Looking for great guitar music?

‘The Art of Accompaniment’ is a well put together and engaging tutor in guitar accompaniment by Simon James, an experienced and versatile performer who is comfortable in a wide range of musical styles. The book’s main focus is on accompanying the voice but the material covered could also be useful in a range of other guitar playing contexts. The book is well laid out moving from preliminary tutorials dealing with concepts of technique (sitting, left and right hand styles and chord changes) and music theory (keys, chords, rhythm, notation etc) to focusing on individual song accompaniments. These are then developed throughout the book via well known popular songs, such as ‘Mull of Kintyre’ and ‘Hey Jude’, allowing their application in a familiar musical context. The book’s learning materials are supported by accompanying photographs together with a number of well-presented video clips housed on the book’s accompanying Youtube channel in which Simon demonstrates the various points he is discussing.