Customer Reviews

The First Stage Guitar Book: Learn How To Play Guitar Easily & Quickly!

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I like many others, own many 'how to play guitar' books. The vast majority of these books are either overly technical for the beginner, or present incomplete information that demands prior knowledge of guitar theory. This book presents chords (open and barre) in easy to read diagrams, along with progressions that take the guess work out of what chords sound good together. Of the many books I own, this, along Chris'other book,"The Next Stage Guitar Book", are my favorites. Rather than reinventing the wheel and taking years to learn the information presented in this book by trial and error, I'd suggest buying this book. It's like a treasure map that will simplify the guitar, and more importantly, allow you to have some fun rather than drown in years and years of theory before being able to play anything.

As with "The Guitar Book" this book also, with it's easy to see diagrams steps the beginner through the basics of the guitar from the proper positioning, tuning and the first few basic chords one begins to sense an immediate feel of accomplishment from the basics of strumming and finger placement.

The charts showing chords in the open and "barre" combinations, in my opinion, takes this knowledge to a level that any student can expand with to the best of their current ability. The availability of this "BUILDING BLOCK" feature paints a bright picture where as other books pile this information in following chapters.

From the easy to read diagram explanations, transposing and "tips along the way" the potential here is something that not only will the beginner find useful but many a player I'm sure will find resourceful. From the majors, minors, flats, sevenths and ninths this book by far is the best I have seen anywhere.

I doubt anyone will find this too elementary.

A Definite 5+ *****

I got the book and discovered this guitar book is just what I wanted. The chords are easy to understand and given in both "open" and "barre" finger forms. It has other helpful learning information such as the individual notes on the guitar and how they relate to written music. The illustrations are large and clear. It is much simpler now since everything I needed to get started is in The "First Stage" Guitar Book.

I am pleased that it is a spiral bound book, the pages stay flat making it easy to practice. It is a valuable guitar book for a beginner like myself.

This is primarily a book on chord progressions. Starting with the most popular chords used in music, and then moving to other chords in open in barre position. Interspersed here and there are some tips on playing guitar. Not much more than that, and not very well organized.

I would consider this most beneficial as a companion to lessons or to a complete method found elsewhere. There just isn't much to it. It's 80 pages, but each page generally contains two 4-chord progressions. I also found that several of the chords listed are inaccurate -- or at least inconsistent with several other sources I checked them against.

I've used about 6 different books and software on learning the guitar, and I found this to be the least helpful. But there are some great reference diagrams that I still refer to, and as it is entirely focused on popular progressions, it finds a home being used in conjunction with another book.

I bought this book about three months ago and although it is a good place to get started, it does have a few mistakes. I'm now taking lessons and have learned that a few of the chord patterns in the book are inaccurate and/or wrong. For example, the book shows the correct finger pattern for an "A" major chord but does not omit the 6th string (open "E" note) from the chord diagram, thus leading you to believe the note should be played as part of the chord. My intructor corrected me the first time I played the chord. The mistake appears to be a simple publishing error but of course you can't know this if you are a beginner like myself. All things considered, the book was helpful in getting started and I was able to learn a few helpful chords before my lessons began. If you purchase this book, and are not familiar with how each chord is formulated, I would recommend veryfing the finger patterns against another source before you become too comfortable playing the chords.

I have been trying to learn how to play the guitar for a long time now and came across this guitar book and have enjoyed it ever since. The illustrations and directions are so clear and simple that I now enjoy playing the guitar. Thanks for this wonderful easy reading and understanding book. By being a spiral bound book, it is so easy to use. I have learned so much and now enjoy having my guitar and so do my friends...they get to listen to me...

This was the first book I used to get started from scratch. The reason I like it is that it has NO songs, so it took the pressure off having to learn a song, yet the 4 chord sequences sound quite good (according to my wife). It includes barre chords, but also alterative figuring to barre chords, so you can learn them slowly/progresively without pressure. The other book a bought (for songs) is "The Complete Guitarist" by Russ Shipton

I have been playing the guitar for about a month. I have learned more from going through the chord progressions in this book than a [$$$] one I bought elsewhere. It certainly isn't all I need to know but it is a great start. I intend to go on to the next one in the series.

The best guitar tutorial I've seen-excellent chord charts are easy to use, with logical progression that make it easy to locate desired chord. Simple and straight forward.

If you want clear, well thought out instruction thats also not going to break the bank, buy this book! Its that simple! This is by far and away the most effective guitar tuition book I've found. Both books are superb and the chord chart is really handy too! I will be buying more of Chris's books as soon as he gets round to finishing them... hint hint.... :)