Solo Guitar Playing/Book 1 with CD (Classical Guitar) by Frederick Noad Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Solo Guitar Playing/Book 1 with CD (Classical Guitar)
Book Review: Classical guitar
Summary: 5 Stars
As someone completely new to guitar this book is very intensive and easy to understand.Book Review: Excellent Content, but a few faults still unresolved.....
Summary: 4 Stars
Prior to Mr Noad's passing, there had been various updates with each revision. The content of this book is superb. The exercises are well thought out. The only true negatives of this book in my opinion are First: It needs a spiral bound edition. The book is almost impossible to put on a music stand comfortably without bending it back so that it lies flat. The copy I have was so damaged from doing this that the pages began falling out. This led me to remove all the pages, punch holes in them and replace them in a binder which allows easy page turning. Many others have noticed the same issue in some of the reviews, but the publisher still has not remedied this.
Second negative is the CD. Again, the content is excellent, but there is no listing of the CD contents in the book anywhere. A simple CD Icon next to the work outlined in the book would be appropriate.
I agree with many of the reviews. The book gradually moves the guitarist through exercises which move from position 1 on the fretboard through Position 2.
Book Review: Excellent Introduction to Both Techniques and Composers
Summary: 5 Stars
Not only does this book introduce students to the essential techniques, but also to a wide variety of composers from various countries and periods. I feel this is important as it allows the beginner to not only gain an appreciation for the contributions of these composers, but also allows the student to determine the area of focus they would like to pursue in the future, whether that be a preference for Baroque period or Spanish composers, etc.If there is a flaw, it is found in the accompanying CD. Students, such as myself, can be mislead in what is attainable. For example, the first piece on the CD is called "Spanish Study", which sounds like a simplified version of Leyenda. Nevertheless, if you hear how fast Frederick Noad plays, it is extremely discouraging because there is no way in the world 99.99% of beginning students are going to be able to play this first piece at tempo. It leaves you feeling, "if this is what is expected of a beginning student on the first piece, maybe this instrument is way beyond my capacity, and I should just look for an easier instrument." So, I feel the CD would have been better done if Frederick Noad had played the pieces at a tempo that is realistic for a beginning student. To me, the purpose of an accompanying CD is not to show how a professional would play it, but to show you how you should sound if you play it correctly for the student level to which the book is targeted.
Secondly, one thing beginning students may not know about is a "digital editing", which I'm sure was done on some of the pieces played, since the average for classical guitar is 100 digital edits per 20 minutes of music. An excellent example of this is in the beautiful "El Testamen de Amelia". If the student tries to reproduce those phenomenal artificial harmonics that Frederick Noad plays on the CD, you can spend weeks trying to reproduce such a crisp, clean bell-like sound. Fortunately, my own teacher, who has been playing for over 40 years, pointed this out to me and showed me what can realistically be expected in terms of sound produced in artificial harmonics. So, my point is the student can spend many frustrating weeks trying to produce a sound that is exactly like that on the CD, not knowing it's impossible since we can't digitally edit our playing.
Consequently, you might want to just buy the book without the CD as it can be more harmful than it is helpful in your progress.
One other shortcoming is the lack of a glossary of musical terms used in the pieces. For example, in the same piece mentioned above (El Testamen de Amelia), he uses the term "rall. poco". I spent considerable time going back through the entire book, as well as searching the Internet, trying to figure out what that meant. I was not able to find out until my next visit to see my own teacher.
With the exception of the two shortcomings mentioned, it's an excellent book, and I'm glad I chose the Noad instruction books over others. The final series of Tarrega and Llobet pieces make the end of the journey through Book 1 worth it all.
Book Review: Excellent instruction for advanced beginners
Summary: 5 Stars
Noad is the standard text for technically oriented guitar instruction. The pieces that Noad has selected for this volume are intelligently selected and all have plenty of comments to help you interpret the music. Sometimes my teacher has better suggestions for fingering than Noad supplies, but this is a minor complaint. Noad is very traditional in his approach; sometimes his reasons for choosing a certain fingering or phrasing are based on obscure historical precedent that the less knowledgeable player will not be aware of, but trusting Noad's scholarship will enhance your playing. This book will definitely get you reading better, but don't rely on this book to teach you to read. If you don't read yet, go to a more basic book before this one. I don't have the CD, but I wish I did. I think that having a CD of the music is key if you are studying on your own.Book Review: FANTASTIC!
Summary: 5 Stars
I spent 6 years with instructors learning the guitar when I was in high school. I then did not touch a guitar until I reached my 40th birthday. In the 4 months since I started playing again, I play better guitar than I did after all those years of teaching- because Noad's book does a SUPERB job teaching you to:
1. read music fluidly
2. play by touch (no looking at fingers).
This is a must buy. 30 minutes a day and amazing things will happen.