Guitar For Dummies (Paperback)

I just got the ambition to try guitar again, but this time I bought eMedia Guitar Method computer software, and I've gotten farther in two days with that than I did the two weeks with Guitar for Dummies book.

It seems they do have a Guitar for Dummies DVD out with instruction, that probably would be something you'd want to get in conjunction with this book to help you learn better.

I believe that this book cannot stand on it's own as a good learning tool for the beginner.

If you are an intermediate player, you can enjoy reviewing things in this text that you've already learned as well as getting quick concise information about particulars, be it string bends, double double stops, power chords, or whatever.

This book is a great buy as it saves you from acquiring a whole shelf of guitar books to find out all there is to explore. Once you find a particular topic of interest, seek out a more specialized book.

The CD is unbeatable as you can immediately associate what you hear in different types of music with the musical notation.

If you're a Rock bigot, note that there is a Rock Guitar version. However, this one is my favorite. If you're going to be a rolling stone, you gotta be well rounded, right?

Through a lot of study and practice, and later with the help of other books (but not a teacher), I've progressed in about a year and a half to where I can play the rhythm parts and some lead lines of more than a few rock songs (AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Foo Fighters, Metallica, Weezer, Iced Earth, Megadeth, The Cure, etc.), do some basic blues improv, play passable fingerstyle acoustic, write some of my own tunes and riffs, transcribe tunes by ear, etc. In other words, if you're a total guitar newbie, have hope: you can learn on your own with lots of hard work, a good ear, and good books such as this one. When you first learn how to play along with one of your favorite songs, all the sweat and tears will seem worth it.

My only complaint about Guitar for Dummies is that it neglects jazz guitar, but that's understandable since jazz quickly gets extremely complicated on a theoretical level--not exactly beginner's material. Most beginners want to learn power chords, not the intricacies of improvised reharmonization. Jazz is America's greatest contribution to the music world, though, so it would have been nice to see at least a brief chapter.

(If you mainly want to play rock, make sure to check out Rock Guitar for Dummies after you've progressed a bit with this book. Also, almost any guitarist, regardless of stylistic preference or experience level, can benefit from Troy Stetina's classic Speed Mechanics for Lead Guitar.)