What is the BEST book (and CD or DVD) for learning electric guitar?
I've been playing for many years now and don't need to learn how to play the guitar, but I really want to build up speed, get into sweep picking, and really be able to solo like a crazy mother. Is there a book that is in general the best for this?
And yes I've had lessons for a few years but it's many years since then and my skills have dropped a bit and I can't afford to start lessons again.
Well, if you have been playing guitar for a couple of years, you should really consider learning music theory. This will allow you to play and improvise way better, and will allow you to make songs easier. A lot of guitarist say that music theory ruins creativity, but look at it this way. Lets say music theory is a flashlight, and youre in a dark room. Now lets say you dont have a flashlight (music theory), and in this dark room, youre looking for a certain object. Since you dont have music theory, you will have to blindly look around for the object, eventually finding it, but not knowing where you were. But if you had this flashlight, you will not be totally blind, you will be able to find this object way faster, and you might find other things that you didn't even know were there because of the darkness.
I mean sure, everybody likes playing fast. With their sweep picking and metal licks. But if you want to move from being a guitarist to a musician, the music theory is the way to go. To start i recommended these books and website.
http://www.amazon.com/Music-Theory-Dummies-Michael-Pilhofer/dp/0764578383/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1245251040&sr=8-1
http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Fretboard-Workbook-Barrett-Tagliarino/dp/0634049011/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1245251079&sr=8-1
http://www.amazon.com/Fingerboard-Theory-Guitar-Music-Guitarists/dp/0786665831/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1245251103&sr=1-1
http://www.zentao.com/guitar/theory/