Fretboard Logic SE: Volumes I & II Combined [Paperback]

I am familiar with music theory but on a very basic level. I never commmited certain things to memory (modes, circle of 5ths) but I can name the notes on the fretboard.

I had never heard of the CAGED method but was quite used to viewing chords as patterns on the neck as opposed to individual notes. This book took that fact and explained it in a way that had me playing all over the neck after ONE night studying it.

It will show you how there are only a few basic chord SHAPES that when played in a certain order will repeat themselves moving up the neck. For me, seeing this fact instantly opened my eyes to the layout of the fretboard and has given me the knowledge to greatly improve my playing because I can now move all over the neck and hit the right chords in ways that allow for easier soloing around them.

Some comment that this book is no substitute for conventional theory education. I'll agree to that (especially if you will be playing with assorted musicians) but firmly believe that there is also no substitute to this book and the method it lays out.

Everyone learns at a different pace and some things 'click' better for some people. For me, the CAGED method in two nights completely changed how I view the instrument, and has allowed my playing to open up considerably.

The nay sayers seem to be attacking it in part because it gets rave reviews from readers. They seem to want to elevate themselves by putting down others, which is sad, but all too common. If I could, I'd ask them to produce credentials first, and then I'd ask how much effort they actually put into it. I'm pretty sure they are not household names in the field of guitar. A good example is the guy who felt slighted because Fretboard Logic didn't make him "master his guitar." Heh. That's funny and sad at the same time. To me that sounds like some kind of cart and horse situation where the horse is sitting back on his haunches waiting for a ride from the cart.

Let ME be clear - Fretboard Logic is the first book I have read which treats this unique instrument with the respect and detailed analysis it deserves. I am eternally grateful to the guy for taking the time and effort to put it together for the people like me who always wondered if there wasn't something missing from what my own teachers were teaching. After reading the Special Edition, I bought the entire series including the videos, and I'm glad I did. I will admit to having had to reread certain things a few times before it sunk in, but I usually have to do that anyway with any new stuff I'm learning - like with my pilots license, for example. And a lot of those books weren't even as well-written as Fretboard Logic.

Some of these Amazon flamers apparently don't understand what they are reading very well. One guy asks "How long can you fake being a musician without reading music?" Disregarding the tortured grammar, the implication is that Fretboard Logic is "anti-reading" or something. I guess maybe his copy was missing the introductions in the back, including "Introduction to Music Theory" where the author introduces various notation formats including -you guessed it - standard music notation which is continued in the next book.

But aside from gross misrepresentation, there is an even more important issue at stake here, and that relates to personal choice. If I understand him correctly, Mr. Edwards is trying to let each player decide for themselves the direction in which to take their musical efforts after the basics are covered. Here is an example: say you want to learn to improvise blues - just to jam away to your hearts content and make it up as you go along. What does that have to do with reading music? Answer: NOTHING. Reading something previously written isn't relevant when you are improvising. Same goes for things like, say, using a pick. If you are studying classical music, it isn't likely that you will have much use for a flat pick - but you probably would if you chose to study bluegrass. Each player's choices create a range of relevant subject matter. To my knowledge Fretboard Logic is the only series to even attempt to give the student so much freedom of choice. Only when I got to the third book did I start to fully understand why he put things in the order he did. It's all about building on solid foundations and allowing us to make our own choices about what we want to play. In book III I found some of the material very useful, but frankly, some of it didn't pertain to me. Since the chapters on notation - including tab - were so helpful to me personally, it is ironic that the guy is getting slammed for not having it in the first two sections. The people criticizing Logic apparently have a form of tunnel vision and can only see things in terms of their own narrow field of experience.

Bottom line - the author is trying to get us away from what he calls the "put this finger here, that finger there," type of thinking. Why? Because it creates a rote mindset that stifles creative thinking and keeps people stuck in the beginner stages of playing. (I'm just glad I don't have to have to carry around a giant chord book with me anymore.) To the guys who can only think in terms of one dot/note/finger at a time I would just remind them that when you arrange those dot/notes/fingers on the page into tonal groupings and meaningful wholes - what do you start to see on the fretboard? PATTERNS. It just takes a lot longer the old way.

The problem these people are having with Fretboard Logic is not because of the material or the organization - it is too clearly written and illustrated. Some people just don't engage in things that are not terribly easy, and playing guitar is not an easy endeavor. Also, I suspect it has to do with something the author mentions in the end of the first book: resistance to learning. Bill says - I'm paraphrasing - that learning new things is somewhat akin to "breaking eggs to make an omelet" and that there will always be a natural resistance to changing the status quo in our brains. I guess the smart people out there who do learn new things easily get used to this, and those who don't, prefer not having new ideas disrupt their intellectual comfort zones. Since Fretboard Logic is so different, I guess it will always have its detractors. Not me. I wish I'd ignored them in the first place. I'd have bought it sooner and saved a lot of time and money. THANK YOU BILL EDWARDS.