Product Description

Unlock the mystery of blues improvisation as you develop an understanding of different blues styles and express yourself through your music. Contains scores of exercises designed to get you playing the blues.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #717513 in Books
• Published on: 1998-06-01
• Released on: 1997-12-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 96 pages

Customer Reviews

Improvising is the key to blues
The key to this book is in the title, "Improvising". If you're looking for hand-holding examples and complete scores this is not the book for you. If you want to get the big picture quickly and reinforce that with applied theory and excellent audio examples, then this book is perfect.

This book would be worth the price if it were reduced to three or four pages and the CD. All of the blues scales and fingerings are provided on one page (28). All of the popular blues forms (basic, gospel, jazz) and chord transitions along with a simple and straight-forward method of developing a blues style are provided on facing pages (84 - 85). Follow these with a review of important soloing ideas (29) and you're ready to play.

I am a drummer and had no trouble with the music theory sections. The comprehensive overview of the various blues forms was the roadmap I needed. This roadmap gave me the ability to quickly pick out bass lines and chord transitions from a recording and play enough on the keyboard to give a bass or keyboard player examples of the style and sound I'm looking for.

Unique guide through pro tricks
I think the reviewers are being a little harsh on this book. It never professes to be a 'Blues Piano for the complete beginner' text - it's called 'Improvising Blues Piano' which implies that a certain amount of knowledge has already been reached. It's actually a pretty rare resource, because it is a very accomplished blues player offering his advice and personal tricks and methods for improving playing. More importantly the playing and taste on this cd sounds great and miles away from the plodding cliched beginners stuff on most collections.

Doubtless, the pressure was on him by the publishers to make some concession to the 'absolute beginners' audience but on the whole it's a great book/cd combo because it tries to teach stuff that music instruction books usually can't tell you - things like which scales real blues players prefer to improvise with, or good techniques for learning new intervals. If you've already done a beginners book and want to start playing stuff that actually sounds good then take this book on as a resource - you'll delve in and out of it but it'll be a good friend as you bring style and art to your playing.

too many gaps to be useful
Mann's book begins by laying a basic groundwork in chords, scales, bass lines, and theory, and then moves on to cover the differences between various styles. There is enormous ground in between that is left uncovered, and I was unable to get much out of this book despite doing the exercises and listening to the accompanying CD. The book doesn't have enough examples fully written out, and the examples on the CD are too difficult for a beginner to imitate (though I will admit the possibility that I simply don't have the talent...). Mann should have taken us step by step, adding one element then the next, and showed us the steps in music notation as well as by example.

The book lacks a discography, despite Mann's repeated exhortations to listen to blues performed live and in recordings.

On the other hand, the musicianship on the CD is excellent, and includes half a dozen example performances in various styles that are worthy of an audio CD by themselves. Mann clearly knows his material, and has a background imparting it to others in person.