Jai Josef's book is a winner. Read it, take the time to do the exercises, use his ideas, and you will be on your way to your first Grammy! Many examples to show you the way to writing better music for your songs. This book in conjunction with a good lyric writing book are your first steps to better songwriting. I guarantee it!

hats off to amazon's used service; i had been looking for this book for ages until i found it here. had i discovered this book when i first picked up a guitar at age sixteen, i would be a much better player today. it's all in here, with cool pictures and sound too (record included).

I found this book and now I can't buy it. The book was in a pile of stuff that someone left when they were moving. I found it and having studied almost all forms of music I was delighted in the presentation of some great pioneer rock licks. And the ease it made in playing them. Arlen Roth was lost in a sea of new guitar instruction books I'm glad I found the book and I wish it wasn't out of print cause I was going to give it to someone who is studing music but on the good side Ill look for another Arlen Roth book to give as a gift and I'll sneak a look at it. Great teacher in tablature and music notation. If you study guitar get a copy if you can (at a used book store). You'll be happy you did; hearing the licks come'in out of your guitar.

It's an odd thing that a certain way of playing has evolved for one model of electric guitar, but with the Fender Telecaster, one absolutely has. Broken down to its fundamental bits, the Telecaster is 95% the same as its fancy sister, the Stratocaster (in the most brutal analysis, functionally a Stratocaster is just a Telecaster with some extra woodwork and a couple more gizmos on the front), but, while the style and approach to playing a Stratocaster is interchangeable enough with that of most other electric guitars, you can't just pick up a Telecaster and play it the same way. To get the best out of a Telecaster you almost have to re-learn the guitar. This is not just a case of tone or sound - it's actual execution.

If you want to do that, then this is the book for you. Arlen Roth is one of the best known Tele session men in the business, and while he's no Byron or Keats, the explanations are simple enough to follow, and the exercises (there are hundreds of them so do not fret (har har) that you'll run out any time soon) are great mix - some challenging, some easy, but most importantly all authentic sounding. You don't need to get far into this book to be learning useful stuff which will expand your tonal palette for good.

For some reason, Telecaster playing has developed in a different direction to "normal" guitar playing, and dipping into this book gives you another direction to explore. It does require your own application of course - more application than I can easily be bothered mustering, so I think this book will be dipped into every now and then rather than worn out cover to cover. That's a criticism of me, not the book, of course.

Nitpicks: the CD track numbering doesn't match the exercise numbers. This seems to me to be an elementary mistake, and it means that tracking down the CD part for, say, Exercise 104 (Elvis's Mystery Train - practically the first thing I did when I opened the package from Amazon) - is hard. Also the book won't (without massacring the spine) stay open when you try to play along with an exercise.

The book also includes a brief history of the Telecaster and a few photos, but neither the photos (included mostly to show off Roth's collection, I suspect) nor the history are really much chop and I certainly wouldn't recommend the book for these alone. It's a fairly cheaply produced and printed edition, but the value of the advice in it alone justifies the price.

When a musician meets an instrument that is right for him, an exotic feeling overtakes him. It is like a high school crush. The instrument is all he can think about, and he feels as if he can't live without it. He will stretch himself financially to acquire it. He will carry a light, exhilarating nausea around in his belly until he can get it.

This was how I felt when I first played a Fender Telecaster. It is an instrument that ignites the kind of passion usually found in romantic love or religious devotion. Arlen Roth is one who has been touched by this zeal as much as anyone. From the reverent tones in which he speaks of the instrument, to the photos of him with some of his favorite Teles, to his luscious playing on the demo CD's, it is evident that Arlen Roth is a man in love.

But you don't have to be a Tele fanatic to get a lot out of this book. Any guitarist will come away from it a better player. Roth quickly gets to the meat and potatoes. The introduction is brief, giving a sketch of Tele history and a look at some of its better spinoffs. Then he gets to the music. Roth does not tell you how to intonate the guitar, change the nut, or reroute for new pickups. That is all for another place and time. This book is about playing. He starts the reader off with basic shuffles, rhythm grooves and fundamental techniques. All licks are written out in both standard muscial notation and tablature. Then he provides crash courses by genre, namely R&B, Blues, Country & Rockabilly, and Rock. The Tele is the most versatile guitar in the world, and Roth shows how to utilize it for these different styles of playing. He has also included biographical blurbs of some of the foremost "Telemasters" of each style, giving the reader jump-of points for further listening.

The level of difficulty varies from basic to virtuoso. While this is not a book for beginners, one does not need great technical skill to play many of the licks. Others, on the other hand, will be out of the reach of all but the best players. The reader can hear it all on two CD's where Roth demonstrates what he has written. These CD's alone are worth the price of the book, not only for their instructional value but as good listening in their own right.

The book also includes a section of beautiful color photos that dispel the common idea that Teles are goofy looking. Many of these instruments are works of art in their appearance alone.

Roth is not a great writer. What little prose there is lacks the sparkle of a true wordsmith. But this book is more about music than words, and his love for the Telecaster comes through clearly enough. It is, in fact infectious.

A spiral binding would have made the book much more usable. The challenege of trying to prop the book open while your hands are occupied with the guitar will be as great as that of learning the licks. Roth's presentation and explanation are user-friendly. The physical format of the book is not.

_Masters of the Telecaster_ is the rare book that can at once inspire and instruct. Roth treads technical territory without boring you. You will look up from the pages and suddenly realize that you have been having too much fun to be aware of the fact that you were learning. And that is the mark of what Roth is above all else: a great teacher.

Does your ego get in the way of appreciating someone you never heard of? Mine sometimes does, but let me tell you, Arlen Roth is for real.

I just got this book yesterday, and it's great. The first thing I noticed was how extremely well coutry licks carry over into rock. Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top came to mind quickly.

Arlen is a Telecaster fanatic, so he goes a bit overboard in calling everyone who's ever been seen with a tele a "telecaster player," but that doesn't take away from the lessons.

I've got a tele-type guitar on order right now-a left handed G&L ASAT Deluxe. I am counting th days 'till I get my hands on it!

In my opinion this book has very little to do with heavy metal guitar.The author places heavy emphasis on the blues,and blues influence in modern rock music.The fourth chapter titled"The influence of early rock and blues" which is 33 pages long tells the reader all about people such as Robert Johnson,Otis Rush,Buddy Guy,B.B. King,and mike Bloomfield.The author goes on to tell the reader in chapter six entitled"Early heavy metal lead guitar" about such people as Jimmy Page,Jimi hendrix,and Eric Clapton.There are some exercises and other lessons that are covered such as basic power chords,"whammy" bar exercises,basic rock/blues scales,and some other stuff.There is NO mention of bands like Black Sabbath,Motorhead,Metallica,Slayer,or any of the other great metal bands that(for me) come to mind when I think of heavy metal guitar.This is a great book if you want to learn about how the blues influenced rock,and learn a little blues guitar while your at it.

Arlen Roth has once again created a classic guitar book, this time around undoubtedly his best yet. Whether you're an experienced guitarist or have never picked up a guitar book expect to be shredding your neck before long! Roth teaches you all the techniques for break neck spead axe thrashing in the method of Van Halen, Hammett, Page, and all the metal greats. Even if you're not a metalhead, this book is highly recommended as it teaches you techniques that can be used beyond metal. Highly recommended!

This Book tought me everything from easy scales too tapping and forming a band. A must for beginners

The author obviously loves the blues and knows all there is to know, unfortunetly the CD that comes with the book jumps all over the place and doesn't help at all. None of the transcriptions are recorded. The exercises aren't executed clearly. This is a good book if you read music. If you don't your [out of luck]. Blues is an oral tradition, you'd think a little more time would have been spent recording and playing the examples.

This book is a great introduction to slide guitar and has quite a lot to offer intermediate to advanced players too. Starting with licks, progressing to (very) simple songs and eventually getting into complete (but simplified) solos as recorded by greats like Tampa Red and Robert Johnson, it even has a small section on slide guitar in standard tuning (for wimps, of course). Just beware the pictures of Johnny Winter and Arlen Roth at the end, or you may find yourself dying of laughter.

If you have fooled around with an acoustic guitar, learned a couple chords, and are a huge fan of the Delta blues styles of Son House, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Elmore James, and Mississippi Fred McDowell, then this is the book for you. I learned more from this book than I did from several years of private guitar lessons.

Roth shows you how remarkably simple it is to play bottleneck guitar once you have the basics down. He offers several scales and transcriptions of popular blues songs ("Come On in My Kitchen", "(I Believe I'll) Dust My Broom") that help you learn with minimal frustration. The accompanying CD is extremely helpful--you can learn only so much about music from words alone. He shows you how to play in all the alternate tunings, and when to apply the tunings to particular styles. He teaches you techiques for both acoustic and electric guitar. You also get the feeling that he's wants to teach you how to play not because he was commissioned to write a book, but simply because he loves the music.

Roth also includes a section on the country/bluegrass style of bottleneck. While my passion lies in the blues, I've learned a great deal from this section as well--particularly how to play lap style, and how to play those great southern gospel songs ("Will the Circle Be Unbroken?").

As with any musical instruction, you should approach this book with some creativity. For example, I prefer to use the slide on my ring finger, while Roth suggests you use your pinky. I think the ending to "Come On in My Kitchen" sounds better when played at the 12th fret, rather than the 5th. But once you get the basics down, you'll develop techniques that work best for you. From there, you'll be able to slap on a record of your favorite slide guitarist and by using what Roth has taught you, you can play right along with him!

I highly recommend this book to any casual guitar player with an interest in learning bottleneck. You may not become the next Robert Johnson or Dickie Betts, but you'll certainly impress yourself and your peers with your new guitar skill (which, between you and me, is surprisingly easy!!).