Description

Guitars Have Feelings Too was written to improve upon the guitar book as a method of teaching, while developing a new perspective on the topic of flatpicking guitar. Analyzing the stylings of historically progressive backup guitar players (Jim Baxter, Norman Blake, Maybelle Carter, and Riley Puckett), the reader is led through the bedrock tenets of American rhythm guitar; one that is inherently progressive, Knowler argues. This conversation touches on technique, theory, and how to better listen to the information provided by the fiddle. Applying these interrelated points to the subject of melodic guitar, the last quarter of the book introduces a largely unknown guitarist who conveniently exists as a crossover between old-time and bluegrass music, while setting in motion various points made throughout the narrative. It is with this information that the reader is encouraged to reevaluate flatpicking guitar as a continuation of the dance traditions which later developed into bluegrass music, as opposed to a genre of purely virtuosic instrumental music. The format of this method book includes longer examples in the back, neatly labeled in an appendix, with shorter examples woven into the manuscript to aid a focused learning experience.