Customer Reviews

A Modern Method for Guitar - Volume 1

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Levitt's 'Modern Method' has been the foundation stone upon which many great guitarists have built their careers and reputations. It's pretty much beyond criticism for many players, but it's worth noting some observations:

1) It's not recommended if all you want is to learn how to strum a few chords

2) If you simply want to read TAB and chord charts, this is not the book for you

3) This will not help you perfect your string bending, hammer ons, pull offs, fingerpicking or even sweep picking

So, why the five stars? Because it's essentially boot camp for guitar. Spend a year with the book (and the accompanying DVD) and you will come away with a good basic understanding of how music works and how to apply that understanding to the guitar. You'll also be on the way to be able to sight-reading 'the dots'. Plus, in the process you will improve; playing slowly, carefully and methodically to the unstinting beat of a metronome can reveal many weaknesses in technique.

The DVD is hugely useful, too. Not only does it demonstrate the exercises well, but Larry Baione adds a human touch that the text is sometimes missing.

In short, if you want to take guitar seriously, there's no better starting place than William Levitt's books.

This book is awesome. I recently finished but I'm in the process of review currently. The book takes you from the very basics and has you reading in 4 positions by the end of the book. It also gives you 5 or 6 major scale fingerings as well as tons of chord forms, chord reading etudes, picking etudes, etc. The book is a complete system for becoming complete player and every aspect of beginner playing is covered here. Everything is planned out in a genius way thanks to William Leavitt, one of the greatest guitar teachers in history. This book is heavy and I honestly wouldn't reccomend it to the straight beginner because it's too brainy and hard. If you've been playing for awhile and you're ready to get serious and learn to read then this is the perfect book. In my opinion this is the greatest book you'll find out there and I can't recommend it enough. I'll warn you though, it's no cake walk and takes time and dedication (which will be worthwhile!).

Six or more stars, really.

I finally bought this book after "thinking about it" forever. (I have a problem with the thinking thing.) Well, just as has been said before... drop everything else and go through these books. You'll be WAY ahead if you do. I studied classical guitar for a year in college (though I'm primarily a jazz-rock-etc. player), and this SHOULD have been the book they used back then. The exercises are melodic enough that anyone with an ear should be able to follow them with little difficulty, and still you'll learn everything you need to learn.

The progression of exercises is sensible, and everything holds together as a meaningful whole, an attribute lacking in most guitar instruction books. (Though you may want to add Arnie Berle's "New Guitar Techniques for Sight Reading" as well. Not that there's a gap in Leavitt's books, just that Berle's approach may broaden your approach a bit. Berle's other books are good as well, in my opinion.)

So don't think (as I did) that this is a method for "that kind of player over there, but not me," as I did. Regardless of your intended style, what you will get here will put you years ahead if you just do it. After that, you'll be ready to tackle anything - it'll still be work, it always will be, but you won't spin your wheels as hundreds of thousands of players do.

Guitar players owe something good to Leavitt for this book, really. It's obviously the product of a sensible, disciplined, knowledgable and concerned mind.

I wholeheartedly agree with Mike Stern. This is the best method for guitar ever written. After "messing around" with guitar for years and trying several other guitar method books and a popular multi-DVD guitar package. I got serious and was fortunate enough to pick a teacher who used this book as his basic text. Nothing else I've tried is this logically designed from a developmental point of view. The way the exercises progressively develop independence and control in your left (particularly) and right hands is ingenious. Same kudos for the books approach to teaching theory and site reading. Being able to play the exercises with Larry Baione and take advantage of the his insghts and tips rounds out the program. He gives just enough instruction to get the student past any sticking points he may come up against. I'm close to completing this one after about six months, have Volume 2 on the shelf. I've also been going through the "Blues You Can Use" book by Jeff Ganape while using this book for the last couple of months. Quite frankly its made reading and playing through the lessons in "BYCU" a piece of cake so I'm freed up to work more on technique.

This books lays the best foundation for future greatness for any beginner or intermediate player or even someone like me who'd been playing a long time but finally decided to learn what I was doing and learn to do it the right way. You have to be serious about learning guitar,and you'll have to discipline yourself and practice regularly, and slowly and precisely, preferably always with a metronome, and review, review review. As instructed. The music selections are all originals, logically arranged to progressively develop specific skills. So you'll have to learn to read them in order figure them out. There are chord diagrams, but (thank heavens) no tab.

In a nutshell this book teaches the nuts and bolts of guitar playing better than any other I've seen and pays big dividends to the hard working student. By the way, from my experience, it works well to make Modern Method the foundation of your study, and work on some particular musical interest or style at the same time.

As a certified music teacher, with a degree in music education /guitar performance and 20 years of guitar instruction experience, I believe that this is a great method book for older (16+ yrs) students, with some experience with the guitar. However, I would not recommend this book for kids of the elementary school age or beginners of any age.

First, the pace of the book is such that beginners will feel that they are making little progress and quickly get discouraged.
At this level I recommend Hal Leonard Guitar Method Complete Edition

Second, The book is very dry in in content. I understand and agree with Leavitt's rationale for not using familiar tunes; however, I do believe that the method is lacking in any examples of "real music". I suggest supplementing this method with tunes from a fake book such as The Real Book: Sixth Edition. Of course,the chosen pieces should represent the current skill level of the guitarist.

This review is for the Berklee "A Modern Method for Guitar - Volume 1: Book/DVD-ROM Pack." This book (with the included DVD) is outstanding. It is obviously based on decades of experience successfully teaching hundreds of guitar students master their instruments. I bought this course after viewing the Berklee videos (with Larry Baione) on a popular video web site.

This book seems to be aimed at people who are interested in orchestral guitar, as well as others who wish to master the ability to sight-read sheet music. At one point in the book, the author explains that one should develop "instant" note recognition; meaning, when one looks at sheet music, one should instantly "hear" (mentally) the sound of the note, and then the fingers should automatically (instantly) play the notes that one hears. If you are not interested in achieving this goal, then this book is not for you.

The course has brilliantly broken down the skills and knowledge of guitar playing into small sessions, then sequenced those sessions to build both understanding and physical skill. At the end of this course, you will have developed complete left and right hand strength, dexterity, speed, and "muscle memory." I am particularly fond of the Berklee method for learning scale patterns up and down the entire fretboard (started in Volume 1, continued in Volume 2).

This book is lacking instruction on music theory. Therefore, I would highly recommend that you supplement the Berklee course with Hal Leonard's "Music Theory for Guitarists" book (by Tom Kolb).

This is NOT the course for you if you just got your guitar and you want to have immediate fun playing chords and basic lead patterns. In fact, if the Berklee course is your only at-home study product, you will quickly get bored and lose interest in guitar. Obviously, having fun and maintaining interest are vital when learning a musical instrument; therefore, it might be better for you if you start your guitar player journey with another course.

Most new guitar players will learn better (and have more fun) with the Rock House "Learn Rock Guitar" DVDs. The Rock House method will teach you basic chords, strumming patterns, and lead patterns very quickly, without requiring any music reading or music theory. Another good DVD course is Fender's "Getting Started on Electric Guitar" or "Getting Started on Acoustic Guitar." Of course, the best at-home guitar course (by far) is "Learn and Master Guitar" by Steve Krenz. Unless you already know how to read music (i.e., you know how to play another musical instrument), you should probably finish any of these courses before you start the Berklee course.

In all cases, after you finish one of the beginner guitar courses (including lessons with a guitar instructor), you should definitely spend a year with this Berklee "Modern Method" course. It will force you to master exercises that ensure you have the required skills and knowledge to progress to intermediate or advanced playing.

I bought the complete MOdern Method for Guitar , and I have been using for auto instruction. Though I loved it from the start something was missing..some things were uncleard and I really had doubts..so finally I bought the DVD.Geez I am impressed! the book and the DVD is a killer!! Larry Baione is an excellent instructor in the DVD. He clarified some doubts I had ,but the best of all is that he gives many tips that are not included in the book.I sincerely recommend this book with the DVD..And Mr Baione,please release the DVD companion for the books 2 and 3 - I think this is the best Guitar Instruction DVD !! I really thank Berklee and Mr Baione for this excellent idea.
So get them now!

This book is absolutely fantastic for learning how to play the guitar. There is a subtle yet important difference between learning to play the instrument vs learning to play songs. This is a true learning book in that it gradually develops the core ability of the student to play the guitar instrument.

The accompanying DVD contains high quality content. Larry Baione, chair of Berklee's guitar department, guides you through each exercise and gives out pointers on how to practice and what to watch for. The explanation for each exercise is clear and concise. Note that the DVD requires a computer to run. The program offers fast forward and rewind capability much like an old fashioned tape deck.

This book solely focuses on the core playing ability. The absence of music theory keeps the learning experience feeling focused and uncluttered. The exercises are strategically composed so that they build on each other. For each lesson, a variety of exercises are introduced that are eventually tied together in "duets" and "solo" exercises. The exercises are very musical in nature, which helps keeping the student motivated.

This book is highly recommended for those who want to self-teach at their own pace. The exercises are very well portioned for any practice routines from 30 minutes a day to 2 hours a day.

Well, I've been playing guitar for over 4 years now, and unfortanately I never learned to read music. Of, course I learned the simple 1st pos. notes, but when I had to read elsewhere, I'm in trouble... So I bought this book, the DVD version, and I couldn't be happier with it! :)

It starts off showing you the basic notes, and then gradually gets harder as you move forward. Very good for sight-reading practice. It also goes into other positions and has reading tips throughout the book.

The DVD is a bonus, very cool, because you can play along with a Berklee instructor. You can either play the same thing, or play 2 seperate lines for a duet. This definitely keeps learning interesting. And the instructor also gives some good advice as well.

I'm not even half-way through it, there's a lot of info in here... I do think that if you had prior experience with another guitar method, such as Mel Bay or Hal Leonard's books, you would be able to get more out of it. As it assumes you have a little more than basic knowledge.

So overall, a great purchase, would have liked it to be a little cheaper, but you do get a lot, so now I see why the price is a little higher than other books; This is the best guitar method I've ever used, do yourself a favor and buy it! :)

Over the past few weeks that I've been using this book with my guitar teacher, I have improved my sight reading and note playing skills significantly. It's a great book for beginners as well as more advanced players since it progressively increases difficulty level. The CD is also very useful because it allows one to hear what the exercises and pieces should sound like.