Rating : - Another excellent tutorial by Bert Casey
This follow-on tutorial to the Acoustic Primer Book is more interesting and varied. The Primer is excellent but emphasizes country bass runs with a variety of traditional or folk songs. This book starts with Rock strumming patterns which I found more enjoyable. The second section continues the country music picking techniques from the Primer but with more familiar music like Man of Constant Sorrow and Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain. Having digested Book 1, I actually found myself starting to enjoy the country style more than I would have thought. The third section teaches arpeggios, which was quite fun. The next sections deal with Capo techniques, barre chords, muted strumming, and accompanying other guitarists. Casey introduces songs featuring several interesting chords like Aadd9, D6, Am7, C/B, C/G, E/A, D/F#, Dm9, Asus2, Am9, FM7, G6, and Bm13. Overall, Book 2 was more of a hodgepodge of different styles and techniques but it was all quite enjoyable. If one takes both books seriously, practicing enough to play along with Casey at full tempo, then it seems believable one would be an "intermediate" guitarist by the end of the second book. Depending on how disciplined one is at working through all the exercises here, it seems to me that the $30 or so dollars for these two books might be the equivalent of at least 10 - 15 private lessons. Very well done, and a bargain.