The New Art of Ragtime Guitar

The New Art of Ragtime Guitar is a guitar instruction book containing original songs in the ragtime style with clear explanations of technique.

Originally published in the 1970’s, Richard Saslow used material he had composed for his guitar students. Several decades later, he and Judith McClarin rewrote the book with new additions and a cleaner design, digitizing the music that had shipped with the original book, as well adding a new composition, “Absquatulation Rag.”

Right click on the song title to download its MP3 via “Save As”

Sample pages from “The New Art Of Ragtime Guitar”

The book begins by covering the style of ragtime music for guitar – how it is written, and how it is structured for acoustic guitar performance. These principles are then applied to eight original pieces, each of which are analyzed in composition and performance.

I highly recommend this book to any player who wants a solid introduction to ragtime fingerstyle.
Ed Acquesta

Jazz Guitarist & Instructor

I found this remarkable book, and it changed my life…The tabs and notation are impeccable, as well as the photos and playing tips to help one properly finger the difficult passages.
TeeJay

Amazon Reviewer

It is simply one of the best, most clear and concise books on fingerpicking available. The compositions are top-notch.
Peter Keane

Amazon Reviewer

Performances of these songs can be found on Youtube.

Search with “saslow ragtime guitar”.

You will find many people from around the world playing these compositions. Here are some examples: