Complete Idiot's Guide to Playing Guitar (The Complete Idiot's Guide) |
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| Title: | Complete Idiot's Guide to Playing Guitar (The Complete Idiot's Guide) |
| Author: | Frederick Noad |
| Publisher: | Alpha |
| Type: | Book / Paperback |
| Publication Date: | 19 October, 1998 |
| ISBN / ISBN-13: | 0028649249 / 9780028649245 |
| List Price: | $16.95 |
| You Save: | $7.45 |
| Amazon Price: | $9.50 (via Amazon marketplace seller) |
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Editorial Review / Publisher's Information:
Product Description
Learn to play the guitar using this quick and easy guide. Whether you dream of playing classical guitar, a B.B. King lick, or just the opening bars to "Stairway to Heaven," this book can get you there. This easy-to-use guide introduces the beginning guitarist to all styles of playing, from classical to jazz and pop. Using basic exercises and a selection of popular tunes, it shows how to do everything from reading tablature and chord diagrams to performing simple accompaniment. This book is designed for the child or adult beginner who wants a "user-friendly" introduction to the most popular musical instrument. It contains numerous sidebars and illustrations, making learning the guitar fun and easy. Z Features exercises in all styles from classical to rock and jazz Z Includes checklists of popular books, videos and instrument dealers, and tips on purchasing and maintaining your instrument. Frederick Noad is an expert guitar teacher and author of dozens of guitar methods, including The Virtual Guitarist, Solo Guitar Playing and Playing the Guitar, all from Schirmer Books. He is the inventor of Speed Score, the computer notation software and is universally known as a master teacher of the instument.
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Customer Reviews:
• Mis-leading Title
03 June, 2009
I think this book could be good for some people. However, I want to be clear that the title of this book is completely mis-leading. It should be titled "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Playing the CLASSICAL Guitar." After getting into this book, it is clear that Frederick Noad is focused on classical guitar methods. If that's what you're looking for, then you should consider this book.
But for those people who prefer to learn to play with a pick/plectrum, this book is useless. Literally.
Likewise, Noad's focus on finger-style techniques makes me doubt his expertise in covering some styles of music like folk, country, blues, and rock.
I'm giving this book 3 stars because I think it might be useful for those who want to learn finger-style playing and classical techniques. But I'm not happy that the title mis-led me into buying a book that is not at all what I thought it would be.
- Amazon Customer Review
• Okay...
27 November, 2008
So I tutor music theory and fundamentals, and I like to use these "Idiot's Guides" for my students. The books generally give a good overview of history, practice, basic knowledge, and some harder stuff.
This one those is one of the weaker of the guides that I have tried out. The practices are limited and really try to force you into a mold of playing style, instead of fundamentals and technique that other books will give you.
There is a good amount of knowledge contained in the pages and let me tell you, it is by far not the worst book on learning guitar you can get, but also, it is nowhere near the best.
For a good price, give it a shot. The teaching methods might work better for you than it did for my mentoring style.
- Amazon Customer Review
• Bad For Beginners
08 August, 2009
This book is usually best for plaers who own nylons or acoustics. When I read the basics it didn't make senese. This book isn't ver good for beginners, because first of all it doesn't explain the basics very well, and it is more focused much more in more complicated songs and styles of music than basics for a complete begginer. This book would be better for a more experienced player and it is more a reference book.
- Amazon Customer Review
• Great Learning Tool
13 July, 2008
Just starting with this but it is well-documented with background tidbits, and it is very easy to use.
- Amazon Customer Review
• Just What I Was Looking For
27 July, 2009
I've been wanting to pick up the guitar for a while, and had already bought a student-model classical when I found this book. It charts a course in the direction that I had in mind, being eclectic but with an emphasis on classical. The basics of Travis picking, flamenco and other Latin forms, country, blues, and rock are covered too (not to mention tablature and standard sight-reading), all geared for a beginner -- me, for instance.
After a little more than a month -- using Mr. Noad's instructions in the book and guitarist Edward Fowler's performances on the CD as my only teachers -- I already have, here at the end of Chapter 9, a nice little repertoire of songs that I'm working to get up to tempo (personally, I like the choices immensely). Along with a first solo, Ferninado Carulli's "Adantino," which is a lovely piece to have a handle on so soon. I'm delighted.
The reason I'm giving the book 4 stars instead of 5, is the typos in the "Adantino" score that I discovered, when what I was producing didn't sound like the CD.
Turns out, on the first line, in the third measure, the second chord's 3rd "pluck" (or whatever it's called) doesn't repeat the d-note, but the d is repeated on the CD. (Also, the the last measure of that line is missing a quarter rest; clearly a typo.)
Then on the fourth line, in the second measure, the score shows the chords played d-c-f-c, e-b-g-b, but on the CD Mr. Fowler plays them d-c-f-d, e-b-g-e. Looks to me like he is correct and the score is wrong; it sounds better played that way, and better fits the pattern of the piece in those measures.
All it took to fix the mistakes was a little white-out and a ballpoint pen. But, as much as noodling out these typos did to acquaint me with the music staff, I'm hoping I don't run into many more.
Note: I may add to this review as I progress.
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Oct 14, 2009 Update
I have just begun working the material in chapters 10 and 11 in this book. Having become competent on Carulli's "Adantino," in the interim I picked up (free) sheet music from Trevor Maurice's [...]. And greatly helped by the (free) videos there, I have learned four additional classical solos that are at the same level: "Greensleeves," Carulli's "Country Dance," an "Etude" by Kuffner, and Coste's "Barcarolle." I have also been learning extracurricular songs, the latest being Johnny Cash's cover of the Nine Inch Nails song "Hurt."
So now I'm back to what has become my "core curriculum," Noad's book. Once again, the CD is very helpful when tackling new material and for playing along to get up to speed.
Chapter 10 is a short chapter that introduces 16th notes and triplets and gives four excellent ditties as exercises. Chapter 11 covers slurs with one exercise each for upward, downward, up and down, and left hand only. It also covers "Rhythm of Soleares" (that also features up and down slurs) which I think is going to serve well as a "showoff riff." To play when first picking up the guitar amidst company and people are thinking, "Can this idiot play?" (Not knowing that he has "the complete idiot's" definitive guide. :D ) While working on slurs in Chapter 11, thanks to Mr. Maurice, I'll also be learning Carulli's "Slur Study in C."
Overall, I'm finding that if I just carry out this book's instructions and work on the exercises, I will improve. Noad's genius in pedagogy, I believe, lies in the straightforward simplicity of both as presented in this book.
I continue apace, however, discovering typos in the book's sheet music. The last note in the 4th bar of "Leaves So Green" on page 90 is given as F# when an E is played on the CD. And in the next to the last bar of the next song the 4th note should be an F# instead of what I think was originally noted as an E. Hard to tell because of the whiteout and ink with which I corrected the text.
- Amazon Customer Review
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