Book Review: "25 Great Country Guitar Solos" by Dave Rubin

[Jason R.]

I admit it...I use tab books. I have found the ones that come with CDs to be very helpful to me and far cheaper than lessons...and I don't have to schedule them!

BTW - I have no connection to Hal Leonard.

The book is very well done. It gives background on the guitarist (not necessarily the singer mind you), the gear, the style, the album, etc. and covers old and new.

There are far more blues and rock books on the market and I tend to pick up just about all country books that come out. For $20, this is a steal. The band used to demo the solos and bands nail the tones. I thought they were ripped from the actual recordings, but they're not. Plus there is sample software that slows the solos down to whatever speed you choose to help you study.

Awesome book. Here's some info from Hal Leonard and some from what I wrote down from the book itself:


25 Great Country Guitar Solos (Hal Leonard Corporation)
By: Dave Rubin

Transcriptions * Lessons * Bios * Photos * BK + CD

Paperback: 104 pages
Released: February 1, 2009
Product Dimensions: 11.9 x 8.9 x 0.4 inches

The CD contains full-band demos of every solo in the book, and features “Amazing Slow Downer” software so Mac and PC users can adjust the recordings to any tempo without changing pitch.


Chinatown, My Chinatown – Chet Atkins
The Claw – Jerry Donahue
Country Boy – Albert Lee
East Bound And Down – Jerry Reed
Elmira St. Boogie – Danny Gatton
Flying Fingers
Foggy Mountain Special – Lester Flatt
Folsom Prison Blues – Luther Perkins
Golden Rocket
Hellecaster Theme – Will Ray
Hello Mary Lou – James Burton
Here's A Quarter (Call Someone Who Cares)
Highway 40 Blues – Ray Flacke
Honky Tonk Night Time Man – Roy Nichols
I've Got A Tiger By The Tail – Don Rich
Mercury Blues – Brent Mason
Mountain Music – Jeff Cook
One More Last Chance – Vince Gill
The Only Daddy That Will Walk The Line
Please, Please Baby – Pete Anderson
Smoke, Smoke, Smoke (That Cigarette)
Stratosphere Boogie – Jimmy Bryant
Sugarfoot Rag – Hank Garland
That's The Way Love Goes – Reggie Young
The World – Brad Paisley

[weelie]

Dave Rubin is the man. I have checked his Art of the shuffle, Birth of the groove, Blues turnarounds, Inside the Blues, 1942-1982, 12 bar blues riffs... but not the country stuff. Looks like he has also: http://www.amazon.com/Hot-Country-Gu...dp/0634021494/

[Tim Bowen]

Excellent. Thanks so much for the heads up. I'll purchase this set shortly.

I agree, Dave's the man. When it comes to explanation of practical applications, it's tough to top Dave Rubin. One of the best educators on the planet. His harmonic and tonal analysis is always dead nuts, and he's a roots music scholar and historian of the highest degree of accuracy. I've used his blues texts as an addendum in my teaching for years. I'm sure this new set will provide plenty of mileage as well, and will make my job easier. Way cool.

By the way, I do regularly pull from a book called Country Guitar Bible (also from Hal Leonard). It features lots of great tab transcriptions and standard notation, but it doesn't include a CD (CD is a HUGE convenience for teaching purposes). Artists covered in this book include Don Rich, Albert Lee, Merle Travis, Chet Atkins, Jerry Reed, Clarence White, Danny Gatton, Ricky Skaggs, Vince Gill, Scotty Moore, and Speedy West, to name a few.

[JPark]

Glad to see Jerry Reed in there with East Bound and Down

[Budda]

Yeah, all those "Bible" books are solid! Good Transcriptions, with pretty accurate fingerings, etc.

And the 25 Country Solos Book/CD is great! I wholeheartedly agree with the OP.

If you go through and learn every Solo, you'll be ready for the stage!

Now, throw in that awesome Redd Volkeart DVD and you're really gettin' somewhere........

[Telelite]

Just ordered a copy off ebay. Can't wait to get it!!

[ednew]

Originally Posted by weelie

Dave Rubin is the man. I have checked his Art of the shuffle, Birth of the groove, Blues turnarounds, Inside the Blues, 1942-1982, 12 bar blues riffs... but not the country stuff. Looks like he has also: http://www.amazon.com/Hot-Country-Gu...dp/0634021494/

Weelie, I remember you posting about Dave Rubin and praising these titles. Since then I've picked up a couple of his things and found them to be very well done and great teaching supplements as Tim mentioned.

Anyway I ordered a bunch of them--thanks for the good reference!

Ed

[66d35]

Mine arrived today. Nice book. Quite a bit of background discussion on the various pickers too. A good read, basically!

Andy