the heavy guitar bible | The Heavy Guitar Bible: A Rock Guitar Instruction Manual

An absolute must-have for learning guitar | The Heavy Guitar Bible: A Rock Guitar Instruction Manual | Richard Daniels

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	• The Heavy Guitar Bible: A Rock Guitar Instruction Manual Richard Daniels Cherry Lane Music, 1986 - 102 pages average customer review:based on 16 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A Terrific Place to Start Learning Guitar

If you are unable to afford a guitar instructor, then at least invest in this book whether it's new or used. Why? You cannot possibly go wrong with it!

There are naysayers out there who snub their nose at this book but in truth most of them wish they'd have been the first one to have written it. Richard Daniels talks about guitar mostly from a Rock Music point-of-view but in truth it's not just about Rock-n-Roll but playing guitar period. That covers a wide genre of music from blues to C&W.

What I liked about this book was Daniels' laid back approach in the way he explains things. Each chapter is a world unto itself & while each one builds upon the previous ones that does not mean that's how you have to study it. Rather the fun is in jumping ahead here & there to find some good juicy parts like learning a fun mode such as the Phrygian to use in your Metal playing.

I originally bought this book way back in the late 80's when I started to play guitar. I had an instructor for about 3 months & then fired him. I used this book & a slew of others ones to help me round out my playing & knowledge. While having an instructor is nice, usually they're all about theory which is NOT a bad thing but to me, it does get boring after a while.
The HGB offers quite a bit of material in it that you can use immediately such as the first chapter on "Equipment" where Daniels covers things such as guitar necks, string gauges & the height between the strings & frets. To old hands, this is nothing new but when you're a complete Newbie, this is something that you only find in guitar repair guides.

Then in the next chapter, "The Basics", Daniels covers things like how the strings are related to the keys on a piano. This can be helpful when trying to visualize a chord, scale or some heavier theory.

In chapter 3, Daniels talks about "Chords & Structure" which he offers several of the most common chords found in Rock music but he also does a nice little discussion of intervals & tone relationships.

Chapter 4 starts into "The Blues" and this is where things get interesting for Novices because Daniels shows you how a simple horizontal run on a fretboard can be done. He uses boxes to show where these are on the fretboard & when you're starting out, any trick that can help you remember runs & scales is a terrific idea!

And there's a LOT more in this thin little book! Daniels even gives you his secret for copying licks & notes from songs though it is very dated. He uses a cassette tape recorder but today you can get `Learn-A-Lick' machines often built into effect pedal boards & amps.

For the money, I'm very satisfied with this book. I lost my original somehow in the moving around all these years & purchased a new copy to refer to. It's worth it to me. If you're a novice or absolutely beginner, this is a VERY GOOD book for you to have!!

I even like the scrollwork/artwork in the book which I think Daniels was using to get that illuminated Medieval manuscript feel. Thus I give it 5 out of 5 stars for completeness & clarity. Get a copy, you'll be thankful you did!

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the heavy guitar bible

bought it in the 80's then, lost it.
now i have again.
teaches: know your fret board.

An absolute must-have for learning guitar

This book is truly a gold mine of information. It helped advance my playing significantly.

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broke the code

Richard broke the code to playing rock guitar, I was in high school and college in the 70's so that's the Rock Music era I grew up with. I got this book when it came out and if you work the exercises you will be cranking out leads in no time. Soon after I started working on this book friends would stop me and say "how did you do that" It's all in the book and this book changed my life because playing lead guitar is some of the most fun you can ever have.

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There's a reason for those 5 star reviews!

Readers may note that in virtually every reviewer comment, this book received 5 stars and even in the case of one lone '4' star review [the first one back in 2000], the reviewer nevertheless "highly recommended" it! As do I with 5 stars but read my reasons!

First, confession time: Although playing classical 'piano' is my first love, I have never abandoned the joys of the guitar. Besides, once you do the 'callous' thing on the fretboard fingers, who wants to repeat 'that' process all over again! So I keep the guitar up! But here's the thing, some readers 'may' be put off by the book title when it talks of "heavy guitar" and perhaps think that it's just another recitation of the classic 'heavy rock' pentatonic scale and then fizzles out or otherwise deals only with 'heavy' and 'rock' guitar or indeed, 'metal' guitar issues and that may not be their thing preferring perhaps 'acoustic' guitar or the whole gammut of guitar music [acoustic or electric or indeed acoustic-electric models] from classical to folk to country-western to blues to light pop stuff to 'you-name-it' or others with regard to pick and/or finger picking [or both modes as I and many others do] ==but== and here's the key, no matter 'what' you play, the guitar "fretboard" itself essentially remains the same, yes? So whether you're 'heavy' into fixed chords or indeed 'moveable' chords [barre inclusive] or 'lead' or 'rhythm' stuff or, hey, 'whatever', a knowledge of that "as is" fretboard becomes fundamental! So too using various 'shapes' where in fact there can be changes [with the barre movements] of location =but= 'knowing' these changes and how to produce them still derives from a fundamental savvy, if you will, of the original and 'untouched' fretboard and what notes are located where.

As one reviewer put it, it's like a 'code' and once you learn that 'code' and thus the 'why' of it and how further sounds and shapes can be produced and "moved", it can make the process much easier. This book builds on the fundamentals and takes some of the mystery out of those folks you may know who can go up and down that fret board as if they were born to it and produce some astounding sounds . But the book does more than that because how many times have you wanted to really get into 'lead' guitar and even for no more reason than personal enjoyment of the challenge yet even though you can pick up speed with the immortal 'pentatonic' scale, well then, have you even said to yourself, 'I've got the pentatonic scale down and my speed is decent but .. now what?' You've got to be able to 'do' something with the scale [any scale for that matter] because going back and forth and developing speed is great practice, sure enough, but how to make 'music' with the thing becomes the key, yes? Otherwise, all you're doing is banging out scales but that's all you're doing until you put it together [ditto the piano, BTW] and see [and apply] how these otherwise isolated scales can be transformed into some great sounds. In effect, moving from scale exercises ... to making music! This book helps in that process.

The rest is up to you. Like 'any' instrument, you've got to apply the sweat and the motivation [and those calloused fingers!]. You read and then you apply. And build from the fundamentals to the advanced but the bottom line remains that if you want to do 60-ish Folk stuff or Classical pieces or take on the 'lead' and do barre chord shapes and power chords and all the rest, hey, you still have to know the fretboard! Its total duplication of note placements after the 12th fret notwithstanding. Believe it or not, I've come across new folks to the guitar and when they're informed that everything 'duplicates' itself after the 12th fret, I've heard, "It does?" It's a revelation to them! Good! That's how they learn and some of that perceived "mystery" becomes more digestible and 'doable' to them! It's not 'easy' , true enough, but then again, it's not impossible either!

Doc Tony

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The complete book on the world of rock guitar, covering fretboard basics, chords, structure, and all rock styles, with accompanying illustrations.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

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