Play Guitar

About the Book

Whatever your hardware (electric, nylon…) or your software (theory geek, riff glutton…) this book is just the muse you’ve been looking for. It is a comprehensive, uniquely inclusive guide to the guitar’s wide swath of harmonic possibilities. I begin by deriving the western chromatic scale from its antecedents (after all, math is music). I then adapt the circular symmetry of music to the rectilinear geometry of the fret board. The many charts and tablature diagrams contained herein are wieldy and easily copied in color for music stands. There is no deference to subgenre or musical style – this is not a handbook on how to imitate any particular guitar legend. But any book with this much data cannot be closed without at least a cursory glance at techniques and ways of bringing its contents to life. The last chapter does this in a way that helps you construct exercises of your own.

About the Author

He doesn’t remember when he last changed his guitar strings. Every set goes the distance and as each wire rots increased effort is required to make it truly sing (he is better for the effort). Besides, he couldn’t part with them if he tried; his radio antenna is a tuft of old metal darlings – a real bouquet. He also teaches physics.