The Guitar Grimoire: A Compendium of Forumlas for Guitar Scales and Modes

by Adam Kadmon

Book Overview

The most complete book on scales and modes ever written. An encyclopedia with over 6,000 diagrams, charts and graphs. Complete explanation of all 5,6,7, and 8 tone scales and modes. The essential... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0825821711
• ISBN13: 9780825821714
• Release Date: January 1991
• Publisher: Carl Fischer
• Length: 211 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Amazing book if you have a need for large scalar knowledge (jazz?)

This is an amazing book for reference. Reference is key. If you're looking to learn music theory and such, this is not the book. But if you already have a pretty good grasp on theory such as harmony, chord-scales, etc, this is a great book to have on hand.

Good Book for all guitarists

This book will give the guitarist freedom. I recommend it to all guitar players. Having an understanding of Modes and Scales before reading this book is a good idea, as it will then give you a quick reference to each and every scale and mode without having to spend hours of time working them out yourself.

Excellent Practical Reference For the Advanced Player

This particular volume has been a solid reference since I purchased it 3 years ago, and I would advise anyone interested in developing a thourough grasp of improvisational theory to purchase this book and begin applying it to his or her playing. Though this book does not include standard notation or sequential tablature for scales, it presents the scales in their most immediately applicable state by simply marking them in dots accross the fretboard. As an improvisor, learning the scales as positions and sweeping patterns has been far more useful than learning specific noted sequences that might confine creativity and application to those specific sequences. Since part of musical intelligence is learning many different terms for similar concepts, adding the concepts in this book should not be considered an obstacle to classical theory in any way. The theoretical information is also excellent and specifically relates to guitar fretboard logic rather than outlining theory abstractly, then asking the reader to connect the dots through a number of exercises. In the title, I specified this book for the advanced player. This book contains hundreds of positions of scales, most of which are not applicable to the popular music that beginning guitarists enjoy learning. Instead of a piece-of-cake instructional volume, it is a gigantic reference useful to guitarists truly interested in developing a vast knowledge of guitar scales and modes as they related to improvisational playing.

Outstanding instructional/reference book

This impressive tome explains scales, and their various modes, in the most comprehensable manner I've ever seen.Not only are they explained, just about every scale you could want to play is plotted out for you on the fretboard diagrams. Every pattern. Every position. Except for ummm... Chinese Mongolian??? Well, I couldn't care less what's *not* covered because what *is* covered is more than adequate. If you even know that Chinese Mongolian scales exist, you don't need this book.However, if you're a beginning guitarist who has mastered the basic fundamentals - such as how to press the string onto the frets - this book (and all of Kadmon's books) is a must investment. If you're an intermediate level guitarist, this is a must have. If you're an advanced guitarist, this is a must have.Fourteen 7 tone scales are covered: Major, Melodic Minor, Harmonic Minor & Major, Hungarian Min & Maj, Neapolitan Min & Maj, Enigmatic Minor, Enigmatic, Composite II, Ionian b5, Locrian #7, and Persian.Three 5 tone scales are covered: Minor Pentatonic (the blues scale), Kumoi and Hirojoshi.Four 6 tone scales: Whole Tone, Augmented, Pelog, Dominant Sus.Six 8 tone scales: Diminished, 8 Tone Spanish, Bebop Locrian #2, Bebop Dominant, Bebop Dorian and Bebop Major.Every scale is mapped out in every key... on a full fretboard... and in individual patterns. The keyboard patterns are even diagramed so you can see how the scale looks on a keyboard. Perfect for MIDI musicians. Quick Mode Generator charts. Scale/Mode - Chord Charts. Numeric Scale/Mode charts.You want to understand the scales and their modes and have the patterns mapped out for you so you can look at them while you practice? Buy this book. And there's nothing wrong with the books binding either... unless you regularly walk on it or abuse it in some manner such as spilling bear or puking on it. That might ruin the binding.- Alleyrat

Great, great book

At first when I opened this book, I felt lost. It was like reading German. But after a few sit downs without my guitar in my hands, it came very clear. The introductory sections on intervals, scales and modes were fantastic. I've read a bunch of guitar books, and this is the only one that precisely and adequately describes intervals so that you know exactly what they are. It's just a great great book.