The Hal Leonard Acoustic Guitar Method: A Complete Guide with Step-by-Step Lessons and 45 Great Acoustic Songs
by Chad Johnson

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Book Reviews of The Hal Leonard Acoustic Guitar Method: A Complete Guide with Step-by-Step Lessons and 45 Great Acoustic Songs

Book Review: Useful in parts, but not the best choice for a beginner
Summary: 3 Stars

OK - so where has that opinion come from?

The book and CD begins well with basic strumming.This is a skill (an art?) that is often overlooked and yet it underpins all rhythm guitar and a major element of some fingerstyle styles. It is thus very useful to have and hear a comprehensive introduction to this basic foundation of guitar playing. It will also allow absolute beginjners to quickly feel that they can actually play something and for any who want to be able to stand there and hammer out a good-sounding rhythm, this is even better.

The first flaw emerges as the introduction develops. Initially, each strumming pattern (in terms of both style and chords) is recorded on the basis of one-pattern-per track. This makes it easy and very useful to set your CD player on track-repeat so that you can play along. However, soon this changes and there are more than one pattern and more than one chord sequence per track. This coincides with a sudden increase in the difficulty level of the chords being used and it makes it much harder to focus on one pattern or one new chord at a time.

The final element of each chapter is a 'jam track'. The one at the end of chapter 1 uses no less than 15 chords, some as esoteric as Gm13, Fmaj9/C or Dsus2/F#. Nice though these chords are - I feel that it would have been possible to have used far easier sets of chords or to have provided 2 or 3 graded jam tracks. Many folk songs or tunes by Dylan, The Beatles, Neil Diamond etc. can be played using far less than 15 chords and would have been more recognisable than the chosen track, 'Barely Breathing'. By the time a Beatles tune is used at the end of Chapter 3, the expertise level needs to be high.

This same general pattern is evident throughout subsequent chapters .... easy beginnings but then a very rapid increase in levels of difficulty. This is also reflected in the way so many topics and styles are covered in relatively short chapters.

As for chapter themes, these are as follows:
Intro ----- Choosing an acoustic guitar. (Ok, but why only illustrate the most expensive guitars?)
Chapter 1 Strumming (jam track = Barely breathing)
Chapter 2 Fingerpicking (jam = Dust in the wind)
Chapter 3 Using a capo (jam = Here comes the sun)
Chapter 4 Alternate tunings (jam = Name)
Chapter 5 Country & Bluegrass (jam = Wildwood flower)
Chapter 6 Blues slide guitar (jam = Crossroads)
Chapter 7 Acoustic riffs (jam = Angie)

In my opinion - and I've been playing guitar for about 40 years - this book runs the risk of putting off many raw beginners. However - it's emphasis upon strumming IS useful and as such it does make a useful addition to the genre. Combined, say, with the excellent book 'The Acoustic Guitar Method - complete edition' by David Hamburger, it could work well.

Oh - and if you want to explore a good range of acoustic riffs (raced through in chapter 7), a far better choice would be '101 acoustic riffs for acoustic guitar' byt Artie Traum.

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