Customer Reviews

Solo Guitar Playing/Book 1 with CD (Classical Guitar)

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A few months ago I decided to get serious about learning to play the guitar. However, I knew I would not be able to afford private or even class instruction. After going to music stores and carefully studying many beginning guitar books I settled on this one. I did not want to learn guitar by laboriously picking apart songs from cds note by note or relying solely on tablature. As Mr. Noad so rightly says in Chapter 3 guitarists are notoriously poor readers (that is, poor at reading traditional music notation). With this he launches into a very direct and easy introduction of traditional music notation and relating it to the guitar.

Unlike the previous reviewer I believe even someone who has never read sheet music in their life will have no problem learning with this book/cd. I certainly am not. Mr. Noad provides plenty of musical exercises (they start short but get longer as you learn more and get further into the book), each one short and specific with commentary where it is needed. The point is that someone who is teaching themself must not get in a rush. I devote a minimum of one week to each chapter (and usually more) and that is practicing every night for a minimum of 30 minutes.

The book starts with chapters and photos with explicit demonstrations of the proper way to hold the guitar as well as meticulously describing (with photos) exactly how the hands and fingers should be positioned for optimal playing (and to avoid bad habits that will make playing more advanced pieces difficult).

The next chapters introduce music notation immediately linking each note with the corresponding position on the fretboard and reinforces it with very short musical exercises. He explains whole notes, half notes, etc. time signatures, correct fingering and liberally adds exercises to continually drill the lessons just learned. As an example, all of chapter 3 focused on learning to recognize, read and play correctly the open notes of the guitar. That is, recognizing the 6 notes on the staff that correspond to each string when it is played open (no need to press on the fretboard). And that chapter is filled with little musical exercises to reinforce recognizing and smoothly playing just those 6 notes.

This same careful approach is taken throughout the entire book. As you learn more the exercises become more varied, interesting and exciting. Once you finally have an extensive background of each individual note on the staff and on the fretboard, even chords are taught in relation to their traditional music notation. By chapter 7, if you've carefully practiced exactly as Mr. Noad suggests, you will have a great foundation for sight-reading music notation many guitarists with more years experience could never play. Chapter 7 also introduces the first "real" song based on a theme by the Spanish composer Albeniz. It is a piece which looks (and sounds) harder than it actually turned out to be for me. From Chapter 7 on progressively more difficult instrumentals from various composers are included. By the end of the book you will have an extensive repertoire of songs to play for your friends or any performance occasion.

There are chapters that cover subjects such as "voices", ascending and descending ligado, various types of scales, 2nd, 3rd, 5th & 7th position, traditional music vocabulary and their meanings, half-bar, full-bar, vibrato, portamento, trills, mordent, reverse mordent, appoggiatura, tremolo, tips for developing accuracy, speed, dexterity, tonal phrasing, ear-training, playing natural harmonics, playing harmonic chords, contrapuctual music (i.e. playing music in which the melodies are in more than one part - thus a good guitarist can often sound like 2 people playing), mastering the fretboard, etc. etc. etc.

Mr. Noad says in one of the prefixes that the entire book contains approximately 2 years worth of study material if you follow the practice/study sessions as he suggests. The back of the book also has an appendix of graded guitar ensemble pieces for 3 and sometimes 4 guitars which is useful for a classroom or friends who want to play together.

If you can afford to get the accompanying cd I definitely recommend it - particularly if, like me, you are having to teach yourself. This is not a book to be rushed through by any means. But if you are willing to put in the time and practice you will be one heck of a classical guitarist by the end. I can't wait to review his sequel - Solo Guitar Playing 2!

Not only does this book introduce students to the essential techniques, but also to a wide variety of composers from various countries and periods. I feel this is important as it allows the beginner to not only gain an appreciation for the contributions of these composers, but also allows the student to determine the area of focus they would like to pursue in the future, whether that be a preference for Baroque period or Spanish composers, etc.

If there is a flaw, it is found in the accompanying CD. Students, such as myself, can be mislead in what is attainable. For example, the first piece on the CD is called "Spanish Study", which sounds like a simplified version of Leyenda. Nevertheless, if you hear how fast Frederick Noad plays, it is extremely discouraging because there is no way in the world 99.99% of beginning students are going to be able to play this first piece at tempo. It leaves you feeling, "if this is what is expected of a beginning student on the first piece, maybe this instrument is way beyond my capacity, and I should just look for an easier instrument." So, I feel the CD would have been better done if Frederick Noad had played the pieces at a tempo that is realistic for a beginning student. To me, the purpose of an accompanying CD is not to show how a professional would play it, but to show you how you should sound if you play it correctly for the student level to which the book is targeted.

Secondly, one thing beginning students may not know about is a "digital editing", which I'm sure was done on some of the pieces played, since the average for classical guitar is 100 digital edits per 20 minutes of music. An excellent example of this is in the beautiful "El Testamen de Amelia". If the student tries to reproduce those phenomenal artificial harmonics that Frederick Noad plays on the CD, you can spend weeks trying to reproduce such a crisp, clean bell-like sound. Fortunately, my own teacher, who has been playing for over 40 years, pointed this out to me and showed me what can realistically be expected in terms of sound produced in artificial harmonics. So, my point is the student can spend many frustrating weeks trying to produce a sound that is exactly like that on the CD, not knowing it's impossible since we can't digitally edit our playing.

Consequently, you might want to just buy the book without the CD as it can be more harmful than it is helpful in your progress.

One other shortcoming is the lack of a glossary of musical terms used in the pieces. For example, in the same piece mentioned above (El Testamen de Amelia), he uses the term "rall. poco". I spent considerable time going back through the entire book, as well as searching the Internet, trying to figure out what that meant. I was not able to find out until my next visit to see my own teacher.

With the exception of the two shortcomings mentioned, it's an excellent book, and I'm glad I chose the Noad instruction books over others. The final series of Tarrega and Llobet pieces make the end of the journey through Book 1 worth it all.

I bought the book with the CD with the understanding that it would help me to improve my solo guitar skills. After all, that is the Title - Solo Guitar playing. I am teaching myself and I have no one to play duets with. I am not a raw beginner, I have already studied the Carcassi (1st position studies) and Carulli (book 1) methods.

The good: The book is well organized and the solo's are wonderful to play. The hints before the solos are vary helpful and the CD is a great aid in developing the correct timing and expression that the piece requires. The pace is not to fast or too slow. The CD is so good I listen to it alone. The book/CD has 40 solo's in increasing complexity. Each one builds upon the skill-set developed in the previous solo's.

Now the bad part: I was somewhat (unpleasantly) surprised to discover that most of the 148 practice exercises are duets. No problem I figured, I'll play the student part and use the CD for the teacher's part. Wrong, contrary to what one might expect the CD does not contain either part of the practice duets. To get the most out of the books excercises requires a teacher or very proficient practice partner to play the harder part of the duet. I belive that this is a real deficiency.

I would have gladly paid another $10 for a second CD of the excercises to play along with. The CD should have had both parts recorded in stereo with the students part on one speaker and the teachers part on the other. This would have made it easy for the student to listen to both parts to get the feel for the piece and then turn down the student volume and play along with the teachers part. An ambitious student could have even attempted to go back and play some of the earlier teacher's parts as his/her skills progressed.

Sadly, without the Excercises on the CD, this opportunity is lost.

Overall I recommend the book and have gone ahead and purchased Volume 2 (with the CD). What I need now is a practice partner.....

This is the book I started with and I'm very glad I did! Noad is probably the most accessible guitar method author around. I'm self-taught and believe me there are many ways you can go wrong by being your own teacher. If you like the dummies genre of computer books you'll love this method. He doesn't assume you know anything to start with or try to impress with his advanced mastery. But he does have an intimate knowledge of what a beginner needs to know and how to impart that knowledge. His books one and two are an excellent example of what separates a great guitarist and teacher from just a great guitarist. But you need to read and re-read the text very carefully. There are subtle points, which if glossed over will cause untold pain and cursing later on. But it's all right there in the book. If you heed his advice and study twice as carefully as if you had an instructor who could catch those mistakes then you'll be ok!

All these guitar methods (including this one) have one glaring deficiency: Lack of enough and varied practice material. Maybe I'm a little dense but classical guitar is not easy. It takes time and a LOT of practice! One can only repeat the same few lines of notation so many times without getting bored to tears. So I solved the problem by getting just about every method book known to man. After the first couple of books it starts to flow and become fun! Each book goes over the same concepts in a little different way with of course different practice pieces. The flaws of one book are cancelled by another and it becomes exciting as you move faster and faster through each text. What was once arduous becomes smooth and pleasant! The Carcassi book is great once you are a little more adept. It's purportedly for beginners but is rather dry and pedantic and a tough slog if you're just starting. There's some great stuff in there however if you already have the basics of notation down. I found it very useful for learning the higher positions. The Christopher Parkening books are great. He starts right out and then keeps going with very easy, pleasant sounding practice pieces, which helps keep your enthusiasm high. But like most others (unlike Noad) he leaves out small but crucial details that leave one scratching ones head or throwing projectiles. But if you've done Noad first you just say AH! I know what that is! Jason Waldron is also good and straight forward, easy to understand. (Although I wish he would come out with his second method book already!) He has a whole gaggle of songbooks (6) filled with familiar folk tunes, some classical and including CDs. They are very pleasant, easy, confidence building practice pieces. But I prefer Baroque. Noad does a very excellent book of Baroque pieces. He also has a Renaissance book with some very pretty tunes. What a joy to read and play such beautiful music from hundreds of years ago! It's definitely worth the work!

Now, to end on a bit of a heretical note. I had to teach myself because I really don't like the sound of nylon strings on the classical guitar! I wanted to play baroque music on an electric or steel string acoustic guitar. Just like each person plays every piece a little differently and with his or her own interpretation, I wanted to be able to shape my own personal sound with electronics. Besides, I just like the sound of steel! So, I use a flat pick to replace the thumb and steel finger picks on the last three fingers. As an added bonus you don't have to fuss with all that fingernail growing, filing business! I like it and it works pretty well although I still haven't quite figured out how to do harmonics... but I'm working on it! Who knows, you might want to try it also? So, I hope you come to enjoy the classical guitar as much as I do. Persevere through the initial pain and you will never be sorry you did!

Addendum: Since writing this review, I have gone back to the Classical Guitar for playing Classical music. A good Classical Guitar has such subtlety of expression and range of expressiveness that just can't be coaxed out of a steel instrument. My Martin acoustic now lives for chords, at which it is stellar! But I still use the flat pick/steel finger pick method. I can curl my fingers up and play chords and lead riffs or unfold them and fingerpick. It's very versatile and I still like it a lot. My electric is for gouging out acid rock riffs with a little Baroque sprinkled in. But the one which most often brings a tear to my eye is that Classical Guitar.

Being self taught on steel string acoustic, I never knew how poorly I played until I began serious college level instruction in classical guitar. My instructor insisted on this book, and we agreed that I would "pretend" I knew nothing abouit playing. What I learned is that I really did know almost nothing about proper form or technique.

This book has been an invaluable guide in almost two years of formal training. It starts out with the very basics, and assumes that you know absolutely nothing about guitar. Granted, the beginning exercises are a bit boring, and you should really have an instructor to get the most out of this book, but once you get into the formal pieces, it really picks up. I especially enjoyed the pieces from Carrulli and Sor.

WARNING: this book assumes that you wish to learn classical guitar technique, and that you have the dedication and drive to learn proper formal technique. You are expected to learn how to read music, and honestly, once you learn to read music notation, you'll never go back to tab. If you just want to strum along to folk songs this book isn't for you. Likewise, if you just want to learn how to play twelve bar blues, find another book. This book will, however, give you an excellent foundation in guitar technique that is applicable for any style.

My only complaint: the book should come in a spiral bound edition, as it is hard to keep this one open on the music stand.

Noad is the standard text for technically oriented guitar instruction. The pieces that Noad has selected for this volume are intelligently selected and all have plenty of comments to help you interpret the music. Sometimes my teacher has better suggestions for fingering than Noad supplies, but this is a minor complaint. Noad is very traditional in his approach; sometimes his reasons for choosing a certain fingering or phrasing are based on obscure historical precedent that the less knowledgeable player will not be aware of, but trusting Noad's scholarship will enhance your playing. This book will definitely get you reading better, but don't rely on this book to teach you to read. If you don't read yet, go to a more basic book before this one. I don't have the CD, but I wish I did. I think that having a CD of the music is key if you are studying on your own.

A very good method book for the beginning classical guitarist. I teach Classical guitar and have used this book many times and some of my students own it as their primary method book. Well written, easy to understand and many opportunities to practice what it's talking about. The CD is invaluable. It has all the songs recorded which are in the book. A favorite piece I usually ask all of my beginning students to learn is the, "Malaguena". It's really great that they can hear the actual piece being played by the author of the book EXACTLY as it is written in musical notation in the book.

It is absolutely LOADED with pertinent guitar information. It's more than a beginner's book, but starts off very logically and doesn't rush into more information too soon. Great pictures, diagrams, hints and musical discussions. I can't say enough good things about this book.

If you want to try learning Classical guitar on your own without a teacher, this is about the only book I've found that will help you do it. I've had one student hire me for lessons after he started this book on his own, and I was impressed at how well he understood the information and his technique was not bad at all!

I used the original book back in 1970 to teach myself classical guitar. When I was done (in a year or so), my proudest achievements were 1) Being able to read standard sheet music and play a piece immediately (slowly at first, of course) and 2) Playing some great classical pieces, as evidenced by a Segovia concert I attended in which he played several songs I knew and played from this book. For the self-starter who has a passion for playing, this is one of the best books you can buy.

I spent 6 years with instructors learning the guitar when I was in high school. I then did not touch a guitar until I reached my 40th birthday. In the 4 months since I started playing again, I play better guitar than I did after all those years of teaching- because Noad's book does a SUPERB job teaching you to:
1. read music fluidly
2. play by touch (no looking at fingers).

This is a must buy. 30 minutes a day and amazing things will happen.

This third edition is honed to perfection. Captivated by some of the recordings on the accompanying CD, I cheated by going to an instructor who has me playing my "faves" earlier than I expected. Surprised by my knowledge of a fine point, he said, "You learned that from that book." Darn right I did. :-) Here is at least two years' worth of material jammed with intelligent discussion of not only techniques, but also of broader topics such as musicianship.

Mr. Noad was as much an expert teacher as a musician and he knew beginning guitar students well. (The stages of any lesson "will include experimentation, frustration, practice, and finally achievement.") The music is in traditional notation rather than six-string tablature but it is annotated, especially in the earlier chapters, with clear and helpful crib notes showing which fingers to use for both the fret-hand and the picking-hand. There are "arpeggios for daily practice" that are fun playing as-is, and experimenting with.

NOTE: This book could also be titled "Solo Guitar Learning" because it is written as if you have no other instruction, but: there are three dimensions in space and I found some positional words like "angled" ambiguous: does that mean raising the knuckles away from the strings? or angling the hand clockwise/counterclockwise from the perspective of someone looking at the sound hole? So if you are really out in the boonies, you might want to find a classical instructor somewhere and take a few lessons early on to get any questions answered, especially about the rest stroke. As the book says, it is "probably the greatest difference between the professional and amateur player."

I am past the "honeymoon period" with this hobby and have not gotten tired of it because this has gotten me interested a step at a time with carefully-selected pieces that I can handle (lots of open-string notes) yet sound good. I strongly also recommend a guitar stand --mine was free with the guitar-- because I have practiced much more often as a result of the stand holding it out all the time. Bless you, Frederick Noad, and rest in peace.