My Life as a Squint-Eyed Chink

Autobiography 339 pages including: 6 pages of pictures & 15 pages of endnotes (ISBN: 978-1409253143)

The sudden death of Zak’s mother leads to a reunion with siblings he hasn’t seen in decades, culminating in a black comedy at a funeral. On surviving a messy and traumatic non-childhood by being headstrong and self-defining, he now finds himself revisiting a painful time and place in his life, retracing the steps to his own convoluted journey, unearthing a past he never knew existed. My life as a Squint-Eyed Chink is no ordinary story of “being a westernized Chinese,” or of finding your true identity while straddling two cultures — there was no conflict, for Zak had so thoroughly turned his back on his roots that there was nothing Chinese about him but his reflection in the mirror. But learn one day that you are descended from an ancient line of Imperials serving close to Emperors, and even your image in the mirror begins to change. Some secrets are so compelling they refuse to lie buried in silence, but rise bodily from the grave to invade the present, shattering everything in the process. This is a story about such secrets... » READ MORE »

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Guitar Works — resources for teachers & students

Resources for Students & Teachers — 150 pages (1994), reprint.
©Keith Productions 1994; reprint 2008

A bookful of "one page says it all" — one-sheet guides offering full concepts at a glance: diagrams, charts, explanations, memory mappers, flash cards, blank DIY sheets, etc. Portions of this book are still being used in music schools today. The material is ideal for guitar teachers, music instructors, self-taught guitarists, or established, hardworking guitarists who need a comprehensive overview of the multitude of things they need to practice and keep alive in their own playing.

Excerpt from Introduction:

“... with Zak Keith's background in autodidacticism, pedagogy and his experience as a music teacher, these sheets were designed to be used as visual aids in conjunction with audio and tactile input. When used together with a knowledgeable instructor, they help students grasp and reinforce new concepts very quickly. While every page stands alone as a complete system of learning in a specific area, every page also interfaces with other stand-alone pages to create an expanded parallel system so that the relationships between them are clear [...] Music could be said to be an expression of the physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual. With the help of an instructor handling motor-skills (physical), expression and expedience for different genres (physical-emotional), these sheets help to expand the music conscious level (intellectual)...”

Topics covered:

• scales
• scale theory
• chords
• chord theory
• harmonic theory
• harmonic reinforcement
• studies in rhythm
• fretboard logic
• warm-up, coordination and technique builders
• notation, transcription and general music theory
• music industry terms and glossary
• references

» reprint version (hard copy) coming soon »

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Funk Essentials — Learn How to Play Funk Guitar

32-page book + 60-min. instructional CD; beginner to advanced levels.
© Zak Keith, 2008
Learn to play funk—especially good ol' old-fashioned, old-school funk! Never mind the self-proclaimed gurus scattered all over YouTube telling you what funk is (not!). Zak who has been playing funk since its heyday in the 70s shows you how it's really done, with concrete suggestions, and a solid lesson plan; ways you do it in the real world, as opposed to playing academically; how to work closely with the drummer; how to understand and work with grooves; how to push or pull the beat; how to create sensible rhythms that allow breathing and dynamics.

It's all about timing. Some of the greatest guitar players have said that in order to play good lead, you have to know how to play good rhythm. For virtually all “lead” guitarists out there, at least 90% of their playing in real-life gig situations involves rhythm, not soloing. Yet, this skill area has traditionally been neglected by hotshot guitarists in pursuit of glorious gymnastic abilities: lightning fast chops, insane shredding and circus-freak solos. Using his background in pedagogy, Zak's lesson plan takes you through the theory and techniques behind good rhythmic playing. You'll learn step by step, how (when) to play it where it counts, how to say so much with so little, with notes in just the right places—if that's what's needed. Alternatively, you'll learn how to create the most mind-boggling complex polyrhythmic sequences.

» reprint version (hard copy) »

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The Chinese in Britain, 1800 - Present

Economy, Transnationalism, Identity

By Gregor Benton and Professor Edmund Terence Gomez; Palgrave Macmillan;
Copyright © 2007 Macmillan Publishers Limited
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG21 6XS, England

This book sets out the history of the Chinese in Britain, from the angle of changes in their economic and social standing. By analysing their migration patterns, associational structures, and paths of enterprise development, the book seeks to understand processes of identity formation among members of this community - and, by extension, of ethnic minorities in general. Through this approach, the book tackles issues raised by transnational studies concerning the organisation of capital flows, patterns of enterprise development, and the nature of identity formation in diasporic communities.

This study points up the complex and intricate interplay of ethnic and national identities in the lives of Chinese in Britain. A constant thread across two hundred years of Chinese presence has been the vigour of British national identity among migrants' descendants. The emergence of new forms of identification among diasporic groups undermines the claim that ethnic minorities function as cohesive units in economies or societies by combining to protect vested interests. This book argues that transnational studies reinforce essentialist conceptions of identity and of cultural authenticity in diasporic communities, and thus frustrate the promotion of ethnic co-existence and social cohesion in multi-ethnic societies.

“The study reveals a greater complexity to Chinese life in Britain than has been assumed to be the case, and clearly shows how a distinct identity has emerged and is now threatened, as young modern Chinese rely less on ethnic customs forged over the last century. The book also provides a useful case study of exclusionary practices of the dominant white society in Britain, and how they have influenced, for good and bad, British Chinese identity.” - CHOICE

» available from Palgrave & Macmillan »

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