The Advancing Guitarist

This is the best book I ever had (and I have some books, without a teacher you need books!)!!! I bought it in a second hand book shop. I saw immediatly that it was not a usual guitar method book. Probably that's why I bought it! A short description: this is the book you're looking for if you don't have a teacher, if you already can play the guitar and know a bit theory... This book will provide you the rest (but still you have to DO and LEARN the "rest'!). It makes you realise that guitar is not about playing stuff that other people wrote! It makes you want to create your own music and therefore it provides you the knowledge of the guitar! It's an old book but it's still perfect and will be for a long time! It provides material for a whole lifetime or more! Just go out and get it and enjoy!

If you already know WHAT to play but you want to know HOW. This is the book! It contains a lifetimes work worth of material. Virtually all of the possibilities of the guitar as an improvisational instrument are examined and enumarated. Including many useful exercises for training the ear and developing creativity. I recieved the first xeroxed pages from Mick in 1980 and bought the book in 1990. If I was ever stranded on a desert island with a guitar, this is the book I'd want with me!

It was so refreshing to read something as off-beat as this book. Mick presents stuff that you would shrug off as somewhat irrelevant, when you discover the ideas during self-study, to be really useable and musical in the quest of guitar study. What blew me away was how he comprehensively digs into the mathematical patterns in music and the fretboard. This is stuff I personally don't have the time to fully investigate, but thankfully Mick presents it on paper for us all to chew on.

Thank u

"It is probably, to date, the most valuable book I've bought on the subject."

"this is one of the best instructional books in the marketplace today."

"The first excercise alone.... is more actually useful than most other entire guitar books."

AMEN Brothers! What else is there to say?

Highly recommended.

I agree with the other reviewers. This is a great book. But you should know, Goodrick's approach is "tough love" ... this book does not try to hold your hand, in fact it consciously avoids it. Goodrick makes it clear he thinks you'll learn and grow as a guitarist based on the thinking YOU do, not on the thinking he does for you. There is no tab in this book. It's all standard notation. Goodrick doesn't mention this fact at all, or give you any tips on reading... he just puts the notation there as if to say, "you're a musician of course you read standard notation"... that's the Goodrick style, you don't just read this book, you read between the lines. But... this is an excellent book. The first excercise alone is worth the price of admission, is more actually useful than most other entire guitar books.

There are many books out there to learn from, but Goodrick's book is one of the best. Any serious guitar player that wants to master the instrument can't go wrong with buying this book and spending years learning everything it has to offer. Mick dedicated the book to his longtime friend and former bandmate Pat Metheny. I am sure Pat would agree that this is one of the best instructional books in the marketplace today.

The author empasizes that this is no a "Method" book. This is a book full of practical hints to help you learn the guitar, string by string, position by position, mode by mode. I picked up this book about a year and a half ago. The informal, conversational tone of the book is filled with ideas on how to approach learning your guitar, the fretboard, modes and positions. It is probably, to date, the most valuable book I've bought on the subject.

All about getting your brain in gear and learning how to think about music and the guitar.

The only problem I have with the book is that it is sometimes a bit too Zen and abstract..although I would recommend everyone buy it and study from it.

I bought this book some years ago and, even though I've read it numerous times, I've yet to digest all the stubstance it has to offer. There is simply no end to this thing -- it will keep you busy for what seems an eternity. Advancing Guitarist is an absolute must for anyone interested in jazz.

Get it. Oh Please get it. You owe it to yourself to get it. You reeeeeeeeally really! have to have this book. Is my point coming across? 8-]

For anyone who's ever spent time in the jazz scene in Boston, you've undoubtably seen or perhaps even met Mick. He's a funny, offbeat guy and an incredible guitar player. His teaching style is as humorous as it is cerebral, and this book is an extension of that philosophy.

Some of the topics covered are playing on single or adjacent strings, intervals, open playing, position playing, triads, 7th chords, modes and chord scales, pentatonics, triads over bass notes. Although many of these topics are familiar ones, Mick covers them in a unique way, and those who don't have a firm grasp of the basic scales and chords used in jazz harmony might not get the most out of this book. A lot of it is Mick presenting ideas and exercises that might take you the rest of your life to master. The last part of the book is Mick's observations about playing, which are incredibly valuable.

Best line in the book: "One of the few things that's worth taking seriously is humor."