Customer Reviews

Foundations for Guitar Book 1

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I have worked through this book with Mark and it has proven to be a very good book for me. I was a self taught player for years before finding this book and Mark. Like many self taught people, I learned alittle in alot of areas without seeing the full picture. This book starts at the beginning and points out the proper way to go about leaning the instrument. It covers many areas without overwhelming the student by concentrating on one specific area. This is a great learning tool if you are just starting out or have been playing for awhile and want to better understand the instrument.

If a foundation is what supports a house, then "Foundations for Guitar Book 1" is the solid base for a lifetime of musical enjoyment. The book starts with a strong footing of posture and basic technique, and quickly starts stacking solid blocks of lessons joined together with a mortar of musical theory and solid rythym.

A great starting point for the beginning guitarist, the book also has a lot to offer intermediate players looking to seal up some cracks in their playing.

Highly recommended

I call this my Atlas for learning guitar. Because much like AAA, I'd be lost without this book.

Mark Wein's Foundation for Guitar is an excellent resource for players of all skill levels to grow their playing ability from the roots.

The book starts simple enough, with posture, instrument mechanics and basic explanations of theory. Beyond the first few pages, however; the reader is thrown right into playing and after that it's anything but your basic run of the mill Guitar Method.

From the first couple of pages on, Mark constantly emphasizes playing in time, and immediately has the beginning player strumming open position Major Chords like D and G, and picking notes on the top 3 strings. There's a healthy mix of right hand and left hand technique mixed in and it's just meaty enough to keep you flipping pages. The most exciting part is the excercises actually feel like you're playing guitar instead of practicing mind numbing excercises.

I am currently 3/4 through the book and I find myself peeking forward to see what's coming next. I have been trying to learn to play off an on for 15 years and this is the one book I have been able to stick to past the first chapter. I can't wait for Volume 2.

In this Volume you can expect to learn Open Position Chords, note placement on the neck up and down, Movable Barre Chord Shapes, Power Chords, 8th and 16th notes picking, playing in time and alot of great fundamental theory. I never thought I'd be able to read notes in Standard Notation.

Highly recommended and an excellent chops builder for even intermediate players.

I am an adult student of the author and have enjoyed and benefitted from working through "Foundations for Guitar." Prior to starting the book, I had noodled around on my own for a couple of months and had worked through one instructional CD (which was very favorably reviewed), making little or no progress in the process. In contrast, the information and process in "Foundations" has really improved both my knowledge of music and the guitar and my playing. I find it to have the right mix of theory, practice, examples and exercises--I always understand what I'm trying to do technique-wise and what I'm supposed to get out of the lesson, yet am never put off by too much explanation or dry theory. All in all, a very well-balanced and thoughtfully assembled method book.