Mark Phillips - Guitar Songs and Styles For Dummies

Video

Audio

Guitar Songs & Styles For Dummies,

Enhanced Edition

by Mark Phillips

Director of Music, Cherry Lane Music

Jon Chappell

Award-winning guitarist and author

Guitar Songs & Styles For Dummies, Enhanced Edition

Published by
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
111 River St.
Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774
www.wiley.com

Copyright 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ

Published simultaneously in Canada

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com, Making Everything Easier, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: THE PUBLISHER AND THE AUTHOR MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS WORK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NO WARRANTY MAY BE CREATED OR EXTENDED BY SALES OR PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS. THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES CONTAINED HEREIN MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERY SITUATION. THIS WORK IS SOLD WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN RENDERING LEGAL, ACCOUNTING, OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES. IF PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF A COMPETENT PROFESSIONAL PERSON SHOULD BE SOUGHT. NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR THE AUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES ARISING HEREFROM. THE FACT THAT AN ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE IS REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK AS A CITATION AND/OR A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF FURTHER INFORMATION DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE AUTHOR OR THE PUBLISHER ENDORSES THE INFORMATION THE ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE MAY PROVIDE OR RECOMMENDATIONS IT MAY MAKE. FURTHER, READERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT INTERNET WEBSITES LISTED IN THIS WORK MAY HAVE CHANGED OR DISAPPEARED BETWEEN WHEN THIS WORK WAS WRITTEN AND WHEN IT IS READ.

For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002.

For technical support, please visit www.wiley.com/techsupport.

Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some content that appears in standard print versions of this book may not be available in other formats. For more information about Wiley products, visit us at www.wiley.com

ISBN: 978-1-118-13324-8

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Publishers Acknowledgments

Were proud of this book; please send us your comments through our online registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/.

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media Development

Project Editor: Kathleen Dobie

Acquisitions Editor: Tracy Boggier

Assistant Editor: David Lutton

Editorial Program Coordinator: Joe Niesen

Senior Editorial Manager: Jennifer Ehrlich

Editorial Supervisor & Reprint Editor: Carmen Krikorian

Editorial Assistants: Rachelle S. Amick, Alexa Koschier

Art Coordinator: Alicia B. South

Cover Photo: www.iStockphoto.com/slobo

Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com)

Composition Services

Proofreader: Laura Albert

Special Help: Megan Knoll

Publishing and Editorial for Consumer Dummies

Kathleen Nebenhaus, Vice President and Executive Publisher

Kristin Ferguson-Wagstaffe, Product Development Director

Ensley Eikenburg, Associate Publisher, Travel

Kelly Regan, Editorial Director, Travel

Publishing for Technology Dummies

Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher

Composition Services

Debbie Stailey , Director of Composition Services

Introduction

Y ou and your guitar can combine to play a multitude of styles, and whether you want your guitar to rock n roll, wail some blues, pick some folk, or go classical, this book can help you achieve your dream.

Playing rock or blues on an electric guitar can put you out in front of a band, where youre free to roam, sing, and stir the passions of your adoring fans. Playing classical or folk on an acoustic guitar can make you a star in a more intimate setting or a guitar hero at a campfire singalong. The bottom line is: Playing any kind of guitar can bring out the music in your soul whether you play for an audience or just for yourself.

About This Book

Guitar Songs & Styles For Dummies showcases the skills and techniques you need to focus your guitar playing on four of the most popular styles in music: rock, blues, folk, and classical.

Playing the guitar

Although this book includes plenty of sheet music you can use to play pieces of music, you dont have to be able to read music to play guitar. In fact, many great guitarists dont read music, and many who can learned to do so after they learned to play the guitar. Repeat after us: You dont need to read music to play the guitar.

So, no music-reading required, but it helps to understand guitar tablature, which is a guitar-specific shorthand for reading music that actually shows you what strings to strike and what frets to hold down on the guitar for creating the sound thats called for. Tab (as its known to its friends and admirers) goes a long way toward enabling you to play music without reading music.

As you look at the music, you may notice little letters above some notes. Classical guitar notation indicates the right-hand fingers with the first letters of the Spanish names for the fingers: The thumb is p (pulgar), the index is i (indice), the middle is m (media), and the ring is a (anular). You may also see these notations used in fingerstyle guitar.

Looking and listening to the e-book

This book is enhanced with media clips that help you see what to play, hear how to play it, and combine both senses in video clips. So, along with the numerous two-dimensional illustrations and bars of written music that can help you understand how to play guitar, you can expand your experience into auditory and visual dimensions with a simple click or two:

There is content at this location that is not currently supported for your device. The caption for this content is displayed below.

Video intro (0:20)

There is content at this location that is not currently supported for your device. The caption for this content is displayed below.