Basic Guitar: The New and Revised Edition (Guitar Player Basic Library) [Paperback]

Hal Leonard Corp. (Creator), Helen Casabona (Editor), Les Paul (Foreword)

Book Description

Series: Guitar Player Basic Library | Publication Date: December 1, 1988

Since its first publication several years ago, the original edition of Basic Guitar has taken its place as one of the most comprehensive, single volume introductions to the technique and art of playing guitar. Now this invaluable resource has been completely updated and revised with outstanding new materials - instructional articles, technical advice, specific musical examples pulled from recent issues of Guitar Player magazine, all written by the foremost experts, teachers, and artists in the field.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Founded in 1947, Hal Leonard Corporation has become the worlds largest print music publisher, representing some of the greatest songwriters and artists of all time. We are proud to publish titles of interest to all musicians as well as music lovers, from songbooks and instructional titles to artist biographies and instrument price guides to books about the music industry and all the performing arts.

Product Details

• Paperback: 122 pages
• Publisher: GPI Publications; Revised edition (December 1, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0881889067
• ISBN-13: 978-0881889062
• Product Dimensions: 12 x 9 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,949,613 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book for beginning guitarists, April 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Basic Guitar: The New and Revised Edition (Guitar Player Basic Library) (Paperback)

I am a novice guitarist (electric) looking for books to help me develop basic skills and techniques. This book was *perfect*. Articles cover all the bases from reading tab to picking, chords, rhythm, lead and technique. Most of the articles are very clearly written and assume little or no prior knowledge. Outstanding for a beginning guitarist.

5.0 out of 5 stars A Good Basic Book on Guitar, September 26, 2009

By 

William Bagley (Ashland, Oregon) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Basic Guitar: The New and Revised Edition (Guitar Player Basic Library) (Paperback)

This book is very well illustrated and is densely packed with useful information on all the basic aspects of guitar. While it is a beginners book, it has enough information to teach one for a long time. The chapter headings are GETTING STARTED, READING MUSIC, CHORDS, PLAYING BACK UP, GUITAR TECHNIQUES, PLAYING LEAD, FINGERPICKING, FLATPICKING, and PLAYING THE BLUES. There is a section on stringing and tuning with two black and white photos. There are b+w photos through out the book to illustrate the points as well as handdrawings. Some of the sections seem to have been articles in a guitar magazine (like in "My tips for beginners" by Edward Van Halen). There is also a section on improvisation. Having said this, I wonder if a person could learn a guitar from this alone or whether anyone would still need at least a few live lessons from a skilled teacher. I suspect that you will still need some live lessons, but the book would be a worthwhile support and help to remember what is taught.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not appropriate for a novice, April 19, 2005

By 

Sean K. (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Basic Guitar: The New and Revised Edition (Guitar Player Basic Library) (Paperback)

This book is an adequate introduction to various guitar techniques and theory, BUT this book will not provide you the necessary background to begin learning to play a guitar from scratch. Specifically, if you don't know guitar terminology, don't know the basic anatomy of a guitar, have never strung your own guitar, don't know the proper way to hold a guitar, and are unsure of basic hand posture (or have any of a number of other fundamental questions that may plague a neophyte), then this book is not the place to start.

This book is appropriate for a person who has played for a few months and is seeking to add more depth to their playing repertoire, but for those of us who still don't know our a*ses from our elbows this is not the place to start.