Book One – The Basics Book

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Foreword (excerpt from Book One – The Basics Book)

For the Love of Guitar, a series of four books. By Rik Emmett
$10
For the Love of Guitar
(Book One)

What would any self-respecting foreword be without the customary warning/disclaimer/apologia? This is not meant to be The Universal Standard Ideal Manual for Guitar Instruction and Theoretical Music Education. This isn’t intended as a stand-alone, graded, complete course of study. It’s a purely subjective collection of opinion and observations – a supplement, perhaps, to some more legitimate educational program, to provoke or inspire a reader’s ongoing affair with the guitar.

This book is dedicated to the proposition that everyone in life deserves the opportunity, every now and then, to just sit back and Pick and Grin.

Table of Contents

  • Foreword and Acknowledgments IV
  • Preamble – How It All Began VI
  • The First Column – Dressing Up A Plain Old C Chord VIII
  • Notational Symbols Legend X
  • The Selection and Purchase of a Guitar 1
  • The Restless Spirit 4
  • Face the Music – How to Practice 5
  • Tuning 8
  • What to Practice 10
  • How to Get the Most out of Lessons 12
  • Warming Up 13
  • The “Heat” – The Reason Why 17
  • Philosophy and Fundamentals of Good Technique 18
  • The Consequences of Choices 19
  • Chromatic Finger Exercises 22
  • Take Your Pick 23
  • Technique as Idiosyncrasy 24
  • Two Basic Pick Strokes 24
  • Flat Pick Techniques 25
  • Strumming Patterns 27
  • Rhythm is the Foundation of Every Musical House 27
  • Outlining The Numbers Game 29
  • Major Key Diatonic Triads 31
  • Inversions 32
  • Alternate Fingerings 33
  • Minor Key Diatonic Triads 33
  • Introduction to The Blues 35
  • Improvising with The Blues Scale 37
  • Swinging a Blues Feel 38
  • Bending 42
  • Everyone’s Self-Taught 44
  • The Courage of Instinctive Convictions 45
  • Muting and Damping: How Not to Play Stuff 47
  • Licks, Tricks, Fills and Thrills 50
  • Total Personal Commitment vs. Rote Learning 52
  • FOR THE LOVE OF GUITAR in 3D 53
  • The Dedication, Discipline and Duty of a Performer 53
  • Introduction to Barre Chords 54
  • The Circle, the Cycle: The Cycle of Fifths, Part One 56
  • Part Two – Circling and Cycling – Technical Studies 58
  • Part Three – Sequences 61
  • Bend Rules – Modify to Suit Your Taste 63
  • On Success 65