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Pumping Nylon Works Up A Sweat

Pumping Nylon in TAB was written by classical guitarist Scott Tennant. But you don't have to be a classical guitarist to benefit from it. Anyone that plays guitar with their fingers will find something in it.

The book is strictly aimed at developing guitar technique. A real advantage of the current edition is that it has tablature as well as standard notation. Another plus of this book are the illustrations. They clearly show what the text is saying.

The book is broken down into 7 sections. There is also a preface and afterword.

The preface includes information on both right and left hand position. Tennant also shows you The Triangle. This is his recommended way of holding the guitar in relation to his body.

The section on the left hand covers both ascending and descending slurs as well as barres. There are also exercises for finger independance.

The following section is devoted to the right hand. It covers shaping the fingernails and exercises for right hand development.

What Else?

There are two sections of the book that will present ideas that most fingerstyle guitarists might not think about. One of them is the chapter on flamenco techniques. It focuses on developing the thumb and on rasgueados. Rasqueados are the trademark roll using the back of the nails. It's that thing everyone plays if they're doing a parody of flamenco guitar.

The other section is the one on tremolo. Not the kind that you get on your amp. This is right hand tremolo. This can be a very emotional sound that is really worth learning.

This two chapters alone deserve the title of Pumping Nylon.

The other two chapters in the book are devoted to scales and arpeggios. Of the two, most fingerstyle guitarists will probably get the most out of the scale section. Playing runs of individual notes is usually tough using your fingers and not a pick.

Conclusion

I have to say that Pumping Nylon knocked me out. It's very clearly laid out in both text and illustrations. The songs that are used as exercises aren't for absolute beginners. The other exercises, however, are certainly do-able by the beginner.

I think that Pumping Nylon will help anyone that's interested in playing fingerstyle guitar.

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