Talkin' 'Bout a Revolution is a comprehensive guide to the relationship between American music and politics. Music expert Dick Weissman opens with the dawn of American history, then moves to the book's key focus: 20th-century music – songs by and about Native Americans, African-Americans, women, Spanish-speaking groups, and more. Unprecedented in its approach, the book offers a multidisciplinary discussion that is broad and diverse, and illuminates how social events impact music a...

Building on his 2006 book, Which Side Are You On?, Dick Weissman's A New History of American and Canadian Folk Music presents a provocative discussion of the history, evolution, and current status of folk music in the United States and Canada. North American folk music achieved a high level of popular acceptance in the late 1950s. When it was replaced by various forms of rock music, it became a more specialized musical niche, fragmenting into a proliferation of musical st...

In recent years an almost overwhelming number of books have appeared covering various aspects of American folk music and its history. Before 1970, most comprised collections of songs with a sprinkling of biographical information on noted performers. Over the past decade, however, scholars, journalists, and folk artists themselves have contributed biographies and autobiographies, instructional books and historical surveys, sociological studies and ethnographic analyses of this musical genre...

An excellent and essential primer for the aspiring tunesmith, Songwriting: The Words, the Music & Money offers authoritative tips on everything from basic song forms to the hard facts of succeeding in the music business. In between, veteran songwriter Dick Weissman shares his insights into composing effective lyrics, melodies and hooks, as well as detailed breakdowns of every musical style from folk to cabaret to hip hop. The first book on the topic to be accompanied by a CD cover...

The Must-Have Guide for Breakinginto the Music BusinessCompletely revised and updated for the twenty-first century, The Music Business provides essential career advice and information on how to get started and advance in all areas of the music industry—from an author who’s had careers in music as an artist and professor for more than two decades. This comprehensive volume gives you guidance and information on:• Starting your music career• The ins and outs of r...

This book is designed to help the beginning to intermediate flatpicking guitarist in developing control of the pick. The author introduces a number of traditional and ethnic styles and discusses various flatpicking techniques including up and down picking, crosspicking, and playing with a combination of pick and fingers. The approximately 30 progressively arranged pieces in the book are useful in learning to read both standard notation and tablature. Where practical, suggested chords are o...

A walking tour and history of Bob Dylan's life and time in New York, from Greenwich Village to Woodstock.Bob Dylan's New York is a guidebook and a history of New York's key role through Dylan's lengthy career. It places Dylan's early career in the storied history of Greenwich Village, a hotbed of new developments in the arts. A contemporary of Dylan's, author Dick Weissman walked the same streets, played music in the same venues, and witnessed the growth o...

This book presents a selection of original 5-string banjo tunes that can be played by the beginning student familiar with basic chords in G tuning. The author introduces a variety of styles and banjo techniques including hammer-ons, pull-offs, string bending and slides - all in standard notation and banjo tab. Banjo chords are shown in diagram format and suggested chord changes for an accompaniment instrument are provided. With the exception of three frailing pieces, all selections employ ...

For many beginning-to-intermediate level guitarists, guitar tunings are a mystery. Everyone begins with "standard" tuning and knows its basic strengths - and limitations. But, once a guitarist gets beyond basic skills, the desire to play in different styles and achieve individual sounds leads inevitably to exploring alternate tunings.Guitar Tunings: A**Comprehensive Guide is the first book to offer practical advice for how to use the most common special tunings for the gre...

Blues: The Basics offers a concise introduction to a century of the blues. Organized chronologically, it focuses on the major eras in the growth and development of this popular musical style. Material includes:a definition of the blues and the major genres within itkey artists such as Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Robert Johnson and Blind Lemon Jeffersonkey recordingsComplete with timelines ...

The non-jazz improvisation series is a concept that germinated in Dick Weissman's mind while he was attending music school. He wrote a 15-piece arrangement of the old square dance tune, Cripple Creek, and wanted the trombone to take a solo as part of the arrangement. When the trombonist kept playing a bebop solo that was totally unsuitable for the chart, Dick realized that, in addition to the many musicians who do not improvise, there are even jazz musicians who don't know how to improvise...

The non-jazz improvisation series is a concept that germinated in Dick Weissman's mind while he was attending music school. He wrote a 15-piece arrangement of the old square dance tune, Cripple Creek, and wanted the trombone to take a solo as part of the arrangement. When the trombonist kept playing a bebop solo that was unsuitable for the chart, Dick realized that, in addition to the many musicians who do not improvise, there are even jazz musicians who don't know how to improvise outside...