Bluegrass Guitar Solos That Every Parking Lot Picker Should Know (Bluegrass Guitar Solos Every Parking Lot Picker Should…

This book is a stroke of genius in its own way. The three-tiered approach to each song is quite novel, and it is built to present challenges for beginning and intermediate players over the course of years, not months. Advanced players will find lots of interesting ideas and some very invigorating workouts.A brilliant musician and a brilliant music instructor are not always embodied in the same person. Steve Kaufman is one of those rare individuals who is both. Listening to Steve's guidance on the CD's, it's obvious he has a vast amount of experience coaching aspiring musicians of all levels. He's upbeat, self-effacing, patient and always encouraging, but he doesn't soft-pedal the challenges of the material he's presenting.It's fun to hear Steve himself miss a note here and there, go back and correct it, just so he feels better. It makes you feel a little better, too. Some of the pieces are more difficult than others, and I think that's a good thing. It seems some standards are given the royal treatment precisely because they are so familiar, and are generally regarded as showpieces where jammers are expected to bust out the biggest guns they've got (I'm looking at you, Sweet Georgia Brown).But don't get me wrong--even the "easier" numbers get rather hairy once you reach the advanced solos. Turns out some of the ones that "sound" easier may not really be so, because, for instance, they might be shorter on flashy runs, but more dense in intricate crosspicking. There's no shortage of different things to work on, and with so many tunes to choose from, you can kind of play to your strengths sometimes, to your weaknesses at others.I've played for over 30 years, but when it came to flatpicking, I was always just a noodler. I never really approached it in a serious, disciplined way because, frankly, it was too intimidating; I could never quite figure out what those guys were doing when they really got rolling. This book has been my jumping-off point for serious study of the style, and for a guy like me--who has a lot of playing under his belt but has kind of a "slow ear" when it comes to figuring things out--this book has been an invaluable roadmap into how it's done. It's helping me realize that, with some hard work and patience, it's all possible. My biggest problem with Kaufman's book is that I didn't discover it 17 years ago.

I have all 4 of these in the series. I've never been much of a flatpicker, and it had been 20 years since I indulged my love of guitar finger picking when I started taking lessons again. I went to the Kaufman Acoustic Kamp in TN, and that's when I realized what rare talent Steve has for teaching all levels of Bluegrass (and probably general guitar as well). I will never be as fast a picker as most Bluegrass players, but just mastering the Beginner and Intermediate levels (still not confident to do the Advanced yet) has improved not only my guitar playing but also my sense of timing and rhythm. It has also given my confidence a huge boost. For those who don't know, Steve Kaufman is the only person to win the National Guitar Picking Championship THREE times. Hear him on these CDS, read the easy-to-read tablature, and use a piece of software called "The Amazing X" (you can slow down the tunes without changing the pitch--of IMMENSE help in learning) to give a boost to your playing. BTW, my guitar teacher told me my playing had improved "exponentially" after using these books! Sweet music to my ears!

The product description doesn't do this justice. This is a terrific resource if you want to flatpick fiddle/bluegrass/OT tunes. There are 20 standard tunes. Each has the following 4 parts laid out in notation and tab1. A beginner's version;2. An intermediate version;3. An advanced "hotrod" version worthy of a contest;4. An ending that can probably also be used to end any other tune in the same key, so it's very versatile.It's recommended you work through all the beginner versions before going onto the intermediate; it'll take you several months do that.The CDs walk you through each tune, though I'm not big on CD instruction. Nevertheless, the CDs also have a full speed version of each tune where Steve plays through all three versions (and then repeats the beginner version). I found that putting all 20 fullspeed versions on a CD makes its own great CD and is a good way to "get the songs in your head."Here are the songs on Vol. 1: Ragtime Annie; Bill Cheatham; Gold Rush; Flop-Eared Mule; Forked Deer; Old Joe Clark; Soldier's Joy; Nothing To It; Red-Haired Boy; Salt Creek; Big Sandy River; Billy In The Low Ground; Under The Double Eagle; Fisher's Hornpipe; Blackberry Blossom; Turkey In The Straw; St. Anne's Reel; Arkansas Traveler; Sweet Georgia Brown; Whiskey Before BreakfastAll that's just to give a worthy description. As for my take on it all -- terrific. I was a beginner flatpicker and at first it took some time to get a song under my belt. As I've progressed it takes less time and it's just plain fun to learn good arrangements to standard tunes. And I've still got the intermediate and advanced versions to learn! Just a terrific resource for great tunes. I'm through the beginner versions and am half way through Volume 2 (same set up; same quality).

I love the material in this book, and Steve Kaufman comes across as your friend next door. All of his tips make perfect sense and he presents the material in a logical and straightforward fashion. The songs are broken up into beginner, intermediate, and advanced versions, each played at around half-speed. And then there is a full version of all three combined, played up to speed with backing instruments. Some pickers are not going to like a CD instructional package versus having the material on a DVD instead. I'm in the opposite camp...I really find the audio CDs to be easier to work with. I don't think this is really material for a rank beginner, but if you've been playing a bit, know your basic chord positions (barre chords not required) and have the ability to strum to a tune and change chords without hesitation, then you'll find you can advance with this pretty steadily. A good selection of tunes. The package will keep you busy for months on end. Highly recommended for aspiring bluegrass flatpickers!