1st Steps for a Beginning Guitarist Volume One: Chords and Chord Progressions for the Guitar

Rating:
Summary: Amazing amount of information
Review: I found this book to be well written and got the feeling that the author is seriously dedicated to teaching. I was a little concerned because I knew of Mr. Arnold from his CDs and wasn't sure if a player would also be a good teacher or could write a good book. I was pretty overwhelmed by the amount of information available in the book and on the publisher's website. This isn't a famous guitar player trying to cash in on his playing status to make money. I was particularly impressed by the amount of videos and MP3 files that are available. I first thought why didn't they just give me a DVD or a CD with this book. I'm not positive but I don't even think you could fit the amount of videos and MP3's on one CD or DVD. I found it interesting that the book doesn't really go into to learning scales but the website gives you fingerings for a hugh amount of scales with videos showing you how to play the scales and comments on the right way to learn the scales, Overall I'd say this book is for the folks out there that are serious weekend guitar players. By serious I mean someone who wants to know what they are doing on the guitar not just learn a bunch of fingerings and hope for the best. I got a couple of the other best sellers along with this book and although some of them claimed to an easy method I didn't find it any easier than this book. They all contained about the same information except this book then goes way beyond the other books I bought. For instance I found everything is clearly laid out with nice big chord diagrams with the added bonus of where these notes would be on a music staff. The other books didn't have information on where the notes of the chords are on a staff. All the books seem to contain the same chords basically the "open" and "barre" position chords. I really appreciated all the comments throughout the 1st Steps book on which chords where hard so that I knew to be patient. The real kicker was the videos showing Mr Arnold playing each chord and explaining what problems you may encounter along with how to mute the strings so you wouldn't have to worry so much about how you are strumming the chord. Seems like a small amount of information but it really helped me learn the chords quicker. There are many many tips like this along the way in this book and in the videos that really helped me improve and/or understand why I was having problems. I would recommend this book without hesitation.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Teacher
Review: I just got this book with a new electric guitar for my 13 year old son for Christmas. It has been so informative, I can't believe how well he is playing after just a few weeks. The online help that goes with this music series is just remarkable. It's incredibly helpful for a total beginner without a clue of even the most basis stuff like changing a string, strumming or tuning the guitar. I definately would reccommend this book and the online help to other beginners.

Rating:
Summary: Severely disappointed
Review: I ordered this book based on the rave reviews here. I was severely disappointed. Overall the book is just way too short. The explanations are too brief, especially concerning bar chords...The book's strumming patterns are so basic... Overall there just isn't much to this book, it's paper thin. Instead of giving good info, he tells you to buy another one of this books!!! There are only 2 pages of photos and the quality isn't that great...

Rating:
Summary: Severely disappointed
Review: I ordered this book based on the rave reviews here. I was severely disappointed. Overall the book is just way too short. The explanations are too brief, especially concerning bar chords...The book's strumming patterns are so basic... Overall there just isn't much to this book, it's paper thin. Instead of giving good info, he tells you to buy another one of this books!!! There are only 2 pages of photos and the quality isn't that great...


Rating:
Summary: Just the ticket!
Review: I purchased this book after buying a couple of the "best sellers." I have to say the first thing that struck me about this method book is the depth that Mr. Arnold goes into about each aspect of playing the guitar for a beginning student. For instance the other books I purchased spent one page on how to hold the guitar, pick the strings, and the placement of my hands on the guitar, they also had very few pictures or visual aids. 1st Steps gave me a detailed explanation of each aspect of physically playing the guitar along with pictures, videos, and a host of audio files (mp3 and midi) to help me learn correctly. I even can e-mail Mr. Arnold through the FAQ page at their website if I can't figure something out. So far the book is so well put together that I haven't needed to. If you are a beginner like me this book is the ticket.

Rating:
Summary: Just the ticket!
Review: I purchased this book after buying a couple of the "best sellers." I have to say the first thing that struck me about this method book is the depth that Mr. Arnold goes into about each aspect of playing the guitar for a beginning student. For instance the other books I purchased spent one page on how to hold the guitar, pick the strings, and the placement of my hands on the guitar, they also had very few pictures or visual aids. 1st Steps gave me a detailed explanation of each aspect of physically playing the guitar along with pictures, videos, and a host of audio files (mp3 and midi) to help me learn correctly. I even can e-mail Mr. Arnold through the FAQ page at their website if I can't figure something out. So far the book is so well put together that I haven't needed to. If you are a beginner like me this book is the ticket.

Rating:
Summary: Great Resource
Review: I received this book for Christmas and a new Fender Stratocaster. I'm a total beginner but thought I let people know what this book did for me. I really had a tough time forming chords and found the videos on the muse-eek website to be very helpful. It let me know things I needed to watch out for and also pointed out which chords to be patient with because they are hard. I also found the mp3 audio files for each progression to be extremely useful. They started at a very very slow pace which gave me time to switch between the chords. I also felt a great deal of accomplishment as I spend the songs up to a point that I recognized the song. I also took advantage of the stumming primer which help me build up my ability just with strumming. The book has a lot of information and honestly I skipped over some of it just to get to the goodies. The book seems to be organized so you can just start where you want. There is a Quick Start page which guides you to the point you want. Overall I'm impressed with all the additional information especially the videos it's like getting a free DVD with the book. If you are just getting a guitar for the first time like me I would recommend checking the book out.

Rating:
Summary: Great Resource
Review: I received this book for Christmas and a new Fender Stratocaster. I'm a total beginner but thought I let people know what this book did for me. I really had a tough time forming chords and found the videos on the muse-eek website to be very helpful. It let me know things I needed to watch out for and also pointed out which chords to be patient with because they are hard. I also found the mp3 audio files for each progression to be extremely useful. They started at a very very slow pace which gave me time to switch between the chords. I also felt a great deal of accomplishment as I spend the songs up to a point that I recognized the song. I also took advantage of the stumming primer which help me build up my ability just with strumming. The book has a lot of information and honestly I skipped over some of it just to get to the goodies. The book seems to be organized so you can just start where you want. There is a Quick Start page which guides you to the point you want. Overall I'm impressed with all the additional information especially the videos it's like getting a free DVD with the book. If you are just getting a guitar for the first time like me I would recommend checking the book out.

Rating:
Summary: A great book for the beginning guitarist
Review: I'd like to submit my opinion on this book because I couldn't be happier. There are 10 chord progressions. The first 5 use the open position chords and then starting on the 6th progression barre chords are introduced. I liked playing along with the midi files since I can control the tempo and for me, a total beginner, I had to start moving between chords very slowly, and the midifiles have helped me with this a lot. The 3 different strumming methods for each progression really helped me develop my ability slowly. I didn't mind downloading the midifiles they were in the same section of the website as the FAQs which were quite informative so I was basically one click away from the files. I guess if you have no interest in tuning your guitar, proper playing technique, learning information about how music is put together i.e. music theory and have no interest in understanding strumming and rhythms involved then you will only be interested in 10 pages of the book. But I found this book to be thorough, and a great new way to learn. Also, Mr. Arnold answers emails about concerns or problems students have. What other book does this? I wanted information on what electric guitar to buy and he was very helpful. I have already made a lot of use of their free member's area which, if you're looking for page count, has hundreds of free pages of useful information. Read the FAQs on the books this company puts out. They go way out of their way to help each customer and make them happy. I can't see how anyone could have a complaint with a company that is so responsive to it's customers.

Rating:
Summary: Great Stuff
Review: I'm a person returning to the guitar after a 10 year break. Remembered some stuff but really wanted to start from the beginning again. I've been working with this book for a few weeks now and have to report that the book in combination with the on-line stuff is fantastic. The Publisher's Website contains multiple videos covering the information in the book and many other topics. For instance there are videos on how to memorizing chords and substitute chord progressions for the progressions found in the book. The Hendrix one is killer. There are videos on such things as the CAGED system and other common misconceptions which I found very informative and made me see some of my misconceptions about the best way to learn. Overall I think this is a very easy method to learn from. I found the videos in particular to be very quick study and something I could play over and over until I mastered the information. I find Mr. Arnold's teaching style to be quite thorough and it's obvious from the videos that he enjoys teaching. Oh yeh, the videos of every chord showing alternate fingers and all the problems that students have was a real eye opener. OK so I could go on and on but you get the picture this is a cool book so check it out!