Customer Reviews

A Modern Approach to Classical Guitar: Book 1 - Book Only (HL00695114)

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

 

 

I know Charles Duncan personally and he is an incredible classical guitarist and over-all musician. I teach classical guitar using, "A Modern Approach to Classical Guitar Book 1" as the first book for all of my beginning students whether they are adults or children. It is not specifically written for children, but a smart 7 year old can do as well as a 50 year old with this book. The larger print music notation helps in learning to read music, and the songs selected are very good at helping the beginning guitar student to use her/his fingers properly. It includes a very easy to understand "basics" of musical notation, and also has quizzes to find areas that might need reviewing. This book progresses smoothly at a moderate rate, unlike many other beginning method books which move the beginning student too quickly to more advanced material before they are ready. After successfully learning all the material in this book, you will be ready to move on either to his book 2, or another more advanced method book.

Also, if you use this book in conjunction with a qualified teacher, you WILL learn to play classical guitar!

this book has been a very helpful guide in my beginning efforts to learn to play the guitar. i didn't get the CD's that go along with the book, but the book is laid out so well and the instructions are quite clear and easy to follow.

A nice book for a self-learner, provided one is reading really carefully (there are very important issues explained only once and then briefly in this book, and for that I took one star down) and works hard through the book. One will do well though to either hire a teacher at some point, or at least to record oneself playing on a video and show the recording to some knowledgeable folks on the net (there are plenty of guitar forums with people willing to help).

The book comes with a CD that contains some of the songs in the book, so that one can play duets, accompanied by the CD. This is a nice touch, since it teaches you to play along and to interact (something usually lacking when teaching oneself). Parts 2 and 3 of this book are also accompanied by a matching "repertoire" book, with lovely music to play for practice and fun.

The book makes learning classical guitar technique fun through the integration of pop music. As with many similarly short method books, it tries to cram in several difficult new techniques in the last few pages, giving only one practice song per new idea - and no build up or preparation for mastery.

The songs are arranged with a number of student/teacher duets which sound quite pleasant. If you don't have a teacher, the CDs contain the teacher part. Sadly, the CDs are a direct transfer of the original deteriorated recordings from decades past. The recorded teacher's parts of the duets are not only off pitch, but the pitch error changes from one song to the next. So, if you tune to one song, your guitar will sound out-of-tune when you get to the next song. Sometimes the pitch changes during a song, and there is quite a lot of distracting wow and flutter - a term for an old audio problem that you may never have experience unless you grew up with record players.

The books are a fun way to learn, but you need frequent contact with a more advanced duet partner, and some supplementary material will be needed to help you through those giant leaps.

Great book for the beginner. However, I just ordered this book and received the second edition Copyright 2009. I was instructed to purchase the first edition copyright 1996, which is what is listed here. Amazon needs to correct their inventory, I have contacted them and indicated that they need to appropriately identify this book. The "Look Inside" feature details the first edition, but the second edition is shipped - very different books!

A Modern Approach to Classical Guitar - Composite (Books 1, 2 and 3)(book & 3 CD'S)

the best books on Classical Guitar, used for students from beginner to advanced.