Some of the greatest guitar books you may not know about are from Happy Traum.  Happy Traum created these easy, enjoyable Guitar Building Blocks Series lessons to help novice players learn essential guitar techniques, along with several songs to illustrate each subject. Great for beginning/intermediate guitarists who want to target specific areas for improvement. The 4 Guitar Building Blocks lessons include: Barre Chords and How to Use ThemBass Runs and How to Use Them, Instant Fingerpicking Success, and Creating Easy Song Arrangements. Includes music and tab. (Lessons also sold individually, see recommended products on this page)

You might find Happy Traum on eBay as well:

Happy & Artie Traum LP- Hard Times In The Country NM
	USD 5.00 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-06 15:56:56
HAPPY TRAUM: American Stranger (folk vinyl LP)
	USD 25.00 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-06 23:28:56
American Stranger [Digipak] [CD & DVD] by Happy Traum (CD, Feb-2011, 2 Discs,...
	USD 19.56 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-09 16:52:11
Easy Steps to Guitary Fingerpicking, Vol. 2 & 3 NEW Happy Traum
	USD 49.51 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-11 09:44:19
Happy Traum Teaches The Blues Guitar of Brownie McGhee (DVD, 2008, 2-Disc Set)
	USD 25.53 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-05 21:04:45
EASY STEPS TO GUITAR FINGERPICKING DVD # 2 (NEW) - DROPPED D SONGS- HAPPY TRAUM
	USD 14.99 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-07 18:20:05
"Happy Traum Essentials Of Fingerstyle Blues, Vol. 2 DVD"
	USD 17.41 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-09 21:39:15
Guitar Chord Magic Lesson 2, DVD, Artie Traum, Happy Traum
	USD 29.85 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-10 16:00:29
HAPPY TRAUM: Bright Morning Stars (folk vinyl LP)
	USD 18.00 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-06 23:28:50
Practicing & Performing- A Pianist's Guide, DVD, Daniel Abrams, Happy Traum
	USD 20.85 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2012-02-06 12:16:39

So I’m listening to Howard Stern yesterday and he has a 45-50 minute interview with Slash from Guns and Roses and Velvet Revolver. He’s written an auto-biography of his life with writer Anthony Bozza in a new 480 page epic book. I listened intently to the interview, and Slash is a very down to earth guy. He told story after story in vidid details, from his very first days of heroin use to going to rehab for Oxycontin addition in 2006. I think some of the most interesting parts of this book (once I get mine) will be his youthful days running the streets of Hollywood. Slash had a black mother and white father – who split up when he was 8 or 9. Then his mother dated rock legend David Bowie for about 18 months, and the way he described it to Howard he “probably hated him at the time for being the guy that followed his dad”. He smoked crack at 12 for the first time and partied endless nights around town with his mom’s boyfriend (unbeknonwst to here), and basically quit giving a rat’s ass about school in about the 8th grade in favor of playing guitar 12 hours a day. He took lessons at the local music school just long enough to figure out how to put the leads and chords together and teach himself songs by ear. From that point in, he just woodshedded all himself into the moder guitar virtuoso he is today. If you need a good gift for a guitarist this season or just want a good read for yourself – pickup a copy of “Slash”. It’s only about $15-$16 on Amazon and well worth the money

You may or may not have seen this one before, but if you perform on the stage I think it’s a very handy thing to have. I’m the lead guitar player for my cover band and even though I’m technically not the main lead vocal – I do stand in the middle of the stage. That kind of makes me the center of attention, and I tend to try and introduce the show and say a little something before we break. I’m not that good at it – but I’m getting better. What you need are some ice breakers, some jokes, stories, funny sayings, and this book will help you with just that! It’s for musicians, and it could help you the next time the bass player has to tune up!

Here’s the description:

This book is the perfect resource for program notes, concert spiels, to kill time while the bass player tunes up, or just for fun! This most complete collection of humor about and for musicians includes one-liners and jokes ranging from Chopin to Lennon, Gillespie to Presley. A must-have for every band director, music teacher, classical musician, jazz performer, cover band leader, accordion player, and person who knows an accordion player but doesn’t like to admit it.

I hope you like the book – it’s well worth $10!