Guy McRoskey inks new book on mastering guitar chords

Guy’s Grids, a new book by Guy McRoskey tackles the common struggle of chord mastery for guitar players. After struggling with the rote memorization of countless chords, McRoskey then pursued the study of chord theory to further enhance his chord vocabulary. After looking for a book that would combine the common chord forms in a manner that would reinforce his chord theory, Guy’s Grids was formed. “I could not find such a book. So, I created my own.”

The book is comprehensive, including over 2,000 open chord forms and over 700 moveable chord forms. An oversized book of 228 pages, Guy’s Grids is divided into four major tabbed sections: Open Chord Grids, Moveable Chord Grids, Open Chord Index, and Moveable Chord Index. Each of the grid pages has the same column and row format, designed in a logical manner to clearly demonstrate chord relationships. The columns pertain to chord families (major, dominant, minor, and diminished). The top row contains triads, and the lower rows are sequentially arranged to display chords created from these triads by the inclusion of a 7th, 6th, 9th, 11th, or 13th scale degree. Effectively, the grid page promotes contextual learning by presenting related chords in logical proximity to one another.

The experts agree:

“I enthusiastically recommend the chord book Guy’s Grids to all guitar students beginning through advanced, as it is well suited for visual learners (which most of us are) and stimulates creative thinking about chord shapes and chord theory. The book quickly delivers interesting chord voicings for any guitarist or guitar composer. Extended chords are explored exhaustively in open positions, which are rarely done in common chord books. Guy’s Grids offers players of all levels a chord book that can enhance their understanding of chord theory and extend their repertoire of chords to heights not easily imagined.”

Peter Pupping
Recording Artist - GuitarSounds Records
Former Professor of Music – Mira Costa College

Each grid page includes a practice progression utilizing the chord forms on that page, and the enclosed CD contains a play-along track for each practice progression providing a tool for enhancing memory retention and playing skills.

Guy’s Grids is highly detailed, with each chord form showing the recommended fingering, and the chord tones and scale degrees being played on each string. Guy’s Grids conveniently categorizes each chord by its usefulness, based on the sound quality and the ease of playing. The book also contains a special “Anchor Chords” section, listing all of the first chords to be learned by the beginning guitarist.

Guy’s Grids will be available in May, 2009 at select retailers and directly online at www.guysgrids.com.
MSRP $69.95

About Guy McRoskey
Guy McRoskey is an avid guitarist and student of the guitar, specializing in jazz and blues. Guy and his wife and two sons live in Encinitas , California .