Complete Guitarist (The Complete Book) [Paperback]

Richard Chapman (Author)

Book Description

Series: The Complete Book | Publication Date: November 10, 1994

The combination of side-on photographic shots of finger positions, front-on computer-graphic chord and finger visuals, together with standard music notation and guitar tablature, make the simplest chords and most sophisticated scales easy to understand. Through its step-by-step picture sequences the reader will learn how to master a comprehensive range of techniques, sounds, and styles.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A coffee table book and a through instruction manual in between the covers. -- DISCoveries

An appealing book in the style of the Eyewitness series, this should be both popular with and useful to students. -- School Library Journal

Highly recommended for guitarists of all levels. -- The Guitar Magazine --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Richard Chapman is a respected guitarist, journalist, and media personality. He has taught many leading performers and acts as a consultant to the auction house Christie's in London as an authority on the history of the guitar. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Dorling Kindersley (November 10, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 075130154X
• ISBN-13: 978-0751301540
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #690,763 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing guitar and music theory book, November 1, 1998

By 

Herbert (Midwest) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Complete Guitarist (Paperback)

I first got this book when I was learning guitar, but since then have shifted my emphasis to the piano. Amazingly enough, I still use this book often because of the great theory it provides. But for a guitar player, this the THE BOOK to have. I mean, it has everything. First, the design is so easy to follow, and so intuitive, that it makes learning fun. The book begins with an appreciative history of guitar, then gets into everything else, and I mean everything. Theory, scales, chords, progressions, improvising, keys, modes, substitutions, reading music, playing styles, transposing, the entire fretboard, practice methods, and a lot more I am not mentioning. Then there is complete information on how to take care of your guitar, and some examples (well, more technically, equipment) of how to get into home-recording. The greatest strength of the book is the "lesson like" format, where each two pages constitutes a central lesson, and the complexity builds as you go through it. The computer-generated pictures are easy to understand and do not get overwhelming. There is unbelievable organization in the theory (especially keys, chord progressions and impovisation), which is why I still use it even though I don't really play guitar. If God owned a guitar, he'd probably have this book.

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Complete Guiartist-A comprhensive source for all guiarists, January 24, 2000

By 

Steven H. Dymond "sdymondpc" (Englewood, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Complete Guitarist (Paperback)

I have played guitar over 30 years, played in bands, built guitars and lutes and attended Berklee College of Music in Boston. After a hiatus of several years in my playing, I started to re-visit guitar when my son wanted lessons. I recomend this book to anyone who wants to better understand guitars, thier history, thier uses, music and music theory. While the book could benefit from a CD for beginners so that they could hear the concepts presented, it has served as a wonderful refresher and general exercise book for scales, picking, and other areas which I have paid $25 / hour for to get less information during a one hour lesson than from a single page in the book. I use this book to explore areas outside of my usual players rut, such as jazz progressions, site reading, substituitions and the like. This is a book with real meat in it for anyone who will take the time to chew the information presented.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stop reading the reviews and buy this book now!, March 1, 2004

By 

P. Banks "raxajack" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Complete Guitarist (Paperback)

I had already posessed intermediate / advanced skill level by the time I originally purchased this book. Since then I have recommended it to everyone I knew who showed an interest in learning the guitar and each person has been impressed. Beginner, intermediate, advanced, there is something for everyone. The graphic format it uses is highly original and provides amazing insight to the mysteries of music theory, chords, substitutions, scales, chord/scale relationship, single note exercises, improvising melodies, history, equipment used to create sounds and maintenance of the guitar, among others. All in all, the most comprehensive overview on an instrument whose sound is as unique as the individual playing it. I have lived on pages 132 and 133 for years. Even though I feel there isn't much more I can discover on the guitar, I still refer to it ten years after buying it. I wish it was published when I first started playing, as it would've expedited progress in my early years. Sadly I have heard that this edition is no longer being printed and I'm too scared to see what the new edition looks like. That said, if you can find this book, you would be stupid to pass it up because it is, by far, THE best guitar instruction reference I've seen in 21 years of playing.