Customer Reviews

Play Electric Guitar: From Beginner to Band in 3 Months

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Okay so the pictures of the guy in white sneakers are super dumb- but the book IS very helpful for a beginner; It comes with small stickers to place underneath the strings to practice fingering per different color stickers numbered 1-5 indicating 1st, second, third... fingering- you get the idea; I wrote on the stickers the letter of each note so I wouldn't have to remember which colors indicated which notes; and the stickers come off clean with no residue; this is just an added bonus- b/c I initially bought this book over others- b/c it shows pictures of a players' hand with fingers on the correct frets along with the actual chart; Personally, it is much easier for me to look at a picture of someone playing the note rather than a chart with dots.And as I said the stickers make it a breeze- I don't have to look down every time I want to play a note to see if my fingers are in the right place. Also the book comes with a pic and a full length poster labeled "notes and scales" to refer to for all of the notes.I haven't really read through the book- I'm a scimmer anyway- and the first chapter is all about positioning and tuning- which I already know; But if you are a visual learner- and have had trouble in the past- get this book to start with; It's definitely learn at your own pace- and doesn't remind me of a boring text book- other authors should be as innovative;
and yes it seems he numbers the strings backwards -but to each his own I guess- and with the stickers and pictures for reference, this has not confused me.
I have been trying to learn guitar for forever- but the sheer boredom of most teaching styles has turned me off- this is straight to the point- no "hot cross buns"- and perfect for an ADD brain like mine to scim and take what information I need to build a foundation and learn my own way.

This electric guitar course takes you from absolute beginner to a level where you can start playing in a band. The three months mentioned in the title may be a bit optimistic, but the level of difficulty increases rapidly with each chapter, so you find yourself making quick progress. Each chapter is built up around a backing track on the CD, where you can try out the lessons in that chapter. The backing tracks, which are done in variety of pop styles, are also great for jamming along, so even after going through the material you'll have use of the CD. The book is not a reference book (go to Ralph Denyer's The Guitar Handbook for that), and the course is limited to rock music, but other than that (and the cheesy pick included) it comes highly recommended.

i just started using this book never having played before and am finding it totally easy to follow. the friendly narrative guides the reader through every step, explaining the most simple of terms and concepts clearly and concisely. and yes, the CD is funky and you can play along with it more or less straight away AND sound good, which keeps you motivated.

horses for courses eh, i like this book a lot.

I hadn't realised when I got this book that Terry Burrows was the man behind all those weird Chrysanthemums and Yukio Yung CDs (real obscure English experimental pop)... This is a great book that teaches the basics of the guitar by giving you a backing track to play during each of the 12 lessons. A lot of the tracks sound like Chrsyanthemums/Yukio without the vocals - except for the bizarre (and frankly a bit crappy) funk stuff in one of the lessons... but then I hate that sort of thing... As the other reviewer said, this isn't a reference work by any means, but since getting this I've found another book by Burrows called TOTAL GUITAR TUTOR which for some reason doesn't feature on amazon. This really IS the ultimate reference on the instrument. I'd recommend both books as they are pretty complemantary.

I'm am an instructor and I am considering using this book. The string numbering convention is no different from any other guitar book. This book provides a structured schedule, cd examples, a chord poster and jam tracks. More books should be like this one.

This book takes an agressive approach to learning, with each "week" adding a lot of new concepts. I know a little bit about music, but I'm new to the guitar. For me, I like it a lot. People who don't play another instrument might find it more intimidating, I'm not sure. But then, no one is forcing you to finish a week's lessons in an actual week.

What's good: it starts you off right away playing decent music. It begins with chords and some useful theory. You're moving down the neck right away. Playing along with the CD is fun, and it forces you to keep up with the tempo.

If the book had been proofread better, I'd give it 5 stars. For example, there are places where the text has both a fret number and standard musical notation, and the fret number is wrong. The book refers you to play along with the instructional CD backing tracks, but it doesn't tell you which track number to play. It's easy enough to figure out what was meant, but a little more care would have been better.

The wall chart is nice. I haven't used the color-coded stickies on my guitar (I think they're a little silly), but maybe some people would find them useful.

Despite my little gripes, I really like the organization of the book, and it's a nice package with the CD and chart.

This book is an excellant starter for learning electric guitar. The music disc really helps in bringing the sound and book lessons together. I am still learning, but with the layed out weekly lessons, it makes it much easier to stay on track. The book certainly makes it much easier, but like anything else, it still just comes down to practice.

This book has only 1 redeeming quality - it has a great poster showing notes on the fretboard. Other than that, this book was not only a dissapointment from the "general" instruction presented - the CD was of a different book entirely (a 1982 publication even though the label was for this book) than this book (obviously a problem in publication). Select any of the Mel Bay, Alfred books instead.

I played acoustic guitar for a couple of years and recently started to play electric as well (Les Paul). For me, this book gave me a very good start showing the basics of playing electric guitar. Yes, the method used in the book is not the most usual one, but - hey - it is consistent and easy to understand if you are open minded ... and still easier than to learn notes in detail.

Summary: Not the best book ever written, but good value for this price.

I wish I could find some music in the US by the author's band coz these backing tracks REALLY KICK!! Cool book.