Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This book was my introduction to Jazz guitar playing, and Jazz music in general. The book not only taught me to play songs, it also introduced me to the genre of the Jazz Standard. From this springboard, I have been able to delve deep into traditional Jazz standards and learn the theory of how they are constructed. I did not know that all these years, the songs I had listened to and loved were actually known as jazz standards.
Anyway, getting back to the book itself, I have really enjoyed this guitar play-along book/CD set, as I have others in the Hal Leonard guitar play-along series. The CDs are excellent, even for just casual listening, and the tabulature is accurate. I have been playing guitar for three years, and found the guidance in this book to be excellent. Some songs, such as "Satin Doll," were only moderately difficult, while others, such as "Blusette" were a little hard for me to play at speed. Also, my chord playing was weak, so this also presented a challenge on some songs, but here is where the beauty of the Hal Leonard guitar play-along series comes in.
I utilized the slowdown feature of the CD, playing it on my computer and running a line into my Boss MicroBR digital recorder. I recorded the songs "How Insensitive", "Blusette", and "Satin Doll" at slower speeds, and then played them through my little PA system at this slower speed. After learning the song, I would play along with the tracks and over time, have been able to play them at speed, even "Blusette", which is played at 208 beats per minute (3/4 time).
The songs are a mixture of single note solos and chord-melody. You can use either a pick, fingers, or in my case, a combintation of both, depending on the song. I have the other Hal Leonard Jazz guitar play-along, volume 44, and found it to be great as well, although I did not like some of the songs. With volume 16, I liked ALL of the songs.
Finally, I like the format of this play-along series. Some play-alongs have you adjust the balance knob to remove the guitar part so you can play along. This series, instead, has two recordings of each song, one with the lead guitar part, and the other without, allowing you to just play that track on a CD-playing device, and at the same time, play your guitar along with it, hence the name "play-along."
But be careful when you order, because there are two versions of this play-along item - one with a CD and one that does not have a CD. Earlier, I accidentally put this same review on the version that does not have a CD. I wonder if I can delete or modify that review so as to not mislead anyone....?
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