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Music Book Review

Review #11: Fingerstyle Blues by Miggs Rivera

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Is this one of the best or worst method books for fingerstyle blues guitar?

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

Miggs Rivera’s Fingerstyle Blues is an inspiring, well-graduated method book for learning to play fingerstyle blues.  It is aimed at intermediate and advanced fingerstyle players.  Each chapter ultimately provides a full performance tune, but starts by describing a new concept or technique (or two) and providing examples that prepare you for the performance song.  As advertised, this book is focused entirely on fingerstyle blues with deep dives into various substyles including delta blues (Robert Johnson), boogies (John Lee Hooker), slide blues (Son House), and Texas blues (Lightning Hopkins).  There is even a tune that has a modern character with some jazzier chords.

I love how in each chapter the book provides technical exercises that directly prepare you for the upcoming performance tune.  Often the author will simplify a section of the performance tune and then provide more complexity with each subsequent example.  The first chapter of the book presents a somewhat basic 12-bar blues, then provides 5 separate 12-bar variations that each focus on adding a new technique (hammer-on grace notes, slide grace notes, rubato bends, chords fragments, rubato bends on the higher and lower strings), and finally culminates in an all-inclusive performance tune.  Mr. Rivera really hit the nail on the head with his teaching approach.

The author provides some music theory, but only that which is immediately applicable to an upcoming performance tune.  You will spend much more time playing music than analyzing music theory. 

The book includes access to private/un-searchable YouTube video lessons through QR codes.  You will need a cell phone that can pull these up.  These videos are extremely helpful as they include explanations and demonstrations by the author.  These are particularly useful as they show you the proper rhythms and feel.

One thing to note about this book is that it doesn’t emphasize improvisation which is a huge part of blues music.  However, you could learn about improvisation elsewhere (with a private teacher or with a book like Joseph Alexander’s Fingerstyle Blues Guitar) and then implement it into the tunes of this book.

  1. Authentic sounding fingerstyle blues tunes.
  2. Excellent difficulty graduation – examples build off each other and get gradually more complex and difficult.  Cohesive feel throughout the book, especially as the final performance tune pulls from the earlier tunes.
  3. Not much emphasis on improvisation.
  4. Online video lessons are extremely helpful – difficult rhythms and feel are much easier to learn with the videos.

The book does introduce some modern percussive techniques used by modern players like Michael Hedges, Don Ross, Andy McKee, Mike Dawes, etc.  You will learn to play thumb slaps and various percussive hits on the guitar body.

I would recommend that you use an acoustic steel string or electric guitar.  You could use a nylon string classical guitar if absolutely necessary, but I wouldn’t recommend it.

Independently published by Miggs Rivera.  © 2020

eBook: Arranging for Fingerstyle Guitar: go to http://joemcmurray.com/checkout/ to purchase a pdf of my eBook.

Riding the Wave: my second fingerstyle guitar album is available on all streaming platforms.

Pins on the Map: my third fingerstyle guitar album will soon be released.

Temporary Break!

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I’ll be back with more guitar book reviews, but I need to take a little break while I work my way through new books, prepare for performances, finish recording/mixing/mastering my third fingerstyle guitar album, and write my upcoming book.

eBook: Arranging for Fingerstyle Guitar: go to http://joemcmurray.com/checkout/ to purchase a pdf of my eBook.

Riding the Wave: my second fingerstyle guitar album is available on all streaming platforms.

Review #10: 100 Most Popular Songs for Fingerpicking Guitar by Hal Leonard

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

Hal Leonard’s 100 Most Popular Songs for Fingerpicking Guitar is a repertoire book filled with solo fingerstyle guitar arrangements of popular songs from mostly the 1960s through present day.  Genres covered include classic and modern rock, pop, folk, jazz, theme songs, Spanish classical, and more.  There are songs from the Beatles, Ed Sheeran, Duke Ellington, Metallica, Aerosmith, Imagine Dragons, Bob Marley, Stevie Wonder, etc.  Most of the tunes are suitable for intermediate fingerstyle players, although there are some easier tunes for late beginners as well as some tunes that are significantly more difficult.  If you are looking to build out your repertoire for local gigs, this book is incredible! 

Overall, the arrangements are in guitar-friendly keys, they stay below the 5th fret, and they sound good.  You can always simplify or add to the arrangements to suit your tastes and skill level.  Most tunes are in standard tuning, although there are some tunes that use drop D tuning.  Tunes are arranged utilizing a variety of techniques including simple melody and bass, alternating bass, and arpeggiation. The book doesn’t get into 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.

Although this book is a repertoire book and not a method book, there is a single page in the back providing an “Introduction to Fingerstyle,” which is probably worthless to anyone who is attempting to play the tunes in this book.  The rest of the book is just filled with song arrangements in alphabetical order, and there is no background information for any of the tunes.  The music is presented as a treble clef lead sheet with the main melody and the harmonizing chords written above, and the solo guitar arrangements are presented in treble clef and tablature.  Occasional left-hand fingerings are provided.

Although this book has great tunes for your gigs, it would be difficult to bring the book to a gig and play from the pages.  The book is 430 pages and has a softcover binding, so you need binder clips to hold the pages open.  Most tunes require multiple page turns, which is a disaster if you are holding the pages open with binder clips.  Your only options would be to photocopy pages or memorize the tunes.

For most of the tunes you could use an acoustic steel string or classical nylon string guitar since most arrangements don’t require using your fretting hand thumb over the top.

  1. Extensive song selection.  You are bound to like at least a few of the tunes if you like popular or rock music.
  2. Great arrangements that generally feature melody and bass, alternating bass, and/or arpeggiation.
  3. Provides treble clef lead sheets (melody with harmonizing chords written above) as well as treble clef and TAB guitar arrangements.
  4. Some fretting hand fingering is included, but there isn’t any picking hand fingering.
  5. Hard to hold pages open, lots of page turns.
  6. No audio access.  However, arrangements generally sound similar to the original tunes.

Published by Hal Leonard.  © 2019

eBook: Arranging for Fingerstyle Guitar: go to http://joemcmurray.com/checkout/ to purchase a pdf of my eBook.

Riding the Wave: my second fingerstyle guitar album is available on all streaming platforms.

Review #9: Complete Country Blues Guitar Book by Stefan Grossman

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

Stefan Grossman’s Complete Country Blues Guitar Book is a repertoire book of 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.  Aside from the large selection of tunes, the book provides tons of cool history, interviews of blues players (Skip James and W.C. Handy), and historical photos – makes for a great coffee table book!

The book is organized into sections for each substyle of fingerstyle blues.  At the beginning of each section there is a textual description and history of the blues substyle being presented.  Before each tune, there is a description of where that tune originated from, who played it in this style, important recordings to listen to, and some technical performance details.

Most of the tunes provide you with a single progression of the tune – sometimes only 20 or 30 seconds long.  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 take the listening recommendations seriously then you will get the idea.

The book provides both treble clef and tablature.  There are no right or left-hand fingerings provided (except occasionally in the description before the tune).  The tablature is unusual in that the fret numbers are written between the lines instead of on the lines, but I quickly adjusted to it without any problem.

The majority of the tunes use standard tuning.  However, alternate tunings are used extensively within the sections on “Country Blues Guitar: The Alternating Bass and Open Tunings” and “Bottleneck Blues Guitar.”

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 lifetime of fun (at almost 260 pages, it will literally last you a very long time).

  1. Authentic fingerstyle blues tunes from various substyles.
  2. Great organization.
  3. Good difficulty graduation – easier tunes to start each section.
  4. Short tunes.
  5. Lots of alternating bass and monotonic bass
  6. Strange tablature will take a few minutes to adjust to.
  7. No fingerings for right or left hand.
  8. No audio access, but there are lots of listening recommendations that are helpful.

The book doesn’t get into 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.

I recommend using an acoustic steel string guitar rather than a classical guitar since there are multiple tunes that utilize the fretting hand thumb over the top.  You will need a slide for the final section, but you can use it with your normal guitar.

Published by Mel Bay Publications.  © 1992

eBook: Arranging for Fingerstyle Guitar: go to http://joemcmurray.com/checkout/ to purchase a pdf of my eBook.

Riding the Wave: my second fingerstyle guitar album is available on all streaming platforms.

Review #8: Fingerstyle Blues Guitar by Joseph Alexander

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

Joseph Alexander’s Fingerstyle Blues Guitar (published by Fundamental Changes) is an excellent book for learning the fundamentals of fingerstyle blues guitar with either a monotonic or alternating bass.  While this book does have some beginner friendly material, it will especially resonate with intermediate or advanced players.  It is also great for non-fingerstyle blues, rock, or jazz guitarists looking to cross over into fingerstyle blues.  The first half of the book is focused on improvising lead melodies over a monotonic bass (mostly E minor pentatonic over an open 6th string), and the second half of the book is focused on blues chord progressions and picking patterns, soloing over blues progressions, turnarounds, bass lines, and two short studies.

This book presents lots of licks to teach you how to play over a monotonic bass line.  If you haven’t ever improvised using pentatonic scales, then you may find yourself just learning and memorizing cool blues licks.  If you really want to get the most out of this book, then you need to spend time incorporating the phrases into blues progressions and improvising your own blues phrases over blues progressions.  I suggest mastering each example with the monotonic bass (open 6th string) and then playing it over a 12-bar blues progression.  For each technique presented in the book, I suggest coming up with your own phrases using that technique – if the book presents examples using slides, then improvise using slides.  Then improvise using slides over an entire 12-bar blues progression.  A great practical goal would be to play actual blues tunes with some improv in the middle.

The second half of the book provides a bunch of accompaniment patterns over the I, IV, and V chords, and it provides some melodies on top of the chords.  There is a section on turnarounds, a short section on bass lines, and a final section with two short “studies.”  By the time you get through all of this you should have a decent idea of how to play a generic or improvised fingerstyle blues with a variety of feels in the keys of E and G.  Aside from the studies, there aren’t any actual tunes in this book, but you’ll have the tools to learn them from other sources.

  1. Authentic fingerstyle blues lines and grooves
  2. Good difficulty graduation – examples build off each other and get gradually more complex and difficult.  Cohesive feel especially to the first half of the book.
  3. No actual fingerstyle blues tunes to learn other than two short studies.
  4. Online audio access is really helpful – difficult rhythms and feel are much easier to learn with the audio tracks.
  5. No fingerings for right or left hand for much of the book.  Chapter 1 and Chapter 7 do have some picking hand fingering.
  6. Some examples are difficult to play on an acoustic guitar because of whole step bends.  You can always substitute slides for these big bends.

The book doesn’t get into 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 most of the tunes you could use an acoustic steel string or electric guitar.  You could use a nylon string classical guitar if necessary, but I wouldn’t recommend it.

Published by Fundamental Changes.  © 2015

eBook: Arranging for Fingerstyle Guitar: go to http://joemcmurray.com/checkout/ to purchase a pdf of my eBook.

Riding the Wave: my second fingerstyle guitar album is available on all streaming platforms.

Review #7: Fingerpicking Beatles by Hal Leonard

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

Hal Leonard’s Fingerpicking Beatles is full of accessible arrangements of popular Beatles songs.  The tunes are suitable for late beginner/early intermediate through advanced players.  The arrangements often have simplified rhythms, they sometimes leave out either bass notes or inner harmony notes where they would be difficult to grab, they stay mostly below the 5th fret, and they are in guitar friendly keys.  I think this is a fun book that is well worth the money.

The simplicity of many of the arrangements is something that I prefer for a repertoire book like this.  Hal Leonard has done the work of putting the tunes into guitar-friendly keys and providing basic arrangements that are entirely recognizable and effective.  Aside from the melody, the arrangements often include important bass lines, horn lines, and harmonies.  For experienced players, the tunes present many opportunities for embellishment.

Some tunes are arranged in more of a melody and bass style, some feature more arpeggiation, and some feature alternating bass lines.  The style typically fits the essence of the tune.

1) Excellent repertoire from across the Beatles discography.  Variety of upbeat and slower tunes (and everything in-between).

2) Provides treble clef lead sheets (melody with harmonizing chords written above) as well as treble clef and TAB guitar arrangements.

3) Generally simplified arrangements as I detailed above.

4) Some fretting hand fingering is included, but there isn’t any picking hand fingering.

5) Longer tunes have lots of page turns at sometimes inconvenient places.

6) No audio access.

The book doesn’t get into 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 most of the tunes you could use an acoustic steel string or classical nylon string guitar since most arrangements don’t require using your fretting hand thumb over the top.

Published by Hal Leonard.  © 1996

eBook: Arranging for Fingerstyle Guitar: go to http://joemcmurray.com/checkout/ to purchase a pdf of my eBook.

Riding the Wave: my second fingerstyle guitar album is available on all streaming platforms.