The "Number One with an AXE!" series is a look at the guitar's role in America's #1 hit songs.

The "Number One with an AXE!" series is a look at the guitar's role in America's #1 hit songs.

The "Number One with an AXE!" series is a look at the guitar's role in America's #1 hit songs.

The "Number One with an AXE!" series is a look at the guitar's role in America's #1 hit songs.

The "Number One with an AXE!" series is a look at the guitar's role in America's #1 hit songs.

Hip-hop and superstar woman vocalists reigned supreme in the late 90s. The guitar was still in use, but solos were few and far between. On top of that, synths became eerily good at creating guitar sounds, leading to the philosophical question: if a guitar wasn't used to create a guitar sound in a song, does that song feature a guitar? On a more basic level, there are LOTS of great and fun songs to hear from 95-99. Let's check 'em out!

"Six-String Sleuth" is for guitar players who want to figure out song chords by ear. This book is not tedious--it is FUN! The fictional instructor, Benjamin Nightly, teaches music theory concepts by treating songs as crimes committed by groups of chords. Nightly teaches techniques for finding clues and then following the evidence until the crime is solved--and the song is learned! You will learn about how scales generate chords, common chord patterns, why you should love the circle of fift...

Pop music history for guitar lovers! The guitar's pre-eminence in rock & roll is well-known--but what about pop music? Specifically, what about the pinnacle of pop music: number one hit songs? Guitar gadfly and pop music lover Michael Rays takes you on a guitar-oriented tour through the history of Billboard's American number one hits, starting in 1955 with "Rock Around the Clock" and proceeding through Frankie Avalon's "Why"--the final #1 song of 1959. Rays rates each song on four guitar-c...

Eddie Van Halen, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Brian May, David Gilmour, Prince, Neil Giraldo, Trevor Rabin, Steve Lukather: the early 80s boasted some massive guitar firepower on its #1 hits! Join Michael Rays as he rates the guitar work on each of the 82 Billboard #1 hits from 1980-84.

What role has the guitar played in America's #1 hit songs?Guitar gadfly/pop historian Michael Rays continues to explore and answer this question in the third volume of his ebook series, "Number One with an AXE!" This book covers all 103 #1 hits of the years 1965-1969, an era when the guitar returned to #1-hit prominence after a lull in the early 60s. For each #1 hit, Rays gives:• The title, artist, date the song reached #1 and number of weeks spent at #1• Scores of 1...

Disco Time! Guitar nut Michael Rays puts on his boogie shoes and chronicles the guitar's role in all 131 U.S. Billboard #1 hits from 1975-79, starting with "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" by Elton John and ending with "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)" by Rupert Holmes. There are a lot of surprisingly strong guitar tracks in these five years!Once again, Rays scores each song from 1-10 based on four guitar-centric criteria: Riffage, Rhythm Playing, Fills and Solos. He also writes brief...

What role has the guitar played in America's #1 hit songs?Guitar gadfly/pop historian Michael Rays is back with the fourth volume of his ebook series, "Number One with an AXE!" This book covers the 122 #1 hits of the years 1970-74. It's a golden era for guitars: singer-songwriters, multi-track guitars and wah-wah pedals are everywhere! For each #1 hit, Rays gives:• The title, artist, date the song reached #1 and number of weeks spent at #1• Scores of 1-10 in four gui...