Customer Reviews

Rock Guitar For Dummies

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

If you want to learn Rock guitar, without going to an instructor, here is what I think is the best way:

1) Buy MelBay's 'Modern Guitar Method', Grade 1. Work on it for 6 months. Everyday. It gonna get boring and frustrating sometimes, but stick with it.

2) Buy this book. The book is very fast paced, and without a foundation, you'll throw it in the trash. Use the musical notation in the book, not the tab notation.

The book covers everything you'll want to know about rock guitar; different styles, chords, lead and rhythm guitar, etc. Very comprehensive, but extremely fast paced.

Being VERY new to the guitar, I found this book to be a very useful reference. However, I think if you are starting from scratch it may be more useful to start with Guitar for Dummies. The author assumes you have at least a bit of knowledge about the very basics of music theory that are more completely covered there. Also, this is NOT a method book. While it covers a lot of useful ground, it's not exactly chock full of extended lessons. Instead, the author tends to touch on a subject and provide a short example before moving on. On the plus side, there are lots of tips and tricks that I haven't seen in method books and they can be very helpful if you are learning without a teacher. Likewise, it's full of useful information about the mechanics of your guitar, amps, effects, maintenance, etc. The CD is also a great bonus as it's really nice (and sometimes surprising) to hear what it is you're supposed to be playing. I think it would go hand in hand with a good method book (perhaps Chris Lopez's First Stage book?).

Well, not really dummies, but the very beginner. When you're putting your rig together to get a certain sound and want to know what's out there. The type of guitars, amps, all the pedals. It reviews the sounds that many great past and present players have and what they use to get it. It cuts down on a lot of guess work and the waste of money in buying pedals you don't need or gear you end up never using. It gives many short riff's to give you a taste of the many differnt styles and how to play them. Granted this is not a teach all or tell all book. The hard work is up to you. It's give a great illustration of the pentatonic scale, explaining how it links in the first 12 frets, and if you've been doing any work at all you know that the fret board basically starts over at the 12th fret only an octave higher. Anyway, if you already have your rig, and have knowledge of today's gear and bands, then this book isn't for your.

I am 13 but I thought I could still handle this book, considering I have beed playing for half a year now, but this book is very bad. All the info is piled together, rushed and confusing. I though for dummies meant for dummies. Do not buy this book. WASTE.

If you are just starting out, this book will be very helpfull to you. It covers basic progressions, and some different rythms, each one is only about 14 seconds though, so you'll have to extend them yourself. If you are interested in learning lead, this book covers just about all you'll need to be in a rock band. So buy this book, and you'll be all set.

It's another great book For Dummies series, I am a self learning person and I recommends this book for everyone who are searching for a book to learn how to improve a good rock guitar. The book uses a very simple text (just for dummies), and explain most of the things you need to know about the sound, the chords, rhythms, basic techniques and improving good solos... It's just for disturb your neighbors with a nice rock guitar sounds... But like most of things in life... practice will make you a master... As me, I hope you enjoy this book

I'm writing about a problem specifically with the Kindle edition:

The figures are cropped off along the right edge. This is a pretty big deal because the figures are of musical notation and you can't see any notes that are along that edge.


I'm using Kindle in a PC and on an iPhone.

Husband said that this book is an excellent book for those who know how to play a guitar and for those who don't. Book has excellent directions, he said you can teach an old dog new tricks.

I would have gave it more stars but this book is great if you already have a good grasp on guitar basics, but if you are a newbie like me it may be a little hard to pick up. Great book I am sure to look at it again once I get a better feel for the guitar, has a lot of good techniques in it.

Almost every other lesson or book for learning guitar I have liked. I played for almost a year before touching this book, then I was dumb and bought it online. Honestly, a waste of money. There are many better guitar books that you can get out there or even I have gotten better free lessons online than in this. The author made the lessons to complex to truly understand everything the way that you should. I would recommend this book only to true intermediate to advanced level guitar players.