Guitar for Dummies

Rating:
Summary: very explanatory
Review: this book has lots of examples and pictures in it to show you how to play your chords. it shows you how to read chords, tablature, and notes...it's easy for beginners who are just learning the guitar to understand it. even if you don't know ANYTHING about a guitar, it tells you about it from the ground up. i suggest all you kids who want to be guitarists buy this book, it'll help you a lot.

Rating:
Summary: Good introduction, not systemetic enough
Review: Bought this book in a hope to learn as a complete dummy. It got me started, but that was about it. It gave me a good overview and a good introduction, but it does not have a systemetic approach so that I could go to the next stage. It probably jumps around too much. So I ended up going to a guitar teacher who started me from scratch. If you want to start from scratch, you might want to consider another book.

Rating:
Summary: good gee-tar book
Review: I just picked up a guitar a few months ago having no history of instrument playing of any kind or music theory. I got the book after taking a few lessons because I was bored instantly with the lessons, because they focused on learning music. The book was great! I learned some basic chords right away and began playing. The CD is very helpful too. Lots of helpful photos and illustrations. The book is presented in an easy to read and understand format. It also has sections on different playing styles such as blues, rock, classical, etc..If you are interested in learning to PLAY the guitar and not just read music and learn boring theory then this is the book for you.

Rating:
Summary: A repertoire of my feelings
Review: (dramatic music starts)As a young adult, going through many changes in my emotions, and my body, I turned to the guitar, to help express myself. However, a way to start seemed impossible. But then.... I SAW THE LIGHT! Yes... Guitar for Dummies. It led the way for me to learn how to play guitar, and now 2 weeks later, I am in a band, making millions of dollars! And you can too! If you call one of our operators in the next 10 minutes! But wait! We'll throw in a guitar pick if you call in the next 5 minutes! What i'm trying to say is.... this book saved my life. Infact it brings tears to my eyes describing the beauty of this work of art called GUITAR FOR DUMMIES! (dramatic music ends)

Rating:
Summary: Great Book for beginning guitarists
Review: This book does well in explaining some of the basic concepts in guitar playing. The guitar is one of the best instruments and I have been playing for seven months now and this book has definitely given me a good foundation for learning. I must admit though that guitar playing could be easier if you have an experienced player teach you some tricks to help you understand some of the more difficult concepts such as the hammer ons, slides, pulls, and power chords. If you feel comfortable with learning guitar on your own this is a good book to start with. I also recommend getting Hal Leonard's Ultimate guitar book. It contains a lot of fun songs all tabbed with strumming and fingerpicking patterns for each song. Good luck with your playing and don't forget to have fun.

Rating:
Summary: the best yet
Review: I have used this book to learn some stuff and have recommended it to others. I have some background some of the other folks did not. Everyone loved it and everyone learned from it. You can go on to almost any other book from here and know what to do. Great starting point / refresher

Rating:
Summary: Overall good learning tool
Review: This is a good basic guitar book that touches on nearly all aspects of playing and owning a guitar. The teaching takes a pretty logical progression through the different chord families and different styles. If you are truly a beginner, I would recommend this book. My only reason for 4 stars instead of 5 is that the tracks on the CD seem to be played way too fast - almost unnaturally fast. It can be discouraging trying to keep up with the CD. Despite the fast tempo, it is a valuable tool for hearing what the songs and excercises should sound like. Just hang in there and don't give up if you can't keep up.

Rating:
Summary: Don't put it off--Buy it!
Review: Just got this book less than a week and I'm amazed at the progress. Just strumming chords is nothing compared to accompanying the CD keeping up the tempo. The key instruction for me was keeping the finger tips perpendicular to the keyboard--what a difference in producing a cleaner sound and enabling quicker chord changes. The only thing keeping you from playing more initially is the pain in the fingertips developing the calluses. (I own an acoustic guitar; it won't be so bad with an electric guitar.)

Rating:
Summary: More than I expected
Review: I'm a self-taught guitar player who's been playing for over 10 years. Unfortunately, all I've managed to teach myself is basic chords. This is the first book I've gotten my hands on that's showed me how to play basic scales and fake my way through some basic blues solos, etc. I also appreciated the equipment discussions. Though I skipped over a lot of the chapters that covered ground I already knew, I learned a fair amount from the rest of the book. Definitely better than those old Mel Bay books I used to have that made no sense whatsoever.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book for the Beginning Guitarist
Review: This is a great book for beginning guitarists. I was a bit apprehensive about buying a guitar book from the Dummies series but boy was I wrong. I recently bought a guitar with the help of the book. I have also learned how to read tabs and play a couple of chords. The pictures show you exact finger positioning for each chord. This is a great book. My advice is to go check it out at a local bookstore and see if it is right for you.