Zen Guitar by Philip Toshio Sudo Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Zen Guitar
Book Review: As a seasoned professional, Zen Guitar opened my eyes.
Summary: 5 Stars
I was over all impressed with Zen Guitar. It offered very interesting insights into the world of guitar. There is a whole other side to the human thought process and I've learned to get in tough with this through Zen Guitar. Thanx PhilBook Review: Beginner's mind
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is extremely valuable for any musician, artist or person. The meditation in the back of the book alone is worth complete contemplation. The concept this book is based upon is the journey from beginner to expert and back to beginner...a concept i well understand as a professional guitar player of 15 years and a professional teacher (over 40 private students). i wish every one of them would go out and read this book from the youngest to the oldest. this is not a guitar textbook or a supplement for a teacher...but it is a valuable guidebook to lead you away from the dark path of ego-gratification, flashy licks, and playing metered depression.Book Review: Best book about guitar I've seen
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is my favorite book about playing guitar in the same way the June 1978 Guitar Player magazine interview with Carlos Santana is my favorite interview with a guitar player. Learning specific techniques, scales, chords, etc. and applying them mechanically is one thing. However, employing various techniques, scales, chords, etc. so they actually mean something is another matter entirely.
This excellent text focuses on the gestalt of guitar playing and musicianship. Of course it's incredibly important to learn about specific techniques. However, this text covers the other half of the game-- how to play meaningfully with thought and spirit. The best musicians have both bases covered.
A must-have. Excellent text for musicians playing other instruments, as well. Highly recommended.
Book Review: Claims to be no more than it is
Summary: 4 Stars
I like this book quite a bit. Some find it lacking as a zen text, which it doesn't really claim to be. Others find it comes short as a guitar instructional, which is also not its intent. To me it seems like a book which tries to place a guitarist ina relatively zen state of mind. It does so without going into the type of rigor that would require the reader to be a student of philosophy, religion, or zen itself to understand.Its greatest triumph is its ability to focus a guitarists on self-expression and fulfillment through guitar. There's no competitive, flashy workout mentality, no boistrous 'do everything the way I do' bullying. Sudo comes right out and says that you'll need other resources for the nuts and bolts.
In short, this is a great book to help a guitarists get into a good guitar state of mind.
Book Review: Condensed wisdom but a bit preachy at times
Summary: 3 Stars
I just finished reading this book and got a lot out of it, but there's a few things that I found unsettling about it. For one thing, the author pretty much tells you straight up that you shouldn't make music about anything negative. So, if you want to be a "Zen Guitarist" you should avoid metal, punk, rap, and even a lot of country. He doesn't name any genres, but he definitely disparages music that "glorifies" guns, violence, suicide, hate, misogyny, ignorance, ect. The author seems to be proselytizing his own tastes in music.
Like I said, there's a lot of condensed wisdom in this book. Metaphors and parables, catch phrases and common sense, but I could probably have done without the Zen stuff. It made me chuckle at times since I'm not sure I buy it.
The book is almost like a self-help book for guitarists, putting you in the right state of mind to actually accomplish something with your playing. Here's what I got out of it:
Don't waste any time doing anything half-hearted.
Try to find what you're meant to do and find your limitations.
You will never stop learning.
The Zen stuff is mostly about stopping your mind from getting in the way. Other artists and authors speak about doing the same thing without the Zen stuff.
Of course, even the Zen parables contain plenty of wisdom and stuff to make you think. Just don't take every single thing the book says as gospel.