[Book Review: Fretboard Essentials Book 1 by Bill

Farrish]

I’m a geek when it comes to visualizing the guitar retboard.

‘ou name it, l’ve probably tried it.

Over the past 26 years of playing, performing and studying guitar… I’ve tried:

…The CAGED system, the Segovia scales, the William Leavitt fingerings, Jimmy Bruno (both his Six Essential Fingerings and his later 5 Shapes), three note per string fingerings, two note per string fingerings, four note per string fingerings, Davy Mooney’s fingerings, even Frank Gambale more elaborate economy picking friendly shapes… I’ve tried many of the options available!

And the fact is, almost anything works, as long as you know what you’re going for… and you organized.

The problem is you’re new to this world is that it can get overwhelming at times.

Which finderina svstem is the best?

Are these really scales… or are they as Jimmy

Bruno savs “shapes” for expressing a tonal center?

In any case, the most important thing is to commit to the right one and then go through it systematically. This is where Fretboard Essentials Book 1 by Bill Farrish becomes useful.

For one, it’s 13 pages long. That’s not very long.

But it’s not the length of the book that matters… it’s the CONTENT that matters.

Bill Farrish wrote out his choice fingerings for Major, Melodic Minor, Harmonic Minor & Natural Minor scales in the key of C… and then gives you the opportunity to master these fingerings when you transpose them yourself.

If the book ended there (with the introduction where Bill explains the material), the book would be more than enough to chew on.

But, Bill also includes close voices triad inversions on all string sets and short arpeggios for 6th and 7th chords. These are all important topics for serious study of the guitar.
In fact, this is the kind of material that I would assign to my students who are either music college bound or who are in music college.

All in all, this is the kind of book that can make a guitar teacher’s life easier. This is what you can assign students… or in my case, I’m assigning myself all these to get my fundamentals stronger.

After all, it’s all about the basics. Master the basics and everything else opens up.

So, if you’re still lost on the fretboard, consider this new eBook from Bill Farrish to help you on your fretboard adventure. This is like getting a treasure map for the guitar. Use it!”