Customer Reviews

The New Complete Guitarist

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I never got to read the original Complete Guitarist, which was out of print when I got around to buying this book, but let me say this book is very good. The original, from what I have heard, was more richly illustrated than this book is, but The New Complete Guitarist still keeps the meat and bones of the original. It starts from a complete beginners standpoint (how to hold the guitar), through to advanced scale and chord structures, all the way to how to maintain your guitar. I have had other books on guitar playing, but this one cuts straight to the nitty-gritty. It's basic chords are indispensable for a beginner and the sprinkling of music theory really lets you understand the chords you are playing, instead of tedious memorization. I would recommend this book to anybody who owns a guitar and would like to push themselves further. This book will grow with you.

The presentation of this book is phenomenal which is why I bought it. I glanced through it and found its presentation, photos and text to be appealing. However, once you actually start to read the thing, it's extremely difficult to follow from chapter to chapter. They try to cram too much info into each page which makes it counter-productive to the learning process. I have benefited much more from the Fretboard Logic series and even those Hal-Leonard introductory books. I only recommend this book to those with an intermediate level of knowledge about the guitar and to those that won't get frustrated spending several days/weeks on just a few pages of this book.

I've been playing guitar for about fifteen years now, and just recently decided it might be a good thing to get a book that could help me fill in the spaces of technique and theory that had undoubtedly accumulated in my playing since I began.

I chose this book among all of the beginner/intermediate how-to's at the bookstore because it looked like it would be comprehensive and also easy and fun to use. On a once-over at the music section, the text seemed clear and easy to follow and the book was filled with helpful illustrations and sidebars.

I bought the book and took it home and at first was very happy with it, but the further I read, the more disenchanted I became.

The main problem I had with this book is that it doesn't build on its own concepts at a sensible rate. The authors frequently make frustrating leaps, introducing a concept in one chapter and then over-immersing the reader in it in the next.

This book was almost helpful in many ways, but ultimately more frustrating than it was worth. I think it could be improved, however, and made into a more useful guide, if the authors were to streamline the presentation of information and not using advanced concepts when the reader has not been adequately prepared for them.

The New Complete Guitarist is a classic. There is tons of information here, much of which leans on music theory. The book covers lots of guitar styles (not much on classical, however) and techniques and goes from simple open chords to sophisticated chord voicings, progressions and soloing. The book is written in the style of most other DK books which is a very aesthetically pleasing "visual" approach consisting of many colorful photographs and charts with small descriptive blurbs nearby.

Some readers have complained that the book uses terminology that is not explained until later in the book. This is sometimes true, although it is fairly easy to locate the explanation elsewhere. The book should be considered more of a reference book (or something between a reference book and an instruction book). I would probably not use the book as my sole source of instruction, however, because some topics need to be elaborated on more thoroughly and this book avoids verbosity. None-the-less, if you only purchased one guitar book or needed a supplemental guitar book, this would do you extremely well.

Readers should also checkout the classic "The Guitar Handbook", by Ralph Denyer as an alternative or an addition to The New Complete Guitarist". Although similar, The Guitar Handbook provides a different, but welcome perspective to similar topics.

This is a very good book for an experienced guitar player. It is too concise for a beginner in my opinion. It seems to be incredibly complete and I highly recommend it to expand your knowledge of all aspects of the guitar.

I really like this book a lot! I've taken guitar lessons for 3-1/2 years and have bought several books about guitar playing and guitars in general. This is by far the best book that I have found. It contains guitar basics through complex techniques and music theory as well. It also gives some good riffs for various styles which gives the player an opportunity to experiment with styles they might otherwise never try.

This is a wonderfully illustrated book with lots of photos. Everything is explained and illustrated in a most excellent way. This should be a must have for beginners and an exellent reference for everyone else.

I just started playing guitar, had never even picked one up before so I wanted to find the best intro. I bought several other books, magazines, etc., and out of all of them this is the best. It explains what every symbol in the sheet music means, it explains briefly the theory of what makes a guitar sound the way it does, history of guitar music, techniques for plucking, strumming, etc., and it is VERY visual. It goes through timing, scales, and of course chords. It shows you where you should be every step of the way, which is important when trying to teach yourself. I don't think there is any substitute for hands on teaching with a professional, but this comes close. Highly reccomended and you can't go wrong for the price

This book covers everything a beginner needs to know. I'm new to guitar, and this book goes into detail about how to play. The illustrations make it fun and are helpful. Late in the book, it teaches you different modes. There is more music theory in this guitar books than most others. It even starts you into thinking about creating your own melodies. The only problem I've had with this book is that you have to turn it upside down to play the chords as you see them.

I had a girlfriend that bought me a guitar and this book for my college graduation. I had never played guitar before, but she thought I should. It was such a nice gift that I couldn't just put it in the closet or send it off to the pawn shop. So, I skimmed the first couple chapters on the history of the guitar. And I really read the next couple chapters to learn about how you read the music. Then it was on! I've been playing ever since. I would not be a guitarist right now, if it weren't for this book.

It is much more comprehensive than how I used it. The book continues with different scales (pentatonic, blues, jazz, etc) as well as how to set up different amp, head, pedal combinations. It finishes with studio stuff. When it says "Complete", it is. And it's very easy to read and understand with great pictures and diagrams. For anyone who has ever asked me how to learn guitar, I recommend this book to them.