Customer Reviews

FastTrack Guitar Method - Book 1 (Fasttrack Series)

5 star:		(7)
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3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
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There are books that only focus on playing chords. And then there are books that convert notes into that easy to read tablature. But there isn't much sheetmusic or many songbooks written in tablature.

I don't want to count strings and frets for each note. I just want to look at the notes on any sheet of music and know what to play. That's what I do when I play piano and it's what I want to do when I play guitar. This book teaches you how to do just that in addition to reading tablature and chords.

The CD makes practice more fun. Even the simplest exercises sound great with a little backup music. And if you aren't having fun...what's the point? Buy this book and start having some of that fun!

I bought my guitar over a year ago and wanted to learn how to play but couldn't afford to pay for guitar lessons. So I bought this book. It's amazingly clear on what to do and even shows you how to hold your hand for different chords and which finger to use for various notes.

You don't even have to be able to read a note of music to get started with this book: at the very beginning of it, before you actually start playing the guitar, it explains measures, whole notes, half notes, quarter notes (etc.), time signatures, which notes are on which lines and spaces, what a clef is, etc. Eventually (towards the end of the book) it gets into tablature.

It comes with a cd so that you know what sort of a sound you're going for and to make sure that you're doing it right... plus it's fun to have some background music to play along with. Yes it is very sappy in that the book changes the names of songs from "ode to joy" to "ode to joyful rock" and "johnny be good" to "billy b.badd". The book doesn't just throw you into chords right away but instead gradually makes things tougher and slowly introduces you to different techniques.

I highly recommend the FastTrack series to learn the basics and then taking lessons from an instructor.

This book is helping me learn to read music more fluently, while I am learning to play the guitar. The CD is helpful and encouraging. While simple, the songs provide good exercises that are getting me familiar with the guitar and building "finger memory" as well as strengthening my fingers for tougher stuff. I would highly recommend to anyone who wants to learn the basics.
Good luck!

Ok, there have been many reviews talking about how great this book is. And they are right. I recommend every one of my students to begin with this book and teach out of this book in the beginning. The greatest thing about this book, in my opinion, is the fact that the student learns how to read music. Let's face it, TAB is not really a good thing. Any one can post up tabs for a song, and you just play the tab. Music notation is so much easier once you learn it. Your fingers "see" the notes without you having to think "ok 6th fret, 5th string..." Learning how to read music and play is a must for all musicians.

I will say that you do learn other things: basic chords, basic power chords, and some basic rhythms. Which these are the building blocks that everyone needs.

I have already stated this, but must go back to it. You learn how to read music! You basically learn how to sight play anything using your first four frets. Imagine, most "guitar players" don't know the frets. They just know chord shapes, not what notes make up the chord.

Here is an additional tip if you choose to buy this book and are serious about playing guitar. If you want to learn how to play "up the neck" after learning the first 4 frets,here is a simple solution. Buy a guitar fret diagram (perhaps their chords and scales book) and go back thru the first book, but play the songs in different positions. That is, your fingers are in a locked position, much like how you did the first time- you learned first position where your first finger is on the 1st fret and consequent fingers on consequent frets. Next time to learn more of the neck, try to play the same songs in 3rd and 5th position. Within in time, you will know the first 9 frets!! That coovers basically all the frets you will never spend time on. If you require screamin solos, you could continue on to 7th position and perhaps 9th position so you can hit the highest notes. But learning 1st, 3rd, and 5th position will help your guitar playing tremendously.

After you have learned the positions, go on to book 2. Then get their chords and scales book. I would also recommend Don Latarski's Practical Theory book. Let's face it, you've come this far so go into theory. You will reap the benefits if you stay with it. Next, time for specialization. What is it that you want to play? Metal, funk, blues, jazz, country, rock, a little of all? Get into theory, structures, chords, voicings, scales, etc for your preferred style. I am biased, I admit, but jazz is the best thing for you to learn on guitar. It is so complex. Perhaps not as fast and blazing as metal, but the voicings, textures, etc of jazz are unmatched. If you can learn jazz guitar, you can learn anything. Also, I would recommend classical lessons, methods, or books for even more enrichment. Good luck to you. May you have fun playing and learning the guitar. Stay focused and determined and you will find that you can play the guitar with great skill. God bless you in your endeavors!

This is a fun book for adult beginners. The commentary is humorous and it is easy to follow and understand. Highly recommend it for older beginners who already read notes and rhythms and want to move a bit faster.

A great begining book to start with..easy to follow & understand.
Also the CD is a big help...Ron

This is Justin. I'm not a total beginner, but I normally play by ear (poorly). I wanted to find a book that taught a little beginner guitar to get my feet under me. I've looked at books all over the place and this one is the only one that I've ever liked. They have a lot of cheesy jokes that just make it that much sweeter.

This is the book for you. It introduces each note very slowly (there is only one scale, 6 open chords, and 3 power chords) and provides plenty of songs to give you a context for each note. The description is also misleading as you learn absolutely no blues scales or chords in this book (there are just a couple of songs) and don't even get me started on the puns. This could be a good book if you have no musical background and like playing simple songs more than learning new concepts but even then this book is light on the concepts and big on corny humor.

It's hard to get past the corny "humor" and wacky Comic Sans font, but even when I do, the text itself frustrates. There must be a better way to initiate a musical novice into playing an instrument. I've yet to make it past the six notes in the first two chapters. Maybe it works for others, but definitely not for me.