Lyle Ritz Books - Opinions

Has anyone used any of the Lyle Ritz books and what is your opinion of them. I am a little past the beginner stage and don't know if these books would be something I can benefit from.

"Lyle Lite" is, obviously, the easiest one. I'd start there if I were you.

I found the arrangements handy as exercises to learn new "jazzy" chord voicings. Definitely worth the price.

JJ

I keep my copy of Lyle Lite on my bookshelf for the day I am skilled enough to play any of the pieces... that day will probably be in about five years. I think Gerry Long's book, 50 Easy Ukulele Chord Solos is more playable and helpful to a beginner. Lyle's book is a good study and the CD is nice to listen to, but the arrangements are very difficult.

i think all 3 lyle books are excellent.

it helps (like most books) if you are familiar with the tunes before trying to learn them.
his arrangements are great. and fantastic lesson in chord inversions.
they are full of ah-ha! moments.

pay attention to the chord names as well as the shapes and you'll learn a lot.

Trying the Gerry Long Book

I decided to start with the Gerry Long book and then move up to the Lyle lite book later on. Thanks to all......

Lyle Books

I have all three Ritz books, I got the "Lite" only a couple of months ago. The other two I got very early on in my love of uke. The Chord Solos book was very daunting, but the jazz book was a bit easier to get started in. I really was motivated to learn some strum/picking jazz stuff and surprisingly enough, I got familiar and more comfortable with it rather quickly. That is not to say that I'm great at it, but I would say that all three books will repay over a long period of time: for study, for learning, for motivation. And with the CDs that come along with each book, you have terrific audial examples to get familiar with.
HTH,
Craig

"Lyle Lite" is very nice - there is also a separate DVD where Lyle teaches most of the songs from this book. I am huge fan of Lyle and have both the book and DVD. if you are interested in ukulele jazz - I higlhy recommed them.