The Complete Guide to Playing Blues Guitar Book One - Rhythm Guitar: Master Blues Rhythm Guitar Playing (Learn How to Play Blues Guitar) Paperback – March 4, 2014

I was a metal guitarist for 20 years. Always had problems playing the blues. Just could grasp the structure. I know is a slow version of a lot of heavy metal.I’ve only had the book for a few days. I love how engaging the author is with the reader. It is a nice approach compared to a lot of music books. The book moves you forward quickly. But not too fast. It is simple to read. I have book 2 in the series ready as soon as I finish this one. So far I am very happy with my purchase. Once I finish I review again on my progress and ability to adapt to blues.

I retired this year and learn to play the Blues Guitar was on the top of my to do list. I have been messing around with trying to learn to play the guitar for over 40 years. I have tried private lessons, books and videos but nothing has ever really clicked for me. After giving it a go I usually give up in frustration and my guitar returns to the deep recesses of my closet waiting for the next time I get inspired.I started by digging out my old materials and started watching lessons on YouTube. Although this was helpful I soon discovered that I had no real direction and was not sure that I was progressing. So I decided to look for a book series that would give me a framework or curriculum to work with. After a lot of research I found this book and have been using it for two weeks. I can say that I have made more progress in this time than I have ever made in my past attempts. The lessons are easy to understand and build in a very logical order. They get to the point and get you playing right away. The audio and backing tracks make the lessons fun and challenging. I look forward to practicing every day and believe I have finally found a book that will help me reach my guitar goals.

I would consider myself an intermediate guitar player and wanted to learn more about being able to come up with different blues rhythms, patterns, and basic leads. This book has all of that and more. I just spent a solid hour working through the first chapter and a half and it's great. It's easy to follow and understand. The audio files that it comes with are a definite plus, just keep them handy, especially for time signature practice and the varying rhythms. I look forward to practicing and getting to more variations, leads and turnarounds!

The first time I ever played the blues was at an outdoor BarBQ at White Rock Lake in Dallas in 1965. The guys I jammed with were all older than me and I just followed along. Amazing fun! I'll never forget it. I only wish this book had been available back then, because I would have gone straight home and boned up real quick so next weekend I could have amazed them all!This book really opens up the fundamentals of playing rhythm for blues guitar. It breaks it all down, one piece at a time, so you get both the gist of it all, plus there are more than enough details to get you started off right. If you already know how to play it, I'll wager that you'll learn even more. I have another of Mr. Alexander's excellent books, "Jazz Guitar Soloing Compilation," and they are both high caliber in with respect to their clarity and they way they progress.If you really dig the blues, and you want to explode your understanding about how it all fits together--and make your playing even more fluid and instinctive--get this book. You can't go wrong. After all, rhythm guitar is the heart of the blues. If the rhythm guitar just ain't with it, the whole ensemble suffers. But when you're right there in the pocket, everything else rocks steady.

I bought the first three volumes of this series, and figured I'd review this one since it's the most likely one someone would purchase first. I've been playing just about anything with strings for more decades than I'd like to think about, and I own hundreds of technical music books. I'm always looking for interesting approaches, different ways of looking at theory and application, and, especially pertinent regarding Mr. Alexander's works, the most efficient ways to teach. So here it is: if you're a relative novice looking to play blues or rock, you'll be wasting a lot of time if you buy any other book.'Complete Guide' bypasses everything you don't need to know (you can waste years on that stuff), and provides a comprehensive, standard, easily applied method of learning rhythm and lead for blues, which is the basis of rock and much of jazz. With a bit of effort, you'll get to the point that you can play with others faster using Mr. Alexander's method much more quickly than if you'd gone to music school or tried another approach. The sound files are very helpful, later books in this series seamlessly build on the material presented here, and if you want to later try any of the Jazz or 'modern guitar' material, you'll be treading comfortably familiar ground.I'd thought it had all been written, and than nobody could add much to the genre. I was wrong. Buy this one, you'll be glad you did.