My First Guitar

My First Guitar
By Julia Crowe
(ECW Press)

Anyone who loves guitars and guitar players (whether or not you’re a player yourself) will love looking through this book. Who wouldn’t want to sit down with their favorite performers and listen to them talk about the instrument that had the most profound influence on their life and career?

As you’d imagine, people like Jimmy Page, Carlos Santana, Scotty Moore, Peter Frampton, Melissa Etheridge, and Dick Dale, to name a few, have plenty of things to say about their guitars, and music in general, with the anecdotes spun out in a friendly, unassuming way. Largely an oral history, it’s the kind of book that’s easy to dip into. There’s also a glossary that’s useful if you’re not up on your guitar terminology, as well as a list of all the guitars mentioned in the text (which runs to nearly three pages).