Alfred Publishing makes learning classic songs easy
(John Gorbe | Posted 2011-02-14)
As a professional guitar instructor, I can tell you from experience that when a student first picks up the guitar, one of the first questions they ask is, “When am I going to learn my first song?” Even if a student is too shy to ask this question, if I bring it up they will get excited and be totally onboard with learning a song. This is why they want to play in the first place.
Alfred Publishing has made this process more efficient and fun with twp new books, “Acoustic Rock Classics” and “Rock Guitar Classics.” The Easy Play-Along series for guitar is a no-nonsense approach to playing countless chart-topping songs from various decades and genres. Guitarists can learn all their favorite guitar parts using simplified arrangements in both music notation and TAB, including melody, rhythm, and lyrics.
I always encourage students to play along with the song they’re learning because it helps develop their sense of timing, rhythm, phrasing and overall knowledge of how their part fits into the song. Alfred makes this very easy with an included CD of professionally recorded backing tracks with vocals as well as Alfred’s Tone and Tempo Changer, which allows the player to speed up or slow down the song, loop the play-back for continuous practice, and even change the key. The software allows you to mute the guitar for play-along, or the vocals so you can hear the demonstration guitar track more clearly or sing along. Both books are available from www.alfred.com for $14.99.
Easy Guitar Play-Along: Acoustic Rock Classics contains the following titles: Black Water * Cat's in the Cradle * For What It's Worth * Layla (Unplugged version) * Melissa * She Talks to Angels * Sister Golden Hair * Take It Easy * Wish You Were Here * You Can't Always Get What You Want.
Easy Guitar Play-Along: Rock Guitar Classics contains the following titles: Babe I'm Gonna Leave You * Bad to the Bone * Feel Like Makin' Love * Honky Tonk Women * Jessica * Stairway to Heaven * Stay with Me * Summertime Blues * White Room * Wild Night.
These books are perfect for students looking to play great classic rock songs, and they’re also a great addition to any teacher’s repertoire of books to aid in their student’s development. I can’t think of a better way to teach concepts than allowing the “rubber to meet the road” by learning songs.
AboutAlfred
Alfred Music Publishing is the world’s largest educational music publisher. Alfred produces educational, reference, pop & performance materials for teachers, students, professionals & hobbyists spanning every musical instrument, style & difficulty level. Alfred’s home office is located in Los Angeles with domestic offices in Miami & New York as well as offices around the world including Australia, Germany, Singapore & the United Kingdom.
Since 1922, Alfred Music Publishing has been dedicated to helping people learn, teach & play music. Alfred currently has over 90,000 active titles. Alfred represents a wide range of well-known publications from methods like, Alfred’s Basic Guitar, Alfred’s Basic Piano Library, Premier Piano Course, Sound Innovations & Suzuki, to artists like Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Van Halen, Green Day, Michael Jackson, Sheryl Crow, Eagles, Cole Porter & George and Ira Gershwin, to brands like Star Wars, Harry Potter, Lord of The Rings, Rolling Stone Magazine & Billboard.
From a press release.
