How To Play Guitar: The Collected Zines
is an anarchist cookbook for the creative process, an heirloom seed library of underground values and culture, a map of inner and outer edge places. Bringing together all the volumes of Matt Baldwin's underground-classic zine series, the omnibus edition from Tarantula Press presents a total punk-autodidact theory of artistic practice as a means of having a fun and productive relationship with the unknown. Filled with practical insights, dry humor, and visionary fragments, this book demonstrates the process of self-directed learning as a comprehensive and rigorous system of self-exploration. From discussions of personal taste, lifestyle, consciousness, and ethics to the eternal concerns around survival and longevity as an artist, How To Play Guitar: The Collected Zines points the reader towards the limits of human knowledge as the jumping-off point for the most adventurous creative endeavors.
"In these zines, Matt Baldwin generously shares what it took me years to learn on my own: that the path of creative liberation comes from hard-won self-knowledge." — Wayne Kramer, guitarist and prison reform advocate (MC5)
"A fun read, especially for those who suffer from guitar." — Blake Mills, guitarist, songwriter, and producer
"Whenever I am feeling uninspired or plateaued or confused about my relationship to the guitar (or music in general), the How To Play Guitar series by Matt Baldwin is one of the few places I go to find a new direction, a reimagination of what can exist between me and my instrument. A must-read for all those exploring the realms of sound." — Meg Duffy, guitarist, producer, and songwriter (Hand Habits, Perfume Genius, and more)