Blues Book: Guitar Licks of the Texas Blues-Rock Heroes

Guitar Licks of the Texas Blues Rock Heroes (The Guitar Lick Factory Player Series)

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Book Description - Guitar Licks of the Texas Blues-Rock Heroes details the solo styles of the legendary Lone Star State guitarists. Complete with essential stylistic details that make the music come alive, this volume contains 100 licks in the authentic styles of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Billy Gibbons, Johnny Winter, T-Bone Walker, LightninÂ’ Hopkins, Freddie King, Jimmie Vaughan, Eric Johnson, and more. Each lick has its own mini-lesson and is performed by the author at half and full tempo on the accompanying CD.

* Paperback: 120 pages
* Publisher: Backbeat Books (April 1, 2006)
* Language: English
* ISBN-10: 0879308761
* ISBN-13: 978-0879308766
* Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.2 x 0.6 inches

Blues Book: Oak Anthology of Blues Guitar

Oak Anthology of Blues Guitar: Texas Blues Guitar

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Book Description - Explore traditional playing styles through transcriptions and analysis of 22 tunes by master Texas blues guitar players. Instruction in special tuning and bottleneck playing and a complete discography.

Book Details

* Paperback: 144 pages
* Publisher: Music Sales Corporation (June 1984)
* Language: English
* ISBN-10: 0825602955
* ISBN-13: 978-0825602955
* Product Dimensions: 11.9 x 9 x 0.5 inches


Blues Books @SqueezeMyLemon

Blues Music Books @Amazon.com

Blues Book: Texas Blues Guitar

Texas Blues Guitar

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Book Description - Musicians Institute instructor Robert Calva covers rhythm and lead guitar in the styles of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Johnny Winter, T-Bone Walker, Freddie King and Albert Collins. He teaches: 24 common blues licks; common blues "box" positions; shuffle blues, slow blues, Latin blues and straight blues; and more. The book includes standard notation and TAB, and the CD features 34 full-band tracks.

Book Details

* Paperback: 48 pages
* Publisher: Musicians Institute Press (June 1, 1999)
* Language: English
* ISBN-10: 0793599644
* ISBN-13: 978-0793599646
* Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 9.4 x 0.2 inches

Blues Book: Texas Blues: The Rise of A Contemporary Sound

Texas Blues: The Rise of a Contemporary Sound (John and Robin Dickson Series in Texas Music)

According to Jim Sherman;

This is the most important book I am aware of on the history of Texas blues. And at $40 for 599 glossy, lavishly illustrated pages (and deeply discounted at the usual Internet kiosks) it's a remarkable bargain. Govenar, in addition to being a painstaking interviewer and researcher, is also a longtime archivist and photo historian who founded the nonprofit Documentary Arts and has a close working relationship with the Texas African American Photography Archive, both based in Dallas. This book is a unique collection of publicity photos, snapshots, and reproductions of concert posters, album labels and album covers. It's a marvelous visual record. There is also text--analysis, biography and interviews--tracing the Texas blues through its many twists and turns from the days of slavery to the present. The sheer quantity of information presents a challenge to coherence, and Govenar is to be commended for merging history and geography into a chronology that makes immediate and intuitive sense.

Book Details

* Author: Alan Govenar
* Hardcover: 624 pages
* Publisher: TAMU Press; illustrated edition edition (October 9, 2008)
* Language: English
* ISBN-10: 158544605X
* ISBN-13: 978-1585446056
* Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.9 x 1.9 inches

A selection of Books on the blues in our Amazon.com store.

New Release - Ben Harper - White Lies for Dark Times

White Lies For Dark Times


For White Lies For Dark Times, Ben Harper put his long time band the Innocent Criminals on hiatus and hooked up with a new group: three Austin, TX transplants to Los Angeles called Relentless7, comprised of guitarist Jason Mozersky, bassist Jesse Ingalls, and drummer Jordan Richardson.

These 11 tracks are rock and Texas Blues to the bone. I really like the first track Number With No Name, and it starts right there with the slow slide guitar doing blues like Harper does it. A big bassline with more guitar completes the sound and makes it round an fat, just like I like it. It smokes, like good blues rock always does, I can feel the influences of Texas and the Delta.

Shimmer & Shine, the set's first single, starts off as hard driving rock song with cool drum breaks, and punches some power chords that rocks. Why Must You Always Dress in Black is blues-rock for sure, with their excellent guitar riffs.

Track Listing

1. Number With No Name 3:05
2. Up To You Now 5:01
3. Shimmer & Shine 3:06
4. Lay There & Hate Me 4:15
5. Why Must You Always Dress In Black 4:41
6. Skin Thin 4:33
7. Fly One Time 4:12
8. Keep It Together (So I Can Fall Apart) 4:56
9. Boots Like These 3:54
10. The Word Suicide 5:03
11. Faithfully Remain

Texas blues

Growing up in Louisiana, in the shadow of the great state of Texas gives you a different perspective on things. Especially music. Especially blues music. I feel like I really understand what those great Texas blues musicians were singing about, you know what I mean?

People like Lightin' Hopkins, Big Mama Thornton, T-Bone Walker and Leadbelly. Living there for a few years, and going to college there only served to make me appreciate the state, the people and the great Texas Blues music even more.

According to Wikipedia;

Texas Blues began to appear in the early 1900s among African Americans who worked in oilfields, ranches and lumber camps. In the 1920s, Blind Lemon Jefferson innovated the style by using jazz-like improvisation and single string accompaniment on a guitar; Jefferson's influence defined the field and inspired later performers, like Lightnin' Hopkins and T-Bone Walker. During the Great Depression in the 1930s, many bluesmen moved to cities like Galveston, Houston and Dallas. It was from these cities that a new wave of popular performers appeared, including slide guitarist and gospel singer Blind Willie Johnson and legendary vocalist Big Mama Thornton. Duke Records and Peacock Records were the most important labels of the scene.

In the 1960s, however, the record industry moved north, reducing Texas's importance in the blues scene. The area's importance returned in the 1970s when a Texas blues rock sound developed, led by Johnny Winter, Edgar Winter, ZZ Top and the The Fabulous Thunderbirds. This set the stage for the revival of the 1980s, which produced Stevie Ray Vaughan and moved the blues capital of the state to Austin.

Notable Texas Blues performers

• Albert Collins


• The Fabulous Thunderbirds


• Lightnin' Hopkins


• Blind Lemon Jefferson


• Billy Gibbons


• Freddie King


• Leadbelly


• Delbert McClinton


• Guitar Shorty


• Big Mama Thornton


• Jimmie Vaughan


• Stevie Ray Vaughan


• T-Bone Walker


• Johnny Winter


• Canned Heat


• Mance Lipscomb


• ZZ Top