lI've included many excellent tips and suggestions that I got first-hand from celebrities such as B.B. King, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Pete Anderson (Dwight Yoakam), Warren Haynes (Allman Brothers), Rene Martinez (Stevie Ray Vaughan's guitar tech), Tom Dowd (legendary producer), and many, many more.

And the 53-track CD (included at no extra charge) offers you the opportunity to learn and work on many of the riffs and chord progressions described in the book. You can use it as a play-along, jam tool as well.

I've written this book to be an easy, fun read, with just a touch of dry humor (or is it simply a veteran musician's hard-earned sarcasm?) thrown in for good measure. I hope you'll get a good laugh out of some of it, because a sense of humor is definitely a plus for any musician!
101 Guitar Tips makes an excellent learning product, and a great gift. I'm currently (December, 2003) working on my follow up book, "101 Recording Tips," which will help solve problems and create better recordings for anyone with a home studio or heading into a pro studio. Watch for this book to come out through Hal Leonard in 2004. Of course you’ll be able to purchase the book right here at adamstjames.com.

If you've purchased my book 101 Guitar Tips, and want me to clarify anything in the book, feel free to contact me at adam@adamstjames.com.

The introduction to the book explains the music theory behind chords, covering the following topics: Choosing the Best Voicing, What’s a Chord?, How Does a Chord Get Its Name?, How Do I Build a Chord?, What About Other Keys?, Triads, Sevenths, Extended Chords, and Inversions & Voicings.
Use this book to figure out all the advanced chords mentioned in your favorite songbook, or in tablature you download off the Internet. The 264-page book comes in right- and left-handed players’ versions, and in pocket-sized editions as well. In the grand scheme of things, learning just one new chord that you end up using regularly will be well worth the price of The Picture Chord Encyclopedia.

And yes, those are 2,640 photographs of my left hand, playing just about every chord imaginable. This was my first project for Hal Leonard and the photo session took three weeks, 8 to 10 hours per day. We had one of my guitars locked in position in a corner of a huge photo studio, surrounded by lights and lighting reflectors. The photographer used a digital camera and would take 10 pictures, then stop to download them. His assistant would then place the photos right into the pages of the book using Adobe Illustrator while I edited the next ten chords in the book. We had a blast on this session, and joked that this was my first handjob – my first work as a hand model.

Incredible Scale Finder:
Easy-to-Use Guide to Over 1300 Guitar Scales ($5.95)
The Incredible Scale Finder, part of the Hal Leonard Guitar Method series, is an invaluable supplement to any guitar method and a fantastic resource for all guitarists. This book is also a great learning tool on its own, and essential for anyone looking to expand their knowledge of scales on the guitar. The 104-page book is organized into sections for each note of the musical alphabet, including sharps and flats, from A to G#.

Each section includes eight pages of guitar neck block diagrams and the 17 most common scale types used in Western music, showing every note in each scale on the entire guitar neck. Each scale type is then broken down into hand-sized chunks, stretching up the neck from an open-stringed position through every scale position until the patterns begin to repeat one octave higher on the neck.

The REH ProLicks instructional series was originally issued as a $75 package for each of the musical genres you see below. Each package contained six cassette tapes and a short booklet of notation and tablature. The authors played solos at the beginning of each tape, then spent the next 45 minutes verbally explaining how they played the solos, and other related issues. Each course covered six related styles of soloing. It was a great series, and the playing and lessons taught in each series was phenomenal, probably the best genre-specific guitar solo teaching tools I’ve ever encountered. But listening to the guys talk for 45 minutes or more was a little cumbersome.

So Hal Leonard asked me to edit each of these down to a more user-friendly book and CD, and a more user friendly price too: $17.95 each. I may have learned more about soloing in blues, jazz, and country from these courses than from any other learning experience I’ve ever had. I highly recommend these book and CD packages.

REH ProLicks Country Solos for Guitar ($17.95)
The Pro Licks Country Solos for Guitar book was authored by Steve Trovato, who teaches guitar full time at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. He is also a world-class clinician and his former students include Scott Henderson, Frank Gambale, and Norman Brown. Steve describes himself as a musical chameleon, exceptional in many styles, but he really nails it on this country soloing course. This ain’t your let-the-pretty-girl-dance-around-out-front kind of country soloing. This is definitely tie-Shania-up-in-the-dressing-room-and-let-the-guitarist-shred-for-awhile country soloing. This stuff rips!

This 80-page course includes chapters and fantastic solos teaching the styles of Albert Lee, Dhet Atkins, Jerry Reed, James Burton, Steve Morse, Ray Flacke, Roy Buchanan, Roy Nichols, Mark O’Connor, Eric Johnson, Scotty Moore, Hank Garland, and Jimmy Bryant.

The Pro Licks Jazz Solos for Guitar book was authored by Les Wise, a great jazz guitarist with numerous books out through Hal Leonard. This is fantastic jazz soloing in a variety of jazzy styles. You’ll practically be a jazz master after getting through just the first solo in the book.

This 72-page course includes chapters and fantastic solos teaching the styles of Wes Montgomery, Johnny Smith, Jimmy Raney, Tal Farlow, Joe Pass, Herb Ellis, Jim Hall, Pat Martino, George Benson, Barney Kessel, Kenny Burrell, and Ed Bickert.

Included are recorded solos and chapters titled “Arpeggio Substitutions,” “Scale Substitutions,” “Tension and Resolution,” “Jazz Blues,” “Chord Soloing,” and “Virtuoso Guitar.”

The Pro Licks Hard Rock Solos for Guitar book was authored by Paul Hanson, an advocate of ’80s metal guitar shredding. You’ll find out how all the hottest licks are played with this course, as well as some great classic rock and metal lead techniques, including the two-handed tapping and tremolo bar tricks made famous by Eddie Van Halen and others.

This 72-page course includes chapters and unbelievable solos teaching the styles of Randy Rhoads, Yngvie Malmsteen, Allan Holdsworth, Gary Moore, Uli Jon Roth, Michael Schenker, Edward Van Halen, Steve Lynch, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Stanley Jordan, Jeff Watson, Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, and Steve Vai.

Included are recorded solos and chapters titled “Long Ascending and Descending Runs,” “Neoclassical Rock,” “Rapid-Fire Repeating Licks,” “Hot Modern Licks,” “Two-Handed Guitar,” and “Modern Tricks.”