DVD Fever!!

I am very pleased to announce the re-publication of a book I wrote in 1980 and that was published in 1984. It is called “Modern Folk Guitar” and it has been quietly in print for the last 20 years, only readily available at college bookstores where it was being used as a guitar textbook.
I taught folk guitar at the University of Maryland from 1976 to 1979, and wrote this book with my friend & mentor Dr. Terry Kuhn, a career music educator. It was first published by Random House, and later sold to McGraw-Hill, where it remained until they let it go out of print at the end of 2003.
Now that it belongs to me, I took a hard look at it, and decided that it was still a very thorough, readable and useful book, and was amazed that I wrote it. (Even more amazing--it was written before computers, on a typewriter.) Guitar chords have not gone out of date, so it is once again available to the college folk guitar community (where it has been widely used and very well-received), and also to those of you who are interested in having one around the house.
The book is a hefty 330 pages, and is designed for adult beginners who know nothing about music or guitars. It assumes no knowledge, and ends with basic fingerpicking. It’s not about the fancy guitar playing I do for a living, but is intended to show ordinary people how to accompany songs with the guitar. It has a lot of information: songs, exercises, theory, history, advice on buying and caring for instruments, changing strings, tuning, performing and writing songs. Critics called it comprehensive.
Modern Folk Guitar was the first folk guitar book ever to pass through what is known as “peer review” or “scholarly review” which happens when things like scientific papers get published. It went through a lengthy review process, and was published with the scrutiny, suggestions and blessings of actual guitar educators. This is not an idle distinction. The wall of how-to-play-guitar books that greet you when you walk into a music store were published by whomever wanted to pay the printer to print them, and generally have no academic oversight whatsoever. Authors and publishers sometimes even make up their own notation systems, and generally invent their curriculum with good intentions, but with the intent of selling books, and limited (if any) editorial supervision. Readers have no way of knowing how accurate the information is or whether the contents are based on any sound principles of education, and most “learn to play” books have had little if any scrutiny by disinterested and knowledgeable parties. It seems hard to believe that the music education industry is totally unregulated, but it is.
So instead of paying $56 at a college bookstore (which was what McGraw-Hill was charging when it went out of print), you can now get one from Woodpecker Records for $39.95. There is a web page order form and more information about it at www.woodpecker.com/modernfolk.html and it is also on the normal Woodpecker web order form.It is almost worth the $ to see the pictures of me from 1982.(below)
Those of you are learning on yoru own may want to pick one up for your bookshelf, or if you have family or friends who want to add some music to their lives. And those of you who are guitar teachers who are tired of xeroxing things for your lessons might want to consider using it, and should inquire about obtaining them for your students. They weigh 2 lbs each, but I will try to bring some to concerts this year.