Mel Bay Presents Autoharp Method in Four Easy Steps (book and CD set) Review

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(More customer reviews)This book has about two and a half pages about musical theory, just over two pages of the actual four easy steps, and then a bunch of music to practice. The music is written in completely nonstandard notation, which isn't well explained: about a paragraph of explanation is given about how to read the music, but otherwise you're left to figure it out for yourself. Learning to play from this notation, which is unlike any other published autoharp music I've seen, won't help you at all when you try to read and play anything else.
Overall, while this method may work, I recommend against it for its lack of correlation to available sheet music.

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Part One of this highly regarded method includes basic music theory and details Evo's easy 4-step method. Part Two includes rhythm strumming instructions, melody chord changes, and lyrics to 18 well- known American folk songs and southern fiddle tunes in the keys of G, F, C major, and A modal (keys that are provided on standard 12, 15 and 21 bar harps). Also included are instructions for transposing to other keys. All songs are included on a solo performance CD for the purpose of ear training and accompaniment.

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Guitar Pickers Fakebook: The Ultimate Sourcebook for the Traditional Guitar Player, Contains over 250 Jigs, Reels, Rags, Hornpipes & Breakdowns from All the Major Traditional Instrumental Styles Review

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(More customer reviews)This excellent (and scarce!) book is good for all playing situations. It is unquestionably the ultimate source for traditional guitar players.
Invaluable for new, practicing, working, and intermediate players. The addition of the discography, indexed by tune title, lets you locate a recorded source for any tune in the whole book. Brilliant!
The author taught for several years at the School of Fretted Instruments in New York City.
Highly recommended!

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Contains nearly 250 jigs, reels, rags, and hornpipes from all the major guitar traditions. Special introductory materials on regional styles, picking, and ornamentation. Includes an extensive discography.

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Tom Waits: Mule Variations Review

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(More customer reviews)The scariest thing about buying a songbook is wondering how well it matches the actual music - beginners don't want anything too complex, but serious musicians want the legitimate scores. Personally, I was very pleased to find that this songbook matched exactly what was on the album, but it isn't unapproachable for beginners.
A lot of the songs really aren't that hard to figure out, and so if you have a decent ear you might not have much of a use for this book. It is helpful for the trickier bits though, on songs like Take It With Me and Black Market Baby, and the chords are always dead on if you just feel like being lazy. Also, as anyone who has studied Tom's piano playing knows, there are a lot of songs in less common keys (like Eb, Db, Ab, etc.). Most songbooks seem to cater to guitar players by charting the chords in capo'd format, which is damn obnoxious to piano players, or else to piano players by using the proper chords, which is damn obnoxious to guitar players. This book, however, utilises both the proper chords and capo'd chords ( A7 / Bb7 for instance), which is helpful for playing together with a few friends.
There is no tablature here, so don't go looking for guitar solos or fills. And songs like Cold Water take a little experience and intuition to get right. Some music is so outdated that it will be difficult for beginners to play, but it's not because anything is lacking from the book. Overall I would definitely recommend getting this if you have been considering it, no matter your skill level. Some songs will be very easy (like Hold On or Picture In A Frame) but others will be a real [...] if you don't have much experience.

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Including: Big In Japan, Lowside of the Road, Hold On, Get Behind the Mule, House Where Nobody Lives, Cold Water, Pony, WhatÂ's He Building, Black Market Baby, Eyeball Kid, Picture In A Frame, Chocolate Jesus, Georgia Lee, Filipino Box Spring Hog, Take It With Me, and Come On Up to the House.

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