This volume of the new series, School of Country Guitar, from Mel Bay includes a from-the-ground-up explanation of one, two and three string guitar bends - a basic essential technique in today's hot country guitar style. A variety of licks in the string bending and western swing lead styles are included. Important chords and useful scales in thirds on all string pairs unlock the secrets of creating interesting original solos. In notation and TAB, includes audio CD of examples.

In this book, journalist, composer, songwriter, teacher, and 2003 Winfield Flatpicking Guitar Champion, Jeff Troxel, delivers a masterclass in arranging fiddle tunes for flatpicking guitar. These 20 themes and variations on favorite bluegrass melodies are designed to improve overall musicianship and augment your own arranging skills. Ideal for the intermediate to advanced flatpicking guitarist, the author reveals techniques for enabling readers to create their own theme and variations settings. Suggested rhythm guitar chords and light left-hand fingerings are also provided. Troxel points out that one of the unexpected benefits of learning and memorizing themes with variations is that the process will ultimately facilitate linear and harmonic improvisation. It would be a painstaking process to learn this skill from a teacher or a harmony textbook, but once memorized, the scale and arpeggio patterns within these tunes and variations will set you on a viable path towards original improvised lines. As a bonus, the author includes a generous appendix containing several of his Flatpicking Guitar Magazine articles that deal with aspects of musicianship that every guitarist should know. While written in standard notation and tab, if you have relied solely on tablature and recordings in the past, this book can provide the key to understanding essential music theory and reading standard notation. If you’re not quite ready to learn to read standard notation, you can still use the tab and the author’s excellent online recordings to learn these delightful arrangements. In any case, it will be fun to get these settings of standard bluegrass tunes “in-hand” and use them in future jam sessions.

This book and accompanying audio provide instruction and playable examples for guitarists looking to get into the sounds rooted in classic country music, as well asmore modern approaches to the genre. Rhythm playing is explored through shuffle patterns, travis picking and trucking riffs. Lead playing is approached through double stop licks, steel bends, and single note runs. Short examples are presented in each chapter and then combined in longer etudes with chord changes, ready for use in your own solos!