Guitar for Dummies by Mark Phillips Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Guitar for Dummies
Book Review: Great Starting Point
Summary: 5 Stars
I, too, bought a new Fender and this book. I wanted to sit down and learn some basics and see if I enjoyed playing guitar before going out to lessons. This book was probably the best at getting you playing the guitar as any I have looked at. The authors really zoom in on the important aspects of starting to play the guitar as well as adding some of the theory behind why and how things are done. After using this book for about a month, I was able to play recognizable tunes for people. This book got me to that point so fast, I really fell in love with playing and I have started taking lessons. The book propelled me way past beginner status so the lessons I'm taking are actually "more bang for my buck" and I'm playing real songs after only 2 lessons. I would recommend this book to any beginner who wants to learn the basics at their own pace. This is a must have for anyone starting out.Book Review: Great for What It Is
Summary: 4 Stars
This is definitely the best beginner book for guitar I have seen, but it starts to skip around as it moves from complete novice to budding player. By that I mean that it gives you a few concepts and then suddenly jumps ahead to more complicated methods, and often the only way you can tell if you're doing something correctly is to compare the noise you make to what you hear on the CD. That's fine for simple things like avoiding fret buzz, but a beginner is likely to develop bad habits with pull-offs and other intermediate techniques without more in-depth instruction.Also, after completing this book, you may be able to wail away with your favorite CD, but it's more likely that you'll be able to produce about half the sounds you want with no clue about how to produce the other half. That's because the book only mentions a few box patterns and never explains how to practice them to perfection, nor does it delve into more rudimentary techniques that will be required to know the fretboard by rote. Instead, it sometimes relies on cheats (yes, the pentatonic scale is versatile, but you will need much more than that to be taken seriously as a guitarist), and it rarely indicates the amount of dedicated practice that will be required to master a technique.
Still, I like the way it combines several guitar methods. I probably wouldn't have become interested in classical guitar if this book hadn't included it. It could do a better job of indicating which concepts will and will not work with various styles, but usually that applies only to classical. Generally, unless they say the concept pertains to classical or all styles, it doesn't.
So this is a good book to get a feel for the guitar. (And its guides on shopping and maintenance are invaluable references.) It's perfect for the beginner, but it isn't a stand-alone book, so don't confuse it for one. It should be read along with a book on rudments, like "Mel Bay's Complete Book of Guitar Technique" by Sal Salvador. Or better yet, use this to see if you're serious about guitar, then take lessons.
Book Review: Great learning tool!
Summary: 5 Stars
Prior to this book I didn't know anything about guitar playing. By the end of the book I could see myself developing into a competent musician. The included CD makes learning how to play a guitar on your own an achievable goal. This is a great book for the beginner and for the performer looking to expand his range of styles.
Book Review: Great way to learn guitar with some humor
Summary: 5 Stars
Absoulutely amazing I'm just starting and I had fun right away!Theres humor too to keep you chuckling even though you are growing calluses on you left hand. After reading this book I have wanted other books by this series. There is soooooo many!
Have Fun!
Book Review: Great, great beginner's reference!
Summary: 5 Stars
Guitar for Dummies is the epitome of learning tools for the guitar. This is the undisputed king of all guitar books.If you're anything like me, you've given up the guitar multiple times because learning it has always been so boring. Most lame books always start you off with notation reading. Those books teach to read music. Not PLAY music. That's what makes this book so great. You'll be playing Kumbaya within minutes. Not Mary Had a Little Lamb after 4 hours.
The CD that accompanies the book is invaluable. It gives you the ability to track your progress against a recorded version of the song. It's simple and easy to use.
The best part of the book to me is the section on barre chords and power chords. If you have the patience to make it to this section, you will never put the guitar down again. That's because all of a sudden you can play nearly every song you've ever heard.
I highly recommend this book to anybody who wants to learn how to play guitar. Once you've studied the book for awhile, the rest gets easier and easier.