Guitar Scales in Context: The Practical Reference Guide Paperback – September 24, 2014

This is a good book, but something I won't use immediately. This might be a personal thing, as there seems to be lots of great information in it.I don't read music, and mostly practice and learn guitar on my own. Either I can pick up melodies are chords by ear, or I find a YouTube video and model what I see (YouTube has exploded in the past ten years). Also, though familiar with the CAGED system, I don't actually love it. To be completely honest, it's not a method I really like and it ruined another book on guitar for me. If all your books on in this method, it might not be a way for me to learn other aspects of guitar playing.Another way I have learned in the past is with a live teacher. The YouTube videos sometimes replace that, but everyone has their own style of teaching and it's sometimes distracting. I've never bought any instructional guitar DVDs, but I think your books might benefit from the added visuals. Maybe I'm missing something in how you are presenting the material? I don't know, but for me it's a bit daunting. I also play the mandolin, and have bought two instructional DVDs recently. The first one is by Chris Thiel, and I have to tell you I like it a lot. If you teach like him, slap a DVD in the mail for me to go with this book and I'll jump right on it.You still get the three stars, but not quite a five for me as I don't see myself opening this book anytime soon. Physically, I like some of the elements, but wish there was some tablature in there. Tablature I'm familiar with - CAGED system and musical notes look like a foreign language to me.

This has been my go-to scale reference book. I've picked up multiple other ones, the grimoire on scales and modes, scales in the beginning, etc. And this one is my favorite. It's easy to read, not bogged down with superfluous information. You get triad and arpeggio patterns to work with alongside the scale, sample chord progressions that work with it as well as backing tracks for practice.It doesnt explain very much, but that's okay, I dont think it's meant to. They make music theory books for that so if you're looking for a bunch of theory, look elsewhere. As a reference though, it's great. I seem to always have it open.

I really like the scales in context book. It gives you a pretty basic, but thorough method to learning scales. The backing tracks that come with the book are good for learning how to implement the scale musically and aren't too complicated so you can have an easier time. The only knock I gave the book was the licks it provides are pretty boring and are not something someone would use often in a musical context. They feel more like an exercise that a usable (in context) lick. I think the book uses the licks and the basic backing tracks as an easy way to start using the scales, so this is a minor thing, but maybe a resource for more lick ideas would be great.

This book has all the modal scales plus the synthetic scales (half/whole tone, whole/whole tone). Each scale is represented in its 5 caged parts, and in each cage the chord that harmonizes is highlighted. I assume that most guitarists, even beginners, know the Ionian Major scale; that being said, there is so much information in this book that I decided to pick two scales to memorize: Dorian for a minor sound and the Half/Whole Tone scale for a classic recognizable jazz sound that has a repetitious pattern for easier memorization and use. I was so impressed with this book that I have since bought several more of J. Alexander's guitar instruction books, and they are all worth every cent. I only wish he had a set of beginner instructional books for jazz piano...

Recently after years of playing guitar with just basic theory knowledge and pentagon scales, I decided to learn scales and how to apply them to chords in a musical way. Looking on Amazon I found this book and it looked like the answer I've been looking for!! I've been practicing using the book in conjunction with the downloadable content, and it's already making me look at the instrument in a different way, which is great!! The scales presented are easy to learn, and retain thanks to the learning suggestions in the beginning of the book. Now when I hear a song on the radio I start analyzing the chord structure and scales used. Listening definitely is a more active activity after learning from this book. Thanks to Joseph Alexander on a great book and I'll definitely be buying more as time goes on.

I'm an intermediate guitarist who loves rock, metal, and blues. Even though I've been studying music and music theory for 8 years on different instruments, picking up a guitar and applying scale knowledge is still pretty difficult. There are so many scales and modes it is hard to know where to start. This book gives you great explanations of each scale and helps you figure out which ones you should know for your playing. Not only does this book outline a lot of the most used scales used in music, it gives you a practical way of learning them instead of just memorizing them note for note. It is great to have scales memorized, but if you don't know how to use those scales to fit the music you're playing, it's worthless. I truly believe this book bridges the gap between knowing scales and being able to use them practically.

Mr Joseph's book seems well written and laid out & symbols are explained on the 2nd page, however, I suspect that contrary to what some Reviewers say, this is NOT a book for a beginner/intermediate with no guitar theory experience. I find the diagrams overly complicated in their layout, with far too many dots, squares and circles instead of just a simple scale pattern showing where to start and finish...as it is, the diagrams are very complex and fine for theory intermediates and experienced guitarists, but in my opinion, not for beginners or non theory guitarists.

The book has a range of scales that are primarily used in a wide range of genres which makes this ideal for a well rounded player. It shows the scales in many different positions on the fret board which is really useful for making your improvisation more complex and exiting.The only thing I think the book is lacking slightly is the amount of song/artist examples for each scale. I like being able to learn and play along to tracks so I found the amount of song examples quite limited. However, there are plenty of youtube backing tracks that are great to play along to instead.Overall this is a great book for all abilities, by the end of the book you should be able to improvise in a range of music styles.

This book contains scales covering a variety of genres and it is well laid out in a logical format. The ability to download free audio files to support each track is a major benefit as it makes the theory more understandable when you can hear it in practice. There could be a little more help for absolute beginners (like me!) to explain moving from C major to other scales, as it can be confusing, but still a very helpful purchase.

This has everything you need to know in order to move you from a basic guitarist into a very comfortable intermediate level guitarist (although if you said that you knew two variants of the Dorian Bebop Scale you might be considered as an advanced player!). This book is so much fun to use when working alongside the audio files that are downloadable with it: you have the theory explained in words, the shapes and fingering diagrams, the music score documented in both tabs and staves, and then you can hear each 'lesson' demonstrated while you take it all in.A very approachable guide through a whole range of scales/modes that will actually make you want to find out about, say, the Phrygian Dominant Mode and then you won't want to stop using it!A wonderful little gem!

Excellent book. Though perhaps not for the absolute beginner .