original three books that I reviewed:

Hal Leonard’s “Fingerpicking Yuletide,”
Mark Phillips’ “Christmas Carols for Easy Classical Guitar” (Cherry Lane Music Company), and
John Hill’s “Classical Guitar Christmas Sheet Music” (Hal Leonard)

As well as my four new books:

Michael Wood’s “Echoes of Christmas Past,”
Bruce Emery’s “Christmas Fingerstyle Guitar,” and
Doug Young’s “Christmas Carols for Fingerstyle Guitar” AND “A DADGAD Christmas.”

And finally I’ll mention one book that I don’t have, but I can see enough from previews to be able to compare to the other books:

Hal Leonard’s “Fingerpicking Christmas”

To be clear, all books are suitable for either steel string guitar or nylon string classical guitar.

I will demonstrate tunes from each book so that you can see and hear what you’re getting.

Now, whether you are just looking to enjoy playing holiday tunes for yourself, with your family and friends, or on stage, there are several factors to consider. Christmas music is really only acceptable in the month of December, so if you are like me then you’ll start preparing in November. As these tunes are kept on the shelf for 10 months of the year, I generally look for the easiest arrangements that still sound as good as possible. I need to be able to whip these into shape in a reasonable amount of time.

Perhaps you (unlike myself) are looking for the most incredible sounding arrangements possible, regardless of their difficulty? One of these books in particular fits that bill.

Another important factor to consider is whether you are looking to play instrumental arrangements or if you are looking to lead a singalong. Some books are better suited to one or the other.

I’m going to try to guide you to the book or books that are best for YOU. Each of these books is valuable in its own way, but one may fit you better.

Hal Leonard’s “Fingerpicking Yuletide” is the only book out of these that has popular modern/mid-twentieth century tunes like Holly Jolly Christmas, Frosty the Snowman, Jingle Bell Rock, and Let It Snow! Hal Leonard is a publishing giant and has the ability to publish these popular tunes that are protected by copyright. Late-beginner/intermediate. Pretty good arrangements, especially as a starting point. No audio recordings.

All of the other books contain traditional Christmas carols like O Come, All Ye Faithful, The First Noel, Jingle Bells, and Silent Night. These are all of the tunes that fall under the realm of public domain, so authors can arrange them without worrying about legal issues or royalties.

Out of all of these other books, two books stand out for containing beautiful, yet easy to play arrangements. Wood’s “Echoes of Christmas Past” is #1, Phillips’ “Christmas Carols for Easy Classical Guitar” is #2. Wood’s arrangements are incredibly playable and sound so so good. Very flowing and arpeggiated with a folksy touch. Never too many notes at once, so easy on the hands. No lyrics written into the music, and no audio recordings.

Phillips’ arrangements also flow very well with lots of arpeggiation and pedaling on the open G string. Definitely has some classical guitar vibes. Once again, no lyrics, but this one does come with a CD for the audio recordings.

If you are the type of player who wants a simple arrangement that you can enhance, or if you want to lead a singalong and need a really straightforward arrangement, Bruce Emery’s “Christmas Fingerstyle Guitar: Plain and Fancy” and Doug Young’s “Christmas Carols for Fingerstyle Guitar” are very valuable books. Each contains the most basic arrangements with block chords harmonizing each melody. These are excellent for beginners and work great as lead sheets for intermediate and advanced players (as a platform from which you can create your own variations). Young’s book is a bit easier. Emery’s book provides each carol at three difficulty levels. Emery’s has lyrics in the music so it works better for singalongs. Young’s has lyrics on the opposite page from the music, so usable for singalongs, but not ideal. Both provide audio recordings. These two books are both great gigging books, but I if I had to choose, I’d rather have the Wood or Phillips book at a gig.

Doug Young’s “A DADGAD Christmas” is unique and incredibly beautiful. Much more difficult in comparison – suitable for intermediate and advanced players. Audio recordings are available on Spotify and make for great listening! Some really satisfying arrangements, but not my first choice of Christmas gig book – I generally want Christmas gig tunes to be on the easier side.

Hill’s “Classical Guitar: Christmas Sheet Music” contains arrangements that can absolutely work on steel string guitars, but they are written only in treble clef. These arrangements are all a bit more difficult to play, regardless of treble clef vs. TAB, and they don’t necessarily sound better than the arrangements of the other books. Many arrangements just feel clunky with difficult fingering. One thing that I do like is the arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s “March” from the Nutcracker, which you won’t find in any of the other books. If you are a classical guitar teacher, these would definitely be useful to use with your students. No audio recordings.

So, to organize all of this information:

Only one for mid-twentieth century tunes: Hal Leonard’s “Fingerpicking Yuletide”
Best for solo instrumental gigging: Wood’s “Echoes of Christmas Past” is #1, Phillips’ “Christmas Carols for Easy Classical Guitar” is #2. Hal Leonard’s “Fingerpicking Yuletide”is an equally important gigging book for me too just because of its arrangements of popular tunes.
Best for singalongs: Hal Leonard’s “Fingerpicking Yuletide”, Bruce Emery’s “Christmas Fingerstyle Guitar: Plain and Fancy”, and possibly Hal Leonard’s “Fingerpicking Christmas”
Most beginner friendly: Probably Doug Young’s “Christmas Carols for Fingerstyle Guitar” orBruce Emery’s “Christmas Fingerstyle Guitar: Plain and Fancy,” then Wood’s “Echoes of Christmas Past” is #1, Phillips’ “Christmas Carols for Easy Classical Guitar”
Most sonorous arrangements: Doug Young’s “A DADGAD Christmas”
Don’t buy: Hill’s “Classical Guitar: Christmas Sheet Music”

Performance:

Holly Jolly Christmas, Frosty the Snowman – Hal Leonard’s “Fingerpicking Yuletide”
Come, All Ye Faithful – in all books other than Hal Leonard’s “Fingerpicking Yuletide” andDoug Young’s “A DADGAD Christmas”
Silent Night – in all books other than Hal Leonard’s “Fingerpicking Yuletide”

My own books:

My upcoming book, Arranging for Fingerstyle Ukulele, will be published by Mel Bay in 2026.

My music is available on all streaming platforms at https://open.spotify.com/artist/5dcokTG6C598OhTslHH5uo?si=hrQb7FViSZewDRSgECw9Ew:

Pins on the Map: my third fingerstyle guitar album was released on January 19, 2024. Watch the first single, “Open Road,” on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/uPBh8sZQsT4?si=EM_wAwnHFqU1VC9C.Riding the Wave and Acoustic Oasis: my first two fingerstyle guitar albums.

Review #24: Beginning Fingerstyle Blues Guitar by Berle/Galbo

November 20, 2025 by joemcmurray Leave a Comment

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Is this one of the best or worst method books for learning to play acoustic fingerstyle blues guitar?

You can learn to play music using a variety of resources including teachers, online resources, and books.

Another great find! Beginning Fingerstyle Blues Guitar, by Arnie Berle and Mark Galbo, is a method book for learning to play fingerstyle blues guitar (both solo and accompaniment). This is first fingerstyle blues books that I’ve come across that provides a great chapter on how to incorporate singing over your guitar playing. The book is suitable for beginner fingerstyle players who can play basic chords through to intermediate players. I blew through this book – the material progresses logically with exercises that build on each other and lead perfectly into complete 12-bar examples. The majority of the book is focused on playing using an alternating bass (Travis style). Rest assured, if you work through this book, you will build a solid fingerstyle blues foundation and you will learn a few cool 12-bar choruses. You will still need further instruction to develop your arranging and improvisation skills as well as your tone, rhythmic feel, and fingering choices.

After some introductory material covering blues history, form, rhythm, and picking hand technique, the book jumps right into exercises to develop your alternating bass technique. Assuming you can already play your basic chord shapes, the book methodically shows you how to play the alternating bass over the I, IV, and V chords in the keys of A, G, and E. Each chapter presents a new layer of complexity (new melody note options, new rhythms, new fretting or picking-hand techniques, new chord voicings, etc.), with progressive exercises that always culminate in a full 12-bar example. The authors really did a great job in organizing the topics and calibrating the difficulty progression – the book flows well. Although the examples of the early chapters sound “major” and bland, they prepare you for the addition of “blue notes” and other bluesy techniques that add some soul to your sound and immediately make your playing more satisfying. Just stick with it through those early chapters!

Late in the book, the chapter on how to incorporate singing over your fingerstyle blues guitar playing is special. You won’t learn anything about vocal technique or tone production, but you will learn about the call-and-response dance between your vocals and guitar playing. You will learn how to accompany your vocal lines (the “call”) and then play a guitar riff or chordal “response.” First, the vocal melody is provided in standard notation and on the CD – you will want to learn to sing this melody. Then the guitar part is provided, which you will learn separately before adding the vocals on top. Then the authors provide alternate “response” riffs that you can substitute into the segments of the tune when there are no vocals. Players with more experience can improvise their own riffs in these spots. Finally, you will learn a few turnarounds that you can substitute into bars 11 and 12. By the time I was finished with this section, I was really jamming out, improvising, and having fun with the example tune.

The book culminates with five complete blues tunes that incorporate everything you’ve learned and jump-start your blues repertoire. Four of these tunes are traditional and one is an original. Three are vocal tunes and two are instrumental.

Beginning Fingerstyle Blues Guitar provides both treble clef and tablature for each arrangement. Minimal fretting hand fingering is provided (sometimes written into the music, sometimes provided via tiny chord charts written above the music, and sometimes discussed in the text). Picking hand fingering is only provided in the music for the first chapter, although you can always tell which notes should be played with your thumb by looking at the treble clef – bass notes have down stems. The skill of choosing sensible fingering is important, and you will need to look elsewhere to further develop this skill.

Recordings are available on an included CD. These will be very helpful to many readers.

The book doesn’t use the modern percussive techniques used by modern players like Michael Hedges, Don Ross, Andy McKee, Mike Dawes, etc. No thumb slaps, guitar body percussion, or tapping.

My own books:

My upcoming book, Arranging for Fingerstyle Ukulele, will be published by Mel Bay in 2026.

My music is available on all streaming platforms at https://open.spotify.com/artist/5dcokTG6C598OhTslHH5uo?si=hrQb7FViSZewDRSgECw9Ew:

Fingerstyle Blues Guitar by Joe McMurray

November 13, 2025 by joemcmurray Leave a Comment

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Is this one of the best or worst method books for learning to play acoustic fingerstyle blues guitar?

You can learn to play music using a variety of resources including teachers, online resources, and books.

Open with 12-bar blues performance

Imagine ripping a blues solo on stage with your band – your drummer and bassist providing a comfortable soundscape on which your tasty guitar lines can float.
Now imagine that you’re alone on your front porch with only an acoustic guitar – wouldn’t you like to be able to jam on the blues all by yourself?
There is a long tradition of fingerstyle blues
Although much fingerstyle blues music is mixed with vocals, solo instrumental tunes can be so much fun!

Welcome to Guitar Books the Podcast, my name is Joe McMurray

Show books

Unusual episode – I’m going to do a rundown my own recently published books, Fingerstyle Blues Guitar: An In-Depth Study of the 12-Bar Blues in the Key of E Major: Books 1 and 2

First priority of these books is to quickly get you playing a solo instrumental 12-bar blues, and then to build on it until you can freely improvise or jam.
You should be up and running by the end of the 3^rd chapter, and each following chapter will add icing on the cake.
Organized the books so that the concepts and exercises progress logically, thoroughly, and with a smooth difficulty progression.
- Take care to explain how to immediately apply each concept to your playing.

These are essentially one long book split down the middle: Book 2 picks up right where Book 1 left off. It was just too long – it would have been around 350 pages.
I recommend that everyone start with Book 1, which is suitable for all skill levels.
- Complete beginner players who work through the first few chapters should be able to improvise a satisfying fingerstyle blues solo.
- Intermediate to advanced players will breeze through the first few chapters, but will hopefully pick up some useful information starting around Chapter 4.
Book 2 is more suitable for intermediate to advanced players.
- It digs deeper into higher level concepts that are more technically and theoretically difficult, but will elevate your playing to new levels.
- You will learn to play new scales, turnarounds, rhythms, time signatures, key signatures, and more!
Again, I recommend that everyone start with Book 1, and then move on to Book 2.

Not here to teach you every authentic Robert Johnson lick or every subgenre of fingerstyle blues.
You won’t learn and memorize a bunch of new tunes.
However, I will clearly lay out how to create a solo fingerstyle guitar performance in which you improvise over the 12-bar blues structure using a monotonic bassline.
You will master ONE platform through which you can channel endless creativity and put on a satisfying blues performance.

Lots of fingerstyle blues books on the market – why work through mine?
I love many of these other books, and I have learned a lot from them.
The first thing that differentiates mine is its focus on playing the blues over a monotonic bassline.
Most other books focus on playing the blues over an alternating bassline (Travis style) (although they may present some material on using a monotonic bassline).
One focuses on playing the blues over a monotonic bassline – Joseph Alexander’s Fingerstyle Blues Guitar.
- I was honestly very influenced by this book, and I highly recommend it in addition to mine!
- However, Alexander’s book focuses more on teaching you a bunch of authentic blues language and licks over the monotonic bassline, with less emphasis on putting together a full lyrical 12-bar solo, nonetheless a full multi-chorus performance.
- My book starts from a more beginner-friendly place and builds with a much more gradual difficulty progression. Easier melodies and rhythms at first, with many, many examples.
- My book focuses on the bigger picture of putting together a cohesive blues chorus and then a cohesive multi-chorus performance.
I have spent a lot of time working through other books, I have real world experience, and I’ve tried to create a series of books that will be most effective at teaching you to actually jam on the blues.

Critical of my own books:

No recordings. Need more time! Two little kids.
Wordy?

Review #23: Fingerstyle Blues Songbook by Steve James

November 6, 2025 by joemcmurray Leave a Comment

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Is this one of the best or worst repertoire books for learning to play acoustic fingerstyle blues guitar?

You can learn to play music using a variety of resources including teachers, online resources, and books.

Steve James’ Fingerstyle Blues Songbook is a repertoire book drawing from various substyles of fingerstyle blues (general old time country blues, Delta blues, ragtime blues, Texas blues, and bottleneck blues). Most of the tunes are suitable for late-beginner and intermediate fingerstyle players, although advanced players will certainly enjoy the tunes as well. The music in this book may sound “old-timey” (much of it comes from the 1920s and 30s), but it is really fun to play if you are interested in the style.

This book is comparable to Stefan Grossman’s Complete Country Blues Guitar Book (Review #9). Both are great resources.

Fingerstyle Blues Songbook includes solo fingerstyle guitar arrangements of 15 tunes. Each arrangement features a single chorus of a 12 or 16 bar blues (often with a repeat and a 2^nd ending). No page turns are ever needed! Each arrangement is presented as a lead sheet with both the vocal melody (in standard notation) and the solo guitar arrangement (in both standard notation and tablature). Each tune includes a couple paragraphs of background information including notable recordings and some fingering suggestions.

Most of the tunes provide you with a single progression of the tune – even with the repeat, none of these will last a full minute as written. In a real performance you would probably want to repeat the form multiple times with singing, variations, or improvisation. My only complaint about the book is that it would have been helpful if the author had explained this a bit more. However, if you listen to fingerstyle blues recordings, then you will hear many arrangement ideas.

As mentioned, the book provides both treble clef and tablature for each arrangement. Tiny chord charts are written above the music with fretting hand fingering, but these do not provide fingering for any of the melody lines. Additionally, no picking hand fingering is included (although you can tell which notes should be played by the picking hand thumb by looking at the treble clef).

The book starts with a couple easier arrangements, but otherwise doesn’t progress from easiest to hardest. Beginners might find the spiritual Oh, Mary Don’t You Weep on page 32 to be one of the easiest arrangements in the book.

The majority of the tunes use standard tuning. However, alternate tunings are used for the four tunes that utilize a slide.

This is a repertoire book full of song arrangements. This is not a method book that teaches you the fundamentals of how to play fingerstyle blues guitar. However, if you have some fingerstyle experience, then this book will provide you with a bunch of fun tunes. This is also a great supplement to a method book.

Recordings are available on an included CD (which unfortunately didn’t come with my used book). These would likely be very helpful to many readers.

The book doesn’t use the modern percussive techniques used by modern players like Michael Hedges, Don Ross, Andy McKee, Mike Dawes, etc. No thumb slaps, guitar body percussion, or tapping.

For authenticity, I recommend using an acoustic steel string guitar rather than a classical guitar. You will need a slide for several tunes.

Distributed by Hal Leonard.

My own books:

Fingerstyle Blues Guitar: An In-Depth Study of the 12-Bar Blues in E Major – Books 1 and 2 are available in paperback or as an eBook through Amazon at https://a.co/d/g7Udsso. The first priority of this book is to quickly get you playing a solo instrumental 12-bar blues, and then to build on it until you can freely improvise or “jam.” You should be up and running by the end of the third chapter, and each following chapter will add icing on the cake.

My upcoming book, Arranging for Fingerstyle Ukulele, will be published by Mel Bay in 2026.

My music is available on all streaming platforms at https://open.spotify.com/artist/5dcokTG6C598OhTslHH5uo?si=hrQb7FViSZewDRSgECw9Ew:

Pins on the Map: my third fingerstyle guitar album was released on January 19, 2024. Watch the first single, “Open Road,” on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/uPBh8sZQsT4?si=EM_wAwnHFqU1VC9C.

Riding the Wave and Acoustic Oasis: my first two fingerstyle guitar albums.

McMurray

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