Michael Rays: 9 books

Too much guitar is not enough! Guitar Odyssey 2 is the follow-up to Michael Rays' Smashwords best seller Guitar Odyssey. GO2 sees author and amateur guitarist Rays tackle a new challenge: learning C.C. DeVille's manic solo from Poison's "Talk Dirty To Me." Rays, the world's first...

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...

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...

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...

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...

When amateur guitarist Michael Rays decided to learn one of his favorite guitar solos--from Deep Purple's "Highway Star"--he had no idea how long it would take. Months? Years? The answer ended up being two years. Michael would practice--usually 20-45 minutes on a given day--and then...

Guitar-wise, what happened between Buddy Holly and the Beatles?Michael Rays continues his look at the guitar's role in America's #1 hit songs, this time looking at all the top hits from January 1960 through December 1964. He ranks each #1 hit on four guitar-centric criteria: riffage,...

"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...

Headers is a look back at the sixty-four matches of soccer's 2014 World Cup through kooky, hyper-sensationalized headlines. If you love the “beautiful game” and groan-worthy puns, you’ll find Headers pitch perfect! Also serves as a handy reference for nicknames, scores and goal scorers of WC14.