Music Reading for Guitar (The Complete Method) [Paperback]

David Oakes (Composer)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1998

Starting at the elementary level and progressing to advanced techniques, this comprehensive method is like a complete two-year guitar course in book form. It includes over 450 songs and examples, and covers: notes, rhythms, keys, positions, dynamics, syncopation, chord charts, duets, scale forms, phrasing, odd time, and much more. Designed from an MI core curriculum program.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Musicians Institute Press (March 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0793581885
• ISBN-13: 978-0793581887
• Product Dimensions: 12 x 9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #22,417 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

88 of 94 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I can finally read., July 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Music Reading for Guitar (The Complete Method) (Paperback)

This book is an incredible tool for the guitarist that can play but not read. There are tons of exercises and explanations that are all really helpful, and then before you know it, you can competently sightread. I love this book. It rocks. I'd tried tons of "learn to read" books but they're all written for other instruments, or they're written for people that haven't played the instrument before, which bites for people who can play but can't read. Buy it if you can't read music but have played guitar for a while (14 years in my case). Keep on rockin'.

36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Overall very good, April 1, 2006

By 

linguistic mystic - See all my reviews

This review is from: Music Reading for Guitar (The Complete Method) (Paperback)

I agree with other reviewers that this book has excellent examples and pacing. It is very good in terms of starting you off slowly and eventually working up to very complex rhythmic lines. One thing that should be pointed out to those interested in this book is that the reading examples cover single-note melody lines only. There is no information on triads or extended chords, so if you want to learn to sight read chords for classical or jazz guitar you will probably need to invest in some additional materials.

36 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best I've seen, March 5, 2006

By 

M. Sindel (Jacksonville, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Music Reading for Guitar (The Complete Method) (Paperback)

I've been teaching guitar since shortly after I recieved my BA in classical guitar performance in 2001, and I've used a few different methods. This one is great for anyone wanting to learn to read music on guitar. It starts off with basic rhythms, which too many methods overlook in order to hurry off to playing 150 year old folk songs that no one cares about anymore. It also starts off teaching you notes in the 5th position (which is more useful and better intonated than open position). Imcludes music theory and builds progressively from lesson to lesson, reviewing things you have just learned and putting them in the context of popular classical songs. For those of you who want modern popular songs written in a method book, keep in mind that hit songs get outdated very quickly and with classical songs, authors don't have to pay royalties to use them (keeping the books cheaper for you).

The two points where it could use improvement are: 1. An accompanying cd would make the rhythms easier to understand for beginners 2. chords written out in notes. It does do a good job of introducing chords in the context of lead sheets which are largely ignored by the likes of Hal Leonard, Mel Bay, Alfred, et. al.

I recommend it with "The songwriters workshop:Harmony" book (for theory info), www.guitargrid.com for scales and "contemporary chord khancepts" for more advanced chords.