What an interesting premise for a book!
I first encountered this book via the Acoustic Guitar magazine webstore. Even then, I was fascinated with the title and then later when I received my copy – I was in love with the entire look and aesthetic of the book.
This book is divided into 10 sections:
- Introduction
- Chapter I: “Mono Bass Pattern”
- Chapter II: “Introducing a Tune”
- Chapter III: “Mommy, where do notes come from?”
- Chapter IV: “Walking Patterns and Bass Runs”
- Chapter V: “Chord Choices”
- Chapter VI: “Stylization”
- Chapter VII: “Syncopation”
- Chapter VIII: “Flatpicking”
- Appendix: Tablatures, Sources
Essentially, Cameron Knowler teaches us the “historic stylings of country guitar” – or as he describes it, “present the reader with a unified approach to rhythm and melody.”
The book goes from really basic talking about picking technique, reading tablature, syncopated rhythms and how to play bass and strum patterns to accompany well when playing a rhythm guitar part.
The book combines Cameron’s distinctive writing style, photos that give context to the techniques, transcriptions and exercises that teach the style. Cameron also intersperses the playing and execises with relevant music theory and harmony to explain the material we are working on.
The only thing about the experience of working through the book is that some examples are in the appendix, which at times for me means going back and forth often losing my place where I was reading the instructions for practice. This made it challenging to study the material. I’m not sure why Cameron did this. Still, it’s nice that in the digital eBook version, the videos (101 in total, in an unlisted YouTube playlist) for the examples are hyperlinked so that it’s easy to access the correct video as you’re working on an exercise and transcription.
As someone who’s been interested in this style of music coming in from a love of bluegrass, some Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Maybelle Carter, as well as more mainstream folk guitar – it’s nice to learn more about where this style of playing comes from and to zoom in topics like walking bass runs and dynamics in a deep way. It’s often easy to underestimate the depth of styles like this so I’m happy that Cameron is giving the world a way into this sonic universe.
All in all, this is a unique book that focuses into an area of study that is rarely captured like this. What I mean is that we’re lucky to have someone so deeply into this style of playing who is willing to document and share the nuances of this style. After studying this book for awhile, I certainly would love to get an actual physical copy of this book as I’ve seen how absolutely beautiful it is.
Pros: A great book written by someone who is passionate about this style of music. Lots of materials to work on.
Cons: You will need to spends hours, days and months in order to get this stuff together. Wait that’s not a con, that’s is just reality.
TLDR: If you’re interested in this style of music, this is a book worth getting to help save some time and guide you in this musical journey.
Get the book here: https://www.cameronknowler.com/rural-guitar
I received a complimentary review copy from Cameron Knowler. Thanks Cameron!
[Submissions for Review Consideration]
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