Guthrie Govan: Creative Guitar

@TheAngusBurger 9537 wrote:

Anybody had any experience with these books? I’ve just asked for both of them for Christmas, I’m wondering how you all rate them. He taught for quite a while so I would imagine they will be quite good.

Hi AngusBurger, 🙂

I have A LOT of experience with these two books, (Creative Guitar 1 & 2) and I still come back to them when I’m looking to mix up a practice-session with some new approaches. 😉 Here’s a bit of advice: Read ALL of the up-front text at the beginnings of each book, as well as throughout each individual chapter/section: The reason I say this is because 1.) Guthrie is an EXTREMELY intelligent, witty, and articulate writer who is a joy to read! 2.) Also, Guthrie shares some incredibly insightful, accurate, and invaluable advice/wisdom in these “text-sections!” You have no idea how many times I would be reading text, and then find myself laughing at his “dry” British humor but also nodding in agreement thinking to myself: “That’s EXACTLY how I explain it to my students!” 😎 or: (in some cases) “That’s exactly how I should explain it to my students!” 😮 To me, it is very apparent that (even though he’s extremely knowledgable on the instrument,) he is “self-taught.” This is not a bad thing I say (even though I teach a lot!) as I think that depends on the individual. However, I think Guthrie has a very logical and pragmatic approach to learning and playing guitar. One thing that Guthrie is extremely consistent about throughout the book is the importance to “apply” whatever you learn, whether it’s a new scale, a lick, or even a whole new technique. His inclusion of some excellent (albeit a bit too short for my tastes!) backing/jam-tracks at the end of each book is proof-positive of Guthrie’s insistence that we all get in there and “find our own voice!” (Incidently, for what it’s worth, if you end up embracing “all-things-Guthrie, (as I have!) 😎 I would suggest checking out Guthrie’s sample solos over some fine jam-tracks at BluesJamTracks. Those packages are excellent and well-worth the short-money in my opinion! Plus, each of those backing tracks (the naked tracks, NOT the ones Guthrie jams over which are only a minute-or-so long!) are a good five-minutes long! NICE! 🙂 That’s plenty of time to get into some applications! Again this is just my opinion about a good supplement to these two awesome books. Guthrie’s books come highly recommended! FIVE (5) STARS!!! 😎 😉

~Bill Meehan~ 😀

@billmeedog 9539 wrote:

Hi AngusBurger, 🙂

I have A LOT of experience with these two books, (Creative Guitar 1 & 2) and I still come back to them when I’m looking to mix up a practice-session with some new approaches. 😉 Here’s a bit of advice: Read ALL of the up-front text at the beginnings of each book, as well as throughout each individual chapter/section: The reason I say this is because 1.) Guthrie is an EXTREMELY intelligent, witty, and articulate writer who is a joy to read! 2.) Also, Guthrie shares some incredibly insightful, accurate, and invaluable advice/wisdom in these “text-sections!” You have no idea how many times I would be reading text, and then find myself laughing at his “dry” British humor but also nodding in agreement thinking to myself: “That’s EXACTLY how I explain it to my students!” 😎 or: (in some cases) “That’s exactly how I should explain it to my students!” 😮 To me, it is very apparent that (even though he’s extremely knowledgable on the instrument,) he is “self-taught.” This is not a bad thing I say (even though I teach a lot!) as I think that depends on the individual. However, I think Guthrie has a very logical and pragmatic approach to learning and playing guitar. One thing that Guthrie is extremely consistent about throughout the book is the importance to “apply” whatever you learn, whether it’s a new scale, a lick, or even a whole new technique. His inclusion of some excellent (albeit a bit too short for my tastes!) backing/jam-tracks at the end of each book is proof-positive of Guthrie’s insistence that we all get in there and “find our own voice!” (Incidently, for what it’s worth, if you end up embracing “all-things-Guthrie, (as I have!) 😎 I would suggest checking out Guthrie’s sample solos over some fine jam-tracks at BluesJamTracks. Those packages are excellent and well-worth the short-money in my opinion! Plus, each of those backing tracks (the naked tracks, NOT the ones Guthrie jams over which are only a minute-or-so long!) are a good five-minutes long! NICE! 🙂 That’s plenty of time to get into some applications! Again this is just my opinion about a good supplement to these two awesome books. Guthrie’s books come highly recommended! FIVE (5) STARS!!! 😎 😉

~Bill Meehan~ 😀

+1 to everything in this post.