Product Description

This "private lesson" with MI instructor Tom Kolb is an easy-to-use guide to the most essential chords, rhythms and strumming patterns for a huge variety of musical styles: rock, blues, jazz, country, folk, RandB, funk, soul, Latin jazz, fusion, ska, reggae and gospel! Each musical example in the book is demonstrated on the accompanying CD, backed by a full rhythm section.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #35982 in Books
• Published on: 2003-06-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 56 pages

Customer Reviews

Great book! Good training for the rhythm guitar!
The way I see it, the "Chord Progressions" book/CD is a great companion to the main Musician Institute book for Rhythm Guitar, the "Complete Guide". While the "Guide", another excellent book, builds your playing technique and chord vocabulary and can be used as the main "course book", "Chord Progressions" provides dozens of realistic examples of rhythm guitar as applied in popular music.
"Chord Progressions" is a great value for the money! It is useful for the beginner and intermediate guitar player, as it lays out smart chord progressions and includes 100 well-recorded tracks covering most styles in American popular music, from folk rock to heavy rock, from country to new wave, from soul & funk and reggae to classic rock ballads. Believe me, there are lots! And the guitar sounds right on every track.

If you are a well-rounded music lover that enjoys different styles, particularly from the '60s to the '80s, this book will have something for you. As for me, I am committed to learning ALL of the progressions. I found the music fun and they are a great source for songwriting and jamming inspiration.
Playing the tracks in enjoyable in its own right, but the greatest benefits will come from studying the progressions (rhythm, harmony and melody) and relating it to the famous and worthy music that guided the making of this book.
The author introduces EACH progression with very welcomed info on harmony, suggested playing technique, tricky parts and what makes the track effective. Do not overlook Mr. Kolb's comments as they clarify the "lessons" you should take from the exercise.

As a final remark, please note that the level of difficulty DOES vary from track to track, but NOT in a gradual way. Since the exercises are separated by style rather than difficulty, you might be stuck on a tough "country rock" lick, but if you move a few pages ahead you might find a rock ballad that is much easier. That is just an example, but the message is: browse through the whole book - there are lots to enjoy. Some tracks you might be able to play right away, others will take considerable practice to sound right... But in the end, by the time you master this fine book, you will be ready to join most bar bands in the world! OR perhaps write a hit song based on a "classic" progression.

Really fun to play and easy enough for a beginner!
I love this learning to play guitar book because it includes ALL kinds of music: rock, country, fusion, bepop, punk, and on and on. Each chapter is a different style of music, so you can flip around to your favorites and learn a bit of everything! As a beginner, I thought the difficulty level was perfect. I learned a lot of new techniques. Only a few of the music pieces (each one is short - not a full song length) were too hard for me. I felt like I improved a lot especially with barre chords and different styles of strumming.

It's good for what it is
This isn't a book for beginners or for those who don't already know the fundamentals in playing guitar. The chord progressions are clearly defined, however...it's strum patterns and other various techniques are not well explained or easy to understand.