Genres Books

This book has a wonderful selection of soprano arias from common to somewhat lesser known pieces.

A little something for everyone in here. All the arias you've been looking for in one album. YAY.

I needed this book for my voice lessons and it was a great price and in wonderful condition. Thank you!

I've had this book since I was 17 when I first started studying voice. It's a great resource, especially for beginners who have not yet mastered Italian, French or German. It provides literal translations of every aria which is so important. It is also lightweight but sturdy. My copy is still in great shape. The only bone I have to pick is that the fach varies quite a bit from repertore suited to light lyric sopranos all the way to the dramatic. One singer obviously would not sing all of these arias. However, if your voice grows and matures I guess it's possible to start with a Handel aria in this book and progress to the heavier Puccini, depending on how your career goes. In any event, it's a nice collection of arias and you'll probably find 2 or 3 at least that you'll need at some point which is much better than shelling out cash for the complete scores.

Although not all of the arias in this edition (or any edition for that matter) will fit one particular fach, the range and selection of pieces is really wonderful in this volume. I prefer it to the first volume, only because it has a few lesser known gems that are great audition pieces, whereas the first volume covers mostly pieces everyone has heard a million times before (though there are some of those in this volume too!).

Over all, well edited, wonderful translations and very easy to read.

Fans of soul music will find Richard Younger's Get a Shot of Rhythm and Blues to be a fine biography of one Arthur Alexander, a singer/songwriter who may not be well known by name, but whose songs influenced the 1960s rock musicians. A fine coverage of his life and achievements is presented in a lively survey of soul and rock and roll music.

This is a great book that provides clear and concise insight into the life of Arthur Alexander. The story behind the singer, the songwriter and a true influence behind some of the greatest figures of rock and roll. This story should be made into a movie so everyone can learn about this unsung hero. Richard Younger has researched Arthur's life, the people he affected directly, and the soul of this talented man. READ THIS BOOK AND LEARN THE STORY OF A MAN WHO DESERVES TO BE RECOGNIZED AND REMEMBERED!!!

After being a fan of Arthur Alexander in the early sixties he seemed to drop out of sight, occassional records but very little else seemed to appear, this book puts the record straight and fills in all those gaps. It also goes a long way to answering the reasons that he did not make it to the position in the music scene that his undoubted talent deserved. The book is very well written by Richard Younger who obviously felt very deeply about the subject, he deals with the problems that AA encountered in his music career and his private life. It was sad that at the very time that AA was begining to make a comeback and he was again showing the talent that was always there he was taken from us. He had become religious during the last few years and this seemed to have a calming effect on him and I am sure that he would have again had big selling records. Thank you Richard for an insight into the life of Arthur Alexander through the highs and lows.

Arthur Alexander was always a mystery man - till now! Richard Younger's biography of one of the most distinctive and influential black singers of the 60s sheds sympathetic illumination upon the life, the music - and the demons - of this woefully underrated singer/songwriter (the only writer to have songs cut by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan). AA's hugely-satisfying vocals married to his distinctive soul-country arrangements (his reputation was founded on just four 1962 Dot-label singles) emerged moments before the UK beat boom swept the globe and was crucial in its influence on the Beatles and the Stones. Younger's book explains how it all came about, taking us on a roller-coaster ride through AA's life of musical and personal extremes. With a series of revealing interviews he transports us to the heart of the Alabama music scene and charts Arthur's role in the foundation of the Muscle Shoals/Fame recording empires. Whether you're a long-term Alexander devotee, a soul music buff, or simply a Sixties survivor, then you'll find this unputdown-able tome a tonic that'll have you listening with a fresh ear to those perennial Alexander classics.

Fans of soul music will find Richard Younger's Get A Shot Of Rhythm And Blues to be a fine biography of one Arthur Alexander, a singer/songwriter who may not be well known by name, but whose songs influenced the 1960s rock musicians. A fine coverage of his life and achievements is presented in a lively survey of soul and rock and roll music.

I have never before seen anything so incredibly chock-full of history of the roots of bluegrass, mountain and old timey music before! The author knows his stuff. The two narrative cd's with music samples are worth way more than the price for the book itself! This is a highly collectable book - you will never come across anything so interesting and enlightning on the roots of music in this great land!

Give them as gifts. "Heritage tourism" is very popular and this is one fantastic road trip! The Blue Ridge Mountains -- you can toss a stone in any direction and hit a musician. I have only one word of advise should you follow the Crooked Road... Please do not just go from town to town looking to hear music. You will miss it entirely. The countryside, the fresh air, the people - that is The Crooked Road.

I also recommend you start the trail in Rocky Mount Virginia - there is a lovely Bed adn breakfast just one block from the Depot where they have Footlights of the Blue Ridge music every other Friday night.

My younger son (7) and I as well as the rest of the family love the music and intros on the CDs. There is so much good info on the Road and all the places to go, you better go soon, before everyone gets there ahead of you and you can't see / hear the good stuff! The only problem I have is that the volume / equalization of the intros vs. the selections make the narrator difficult to hear when the selections are at a good level. I am looking forward to our next trip so we can have a better idea of where to go with the little bit of time we will have. FYI: the Floyd Country Store has been remodeled, and even though it is more "touristy" now it is so much more comfortable than it was before - it seems to have A/C. I know for a fact that MANY of the locals attend shows there regularly (we have family there). I have also seen some of the people there that are in the photo on the cover of the book.

This is a very informative and interesting book. The Cd's are well done. If you want to know more about Bluegrass and Old Time music in southern Virginia and northern North Carolina, this is a "Must Have".

I found this guide to be delightful. Besides being enjoyably readable, it contained great historical "tidbits" to give it context. The information about the sites was practical and usable. The two CD's that were included in the book had a fun variety of old time and roots music. I have listened to them over and over again in both my car and my home. What a treasure this Guide to the Crooked Road turned out to be!

I have traveled the world and there is truly no place like home, my home is Virginia and the music I was raised on. There is no doubt that this book and the bonus CD's capture's the very essence of the music and sounds of Virginia and the festival's that we have all come to love and enjoy. This is true, down to the roots Virginia music, played and sung with all the heart and soul that reflects the wide variety of musician's through out our beautiful state. A must have for Virginian's and anyone else that love's and enjoy's the old sounds of music from the past.

This truely is a great bass tab book for a great album! Beginners to experienced players could do alot worse than learn from the basslines Duff McKagan plays on Appetite!

Buy this book!

In Appetite for Destruction, Gene writes about how guns and roses emerged from an LA club that legends Van Halen, Motely Cure and poison, also emerged from. Gene gives an excellent point of view of how hard they had it when they first started. He continues to write about how even know they had numerous albums and concerts, the luck for the band, just kept on getting worse. From someone's head getting stumped in ar a mush pit at one of their concerts, to alcohol and drug overdoses.
It talks of how slash tried to over came his drug problems and how Axel had a huge control issue over the band. This band was created of friendship and ruined by greed, corruption, drugs and alcohol. It even tells you secrets of songs and stories of them. I would give it 5 stars.

i thought ''Appetite for Destruction : Bass Guitar'' was reallya great transcription for bass guitar of a great album. i has musicand tab for all the songs. my favorite song is "Sweet Child of Mine" the bass line is modereratly easy and fun to play. i gave it a 5 because it is well written and easy to figure out

All the songs from Appetite for Destruction, with detailed transcriptions, song notes and an introduction at the face of the book, lyrics, and more! I also bought THE STYLES AND TECHNIQUES OF SLASH, which was a breakdown of some of the songs from Appetite with a bonus CD. Both are recommendable but this is definitely more straightforward. If you want to learn Gn'R, start there. If you're already good at guitar, get this book. It's hard, and takes practice, but the songs are ALL great. Even Think About You is fun to play, and it's my least favorite song on Appetite.

i think this is the best book in the world, i didn't buy it, but one of my dad's friends gave it to me. I'm such a fan of GNR, it is not even funny, so i realy enjoyed the book, i can't single out any spot that i like the most, beacause all of it is great

It's a easy to read book. My mother language is not English and I had a great time to read and to understand and to follow the theme. Now I'm writing on my first romance novel my self and very excited.

This is one of the best books I've seen on how to write a romance. It walks you through the whole process from beginning to end and tells you how to market your work. If I were a newbie I'd want to have this book on my shelf.

This book is filled with good instuctions and serves as a excellent reference that you can use when starting to write your novel as well as a refresher as you continue with other books or novels.

Although my manuscript was already finished before I brought this book, I wanted to compare my manuscript against the expertise of a professional. I found out that I was a writer on the right track and it also alerted me to important points that I overlooked which only makes me a better writer.

If you want to be better at your writing, add this book to your collection.

Benita Pagoria

In addition to several nonfiction books, Leigh Michaels is the published author of more than eighty romance novels and so brings a very special expertise to "On Writing Romance: How To Craft A Novel That Sells", her instruction manual for aspiring writers in a demanding and popular genre. Practical, comprehensive, informed and informative, "On Writing Romance" covers the origins and evolutions of the romance novel, and then takes the aspiring writer through each and every stage of the writing and publishing process. Breaking down more than thirty romance subcategories, aspiring writers will learn how to steer clear of cliches and stereotypes by studying the genre they propose to establish themselves in; craft engaging and realistic characters that will appeal to a discerning readership; add conflict through the use of secondary characters; utilize tension and timing to make love scenes come alive; and provide stories with 'happy-ever-after' endings that are neither ordinary or uninspiring, but will reward the reader with a story that they will remember long after the book is finished and returned to the shelf. Enhanced with a sample query letter, a cover letter, and synopsis, "On Writing Romance" also provides specific and practical 'how to' information on preparing a manuscript for submission to agents, editors, and publishers. Anyone seeking to write a commercially successful romance novel of any kind should begin by giving a careful and considered reading to Leigh Michael's "On Writing Romance".

This is an amazing book--written by a truly stellar author. How can you go wrong, choosing to learn from the very best?! Ms. Michaels has written many, many novels and also does online teaching, so she really knows what she's talking about! This book is a wonderful resource for both beginning and experienced writers. The chapters are clear and easy to understand, yet are packed with the sort of information that one would need years and years to acquire. The title is "On Writing Romance", but writers of other genres would be very wise to pick up this book, as well. Highly recommended!

Deryck Cooke gets under the surface but without any any confusing and pretentious psychobabble.

This really is an extraordinary book - it is the most comprehensive, insightful, and consistent study of Wagner's Ring des Niblungen. It offers some musical analysis of the leitmotivs, and is one of the first books to begin a revision of von Wolzogen's grossly erroneous analysis of the leitmotivs; it provides a plethora of highly organized information about the stages of Wagner's sketches and librettos and the original myths/legends/sagas from which he drew; and a scene by scene analysis of Rheingold and Walkure.

This book actually makes sense of Der Ring des Niblungen - no easy task, as anyone familiar with the opera tetralogy is well aware. If you are interested in the tetralogy and want to know more about it, this is THE book. There are, however, two tragedies associated with this book: the first is that the author's untimely death prevented him from finishing the book (though the material printed is itself finished). The whole book should have been about three times the length of the printed material. The second tragedy is that it is OUT OF PRINT - this is absolutely disgraceful...hopefully this title will come in to print again.

Get a hold of a copy of this book if you can.

This book is a model of thoughtful interpretation. Cooke begins by setting out why interpretation of the Ring cycle has been so difficult. This is seen as due partly to the enormous complexity of the work, partly due to the fact that prior major interpretations have been based on somewhat unrealistic preconceptions, for example, Bernard Shaw's social-political interpretation, and partly due to prior major interpretations bypassing close analysis of the music itself. Cooke develops a set of explicit criteria for an accurate interpretation of the Ring and applies them to prior major interpretative efforts. His critique of Robert Dornington's Jungian analysis, for example is moderate in tone but devastating in effect. Cooke defends Wagner against the charge that the plot and characters of the Ring are a shoddily assembled hodge-podge of myth. Cooke performs a careful analysis of Wagner's sources, using the same editions that Wagner drew from. Cooke demonstrates Wagner's careful and artful selection and modification of elements from German and Nordic mythology into a sophisticated and well integrated drama. Cooke's recurring term for Wagner's craft is masterly and he is correct. With this background, Cooke moves to a careful analysis of the plot and characters of the first 2 operas, Rheingold and Valkyrie. An essentially step by step analysis shows how Wagner used plot and character to advance his theme of the conflict of power versus love.
The only defect of this book is that it ends with the conclusion of Valkyrie. Though this book is over 350 pages long (in a small but not miniscule font), this would have been only the beginning of Cooke's projected opus on the Ring. Presumably, there would have been an equivalent amount of enlightening text on Siegfried and Gotterdamerung. Cooke then apparently planned a major work analyzing the development of musical aspects of the drama. Listeners who have heard Cooke's excellent introduction to the leitmotivs of the Ring will have had a taste of what Cooke planned. Its truly unfortunate that Cooke didn't live to complete this project.

This book amply shows what a tragedy it was that Deryck Cooke died whilst still at the height of his powers. He was one of the most approachable and reliable of music critics and musicologists. No-one was better at tracing a path through the minefield of different editions of the Bruckner symphonies. No-one was more perceptive in elucidating Mahler's music and its interpreters. His performing edition of the 10th Symphony still stands as a paradigm for how these things should be done and how they should be presented to the world. 40 odd years later, his book, The Language of Music, remains a fascinating and significant exposition of the building-blocks of music, an exploration of how certain intervals and phrases which are the basic vocabulary of musical expression seem to retain a common 'meaning' across the work of very different composers from the Baroque era to the 60's.

But this monumental study of Wagner's Ring, which he left less than half finished at his death, would probably have been his greatest contribution to musical exegesis. What is left for us is an introduction which cogently dispenses with the narrow-minded interpretations proposed by the socialist, anti-capitalist Shaw in The Perfect Wagnerite and the Jungian psychology of Donington in Wagner's Ring and its Symbols. There then follows a tantalising look at the music itself in which he shows that one particular leitmotif misnamed by Wolzogen in his pioneering study as Flight, a mistake blindly followed by most subsequent commentators, is in fact the fundamental Love motif of the entire cycle. From this he draws the not unreasonable conclusion that this is, musically and philosophically, a crucial half of the essential dramatic conflict of the tetralogy between Power and Love. This particular chapter is especially frustrating in the glimpse it gives us of just how penetrating and perceptive his promised but unfulfilled analysis of the music would have been.

What we do get is a fascinating study of how Wagner bent the myriad of literary sources he used into a taut and coherent dramatic structure. And what parts of the final Ring libretto were entirely the product of his own imagination. It makes for a detective trail along the lines of John Livingstone Lowe's pursuit of all the sources for Coleridge's Kubla Khan in The Road to Xanadu. But even this part of the argument only takes us through the evolution of Das Rheingold and Die Walkure before it is cut off in its prime. However, it is still more than enough to leave us with and important study, written with all Cooke's familiar approachability and common sense.

This may be just the torso of the book Cooke intended to write. But anyone interested in how Wagner's enormous work came to take the form it did should derive enormous pleasure as well as elucidation from it. The title, by the way, is taken from some wonderfully evocative lines that Wagner wrote for Brunnhilde's Immolation Scene, but cut before he set them to music.

The blessed end
Of all things eternal,
Do you know how I reached it?
Deepest suffering
Of Grieving love
Opened my eyes:
I saw the world end.

i saw the world end is one of the most brilliant studies of wagner's ring. unfortunately, deryck cooke died before he finished his survey. still, i saw the world end remains an important work detailing the ring and die walkure in particular.

Photography and music together in the record of one of the greatest rock bands of the world. An excellent book.

Even though I have five exhibition prints from this book hanging on my home's walls, I'm still somewhat amazed at how good a photographer Andy Summers really is. While it's always been my feeling that an artist can have great talent in more than one discipline, Andy is a true Renaissance man. He is famous for his music as part of the popular band "Police," he is also a wonderful writer as well has a super sensitive photographer. His autobiography is also fascinating and a must read for fans of the Police!
With the same passion that he puts into his guitar music, Andy also provides an intimate view of just what it was like to tour with the Police in the years 1980-1983. This Taschen Coffee Table Photographic book is large format 375 pages chuck full of brilliant B&W pictures. Despite what most fans would imagine, being a member of the group made the picture taking more difficult than if a non-member of the band was doing it. When the world is pressing in on you from all directions and crying out to touch you, it's difficult enough just to survive. Having the presence of mind to photograph those adoring fans even as they attempt to smoother you with their love is a skill in and of itself.
My personal favorites from the more than 600 images included in the book included a picture of a smiling Sting in Japan. He has five Nikon Cameras--three motorized and two single shot versions hanging around his neck and is trying to drink a can of fruit juice at the same time. And while candid pictures of the members of the band are usually the most attention grabbing, Summers is particularly effective when he is photographing close-ups or details of the world the band encounters. Long after examining the book numerous times, many of the images that remain fresh in the mind are pictures of subjects such as warped buildings reflected in glass windows, an empty room service tray in the hall outside a hotel room with a ray sunlight spotlighting it, "Help" written on a roll of toilet tissue running across a carpet from a mysterious door, a bathroom scene with a large guitar case sitting next to a toilet but with a naked leg sticking out from behind the case and resting against the wall, a tiny skin diver exploring the tile bottom of a bathtub, a series of party pictures showing a beautiful pair of stocking covered legs being held straight up in the air by a large bunch of helium filled party balloons. The last photograph in that series shows the balloons all stuck on the ceiling of the hotel room and the rest of the mysterious beautiful women still wearing the white stockings and lingerie but standing just inside the adjoining room.
There are too many wonderful pictures to describe in this short review. I've not even mentioned the pictures that I purchased for display in my own home. Andy Summers has an excellent eye as well as a good ear. The book will provide the reader with a feeling that they have shared part of what the members of the Police experienced during the three years covered by the photographic essay. There is only one criticism I have with the book and that is the type that is used for all the text. It was obviously intended to resemble the actual type written diary entries that are used to caption the photographs. Unfortunately, on the black ground of the book that style of text reproduction is sometimes difficult to read. The captions are all repeated three times, first in English and then again in two additional languages. The buyer of this book won't be disappointed. If they are, just think that this is basically the same book that many people bought as an autographed and numbered limited edition for $600 per copy. The buyer of this edition doesn't get the autograph or number but they do get the rest of the entire experience. While looking at the pictures, it's almost as if the reader can hear the music, feel the excitement and the popping of the electricity.

I gave this as a gift as well and he has read the entire book. He is a huge fan of the Police and this is a great book for anyone who is.

Great book - arrived in less than no time - pics were great - my son had asked for the book for Christmas - he didn't realize he was getting the hard back book ! what a treat!

A very well put together coffee table tome. Stunning photographs of one of the best 70's- 80's iconic bands. Well worth every penny of my hard earned cash, a joy to look at from cover to cover or just merely dip into in an add hoc way. Well recommended for any fan of the band or from a photographers standpoint. Seriously good reportage style of photography.

I liked this book so much that I bought a copy for my record-collecting boyfriend and a DJ friend with a varied and ecclectic vinyl collection.

When I thought of record cover art, I thought of those fantasy-styled "YES" covers, or the metal band covers of the 80's. I had no idea about how many cool vintage record covers were out there.

The book focuses on covers from 1940-1960. You'll find many jazz, swing and vocalists represented here. The reproductions are excellent and the variety is impressive. While most covers are reproduced in 3x3inches, quite a few are refresented as full pages which is about a 9-inch square. It is organized by artist and record company, showing you how the artist's style influenced the cover.

I highly recommend it for record collectors, vintage enthusiasts, graphic designers/illustrators and those who love old things. It made me miss the 12-inch vinyl covers all the more and has inspired me to track specific albums down. CDs can never match the emotional connection that vinyl did.

As a graphic designer, I get so flustered when I see the same old CD covers now: a photo of the artist or band, and their name scribbled on top, or a really un-inspired text treatment, most likely using some wretched Photoshop tool like, alien skin or eye candy- blech! Perhaps modern day CD's skimp on the design work of the covers because they are so much smaller now. But back in the days of LP's and 45's art was generously splashed on covers. Full-colored, stylized and oh, so hip! Each one fit to be framed and displayed. "In the Groove: Vintage Record Graphics, 1940-1960" effectively chronicles the history of this long, lost art-form in a picture-book style. I say picture-book, because of the lack of background information on many of the pieces, in fact there are quite a few pieces that are listed as "unknown designer", how unfortunate! Some poor old designer dedicated his or her life to creating some stunning art to attract music lovers' eyes to this or that particular record, and now they're the "unknown designer". Eric Kohler did his best grouping together styles of record graphics, so seeing the evolution of style was very nicely mapped-out. Nice quality paper, nice printing... would've been nicer in hardback. Still, this is one of my favorite books!

This is a fantastic book for album cover designs. But as I was warned, the glue on the binding really does gives out after the first reading. But the content is so incredible, it's worth purchasing this book...just be sure to handle it carefully so you don't loose your pages.

Being a music lover, I've never been partial to one type of music only--I have a passion for everything from rock to classical, pop to country, even from jazz to techno. Something in all of these styles intrigues me. And how intriguing is this incredible book by Eric Kohler. I never thought I'd "get into" a book dedicated solely to album covers from 1940-1960, but I was wrong. The music lover in me kicked in, and I found myself fascinated with the glorious color photos, the revealing and well-researched text, and with the artists themselves. This album cover artistry really has diminished with the advent of the much-smaller compact disc (which is a truly disappointing fact), but Mr. Kohler's book rapturously captures the vividness of the times, the artists, the moods, and the music of those two decades. It took me back to the time when I myself used to stare at the covers of my records for hours while playing them over and over again - this classic book uncovers that wonderful feeling inside you once more. And to top it all off, Mr. Tony Bennett himself writes an introduction that's both classy and sentimental. This is a great book for any music lover with a coffee table -- and an open mind towards how art has influenced music (and vice versa) in so many ways.

Mr Kohler presents two hundred and fifty covers (from his large collection) which he rightly thinks show the best of album design in the early years of the LP. He features eight artist/designers who created some of the most distinctive work in cover art. Two of them are my favorites, David Stone Martin who gave Norman Granz's Clef label some beautiful cover illustrations (twenty are shown) and Reid Miles who created the east coast look to Blue Note Records. Unfortunately only four of his covers are shown but you can see dozens more in the two books by Graham Marsh: The Cover Art of Blue Note Records and The Cover Art of Blue Note Records, Vol.2. The other six designers range from the unique illustrations of RCA's Jim Flora to the work of Swiss born designer Erik Nitsche and his semi abstract work for Decca. Record companies are also featured and you can see the beginnings of the Capitol Records house style, I think they were the only major company to produce consistently well designed covers with excellent photography and typography.

Though all these covers are interesting to look at I don't think too many work as complete design units, that is image and text complement each other, mostly they are images with text added later. One cover that I like is on page eighty-one, it shows a file-card box and the albums title, 'Guide to Jazz' is typed on a card which is resting against the box, the tabs of the other cards have musical instruments on them, a simple creative idea that works. Strangely the designer is unknown.

I doubt you will see as good a coverage of the early years of the LP as this (well produced) book but have a look at this title that concentrates on jazz covers from the fifties and sixties, Jazz West Coast: Artwork of Pacific Jazz Records. It has dozens of examples of creativity on paper twelve inches square, somehow CD covers just can't compete with that.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer image' under the cover.

Inside Ballet Technique: Separating Anatomical Fact from Fiction in the Ballet Class

The product is excellent

I was assigned this book in college for Dance Pedegogy and found it to be a great resource to understanding anatomy as it relates to dance. It gave me many new insights into allignment, the foot and the hip flexor and not only opened up new posibilities as an instructor, but as a dancer as well.

This book is great to give you the ins and outs of why we do the things the way we do as dancers. It gives you a better understanding of how the parts of the body work together to achieve the skills we need.

Ballet is being taught incorrectly all over the world today except for in a few great institutions such as the Royal Ballet School. Valerie Grieg has brought to light the lies that fill so many ballet classrooms today. She explains the technique of ballet simply and clearly and why and how it works. As a student of ballet, I have been incredibly fortunate to have had a teacher who cares about the technique immensely, and it is comforting to know that people such as Grieg still care about the art's technique! If you are either a teacher or student of ballet, this book is a must read! You will benefit greatly from what Grieg has to say.

I am a young dancer and both my teacher and I have benfited from this book. Not only does it have certain tips, but it teaches dancers about their main asset.... their bodies. The portion about the pelvis not only helped my placement, but everything else benefited from that. My turns were better and so were my balances.

For anyone who thinks you can't learn to make music in an hour or less, you gotta try this book and CD! Appying a series of very simple breathing patterns--with names like Chicago and Boogie Woogie--you can make MUSIC on the harmonica in only a few minutes. In the first few lessons, David Harp takes baby steps through a series short lessons (none is more than three minutes long) which cover beginning blues, folk and "classical" ideas. In the second half, he covers application of the earlier blues lessons, gives a little explanation of the blues scale, presents you with a simplified blues scale and few tricks. The last few tracks are "jam" tracks so you can test out your new chops. Of course he doesn't get into bending in this introductory course, but for less than $15 it's a GREAT way to start! I use the CD in my car and play along on my commute. It's perfect!

Good sound and good value. Easy to follow, great beginner and intermediate tool. I was pleasently suprised to find a harmonica in a case included taped to the book. I keep that extra one in the car to practice with the CD. David Harp makes it easy to learn.

This was a Christmas present for two of my grandchildren. The boys were absolutely thrilled with the information, in fact, one of them wrote a piece of music within 24 hrs!!!

I have been playing with learning harmonica for a while now, but received this book as a present from my in-laws (who were probably tired of hearing "Camptown Races" and "Red River Valley" endlessly). What a treat. David Harp's instruction is super easy, and starts off with foregoing single notes. He gets you started on music, and then when you're having fun (and more interested in practicing), he hits you with more advanced techniques.

I don't mind the Bending Notes book being plugged - there's only so much you pack into a beginners book.

If you're thinking about trying the harmonica, I can't recommend this one highly enough.. :)

This is truly the most comprehensible, hassle-free self-teaching guide for raw beginners. Go with this book and you cant go wrong. Just play along with CD and you will have so much fun! After you finish with this one you may want to purchase Jon Dick's Rock and Blues Harmonica for slightly more advanced techniques you may also want to check out Tom Ball's Source Book series which is a very convenient reference of famous Blues harp licks/riffs.