10 Best Music Books

(Guitar Educational). Teach Yourself to Play Guitar has been created specifically for the student with no music-reading background. With lesson examples presented in today’s most popular tab format, which also incorporates simple beat notation for accurate rhythm execution, Teach Yourself to Play Guitar offers the beginning guitarist not only a comprehensive introduction to essential guitar-playing fundamentals, but a quick, effective, uncomplicated and practical alternative to the multitude of traditional self-instructional method books. It also: covers power chords, barre chords, open position scales and chords (major and minor), and single-note patterns and fills; includes lesson examples and song excerpts in a variety of musical styles rock, folk, classical, country and more; familiarizes the student with fretboard organization, chord patterns, hand and finger positions, and guitar anatomy by way of easy-to-interpret diagrams, photos and illustrations; provides complete, concise explanations while keeping text to a minimum; and prepares the student for the option of further guitar instruction.

A “sympathetic and exceptionally well-written account” ( USA Today ), Ray Connolly’s biography of the King soars with “spontaneity and electricity” (Preston Lauterbach). Elvis Presley is a giant figure in American popular culture, a man whose talent and fame were matched only by his later excesses and tragic end. A godlike entity in the history of rock and roll, this twentieth-century icon with a dazzling voice blended gospel and traditionally black rhythm and blues with country to create a completely new kind of music and new way of expressing male sexuality, which simply blew the doors off a staid and repressed 1950s America. In Being Elvis veteran rock journalist Ray Connolly takes a fresh look at the career of the world’s most loved singer, placing him, forty years after his death, not exhaustively in the garish neon lights of Las Vegas but back in his mid-twentieth-century, distinctly southern world. For new and seasoned fans alike, Connolly, who interviewed Elvis in 1969, re-creates a man who sprang from poverty in Tupelo, Mississippi, to unprecedented overnight fame, eclipsing Frank Sinatra and then inspiring the Beatles along the way. Juxtaposing the music, the songs, and the incendiary live concerts with a personal life that would later careen wildly out of control, Connolly demonstrates that Elvis’s amphetamine use began as early as his touring days of hysteria in the late 1950s, and that the financial needs that drove him in the beginning would return to plague him at the very end. With a narrative informed by interviews over many years with John Lennon, Bob Dylan, B. B. King, Sam Phillips, and Roy Orbison, among many others, Connolly creates one of the most nuanced and mature portraits of this cultural phenomenon to date. What distinguishes Being Elvis beyond the narrative itself is Connolly’s more subtle examinations of white poverty, class aspirations, and the prison that is extreme fame. As we reach the end of this poignant account, Elvis’s death at forty-two takes on the hue of a profoundly American tragedy. The creator of an American sound that resonates today, Elvis remains frozen in time, an enduring American icon who could “seamlessly soar into a falsetto of pleading and yearning” and capture an inner emotion, perhaps of eternal yearning, to which all of us can still relate. Intimate and unsparing, Being Elvis explores the extravagance and irrationality inherent in the Elvis mythology, ultimately offering a thoughtful celebration of an immortal life.

#### New – from Amazon #1 best-selling music author Ben Parker ! ### This book is the perfect introduction to the electronic Keyboard for absolute beginners of all ages. ! This great beginner’s guide also provides an easy introduction to reading and playing music – so whether you have no previous musical experience OR are simply new to the keyboard, this clear and concise guide will have you playing tunes on your new keyboard in no time! * Easy to follow instructions and illustrations * Simple exercises to follow and practice * Learn at your own pace * Fun and easy songs, chords and tunes to play * Simply follow the lessons in the book and you will be playing Keyboard in no time ! #### For kids under the age of 10, you may prefer Ben’s ‘My First Keyboard’ book instead – created especially for the youngest beginner. Check out Ben’s Amazon Author page for his other best-selling kids and adult tuition books for: Guitar, Ukulele, Piano, Banjo, Recorder and Harmonica!

#### New – from Amazon #1 best-selling music author Ben Parker ! ### This book is the perfect introduction to the Guitar for kids of all ages ! With no sheet music to follow, kids can easily follow the clear and simple diagrams and photos to learn their first chords, play fun tunes and gain confidence playing their first guitar! * Easy to follow instructions and illustrations * Simple exercises to follow and practice * Learn at their own pace * Fun and easy songs, chords and tunes to play * Simply follow the lessons in the book and kids will be playing guitar in no time ! #### Check out Ben’s Amazon Author page for his other best-selling kids and adult tuition books for: Ukulele, Guitar, Keyboards, Piano, Banjo, Recorder and Harmonica !!