Chris Letchford's Guitar Technique Book

[TXDeathMetal]

So I ordered a copy of this book along with the tab book for Scale The Summit's newest album "The Collective" and I have to say that so far I'm really impressed. Each section in it focuses on a different technique and has several exercises to practice involving said technique and each exercise is notated on which finger to use to fret each note, where your down and upstrokes should be for each note and also which finger to tap with on your picking had. It's a great book and I can already tell that it's going to provide me with enough material to practice for months and that it is well worth the 20$ I spent on it, I was wondering if anyone else has this book and if so what are your thoughts on it

TL;DR= Awesome book, you should buy it. Already own it?... what's your opinion on it.

 

[Fiction]

I came across this band about 2 weeks ago, and I'm just waiting for money to transfer in my paypal then i'll be ordering this along with the Carving Desert Canyon tab book. It seems like a well written book and Chris is a pretty good guitarist so I'm sure the book will be able to teach me a thing or two.

 

[ShadyDavey]

Reviewed it a while back (in fact the link that Chris posted on his site is to my review) and I was thoroughly impressed. As the site is currently down I'll copy and paste from a backup to give you some idea of my impressions:

Chris Letchford (Scale the Summit) was born in Houston, Texas in 1984 and began playing guitar at the age of 8 -- since then he’s attended MIT, Berklee School of Music and the Houston Community College and managed to tour in support of Dream Theater -- does he really need any futher evidence of his musical credentials or abilities? If so then the fact he’s also busy teaching private students whilst endorsing Sherman Guitars, Music Man Guitars, Ernie Ball Products and Hipshot Bridges on top of writing this Technique book should provide ample evidence of his talent.

Chris Letchford’s Guitar Technique Book is his first instructional release (be sure to check out the Tab books for both STS albums however!) and reading the contents of this remarkably concise volume does to some extent appear to be a list of every popular technique for guitarists these days….and given Chris’ pedigree that’s not surprising in the least! Without further adoo, here’s the full breakdown:

• left hand and right hand technique
• string skipping
• scales
• modes
• alternate picking
• chord stretching
• chord arpeggiating
• odd meter
• metric modulation
• sweep picking
• sweep picking in odd meter
• hybrid picking
• sliding
• legato
• bending
• grace notes
• hammer on / pull offs
• economy picking
• arpeggios
• rolling bar technique
• tapping
• tapping with multiple fingers
• tapping with slides
• visualizing the neck exercises
• chromatic
• combing multiple techniques
• using octaves
• melodic exercises
• applying all 4 fingers
• using tritones
• right hand picking exercises and warmups
• harmonic minor exercise

Now, this is a relatively short book (52 pages, 52 exercises) but I think that the unnecessary verbiage we’re sometimes laden with can be a definite shortcoming for some authors so adopting a somewhat abbreviated approach is actually a breath of fresh air….AND it’s spiral bound so it doesn’t have to be wedged open whilst you’re busy trying to get your fingers around some of the examples -- ALL of which are usable in and of themselves as musical ideas.

Without addressing every single set of exercises I’ll summarise as thankfully Chris has managed to write them all to a very high standard and his methodical approach lends itself nicely to study and review. Each example is prefaced with a short paragraph explaining technical notes and the tempo followed by the tab and standard notation…and that’s it. No frills, nothing extra….but nothing extra is needed. I have to say that it’s all clearly laid in a minimalistic black/white colour scheme (with a large font) and is actually visible from across the room on a music stand which raises the question: why isn’t this approach taken by more companies?

Even in the space of a single technical approach (let’s take economy picking as an example) there are several different ideas incorporated to give an unexpectedly wide overview of each technique in a minimal amount of space -- in a mere two pages we go from a fairly simple scale sequence in 8th note triplets, to a more angular approach including the famous “rolling bar” technique in straight 16th’s, to a meandering arpeggio lick…in short this is an amazingly good introduction tool for those new to the techniques, and a great means of advancement for those that aren’t.

There are a couple of very minor details -- there’s no accompanying CD which does keep costs down but it’s always nice to hear a player od Chris’ caliber performing, and the absolutely spartan approach to layout (no pictures or chapter breaks) might not be to everyone’s taste but I personally like the “no nonsense” style he’s adopted.

You will need a basic theoretical and technical background to get the most from Chris Letchford’s Guitar Technique Book but it’s a great addition to a modern guitarist’s library.

Enough said.

 

[TXDeathMetal]

Reviewed it a while back (in fact the link that Chris posted on his site is to my review) and I was thoroughly impressed. As the site is currently down I'll copy and paste from a backup to give you some idea of my impressions:


Enough said.

I agree, very good review, you hit the nail on the head with that one.

 

[bluntegg]

For the picking hand, he has laid out I M O as index middle ring. There are a couple instances in the notation where A appears.

Does this just mean any finger as I'm assuming it does? Sorry if this is a noob question.

 

[TXDeathMetal]

For the picking hand, he has laid out I M O as index middle ring. There are a couple instances in the notation where A appears.

Does this just mean any finger as I'm assuming it does? Sorry if this is a noob question.

I've noticed that in the book as well and there isn't any notation for it in symbol key on the first page of the book and he doesn't seem to explain what it's representative of in any of the exercises where that symbol pops up so I would logically assume that you are correct in your thinking.

 

[ROAR]

I have the Technique book which is awesome!
Been working my way through it more and more each week.
I also have the last tab book for CDC but there's a few mistakes
in the book. Like printwise, don't know if anyone else had
that problem though, seems like a random occurence.
I'll be picking up The Collective soon enough when I'm not an
extremely poor college student.

Fuck you tuition.

 

[TXDeathMetal]

I have the Technique book which is awesome!
Been working my way through it more and more each week.
I also have the last tab book for CDC but there's a few mistakes
in the book. Like printwise, don't know if anyone else had
that problem though, seems like a random occurence.
I'll be picking up The Collective soon enough when I'm not an
extremely poor college student.

Fuck you tuition.

I have the tab book for The Collective, I've glanced through it but haven't sat down and tried to learn any of the songs in it yet as I'm also working my way through the technique book.

 

[ROAR]

Let me know if there's any errors in printing.
Though I'm positive mine was just a fluke.

 

[rchrd_le]

I have the Carving Desert Canyons tab book. The songs took a lot longer to learn than I thought they would. This band may sound simple, but they're definitely complex. It was totally unexpected and very useful in learning new techniques. That's how I learned 2 handed tapping.

 

[ChrisLetchford]

Hey guys, I need to open the book as its been over a year since it came out and I can't remember off the top of my head. But if there is a "A" it should only be when there is hybrid picking, the "A" stands for "ring" finger on the picking hand. Its from classical theory. I'll check the book though just to make sure it wasn't a typo, it shouldn't be as there are technique exercises in there for hybrid picking.

Anyways... glad you guys are digging it!

 

[TXDeathMetal]

Hey guys, I need to open the book as its been over a year since it came out and I can't remember off the top of my head. But if there is a "A" it should only be when there is hybrid picking, the "A" stands for "ring" finger on the picking hand. Its from classical theory. I'll check the book though just to make sure it wasn't a typo, it shouldn't be as there are technique exercises in there for hybrid picking.

Anyways... glad you guys are digging it!

That makes sense, thanks for clearing that up

 

[Santuzzo]

I am also interested in getting this book.
Does it have a lot of alternate picking exercises?

 

[TXDeathMetal]

I am also interested in getting this book.
Does it have a lot of alternate picking exercises?

There aren't any exercises that are solely dedicated to alternate picking if that's what you're asking but as an example all the chromatic exercises in the book are written out to be played using alternate picking, same for all the scale exercises.

 

[Santuzzo]

There aren't any exercises that are solely dedicated to alternate picking if that's what you're asking but as an example all the chromatic exercises in the book are written out to be played using alternate picking, same for all the scale exercises.

Oh, OK, Thanks!

I was asking, because alternate picking is the main thing I am working on with regard to technique at the moment.

 

[Soft Father]

OK, I just got the tab book for The Collective along with the guitar book.

Struggling through the stuff. Holy shit I suck.

 

[Alimination]

Maaan, I ordered that book from him a month ago.. I'm soo itchin to get it.. it looks soo cool

stupid mail man...

 

[chrisrivas1]

that technique book is good, but i like the collective tab book more, cuz that album is great. good job sts.

 

[theo]

Sorry for the necro bump, but has anyone here ordered his new tapping book?

 

[James B]

I came across this band about 2 weeks ago, and I'm just waiting for money to transfer in my paypal then i'll be ordering this along with the Carving Desert Canyon tab book. It seems like a well written book and Chris is a pretty good guitarist so I'm sure the book will be able to teach me a thing or two.

Same exact thing here, wish I had more money in paypal now. More bands should do this.