Learn to Play the Guitar : A Step-by-step Guide

by nick-freeth

Use this book and DVD to start playing straight no previous musical knowledge required Teaches you the basics of acoustic and electric guitar technique Includes valuable advice on buying an instrument and amplifier Diagrams and photographs make it easy for you to find notes and chords Explains the workings of song structures, and shows you how to play simple solos and accompaniments Find out how to liven up practice sessions by using tape recorders and other electronics Includes an easy-to-use interactive DVD companion to the book

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

96 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2004

Reviews

[Jaspreet Singh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book years back as my first guide to Guitar playing. A keyboardist otherwise, I wanted to learn guitar by myself. I completed this book over a period of couple of years, learning bits from here and there whilst.
This book is a light take on guitar and guitar playing. The language is good, and the pace is medium.
What I didn't like about it is that the author holds several presumptions, like everyone in this world would have heard Amazing Grace (Hailing from India, I hadn't) and that one might have observed "air-guitaring" but not "air-keyboarding": lame. The author also doesn't name every chord he teaches (saying,"You don't need to know the name" or the like), and promotes rote-learning. Also, there are quite a few mistakes, which are:-

1) The Riff video on the DVD's wrong.
2) B Chord is skipped.
3) No diagrams for Sixth Chord exist.
4) Video tutorials are absent for pages 48, 49, which demonstrate a difficult lesson.
5) Video tutorial for page 46 differs from the exercise.

All in all, its a good beginner guide: not too good but not too bad either. (Finally, I am all too happy that i've completed this book, and can now move on to other sources unhesitantly). Happy Guitaring, and Thanks for Reading!

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Since I was a beginner without much knowledge I decided to get a book to help me learn. The first few pages are actaully alright but after it gets you to play a little bit amazing grace. It goes too fast as if its already expecting you to know everything even though clearly this book is for beginners.

Don't buy this book it'll be a compelete waste of money and time if you do. Instead I'd reccommand Learn To Play Guitar in 24 hours by David Mead. It doesn't go too fast, explains everything you need to know. It also comes with DVD to help you.

[Jeremy Young · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was not helpful because it did not tune and/or play my guitar for me.

[Kyle Sluss · Rating 4 out of 5]

It Is A Good Book(And DVD) For The Beginning Guitar Player, The Intermediate, Or Even Advanced Guitar Players