<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: Very Good Collection of Classical Guitar Exercises
Review: Frederick Noad has done an excellent job of reviewing the studies/exercises available for classical guitarists and selecting this set of 100 from the studies published by Fernando Sor, Mauro Giuliani, and Matteo Carcassi. The studies are arranged in a progressively more difficult order, and Noad includes his comments on each as to what skills it seeks to develop, etc.While I feel that the book deserves five stars, it is not without problems, specifically: 1. It is extraordinarily difficult to keep the book
open to the desired pages when it is on a music
stand; spiral-binding would have solved this. This
may seem like nit-picking, but it's an important
shortcoming given the purpose of the book. 2. Right-hand fingerings are given for only a few of
the pieces; in many cases, choice of the proper
right-hand pattern can make a huge difference in
the ease of performing a piece. 3. While Noad gives full left-hand fingerings, he
does not give diagrams of hand-positions to adopt
for a passage, with fingers in place for the next
few notes. Even taking these into account, however, it remains, in my opinion, the best book of exercises available to any but the most advanced classical guitarist.
Rating:
Summary: Indispensible for the intermediate classical guitarist.
Review: If you are going to have one classical guitar book, this may be it. The studies in this book are the "classics" that countless guitarists trained on (incluiding Segovia). After a few relatively easy studies, the book shifts into intermediate to advanced level work very quickly. Not a viable alternative for the first or even second year guitarist, but for the advancing guitarist, this book alone would provide years of developmental skill building as well as great music for the performance repertoire. It is sequential (graded). Contains all of Carcassi's and Sor's great studies, plus a sampling of Guiliani's-- graded from simple to advanced with 75% at the high intermediate level.
Rating:
Summary: Definitely worth every penny.
Review: Not involved with playing any instr. in over 10 years, i acquired the desire to play the guitar, picked up a cheap fender 16 months ago (really cheap) and to-date, i've been studying classical guitar for about 5 months. im still working on the noad series instructions, but wanted to fill in 'gaps'. even tho, im only up to #11 in the book, i can see that this book is going to be priceless. firstly, for those that are SERIOUS in learning as much as possible for classical style playing, i would (just as many others would) suggest finding (usually its by word of mouth) a good classical guitar instructor. he/she will be the only one that will be able to guide you in the 'correct' techniques to master with the left hand transitions.. barring.. the 'hinge'.. etc, and the 'correct' right hand finger picking with the corner of the finger. i strongly, and sincerely suggest those that are interested in classical guitar studies to pick up this book. its an excellent repitoir that combines needed technical studies with the classical style music of the classical guitar.
i do agree with the 'drawbacks' of this book, tho if you combine this book with good instruction and some dedication in practice, the right-hand finger picking should not be of much trouble, since noad does not explicitly tell you what finger to pick with.
the 'binding' of the book would have been nice if bounded with rings.. just make due, dont let this interfere with your studies!! photocopy it if you need to :)
i would not suggest this book to those begginers that know absolutely nothing about the guitar. you'll easily get frustrated. noad assumes you can read the trebble cleff (the musical staff).. simply put, he assumes you can read all the musical notations including those for the guitar.
i wish i could say that those that are intermediate or advanced guitarists should use this book, but i cant 'cuz i can't truly relate what it is to be 'intermediate' or a advanced player :) if you just play accasionally or play mostly chords, then you probably wont get much out of this book... for the rest of us, we'll simply be better guitarists :)
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding
Review: This book is for people who play classical guitar well enough to be able to read the music and understand right hand technique. It is not an instruction book. Rather it is a collection of pieces written by three of the giants among composers in the classical guitar world. These studies are musically excellent and develop skills very well. Soime commentators have mentioned that you need a teacher--I agree, but this book is not about ionstruction. It's simply a collection of music. Some peole have criticized the book for npt including right hand fingerings. The book is given as these 19th century composers wrote the music. Nothing is added.
Sometimes, very often, editors make "improvements" that make it imposssible to know what the original composer intended. Not so here. This is for classical guitar players and is invaluable--the best collection I've seen.
Rating:
Summary: The definitive 'desert island' classical guitar book
Review: This is a collection of studies for the ages. Not only is each one slightly more challenging than the last, encouraging a sequential skill-building approach, but almost every one except for the first few is musically great, a true performance piece.
The fingering indications are left as the original composer intended. Noad has done a masterful job selecting and organizing these 100 studies from the vast number out there. Carcassi's great 25 studies are all here. Sor's "20 Segovia" studies are here (save one or two), much more by Sor, and some great pieces by Guiliani. I have literally scores of books of studies and this is the only one I ever feel like using. Unless you are near virtuoso or a complete beginner, this book will fit the bill as no other. It's the definitive desert island classical guitar book. (Requires music reading ability, No TAB).
Rating:
Summary: The definitive 'desert island' classical guitar book
Review: This is a collection of studies for the ages. Not only is each one slightly more challenging than the last, encouraging a sequential skill-building approach, but almost everyone except for the first few is musically great, a true performance piece.
The fingering indications are left as the original composer intended. Noad has done a masterful job selecting and organizing these 100 studies from the vast number out there. Carcassi's great 25 studies are all here. Sor's "20 Segovia" studies are here (save one or two), much more by Sor, and some great pieces by Guiliani. I have literally scores of books of studies and this is the only one I ever feel like using. Unless you are near virtuoso or a complete beginner, this book will fit the bill as no other. It's the definitive desert island classical guitar book. (Requires music reading ability, No TAB).
<< 1 >>
| 
