During my recent trip to the United States, I was blessed to receive a copy of Rick Peckham’s latest book from Berklee Press, Berklee Guitar Chords 101.
Firstly a disclaimer: I previously studied with Rick during my time as a student at Berklee, and we have kept in touch over the years. However, when it comes to these book reviews, I do state what I honestly feel about these releases since I believe that getting the right information helps you make a better choice of what books or courses to invest in.
The thing about this topic is that you probably could find out about all these chords for free online… so why would you need a book for this?
Well, it’s one thing to know what chords to learn… but it’s a whole other thing to know what to learn first (the sequence) and HOW to practice.
This is what Rick has organized via this book.
To be really frank, this is probably more of a guitar course than just a book. There is enough information here organized in a logical way to help the enterprising guitar student to improve even more.
Combine this book with a serious study of repertoire & playing/jamming/performance situations)… and you would have such a strong harmonic foundation.
I love how Rick arranged the topics and exercises in such a logical way. This book has all the chords you would need to start playing most rock, pop, R&B, jazz and blues songs.
I wish I had this book when I started learning these kind of chords 26 years ago!
When I finally had the opportunity to work through the material using the backing tracks, I realized how much the experience of going through the book is by practicing with the tracks. These are legit band backing tracks played by real musicians, with Rick on guitar, Fernando Huergo on bass and Gen Yoshimura on drums. The tracks are engineered by Peter Kontrimas and was recorded at PBS Studio in Westwood, MA.
There’s a lot that I love about the book. Lesson 24 about hybrid chords has a diagram on page 141 that is possibly a course by itself (seriously). Personally I’ll be checking out that one again and again.
Also, I dig the fact that Rick introduces “raise” voicings instead of “drop” voicing – which makes sense since as a guitarist we tend to think from the root or lowest note on the chord.
All in all, this is a valuable resource and guide to the serious guitarist who wants to gain fluency playing standard useful guitar chords. Hence the name: Guitar Chords 101! That being said, if you actually did go through the 25 chapters thoroughly, you will really learn a lot.
Get your copy of the book from Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/Berklee-Guitar-Chords-101-Approach/dp/0876392273
Many thanks to Professor Rick Peckham for sending me a copy of the book!
Pros: A great, very well organized book that is laid out like a course (since it is based on the Berklee Online course!)
Cons: None.
TLDR: If you want to gain fluency playing jazz guitar chords in a systematic way, get this book!
[Submissions for Review Consideration]
- Are you an author who wrote a jazz, guitar or music book?
- Have you created a DVD or an online video course or subscription based website?
- Would you like me to review your book/course?
Please send me a message at azsamad3 at gmail.com with:
For courses: a link to the course/video/product + access info etc.
For books: a link to the book (Dropbox) or PDF attachment (if it’s small) for review consideration.
Depending on whether I dig the book/course, I’ll let you know if I do plan to review it!
I cannot guarantee a review for every submission & if I’m not too into it, I may opt not to review it. I mean, it’s better to get a good review that for me to write a bad review just because it’s not a match for the kind of stuff I dig right? :p
NOTE: All reviews reflect my honest personal opinion so be aware that I will point out both cool Pros and Cons that I see in the work. You dig?
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