Olav Torvund's Guitar Blog » Bookstore

Learning to play Robert Johnson – recommended books and DVDs

admin — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 08:43:56 +0000

A few years ago, I featured selected books and videos as “Book of the month”. I will pick books and/or DVDs I will recommend under the heading “Recommended”. (I will not put pressure on my self to pick a new each month).

In the first installment I have chosen to feature books and videos on the playing of the great bluesman Robert Johnson, under the title “Learning to play Robert Johnson“. There is a clear winner: Rory Block’s two DVDs “Rory Block Teaches the Guitar of Robert Johnson” and “Rory Block Teaches the Guitar of Robert Johnson Vol 2″. But you should also have Robert Johnson’s recordings, for instance “The Complete Recordings”.

Go to “Learning to play Robert Johnson“ for more.

A new book on music theory

admin — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 10:49:43 +0000

My lessons on music theory are to a very large extent based on what I learned from John Duarte’s series on music theory in Guitar Player Magazine back in the 80′s. Or to put it a bit different: I learned most of what I know from his articles. From his vast knowledge he was able to present it in a form that made it understandable for us who do not have an academic degree in music. And it was all applied to guitar. Many times I have said that I wish he would publish a book on the subject.

Now a book is here, called Melody & Harmony for Guitarists. I have to add that so far I have only seen information on the book in “new publications” lists. I have not yet seen the book. But as I have been hoping for a book on the subject by John Duarte for a very long time, I include this “news” notice. I wil come back to the book when I have seen and read it. But if it is a bit like his Guitar Player articles, it is definetly worth having.

The book is available from Amazon.com and SheetmusicPlus. At the time of writing it is not available from Amazon UK, despite the fact that John Duarte is English. But I hope it will be available soon.

Bestselling books and videos

admin — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 08:44:08 +0000

You may have noticed that I have included list of bestselling guitar books and bestselling guitar videos.

It is intereseting to see which books and videos people are buying. I see some of my own favourite on the lists. But there are also some surprises. Some long time out of print books are still selling in the second hand market (through Amazon). Stefan Grossman’s first book, his classic Country Blues Guitar is one of the books that seems to be sought after. If you are learning to play, I will recommend some of Stefan’s more recent books (or videos). But it is a classic.

I am also pleased to see one of my favourites, Dominic Pedler’s “The Songwriting secrets of The Beatles”. If you want to learn music theory applied to pop and rock, and a lot about The Beatles, it is my first choice. It is more accessible than Walter Everett’s books if you do not know very much about theory. The majority of the visitors to my site comes from US. This book seems not to be distributed in US, meaning that you have to order it from Europe, either from Amazon UK or MusicRoom. But despite of this, it is among the most bestselling books.