I bounced onto this page because I wanted to write a review. I've had this book for about a month. I'm a bass player originally, and am now moving over to guitar. Frankly, the content presentation (comprehensiveness and pacing) is just, well, excellent. I was surprised at my progress and how much I learned... and how good I sounded too. I think the book works best for those either just starting to learn lead guitar or those in an early intermediate stage. Also, the licks you'll be learning are straight ahead rock too, so you'll enjoy this book most if you like rock/rock 'n roll. Beyond that, I can only echo the comments in the Best of breed for beginners, November 8, 1998, post. They're right on target. In sum, I really felt like I got my money's worth with this book and, if you meet the criteria I note above, I think you will too.

I had worked my way through all of the basic notes in the first position, and most basic chords. With this basis, I was able to really enjoy working with this book. It is all played at a moderate pace. The play along band makes it a lot of fun. My son wants to get the "Killer Metal Lead Licks"by the same auther because he liked what he saw in this book so much.

I bought about 8 beginning rock guitar books from Amazon, and this is the best.

Several books include CDs, but this one got it right. Plays a lick for you, then gives backing for you to play it. Short and to the point, makes it easy to move from one lesson to the next.

Licks are great, the kind of sound that I like anyway- and leaves me quite impressed with my own progress. Took me about one month from start to finish, and I was really amazed how much I improved.

Author is obviously a skilled teacher, who writes to help students, not to show off.

Book only includes a touch of theory, focuses on learning fun stuff. Still I think to develop further I need additional help on understanding theory. He does introduce pentatonic scales, but doesn't explain much behind them or how to apply them. But that probably would have made the book too boring.

Highly recommended for beginners!

Great learning series
Teaches you many essential riffs used in heavy metal and hard rock! Also touches on soloing. At the end of the book, a whole song is constructed using a typical heavy metal progression. Great!

Rooksby does a great job of analyzing notable songs from the last few decades and explains what makes them effective. Some of his observations are funny too. I recommend this for anyone who is interested in songwriting and production, but is bored with the usual "How to Write Massively, Successful Hit Songs in 27 Easy Steps" format.

I've bought half a dozen guitar chord books over the years, always trying to figure out just why something I play on guitar sounds good/interesting/different to me. Most of those "2000+ Chords!" books had none of the chords I played. Not only did this book actually contain those chords (a coincidence? it's not at all a chord dictionary), it helped me understand their relationships to one another.

The only thing that would make this book better is if the publisher could get a deal with the 1,000+ songs referenced by the book so I could get them all in MP3 format on a single DVD. Then I could instantly follow the theory and the practice in my practice.

In order to benefit from this book, several things should be true:

1) you should be a guitar player (duh) although the progressions apply to all instruments

2) you should already have some knowledge of chords and basic theory.

3) you should be somewhat caught up with and interested in current popular music from the 1950's through the early 2000's, since the author cites songs as examples of certain types of chord progressions. If you haven't heard the songs, the examples will be pretty meaningless. A companion CD would be great addition.

The book is logically organized and is printed on high quality color stock. I sat down and played through ALL the material once so I could associate certain patterns with the way they sound. I also refer to the book a lot when writing, since it has all kinds of useful charts and tools. If my studio burned down, this would be one of the first books I'd replace.

If you are a guitar player and are interested in expanding your knowledge of songwriting, this book is GOLD. Other books that I would put in the "indispensable" category with this one would be "Fretboard Logic" by Bill Edwards (learning the fretboard inside out) and "The Advancing Guitarist" by Mick Goodrick (playing philiosophy, motivation, advanced concepts). The later book is primarily geared towards the accomplished guitarist and tends towards jazz and fusion playing so may not be suitable for everyone.

I haven't finished the book yet so my 5 stars is a little early. From what i've seen so far, the book is very good. Its written very well and you can tell the author is extremely knowledgeable. The author writes clearly and is understandable. The format is clear and professional looking. There is tab in here and if you dont understand I,III,V even after it is explained in the book then maybe this isn't for you. So far its very enjoyable and I can honestly recommend it for people who want to get into songwriting and understanding songs themselves.

This book is worth the low price but I was disappointed to find at least half of this about 60 page book is filler material-- full page black and white graphics of famous blues artists. If you're on a tight buget, this book may be a good choice.

I've bought all 3 Fast Forward Blues series. All 3 are good for intermediate players. If you have been playing awhile, this book may still be useful. It will get you back to the basics of what to play and how to effectively phrase it. After all, it's not what you say but how you say it. This book will help make the most of your playing.

This book has all the great Blues licks I have always wondered how to play. With the tablature and the CD, it is so easy to get the sounds you want. I couldn't believe how easy it was to learn such an aggrate of cool sounding, smooth solos. So much stuff is packed into this little gem of a book. I highly reccomend it.

The author takes the time to bash a good percentage of Fleetwood Mac songs, including Gypsy "a track that seems to wilt rather than conclude", Hold Me(their #4 hit) "an average FM performance {that} never really catches fire", several of Lindsey's Tusk songs "expendable" and "throw-away", and he definitely shows a preference for the Peter Green era. Good for PG era fans, fans of later eras---stay away.

Why did this person bother to write such an overly critical book about a band he/she clearly does not like (apart from the early stuff). One track will remind some readers of the Smiths we are told, another uses a similar keyboard sound to Genesis! This is garbage. Each to his own opinion but, having loved all incarnations of FM, a lot of this book misses the point. Omnibus should be ashamed for including this in their usually excellent series.

Good little book if you follow the music of Fleetwood Mac and are as big of a fan as I am. Easy to read and has some good photos of the band that haven't been seen before.