Rock Guitar Un-CAGED - The CAGED System and 100 Licks for Rock Guitar: With Over 100 Minutes of Audio Examples and Exercses (The CAGED System for Guitar) Paperback – July 24, 2013

The problem I see with the way the caged system as taught is that it is purely memorization and mechanical in each of the 5 different regions of the neck where it is explained. Playing a scale, beginning at an internal of note other than the root gives the player NO frame of reference as to what key he is in or what pattern to use to complete the scale correctly. He also refers to chord shapes to refer to a pattern for a scale and some of these chord shapes are shapes that no one would ever remember or use to play that chord, let alone, use to refer to a pattern for memorizing it. Some of the chord shapes are some obscure inversion of the chord having no real frame of reference to that chord. All of the above refers to the 1st 38 pages of the book which is written for the Blues Scale only. If he would teach that the student should begin at the root of the scale and progress upward in the scale and then learn to descend downward in the scale. students would have a frame of reference as to the key they are playing in and not have to rely on just the patterns. There are 5 patterns TIMES 5 positions or 25 patterns to learn what he calls Unlocking the Neck of the guitar. It just doesn't make sense that the caged system as taught here could be learned, understood and actually used by an improvisational guitar player without becoming tangled up or lost in the endless details of where and how to play a solo on the guitar.

I have absolutely nothing negative to say about this great book and great system. I have been studying music and playing instruments during most of my life; however, this book sheds a new light on guitar improvisation and the theory behind it. Great for beginners and seasoned players alike as it walks you through all you need to know to get the CAGED system down and moving along the lessons.I specially enjoyed the practice tracks and the pacing of the book. Highly recommended.

No problems with the lessons...easy to follow; disappointing that it doesn't come with a ready-made CD to illustrate the 'riff' samples. The author has a web site where you can download the appropriate playing samples but it's not a simple process as one would hope. I can't understand why a CD is not included...when the music is already recorded!!! Mr Joseph Alexander, a suggestion...make your good product better by adding/including a CD with your lesson samples.

Rock Guitar Un-CAGED was the most complete book I found on the CAGED system in relationship to the music I like to play , which is ROCK. For me going at it slow, never skipping ahead increased both my playing confidence and fretboard knowledge. I will consider other books by this author.

I have tried several different books to understand the sepsto learning the Caged system and Joseph Alexander's books have made the process simpler and faster to learn. I started looking to his other books for additional guitar know how and now I am on #3. Each has opened my eyes and fingers to new adventures in my music. I highly recommend getting at least one to examine his teaching style.

If your looking for some straightforward instruction on the caged method applied to rock guitar, this is a great book. The author writes in an easy to follow conversational style which is refreshing compared to the many other instructional books I've beem through. I intend to work my way through this one and move on to more of his books one at a time.

Great idea to give licks for different positions of the CAGED system. In fact, it's why I came across this book in the first place. Some licks are not that easy listening and some of the audio examples could have had a better performance. But at this price with this much content. It's a steal!!

After shelving my classic guitar obsession for 30 years to pursue an academic career, in the past year I have renewed my music interest big-time, bought an electric guitar (PRS) and shelled out hundreds of dollars on method books to explore rock, blues and jazz. This book is definitely one of the two or three best I've come across, and for me, it is becoming the route to serious progress and improvement. Very well written, logical, and comprehensive.

Despite playing guitar for years, I have holes in my knowledge of theory, and this book succeeds on two levels, first by showing how scales and chords relate together more closely for soloing, and also by making the theory side of how to do this easily accessible and easy to apply. If you're not sure how to play scales in different positions across the neck, this book will show you how, and if you're already familiar with how to do that, it gives examples of licks in the different positions, which should give you fresh ideas on how to approach solos without using the same basic pattern every time. The only criticism would be that the audio files are give as downloads, and not as a CD, which isn't as convenient as having a CD with everything included in one place with the book.

I bought this some time ago and have found the book very helpful. Some nice licks are in there which I have shameless used at gigs.For me the key benefit is training you to not stay in a particular pentatonic shape - you know which one. It uses the CAGED system in a practical way.The book seems focused at intermediate to experienced players.

Ive read lots of good books on the CAGED system and although convinced it is the way to go for a thorough understanding of the fretboard, but after crawling through Bill Edwards book i was beginning to wonder if it was just me.This book by Joseph Alexander manages to tie it all together for me and it's finally clicked.Great book ,well thought out and worth working at.

I bought this book to expand on what I'd learned from other logical fretboard knowledge books. This was written in language I could understand together with easy to grasp concepts. The framework I now have to hang all my soloing on is now locked into my technique thanks to Joseph's tuition. I was particularly keen to introduce more major scale soloing into my style, with Joseph's explanation of a number of major modes and how they figure in to the aforementioned framework I can now jam with confidence anytime anyplace anywhere whereas before if it wasn't blues-based Rock I was in trouble. This book is an essential tool in your constant quest for improvement on the guitar. For the book and all the tracks and licks available on the provided link the value for money is outstanding. How much is a one to one guitar lesson these days? QED!!

This book will help you crack wide open any gaps in your theory knowledge if you put the time in and explains clearly how it is going to teach you the scale shapes that anchor onto the relevant corresponding chords. A word of caution is that the author assumes you know the minor pentatonic (as highlighted in another book) and starts by giving examples of the minor blues scale. As the scales are very similar it was no biggie for me, but maybe a bit confusing for a beginner. Overall though an excellent resource and tool to learn theory.