The Complete Idiot’s Guide (CIG) to Guitar Exercises by Hemme Luttjeboer is a complete book of guitar exercises. It covers chord exercises based around the CAGED system, single note exercises employing scales and Arpeggios. The book also includes an introduction to fingerpicking with some right-hand exercises. While you’re likely to learn some basic theory while working … Read more
Get started playing electric blues guitar with Hal Leonard’s Blues Guitar Method book. The book is written by guitar-celebrity Greg Koch. Greg lives in my hometown of Milwaukee, and I’m fortunate to catch his local gigs — he’s a great player and excellent writer/teacher. This book covers the core rudiments of electric blues guitar. Lessons … Read more
Hello and welcome to my “Blues Rhythm Guitar Master Class” review. Blues Rhythm Guitar Master Class by Keith Wyatt really delivers. It’s an excellent book that will have you well grounded in electric-guitar blues rhythm playing. It covers all of the classic styles: shuffles, boogies, jump, blues Rhumba, slow blues, turnarounds and more. The book … Read more
DADGAD is becoming such a popular alternate tuning for acoustic guitarists that’s it’s called “the other standard tuning.” Mel Bay Presents Understanding DADGAD for Fingerstyle Guitar offers a clearly-explained introduction to playing fingerstyle DADGAD guitar. See the post, Guitar Players Who Have Tuned in DADGAD. The book starts out with the basics: how to get your guitar … Read more
One of the best ways to get started playing guitar is with guitar method books. Most guitar method books come in a series and book one is written for complete beginners, new to the guitar. Originally guitar method books were written for students studying with a teacher. Now, they often come with CDs and/or DVDs … Read more
Mel Bay’s Guitar Method is a long-standing and popular method for learning guitar. The entire Mel Bay guitar method series is seven volumes and aims to build the theoretical and technical foundation needed to play guitar in any style. All seven volumes (or grades) of this method are written in standard notation to encourage better … Read more
A Modern Method for Guitar by William Leavitt is the basic text for the Berklee College of Music guitar program. This method series has stood the test of time and earned a vast and loyal following of dedicated guitar students and instructors. Volume 1 comes with a DVD-ROM, and volume 2 comes with an audio … Read more
There’s nothing better than getting kids involved in music. Ideally, you’ll be able to find a teacher who has experience with children. But if that’s not possible, you can get your kids started with these method books. Kids under 10 may find traditional guitar method books a bit too challenging. These three methods are designed … Read more
Hello and welcome to my Hal Leonard’s Acoustic Guitar Method review. Hal Leonard’s Acoustic Guitar Method is like a survey course for beginning acoustic guitar players. The book’s lessons not only cover the typical basics of strumming, chord changes, and single-note melody playing, they also provide an overview to a variety of musical styles and … Read more
Like most method books, the Hal Leonard Guitar Method book doesn’t use tablature. Students will have to learn how to read notes. And that’s a good thing. The lessons start at ground zero for an absolute beginner and progress from there. Book one grounds you in rudimentary chords and note playing at the basic, first … Read more