During my many years as a writing, performing, and teaching guitarist I have come across hoards of chord and scale references. None has impressed me like Alfred Publishing’s The Ultimate Guitar Chord & Scale Bible. While there are tons of chord apps on the market, nothing beats the tactile feeling of a good chord book.
What separates this “Ultimate” book from the good chord books is how authors Buck Brown and Mark Dziuba put this reference together. The book opens with an impressive library of over 5,000 chords. The book takes the reader through all of the major keys. Every possible voicing desired is represented with multiple examples of finger positioning.
I found these chord charts to be a phenomenal way to warm up and kick-start the creative juices as I worked my way from simple major chords to slick voicings like Maj13add9 or Maj7#5. These charts are also a great teaching tool; no studying guitarist should leave the house without a copy of this text in their gig bag.
The scale section is just as impressive. The scales are smartly listed in alphabetic order. The great thing about the scales are they are correctly titled and musically accurate. The book runs you through the modes, major and minor scales with ease. There are beautiful and wild exotic scales to fuel your imagination and break you out of your pentatonic rut.
Where the scales really shine is they are presented in the open position, single-string fingering, two note fingering and also takes you through the cycle of fourths. Each scale comes with a chord vamp example making the book an ultimate teaching aid.
Alfred Publishing’s The Ultimate Guitar Chord & Scale Bible is a must have for guitarist of all levels and styles. For about half the price of an average guitar lesson you will get a text that will bring your soloing and scale theory to breakout levels.
