Beginner's Guitar Lessons: The Essential Guide: The Quickest Way to Learn to Play (Beginner Guitar Books)

You’ve looked at this book, and you’re reading this review because you want to start learning the guitar, or you’ve already put your hand to it but You Tube isn’t giving you the info’ you need in a way that flows into a sensible learning progression; yes?Me too.You’ve been reading the Amazon reviews of book after book with things like ‘Beginners Guide’ or ‘10 Easy Steps’ in the title, and so many of them have those worrying few comments like, “This is really too advanced for a beginner”, or, “I suppose some people have different ideas of what a beginner is”, and you’re just not confident about spending your cash despite the other four glowing reviews.I did that; window shopped for hours.In the end I picked, ‘Beginner’s Guitar Lessons: The Essential Guide’, by Joseph Alexander. The reviews read about right, it didn’t promise that I’d be playing like Yngwie Malmsteen in just ten days (snake oil’s still oily, no matter how pretty the bottle). And too, perhaps I just got sick of searching, but I was given confidence by the number of positive comments on Joseph Alexanders books, and the range of well reviewed books focussing on modern guitar that Mr Alexander had published. I also noticed that the very few negative comments weren’t related to the course content.What a spot of luck. The book is a gem; easy to read, easy to follow with exercises that are genuinely at a beginner level and not discouragingly difficult. More importantly, the true basics are covered: How to hold your instrument; how to hold a pick, how to strum, how to place your fingers on the fretboard and where should your thumb go? All covered quickly and concisely in amongst the other lessons so you can get on with learning to play.I went from having to ask the shop assistant to audition an electric guitar for me because I didn’t know how to get it to make a sound that wasn’t discordant, to being able to put my fingers to about a dozen or so chords without needing to see a chord chart, knowing which chords they actually are, being able to strum several basic rhythmic patterns by seeing the standard notation, getting the basics of reading tablature and first steps towards hybrid picking, all in about 4 weeks at less than an hour a day.Sure, I fumble at chord changes still, but that’ll come with time and practice. I know this because I’m already seeing the improvements in my ability. My rhythm has a way to go before I make it up to just ordinary; I’m always pulling ahead of the metronome. Again, time and practice, but ‘Beginner’s Guitar Lessons: The Essential Guide’ has given me the knowledge to get this far and the tools to practice with.Along with the book you also get to download a set of audio examples off Mr Alexander’s web site. These small downloads are short and simple, and have real value: I was practicing a strumming pattern on a D major chord the other day, and I thought to myself, “damn, that sounds ordinary; this can’t be right”, a quick play through of the example and, “whoa, that sounds just like when I do it; I must be getting it right. I guess that’s why there aren’t many pop tunes based solely on quarter note D major strums”. It gives a way to check yourself, it gives confidence and somewhere to go if you just need to hear an exercise to pick up what supposed to be happening.You’ll notice that there’s no mention here of picking away learning the notes on each string at the first three or five frets like those particularly dull books the guitar shop guys have in the rack. You know the ones; four weeks later and you can limp through a single string version of Mary Had a Little Lamb because you know how it’s supposed to go, not because you can actually sight read the standard notation you’re staring at while you do it. The ones that come with a free chord chart, but don’t actually progress to making a chord at any time before the book runs out.They sold me one too. I’ll go back to it and give it some attention at some point too. Maybe.Joseph Alexander’s, ‘Beginner’s Guitar Lessons: The Essential Guide’, is nothing like that; it heads you towards playing music with real world rhythm and chord skills from day one. Sure there are one or two dull lessons, but by the time you finish you’ll actually want to go back and practice those properly, so you can try them out with the more advanced things you’ve learned.Sure, it’s going to be a while before my skill level grows into that Gretsch I bought, but I always knew there was no real way to go from music consumer to music maker over night. This outstanding book of true beginner’s lessons has me squarely on the path though, and hungering for more.Where’s the down side? I want more. I want the next step. Joseph Alexander has other books and that’s where I’ll turn next. Some of the diagrams are a bit of a squint on a Kindle, but they can be coped with and after a short while you don’t really need those tiny chord charts above the notation except as reminders; they’re visible enough for that without any problems (I might add I’m as blind as a bat and wear glasses, so you probably won’t have any trouble).If like me, you’re wanting to learn guitar and don’t know where to start, or aren’t satisfied with the start you’ve made, then ‘Beginner’s Guitar Lessons: The Essential Guide’ is a great first step that will point you down the right track and get you moving. I thoroughly recommend it. If a middle aged guy with no prior knowledge like myself can do it, then with the help of Joseph Alexander’s book, you can too.

I am not. I decided to learn how to play the guitar because I've always wanted to and always thought I couldn't. The reasons WHY I thought that were all discussed in the first few pages of this book. It put my mind at ease and motivated me that I could.Many of you may have been playing guitar from an early age and perhaps these lessons seem too simplistic. But as a complete "noob", I was happy that I could understand it! I knew nothing about music, chords, riffs or any of the other "language" of the guitar. if you HAVE played before, I have a question. Do you remember the first time you actually played a chord? That feeling of accomplishment? I got that in the first half hour of reading this book. I went from making a lot of sounds (most of which would have made a deaf person cringe) to putting together two and three chords and making that thing we call "music"! It was a great feeling.This book will not make you the next big rock star. It will not give you the ability to quit your day job, buy a used van, and go on tour while you wait for the money and groupies to pour in. but IT WILL give you the basic knowledge you need to begin that journey (if you're into that sort of thing). You will learn chords and you will learn a bit about how to put them together. And you will practice, practice, practice these techniques. And then, almost like magic, your fingers that were once just useless stubs meant for your remote control and eating pizza will start moving around the strings in a way that's both encouraging and fulfilling. At least that's MY experience. And I haven't even finished the book yet!I would HIGHLY recommend this book for anyone that is willing to put the practice in to learn these techniques. Its information is clearly spelled out and all the terms are explained in such a way that you won't have a brain fart! And, don't forget, you can download the audio files so you can hear when you're making mistakes and correct it. Once you sign up and download these audio samples, you will receive VERY helpful emails and lessons from the author. These alone are worth the price of this book!

Got this for my daughter, starting guitar. I've got a lot of more advanced books for myself in this series, and find them to be the best I've tried. This one gives you all the important beginning things, while keeping it engaging. Not a lot of content, but really useful things that, for some reason, are often not covered in guitar lessons.

El libro es claro y directo. Muestra los aspectos básicos para un principiante con consejos útiles y va directo al grano. No entra en teorías. Se centra sobre todo en el rasgueo y en los cambios de acordes. Hay que tener en cuenta que es una introducción a la guitarra y va dirigido a principantes totales, aunque siempre hay algún aspecto que puede ser útil para un autodidacta que lleve poco tiempo tocando. También sirve para ver el estilo de este autor ya que tiene muchos otros libros publicados. Los ficheros de audio de ejemplo se descargan por separado desde la página web del autor (no hay que registrarse). El libro me gustó y lo recomiendo para principiantes autodidactas.

Premetto che ho acquistato questo libro alla ricerca di un buon metodo di chitarra per principianti. I contenuti presentati sono buoni, ma c'è veramente poco materiale dentro. Qualche giro d'accordi, un paio di arpeggi ed il libro è finito. Per 17 euro mi sembra proprio una ladrata.

J’ai joué à la guitare classique, mais j’avais cessé depuis quinze ans. Je l’ai manquée, mais j’ai décidé à avoir un changement et j’ai acheté une guitare électrique.J’ai perdu du temps et puis j’ai cherché un bon livre. Je l’ai trouvé, c’est simple, bien structurée avec des leçons très bien expliquées. Ça commence doucement, mais bientôt on commence à jouer.Je suis d’accord avec tous d’excellents critiques que j’ai trouvés au sujet de cette série.Je suis certain que quand je finis cette livre je serai bien préparé pour des choses plus avancées.Évidemment le livre est écrit en anglais.Hautement recommandé

Excelente libro para iniciar, muy didáctico. Muy recomendable.