A guitar theory instruction book for the serious guitar student. Guitarists looking for that "missing information" will find it here.

Serious Guitar is a topnotch, comprehensive, detailed study of scales, chords, chord progressions and the harmonic ideas of improvisation. Almost 200 pages in length, the book includes more than 200 examples in tablature and notation, dozens of full-neck diagrams, almost 700 chord diagrams and it's written by a nationally published guitarist/author who understands music and how it relates to the guitar. Serious Guitar contains information and ideas for all guitarists, no matter what style you want to master. By studying in detail where the ideas for comping (chord-playing) and soloing (scales) come from, and how to use them in real situations (chord progressions/songs), Serious Guitar gives you the understanding and ability to play any music, not just a particular style of music. (All guitars have the same notes on them.) The best guitar players out there are the ones who understand the interconnected nature of all styles of music --- find out what they know. If you want the ability to understand Rock, Jazz, Blues or any other genre of music, this book is for you.

Most students experience difficulty and confusion when trying to learn from instruction books. This is due to the severely limited range of topics that they cover, often making fatal assumptions as to what the student may already know and simply leaving out tons of critical information. Most of the time topics are not covered in the correct order or in a complete fashion making comprehensive learning next to impossible. Studying from more than one book becomes even more difficult because each author has a different way of explaining things. When you try to put it all together, you inevitably end up with many "missing pieces" as well as misconceptions about how these musical ideas are related and fit together. Serious Guitar eliminates the frustration and confusion. A complete guitar instruction course, this book equals years of weekly private lessons, covering many important ideas you will not find anywhere else. Everything you need is in this book, explained in order and in depth from the ground up. In addition to a thorough explanation of the theory, Serious Guitar also shows you how to visualize it clearly and completely along the length of the neck.

The course starts by going over basic ideas all intermediate level players should be familiar with (tuning, locating notes, open position and bar chords, alternate picking, etc.). It then explains from the beginning, the musical concepts that must be learned to form the basis for a complete understanding of the ideas that follow. Nothing is left out. One of the more important ideas that this book covers is that all music (every song) can be broken down into two categories: "Tension" (movement) and "Release" (rest). Once you grasp this concept, the blinders come off and you can clearly see the many "harmonic" choices available to you in any musical situation. Below are just some of the concepts you'll learn from Serious Guitar.

Covered in depth:

• Exactly what to practice.
• Exactly how to practice it.
• Where scales and chords come from....Keys.
• Learn all scales and chords using the full length of the neck.
• Learn how scales and chords are "connected" (they're the same thing).
• Learn all possible ways of voicing a chord.
• Find endless variations of your own chords using the unique, easy-to-use, full-neck diagrams.
• Learn how scale patterns relate to the fretboard. A complete and unique system that will make you smile.
• Learn to get control of a scale when improvising (how to train your ear).
• Learn simple and very advanced solo ideas for all scales and chord progressions.
• Learn how to "figure out" songs.
• Learn how to interpret chord changes.
• Learn powerful concepts about "tension and release."
• Learn how to harmonize chords and create harmonies as you solo.
• Learn how to play in all 12 Keys.

Click below to read the actual Table of Contents and Forward. You can also check out page examples from the book to get a better idea of what to expect. As you look at the page examples for scales, chords and notation keep in mind that the ideas illustrated have been thoroughly explained on previous pages. Please Note: Smaller type and fine lines do not display well on most monitor screens. As a result, examples from the book may appear somewhat illegible in spots. The quality of the printed book however is quite clear.

Serious Guitar really is a complete guitar instruction course, no kidding. Again, many of the concepts covered will not be found elsewhere. For less than the cost of a one-hour guitar lesson, you'll be getting the equivalent of years of private instruction. Your money couldn't be better spent. There are other "complete guitar methods" you can find on the Internet and in stores, however, to get the "complete packages" you have to buy several separate books, practice tapes, and/or videos. Do the math --- you'll be spending hundreds of dollars! Serious Guitar gives you everything the others do and more in one book. Practice tapes can be made by the student, with their own guitar and cassette player for the cost of a blank cassette. (This is explained in the book.) Videos or CD's are not necessary with Serious Guitar because each idea is meticulously diagrammed and notated with tab and notation. It even has a high-quality spiral binding that allows the book to stay open to any page.

Serious Guitar is an extraordinary book and one that no serious student should be without. Any guitarist (intermediate or advanced) can learn a wealth of usable information from it. Like it says on the cover: "A lifetime of information and ideas." No joke.

From Guitar Player magazine: "Hoffman covers a lot of ground and does an excellent job reconciling music's melodic and harmonic dimensions, all the while encouraging the student to tune into music's living tension and release dynamics. He 'connects the dots' between related theoretical topics and his book has a warm teacherly feel." - JOE GORE, Senior Editor

Check out Michael's "Sessions" columns in the following issues of Guitar Player magazine:

April 2001 "D.I.Y. Chord Finder" A 'do it yourself' look at chord voicing options. An expanded version can be downloaded at truefire.com

May 2000 "Half-Step Slips" A "tension-producing" idea for your solos. Guitar Player Lesson Archives: www.guitarplayer.com/lessons/index/shtml The expanded version of this lesson can be downloaded (MP3 format) at www.truefire.com

September 1999 "More Diminished Dementia"/'Lick of the Month' Twisting and turning through the Half-Whole Diminished scale.

Guarantee
Take 10 days to completely look over the book. If you don't feel everything mentioned is as it's described, simply send it back in new condition for a full refund less shipping and handling. No questions asked. There's no risk at all.

From The Author
Feel free to contact me with any questions about (or comments on) the book and I'll do my best to get back to you within a day or two, schedule permitting. Thanks for your interest in Serious Guitar. You can reach me at:srsgtr@earthlink.net

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