Texas Blues Guitar Book/Online Audio Paperback – June 1, 1999

Texas Blues Guitar is well written and really teaches you about Texas Blues. He's also a great guitarist and that comes through in this book. He gets extra points for making it easy for guitarists without the experience to have the tools to learn what they need in order to play some good Texas Blues.I have also had the pleasure to perform with Robert and found him to be the epitome of professionalism.He knows music inside and out and is an excellent instructor. If you're looking for great guitar lessons, Robert is your man.And a nicer person is hard to find. Learn his lessons, start a band, and go out there and perform that beautiful Texas Blues to appreciative audiences!When we worked together, there wasn't time for rehearsing, so I sent him the set list. He walked in and nailed all his parts with having only even met myself. And he barely had a week notice if I remember correctly.Buy his books and learn the material and you will notice how much you improve on the guitar. And take his lessons! He schooled me by just being onstage with him. That mojo is infectious, but in a good way.

I own about 15 to 20 different blues guitar books, but not more than 5 or 6 make my "dream team" so to speak..this is one of them. The solos in the book are not hard to play if you have an intermediate, or serious beginner level..but what I liked the most of this book, is that it has 2 rhythm guitars in each example, and both guitars are "tabed" down, including some fills every now and then, that make the music more interesting. So, in a few words, here you will find your rhythm guitar playing, along with fills, intros, turnarounds, and of course the solos, the whole "buffet" is in calva`s book. Higly recommended..and the songs played, are not just some "watered" down examples of blues guitar playing...

This book is a great place to start for anyone that's looking at getting into Texas style blues. It has some pretty good licks to get you started with and then breaks it down into different styles, "Shuffle Blues", "Slow Blues", etc. I know a couple local blues teachers that teach from this one.

There is a lot of good information inside this and I would recommend to anyone wanting to push their guitar skills

Great little book of ideas

I dig this book. It starts out with about 25 riffs in the Texas blues style. None of them are "raw beginner" type stuff. For example, they require a lot of bends, even 1-1/2 step bends, and those bends are in some pretty fast riffs. So you need a certain amount of experience under your belt, or you'll feel completely frustrated. It has made me work my fingers off.On the other hand, if you do have at least a bit of experience, and you know your scales, your pentatonics, etc., then you learn some seriously cool riffs. Some of those riffs that you've always heard, but could never figure out on your own. I've been working on a couple in particular that, when played up to speed, are of the jaw-dropping variety. I almost can't believe that it's me playing them. Crank it up, baby!The rest of the book is a collection of rhythms, with tab for all of the rhythm playing. These go on for six or eight choruses, so you have plenty of room to practice playing the riffs you've worked on. Then, you'll get two or more chourses of the same rhythm, with a sample tabbed solo played over it (which will incorporate some of the riffs at the start of the book). All of this is also great stuff.Don't get me wrong. This is *not* a book to learn how to play lead. This is a book for somebody who already has a fairly good idea of what lead-playing is, who wants to learn some neat tricks. The author says that he uses the book with his students. If you were using this book with a teacher, I can see how this would be a good "from the ground up" tool to learn to play lead. But if you're just starting out, and you don't have a teacher, don't expect this book to teach you to play lead.Anyway...this has been one of the funnest books I've gotten yet. In fact, I expect the author to reimburse me for all of the strings I've been breaking from these bends! Heh heh.

Okay, I know some of you will question the objectivity of the author writing a review of his own work but I intend just to give some information regarding this book.I have used the material in this book with my students at Musicians Institute for many years now and have gotten great results. After working through this book my students are much better players and improvisors. Regardless of your level and musical background you can get allot out of this book/CD. So, if you are into blues and want a good primer on blues guitar or play other styles but just want to improve your blues playing, then this book is for you!

I have to say I did enjoy this book. Although it didn't really blow my mind in any way, it did add some more licks to my lick vocabulary and I use the ones I learned in this book quite often because they are very applicable. Not the greatest blues guitar book but it does help if you are looking to expand your guitar playing style. + the book is worth the money, I don't regret this purchase at all.

This is an excellent book and CD. In 5 highly listenable-to and accessible tracks, Calva covers the key electric blues phrases and styles, at a range of tempos and rhythms, from slow BB-King-esque bendy blues to shuffles to driving, funky blues. It references all the greats, including BB (not texan, but his licks are in here!), Albert King, Albert Collins, Freddie King, Johnny Winter and SRV. For the player who has got a few minor pentatonic licks under their belt and wants to take this to the next level, its an unparalleled introduction, and serves as a compendium of key licks and phrases.There is plenty to challenge, from some quick-fire licks to getting the slower, bend-based phrasing right (an essential skill), but none of it is out of reach of the 'improving' player. And unlike many books, it encourages the student to focus on the construction of the rhythm tracks too (which are also tabbed in full) in addition to the lead parts - an essential part of becoming a good player, and criminally neglected by most books!The author also adds plenty of accompanying explanation, tips and comprehensive parting thoughts, without ever becoming tedious, and includes his 'essential albums' discography, which helped me out no end a few years back. I am now an experienced player and starting to teach too - of all the tuition books i have ever purchased, this is the one i have got the most mileage from, setting me on the right path as a blues player myself, and again for inspiration in teaching the blues to others (thanks, Robert, if you ever read this!).Also check out Calva's other book- blues/rock guitar, also highly recommended, but only after you can nail the stuff in this book; the other one is rather more challenging throughout- lots of high tempo licks and longer, more complicated structures.

Although the product pictured is the MP3 digital download version, the one sent to me was the CD version.The music on the CD is still the same but you don't get access to the PLAYBACK+ software which would have been nice.The book is well written and a good addition to my collection

Método fantástico para nivel básico e incluso medio. Conciso y directo al grano. De lo mejorcito que he visto para el Blues, y con la calidad del Musicians Institute.

sono principiante e trovo molto utile Il libro e sopratutto il CD in dotazione che in combinazionecon le spiegazioni permettono di fare primi importanti passi nella tecnica bluessia come ritmo che assolo.Attenzione che il libro è in inglese.