Henry Vaughan Books

About a year ago a teacher/performer friend asked me who my first guitar teacher was. Larry McCabe, quite a few years ago. My friend looked surprised, and told me he uses Larry's books in his own teaching, and that Larry had written something like 80 books to date. I had no idea, as Larry was in the process of writing his first book when I had lessons with him. So when it came time to brush up on some basic blues licks for a band I'm in I ended up obtaining some of Larry's books.

This book of blues turnarounds is where I started. What a great book - full of excellent turnaround licks. At this point I've only played through about half of them note for note, but have used those as a basis for coming up with my own licks. And to me, that is the mark of a great book - lots of useful information if read note-for-note, but can also be used as a springboard for creating new ideas.

The licks I've learned from the book thus far are all in the key of C, but can be easily used in other keys if one has a basic knowledge of the notes on the fretboard. I'd highly recommend this book for a beginner wanting to learn stock blues licks, or intermediate players who need to expand their blues vocabulary.

An Excellent Choice for the Early Intermediate Blues Guitarist

A turnaround is a lick played at the end of a section of music. A blues turnaround would be played in measures 11-12 of a 12-bar blues, or measures 7-8 of an eight-bar blues.

Electric urban blues turnarounds are fairly easy to play, and the difference from one to another is subtle. Having the ability to play a variety of turnarounds is an important skill in blues guitar playing. This is the best book I know of that addresses exclusively the subject of electric blues guitar turnarounds.

This a book for a VERY ambitious beginner, or an early intermediate guitarist who has an interest in Chicago blues in the classic style of Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Jimmy Reed, etc.

The licks are all arranged in the key of C. This is for ease of analysis and comparison. The user is encouraged to transpose the licks to other keys - a worthwhile project for exploring and learning the fingerboard. Very, very good practice for learning the art of blues phrasing.

Great book from one of our leading authors. My students (and myself) have consistently benefited from the interesting instruction contained here.

My students and I work from several of Larry McCabe's guitar books and find that the books produce consistently high results.

This book, like the others, is exceptionally well crafted, specific in intent, and the guitar lines are accurately written exactly as they are heard on the CD. Larry McCabe books are the work of a dedicated teacher who has achieved a high level of respect nationally in the field of music education.

Larry asked me to write a review for this book, and I am happy to do so. The object of this book is to teach the art of playing blues guitar turnarounds to a guitarist who has some prior experience but is just beginning to explore electric blues.

If a student knows how to bend the strings and perhaps play slurs, slides, and hammers, blues turnarounds are not difficult to play. What is important is to play them authentically and with conviction. This book does a very good job in advancing those objectives.

A component of this book that is quite effective is that every phrase is written in the Key of C. The student should then transpose each lick to other keys, a desirable skill that encourages individual incentive and ability to solve arranging problems.

The turnarounds sound exactly like the ones played on classic blues recordings by the great artists from Chicago and other urban areas.

I know other teachers who swear by Larry's books, and I am one of them. Great book- effective in its aims, ambitious content, fun to work through, and a great value.

This very fine book has been in print in one form or another since the early-to-mid 1980s. Not many music books remain in print that long, but this is an exceptional collection of model solos in the urban blues style.

The book is quite popular with music teachers (as evidenced by the other reviews) and it is enjoyable and productive for students as well. The book is aimed at the ambitious early intermediate student, and a few of the solos will challenge an intermediate guitarist.

There are 25 full-length solos in the book, each written in notation and tablature, and each recorded note-for-note on the accompanying CD. The band on the CD is excellent. There are five solos in C, five in G, five in D, five in A, and five in E. The solos are played to standard blues progressions, meaning that they may be "plugged in" to similar blues progressions that are found in many, many songs.

The solos sound exactly like the solos heard on real blues records. They are varied and performed with taste, authenticity, and feeling. You can hear why the author was a columnist for Living Blues Magazine and why his work has received consistently high reviews in a number of guitar magazines.

Great book, highly recommended.

I wish all music instruction books were written in this format. The song tabs just go from one page to the next without a bunch of talking/writing in between, and the song numbers in the book actually match the song numbers on the cd...what a rare and unique idea! Of course, none of that would matter if the material were bad, but that's not the case, the solos are great - quite diverse too. There is a lot of helpful information in this book: theory, writing your own solos, a guide to blues styles and artists,etc. - but it's all in it's own section of the book, not sprinkled throughout the book here and there making it impossible to find. As a full time guitar instructor I would just like to say "great job", "great blues solos" and "great, easy to use format". Thanks.

The author of this book, Larry McCabe, is re-releasing books that have gone out of print for one reason or another. This particular book is an old friend. After I received it, I went into my library and found a copy. It has been in print in one form or another for 25 years. Most instruction books don't last anywhere near that long. First, this book (as the author warns) is not for beginners. You need to be familiar with the movable blues scales we all use. If you are playing out, and feel comfortable with the whole neck, get this book. The style of lead is closer to Gatemouth Brown and Freddie King than anyone else. If you don't know who these men are, buy their CDs. You are in for a treat. Please read the author's introduction. There is a lot of good info there. The Tab system is the older style. It should take about 30 seconds to adjust. It's actually easier to read than the current form. If you consider yourself a Rock guitarist instead of Blues, you really could use this book. If you use these solos as a "how to", instead of just memorizing them, they will give you some new weapons. You know, for scaring the heck out of other guitarists.

Henry Vaughan is rightly regarded as the great mystic poet of his time. Although a firm believer in Christianity, his is not the sort of Christianity that is comfortable with the world God has made. He is more a believer, one might say, in the Fall, and longs for the angelic world which he catches glimpses of from time to time. This selection of poems is an excellent introduction to his disposition, which deal more with escaping this world than glorifying the next. Brief Examples: In "Child-hood" his love of that innocent period "which angels guard" and the impossibility of returning to that state of bliss make him ask himself "Why if I see a rock or shelf, Shall I thence cast myself down" ...."Since all that age doth teach, is ill"----And in "The Night," he speculates that there is in God "a deep, but dazzling darkness;" and proclaims "O for that night! where I in him/ Might live invisible and dim."-Vaughan was really ahead of his time and more resembles Shelley and his later disciple Francis Thompson than any poet of his age (including George Herbert). After reading this selection of poems, one feels that Vaughan was a unique sort of Christian. More to the point, one questions whether Christianity was not the mere medium through which Vaughan, in tune with his age, conveyed his mystical yearning and escapism, which is the core of his poetry and his being.

Dover editions provide the basic poetic texts without serious and extended commentary. In a sense there is an advantage in this as it encourages the reader to engage the text, and seek understanding through reading and rereading. But there is also a great disadvantage especially when it comes to complicated poetry like that of the Metaphysicals whose complex linking of diverse images , whose intellectual toughness requires explanation.
Nonetheless there is great poetry here at the usual Dover very reasonable price.
As for the Metaphysicals themselves Donne is of course at the center. But there is also great poetry from Herbert and Marvell. This is a poetry in which the heart is very much in the mind, and one must have a strong intellect to understand.
I know the challenge and delight of this poetry, and also understand how many readers find it most fascinating and great.( As did T.S. Eliot)
But I nonetheless find my own heart and mind better expressed, reflected and uplifted in the Romantics (Wordsworth especially) who will come later.

This wonderful literary study puts the reader in the mindset of the English mystical tradition and the mindset of the metaphysical poets. Reading this book made me want to read Traherne's Centuries of Meditations, which is now one of my favorite books. Both Vaughan and Milton are better-known than Traherne, but his writing is sublime in the old sense of that word.

One reviewer said that Traherne invokes the sense you get in Van Morrison and William Blake. I quite agree. Traherne is not about quietism or pietism, his paradise is without in the sense that it's a way of loving the divine by meditation on and experiencing the creation. Many people today love to experience the outdoors, but Traherne lets that experience lead naturally to a sense of gratitude and oneness.

"Centuries" refers not to the passing of one hundred years but simple means one hundred meditations. Traherne wrote his book for a female friend, dedicating it simply "to the friend of my Friend." In one of my favorite meditations he wonders why men spare no effort to obtain diamonds because they shine like the stars, but yet neglect the celestial stars, provided by the Creator for our enjoyment and far surpassing the finest cut stones.

Since most of the readily available editions of Centuries are abridgements or edited versions and not the complete text, or new modern translations, I don't know if this meditation is included in them. The complete Centuries is well worth tracking down, and this book serves as an introduction and invitation to regain this nearly-lost paradise.

Overall I really enjoyed this book, and it held some new information on Patrick Henry of which I, a professed afficionado of the man, was not aware. It is written in simple, understandable language, but it ended up becoming a little redundant as it progressed, repeating some things from chapter to chapter as if the author thought that a person would be jumping around to read only segments of interest, rather than reading through from start to finish. But I would still recommend it to anyone who asked.

It was wonderful to see Patrick Henry's Christian values and belief on the LORD JESUS CHRIST openly written about. I enjoyed it completely and would recommend it to any who enjoy studying the Revolutionary War. BUY IT!

Thank you, Mr. Vaughan, for pointing out what many if not all public schools leave out of history... the fact that it was founded on Biblical principles by Christian men. I'm not saying that all the founding fathers were Bible believing or lived a moral live but that fact that Patrick Henry was such a HUGE part of it and he WAS a Christian and moral person was impactful to our nations birth.

My daughter enjoyed the humorous bits throughout the book and I enjoyed the fresh look at history.

What a delightful read this book has been. The author displays a clear and deep admiration for his subject, but I find no fault in that. The book reads very easily without a lot of stilted verbiage, making it a wonderful introduction of the great orator to the student.
There is not a lot of detailed analysis here, but I don't believe that was the authors' intention. This work is meant to be an outline and introduction Henry, the Trumpet of the Revolution.

The work is actually presented as three separate volumes in one binding. Part 1 takes the reader from birth to death, touching on the momentous occasions, as well as a good bit of reference to the details of life which shaped the life of Henry. Part 2 gives Henry's views of some of life's virtues, such as Christianity, patriotism and duty and gives an insightful look at the character of this great American. Part 3 concludes with how Henry has been remembered by history, and how he should be remembered.

Overall, a delightful read which I highly recommend to students or anyone wishing to gain a basic insight to a great American patriot.

In his biography of Partick Henry, Vaughan complains that previous biographers were unfair to the legendary statesman. Thus, he moves to correct this historical error by bringing forth a laundry list of glowing facts about Henry. While Vaughan does have a point about previous renderings of Henry's life, he does little to paint a more accurate picture of the orator. Rather, he glosses over Henry flaws, and presents us with a candy-coated version of the man. And Henry was a man--a good man, but a man nonetheless. Unfortunately, this biography fails to recognize that.

Vaughan's diary is a very worthwhile read. His months at the front begin at a "quiet" sector of the Somme near Peronne where he grows accustomed to the daily rhythm of the war, and the periodic return to the rear afforded by relief. Then his unit is transferred to Ypres for the great attack of 3rd Ypres in August 1917. This was the attack stymied in mud that cost over 500,000 Allied casualties and gained just a few kilometers of muddy ruin. It is the attack that caused the name Passchendaele to enter our vocabulary. The battle devastates Vaughan's unit.

Vaughan's account of his experience in this battle, and the contrast with his other experiences on the Somme is simply gripping. He is matter-of-fact throughout. He had no idea that the images he wrote about would haunt the European memory for decades. He simply wrote down each day what he saw and happened to him.

I read the hardcover (and plan to read it again). My only complaint is with the 2 maps, which are quite inadequate and spread across 2 pages so they are split at the binding. Nor do the maps show the location of the front lines. [ Isn't it an old military saying that "a battle is an event in war that occurs at the edge of 2 maps"?]

If you put the names of the villages Vaughan mentions into Google Maps you can trace many of the same roads that Vaughan describes walking along. The population of these villages and the roads connecting them do not seem to have changed much in almost 100 years. It is sometimes eerie to do this, but much better than referring to the poor maps in the book.

The book brings to life the figures depicted in WWI photographs and videos. Vaughan's matter of fact descriptions of daily "wastage" as well as the horror of "the attack" are gripping especially when juxtaposed with doubts about his courage and ability to lead, and his fear of appearing "windy." His more age appropriate hi-jinx described when he is in reserve jarringly remind the reader of Vaughan's youthfullness. Vaughan is not a diary quote or letter extract--he is very real to the reader. The irony of his death by medical misadventure, having survivied the Western Front is also striking. Highly recommended for anyone interested in who fought the Great War on the Western Front.

Many readers have ended their inquiries concerning the First World War with diaries by well known authors such as Robert Graves or Siegfried Sassoon. Less well known, but easily at home with more famous Great War accounts, Edward Campion Vaughan's work provides an unpolished, but equally shocking glimpse of the World War. Vaughan's vivid, and thoroughly candid account of his experiences as a young lieutenant on the Somme during the First World War lacks some flourish -- but the details and travails he describes transcend his journeyman style. Vaughan's tools are honesty, realism, and a good hard look at the ordinary cares and hardships of a soldier. There are no elevated themes in this book - no glimpses of liberty or democracy, king or country, no metaphysical questions -- just a 19 year-old coping with leadership, war, death, the enemy and duty. That this book has even survived into reprint is miraculous considering the reluctance, noted in the preface, of his family to release the manuscript (it was thought it would reflect poorly on the author's reputation that the book details his increasing resort to drink in the trenches). This is an excellant book and a valuable contribution to WWI scholarship.

I have read much history, and much about the Great War. Nothing I have ever encountered had the impact of this small volume. The war recored here gravely wounded our civilization, and in these pages you can see that wound at its creation.

This is as a nice reference for the blues guitarist. It's nice to have so many new ideas in one place. The only downside (more so for the beginner), is most of the turnarounds are in the key of C which means you'll need to transcribe them to different keys. This is not a bad thing as it is helps develop a better knowledge of how the blues scales are put together. It is a good investment as it is a reference and a learning tool.

(101 Razor-Sharp Blues Guitar Fill-In Licks)


Leading Book of Its Type

This is undoubtedly the leading book of its type on the market today. 101 authentic urban blues guitar fill-ins in the Chicago blues style, each accurately transcribed in notation and tablature. Each lick is recorded note-for-note on the companion CD and accompanied by a professional blues band (complete with singer Charles Atkins), and wonderfully engineered by Fred Chester, a well-known engineer in the Southeast who has recorded albums for jazz piano great Marcus Roberts and persons of similar caliber.

As a professional music teacher of many years, I have found Larry McCabe's music instruction books to be of consistently high quality, popular with students, focused and effective in accomplishing the particular objective.

Small wonder. Larry has one of the most reputable names in the music publishing industry. His resume lists over eighty published books for Mel Bay, Centerstream, and other big names in the industry. Two of his books were written for none other than Roy Clark. And he was the guitar writer for Living Blues Magazine for three years, and a member of the W.C. Nominating Committee for many years. This is a teacher who knows how to play and teach the blues.

The author, Larry McCabe, is a well-known and respected author of many instruction books and he has a strong background in the blues. I recall that in the 1990s Larry authored a popular blues guitar column for Living Blues Magazine.

Against the backdrop of a live band complete with singer Charles Atkins, each fill-in lick is played exactly as you would play it on stage or in a jam session. The licks are tasteful and performed in the authentic Chicago style-the licks are the real thing, played by a guitarist who knows how to play the blues and write blues instruction.

I would recommend this book to an early intermediate guitarist whose ambition is to play in the urban blues style. The incredible thing about this set is that the user is actually sitting in with a live blues band that includes a singer.

In the rush to play solos, fill-in are sometimes overlooked. This book is unique and unlike any other book on electric blues guitar. And in fact, Red Dog Music Books entire series of 101 Razor-Sharp Blues Books are enthusiastically recommended to all electric guitar teachers who have students who want to learn to play the blues.