Basic Blues Guitar Method, Book 4: Guitar Book

$6.95 USD

Basic Blues Guitar Method, Book 4: Guitar Book

Name: Basic Blues Guitar Method, Book 4: Guitar Book
Brand: Alfred Music
SKU: 00-19446
Price: 6.95 USD
Availability: InStock

A Step-by-Step Approach for Learning How to Play

By Matt Smith

Item: 00-19446

$6.95

Shipped

One moment…

This book is for late-intermediate players as well as those who have completed book three of the series. You will learn rhythm & blues fills and advanced blues phrasing issues such as rhythmic variation, dynamics and using non-scale tones in a solo. There are also easy-to-understand lessons on breaking out of scale patterns and soloing techniques such as using tritone patterns and double stops. A CD is available which demonstrates each example.

Basic Blues Guitar Method, Book 4: Guitar Book isn't in MakeMusic Cloud just yet...but it could be. Let us know you'd like to see it, and you'll help shape what comes next. In the meantime, start a free trial and dive into thousands of interactive titles your students can play along with today.

Request This Title

Tell us you want it.

Start Your Free Trial

Explore everything that's ready to play right now.

No sample pages found.

No sample audio found.

No sample videos found.

Publisher: Alfred Music

ISBN10: 0-7390-1144-8

ISBN13: 978-0-7390-1144-7

UPC: 038081184791

SKU: 00-19446

More about this title

Why we love this

Book 4 assumes you know the fundamentals and pushes directly into what separates competent blues players from expressive ones: rhythm and blues fills, non-scale tone vocabulary, and the rhythmic flexibility that makes blues feel alive. Smith structures advanced phrasing concepts so they build logically from what students already know, making the jump from mechanical soloing to genuine musicality feel achievable.

What to expect

Breaking scale patterns opens up a different kind of freedom. Where earlier books taught you the architecture of blues, Book 4 teaches you the language within it: how to bend a note differently for tension, how double stops create texture, how silence and rhythmic displacement matter as much as what you actually play.

Who it's for

Late-intermediate guitarists who have completed Book 3 and want to move beyond scale-based soloing into the expressive vocabulary of blues phrasing. This is for players ready to understand why certain phrases sound more musical than others, and willing to spend time building technique that serves musicality rather than flashiness.

How to get the most out of it

Work through the rhythm and blues fills slowly, isolating each fill until you can execute it cleanly before adding it to a 12-bar progression. Speed comes naturally once the shape lives in your fingers.
Experiment with the tritone and double-stop patterns in different positions on the neck before using them in solos. Ownership matters more than range.
Play each example against a steady blues shuffle (or use the CD for reference) so you hear how phrasing sits against the groove, not just in isolation.
Focus on the dynamics and rhythmic variation lessons before improvising. Changing volume and note duration often matters more than changing which notes you choose.

How to use it

Use this as the core text for any student pursuing blues guitar seriously during their second year of study. The lessons translate directly to rock and R&B contexts, so students advancing beyond pure blues gain tools that carry into other genres. A student working through Book 4 is ready to begin playing in small ensembles or jamming in real sessions.