In his excellent memoir, Heartbreaker, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell narrates his life as a rock ‘n’ roller as if you’re sitting next to him in his home studio, drinking beers, sharing a freshly-rolled joint and listening to him get all of his autobiographical moments out of his system.

You get a strong idea of what’s to come as far as revelations and literary style on its opening pages. The Introduction briskly runs through his life—growing up in poverty, connecting with his musical partner, Tom Petty, and referencing the success their chemistry elicited until the band’s final concert. With that alone, the book instantly pulls you in, making you want to indulge in the upcoming details of his journey—the early days, the struggles, the sparks of musical chemistry, the success, the excess, the end and the musical rebirth. He doesn’t shy away from revealing the ugly underbelly of the music business or musicians but does it with the vision that the most important thing for him is to serve the music no matter how that may smash anyone’s ego.

We learn of the salvation a guitar gave him as his family barely scraped by in Jacksonville and how his shyness and awkwardness from childhood never relented despite his talent as a musician in Gainesville and — after his relocation — Los Angeles or even with his membership in a multi-platinum selling internationally beloved band.

Along the way, Campbell relates nearly every significant moment and person encountered throughout his life—teachers, music store owners, Marcie (the love of his life), Carl Wilson, Michael Bloomfield, Mudcrutch, Shelter Records’ Denny Cordell, the Heartbreakers, MCA Records, Jimmy Iovine, Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Don Henley, Johnny Cash, Fleetwood Mac and the Dirty Knobs. It finishes literally in what could be yesterday with him putting his last thoughts on a life lived, enemies few and more things to do.

Originally, Campbell was well-known – and well-regarded — as the lead guitarist and songwriter in Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. While Petty handled the frontman role, he quietly played his guitar. And what magnificent riffs and solos came out of it. Too many to mention but here are just a few of his indelible contributions — “American Girl,” “Refugee,” “Listen to Her Heart,” “Here Comes My Girl,” “Runnin’ Down a Dream,” “I Won’t Back Down.”

Until this book, much of what Campbell had to say remained untold simply because he was more concerned with making his instrument do all the talking. The book perfectly, with the aid of co-writer Ari Surdoval, mimics his guitar playing—an efficient use of words that doesn’t rest on unnecessary flourishes to make a lasting impact.