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Guitar Books the Podcast

Guitar Books the Podcast

Written by: Joe McMurray
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 Join Joe McMurray as he thoroughly reviews guitar books – method, technique, song and repertoire. There are hundreds of books on the market, and Joe will help you to find the best book that explores your area/style of interest at the proper level of difficulty. Joe is a professional player and teacher with a formal background in jazz guitar, but extensive experience with folk, rock, blues, funk, and classical styles on instruments including the guitar, ukulele, piano, bass, banjo, and drums. He has released two solo fingerstyle guitar and ukulele albums, played on numerous rock recordings, and written his own book on arranging for fingerstyle guitar.© 2023 Joe McMurray Music Art Music
Episodes
  • Comparison #2: Best Fingerstyle Blues Method Books

    Comparison #2: Best Fingerstyle Blues Method Books
    Feb 20 2026
    If you want to get started playing fingerstyle guitar, you will benefit from private lessons with a teacher, online video courses, listening to fingerstyle recordings, and of course… books. It is beneficial to mix and match all of these resources. Remember that everyone’s brain works differently, so you may gravitate more toward certain styles of learning / methods of presentation. I love learning from books because I can read the text at my own pace and as many times over as I want. Seeing the music written out is extremely helpful for me – I always had more difficulty keeping track of song forms or chord progressions without some sort of written reference. So, for those of you who want to utilize a fingerstyle blues book to beef up your chops, I’ve done my homework and I’ve distilled my favorites into this “greatest hits” list. I’ll try to be objective and describe who each book is best suited to. Additionally, I’ll separate things out and first tell you about my favorite method books and then my favorite repertoire books. Method Books Guided course of study with explanatory text, exercises, example tune arrangements, etc. Repertoire Books Tune arrangements and possibly some background info for each tune. Method Books ** Travis-Style Guitar From Scratch (Emery, 2006) My all-time favorite book for learning to play solo fingerstyle guitar with an alternating bass or “Travis-style”, which is used in much fingerstyle blues playing. Beginnner to intermediate. Lots and lots of exercises, smooth difficulty progression, repeated tunes at increasing difficulty levels, text with a sense of humor. * Fingerstyle Guitar From Scratch (Emery, 2003) Great for absolute beginner guitar players looking to step into the world of fingerstyle guitar. More focused on fingerstyle accompaniment or backup rather than solo fingerstyle guitar. Now on to my favorite method books that are focused on fingerstyle blues. 1) Acoustic Guitar Fingerstyle Method (Hamburger, 2007) Method book – could be the best initial book to work through if you’re just getting started with fingerstyle blues or fingerstyle in general. Effective organization of topics, progressive exercises, short but fun song arrangements at the end of each chapter. Primarily aimed at beginner to intermediate, but some of the final chapters are fairly difficult. Overall, this book provides a great overview of the techniques and approaches used in fingerstyle blues, giving you a solid foundation. After working through this book, you could move on to any of the other method or repertoire books that I’m about to introduce, where you can refine your skills and technique, learn to improvise, and learn more tunes. 2) Fingerstyle Blues Guitar: An In-Depth Study of the 12-Bar Blues in the Key of E Major: Books 1 & 2 It is without shame that I present my own books. These method books are focused on lyrical improvisation over monotonic bass. First priority of these books is to quickly get you playing a solo instrumental 12-bar blues in the key of E major, and then to build on it until you can freely improvise or jam.You should be up and running by the end of the 3rd chapter, and each subsequent chapter will add icing to your cake.Organized the books so that the concepts and exercises progress logically, thoroughly, and with a smooth difficulty progression. Take care to explain how to immediately apply each concept to your playing. These are essentially one long book split down the middle: Book 2 picks up right where Book 1 left off. It was just too long – it would have been around 350 pages.I recommend that everyone start with Book 1, which is suitable for all skill levels. Complete beginner players who work through the first few chapters should be able to improvise a satisfying fingerstyle blues solo. Intermediate to advanced players will breeze through the first few chapters, but will hopefully pick up some useful information starting around Chapter 4. Book 2 is more suitable for intermediate to advanced players. It digs deeper into higher level concepts that are more technically and theoretically difficult, but will elevate your playing to new levels. You will learn to play new scales, turnarounds, rhythms, time signatures, key signatures, and more! Again, I recommend that everyone start with Book 1, and then move on to Book 2. When comparing my books to other fingerstyle blues books on the market, most other books focus on playing the blues over an alternating or Travis-style bassline, although they may present some material on using a monotonic bassline.One other book, which, SPOILER, happens to be the next on my list, focuses on playing the blues over a monotonic bassline – Joseph Alexander’s Fingerstyle Blues Guitar. I was honestly very influenced by this book, and I highly recommend it in addition to mine! However, Alexander’s book focuses more on teaching you a bunch of authentic blues language and licks over ...
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    15 mins
  • Review #29: 12-Bar Fingerstyle Blues by Dave Rubin

    Review #29: 12-Bar Fingerstyle Blues by Dave Rubin
    Feb 12 2026
    Is this one of the best or worst method or repertoire books for learning to play acoustic fingerstyle blues guitar? You can learn to play music using a variety of resources including teachers, online resources, and books. 12-Bar Fingerstyle Blues by Dave Rubin is another great repertoire book full of 12-bar blues choruses. I loved the author’s other book, Solo Blues Guitar, and now I recommend this one as well – these fun arrangements inspire me to improvise in new ways with new grooves. However, unlike the arrangements of his other book, these arrangements all need to be played without a plectrum. This book has some tunes that late-beginner fingerstyle players could handle, but the book is most appropriate for intermediate players. The tunes in 12-Bar Fingerstyle Blues contain more repetitive grooves than some of the other fingerstyle blues method books on the market. Fewer lyrical phrases in the melodies. Whether that’s what you’re looking for is up to you. However, I find that these pieces present some great grooves that you can use as the foundation for your own variations and improvisation. To really get the most out of the book, you will want to: Learn an example as written,Understand and internalize the groove – the shuffle, chord stabs, etc.Create your own melodic variations and improvisations while maintaining the original groove. By treating each short 12-bar tune as a seed or template for your own creativity, you can really milk these ideas and extend them into longer performances. This book presents a lot of great 12-bar choruses from various subgenres. For experienced players, it is very fast to go through the entire book. Because each tune is a 12-bar chorus, you get a lot of ideas that you can digest, combine, and make into your own in the future. This book is simple and effective if you know how to use it. I appreciate the chronological organization of this book, which separates tunes out into subgenres including Delta and Southern Country Blues (the longest section), Ragtime Blues, Piedmont Blues, Prewar Chicago Blues, Texas Blues, Postwar Chicago Blues, and Modern American Solo Steel-String Blues. Unfortunately, the tunes don’t really follow a clear difficulty progression. Within each section, multiple keys signatures and grooves are presented, and some happen to be a bit harder than others. At the beginning of each subgenre, the author presents some cool history and key players to listen to. I try to set aside time within my practice sessions to listen to lots of recordings of these players. Personally, I listen on Spotify. This listening is time well spent as it attunes me to the sounds and feel that I should aiming for as I play the tunes. 12-Bar Fingerstyle Blues provides both treble clef and tablature for each arrangement. Unfortunately, no fingering is provided in the music. For each example, I notated my own fingering in the music, after which I was able to play much more smoothly, accurately, and confidently. The skill of choosing sensible fingering is important, and you will need to look elsewhere to further develop this skill. Recordings are available online through Hal Leonard’s website. These will be very helpful to many readers. As with Solo Blues Guitar, the recordings were done by Doug Boduch, the author of Hal Leonard’s Fingerpicking Guitar, which I reviewed in Review #17. © 2012 by Hal Leonard My own books: Fingerstyle Blues Guitar: An In-Depth Study of the 12-Bar Blues in E Major – Books 1 and 2 are available in paperback or as an eBook through Amazon [https://a.co/d/g7Udsso (Book 1) and https://a.co/d/aDbh4H0 (Book 2)]. The first priority of these books is to quickly get you playing a solo instrumental 12-bar blues, and then to build on it until you can freely improvise or “jam.” You should be up and running by the end of the third chapter, and each following chapter will add icing on the cake. Arranging for Fingerstyle Guitar: go to http://joemcmurray.com/checkout/ to purchase a pdf of my eBook. Learning to arrange melodies will also help your fingerstyle songwriting and your understanding of the inner workings of fingerstyle guitar. My upcoming book, Arranging for Fingerstyle Ukulele, will be published by Mel Bay in 2026. My music is available on all streaming platforms at https://open.spotify.com/artist/5dcokTG6C598OhTslHH5uo?si=hrQb7FViSZewDRSgECw9Ew: Pins on the Map: my third fingerstyle guitar album was released on January 19, 2024. Watch the first single, “Open Road,” on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/uPBh8sZQsT4?si=EM_wAwnHFqU1VC9C. Riding the Wave and Acoustic Oasis: my first two fingerstyle guitar albums.
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    24 mins
  • Review #28: Solo Blues Guitar by Dave Rubin

    Review #28: Solo Blues Guitar by Dave Rubin
    Feb 6 2026

    Is this one of the best or worst method or repertoire books for learning to play acoustic fingerstyle blues guitar?

    You can learn to play music using a variety of resources including teachers, online resources, and books.

    Solo Blues Guitar by Dave Rubin is different from any other book that I’ve reviewed thus far in that it is not a fingerstyle guitar book. The examples can be played fingerstyle, but most seem to work best with a plectrum/pick/flatpick. However, I want to review this book for a couple reasons:

    1. It is focused on solo blues guitar arrangements
    2. I LOVE this book. These examples are fun and they inspire me to improvise in new ways with new grooves.

    Solo Blues Guitar by Dave Rubin is a repertoire book for learning to play, well… solo blues guitar! With a plectrum. This book is suitable for intermediate players who already have some knowledge of the blues and how to improvise. Each example provides a groove that intersperses melody and lead lines. To really get the most out of the book, you will want to:

    1. Learn an example as written,
    2. Understand the rhythm guitar groove – the shuffle, chord stabs, etc.
    3. Insert your own melodies and improvisation while continuing to hold down the original rhythm guitar groove.
    4. You can try creating variations to the original groove as well.

    Other than a half-page introduction, there is no text in this book. Only full 12 or 16-bar blues examples:

    • (35) 12-bar, single-chorus examples in the keys of E, A, G, and D,
    • (15) 12-bar, two-chorus, slow blues examples in the keys of E, G, and A, and
    • (5) 16-bar examples with non-standard chord progressions in the key of A.

    Solo Blues Guitar provides both treble clef and tablature for each arrangement. Unfortunately, no fingering is provided in the music. For each example, I notated my own fingering in the music, after which I was able to play much more smoothly, accurately, and confidently. The skill of choosing sensible fingering is important, and you will need to look elsewhere to further develop this skill.

    Recordings are available online through Hal Leonard’s website. These will be very helpful to many readers. Interestingly, the recordings were done by Doug Boduch, the author of Hal Leonard’s Fingerpicking Guitar, which I reviewed in Review #17.

    © 2006 by Hal Leonard

    My own books:

    Fingerstyle Blues Guitar: An In-Depth Study of the 12-Bar Blues in E Major – Books 1 and 2 are available in paperback or as an eBook through Amazon [https://a.co/d/g7Udsso (Book 1) and https://a.co/d/aDbh4H0 (Book 2)]. The first priority of these books is to quickly get you playing a solo instrumental 12-bar blues, and then to build on it until you can freely improvise or “jam.” You should be up and running by the end of the third chapter, and each following chapter will add icing on the cake.

    Arranging for Fingerstyle Guitar: go to http://joemcmurray.com/checkout/ to purchase a pdf of my eBook. Learning to arrange melodies will also help your fingerstyle songwriting and your understanding of the inner workings of fingerstyle guitar.

    My upcoming book, Arranging for Fingerstyle Ukulele, will be published by Mel Bay in 2026.

    My music is available on all streaming platforms at https://open.spotify.com/artist/5dcokTG6C598OhTslHH5uo?si=hrQb7FViSZewDRSgECw9Ew:

    Pins on the Map: my third fingerstyle guitar album was released on January 19, 2024. Watch the first single, “Open Road,” on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/uPBh8sZQsT4?si=EM_wAwnHFqU1VC9C.

    Riding the Wave and Acoustic Oasis: my first two fingerstyle guitar albums.
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    18 mins
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