Customer Reviews

Hal Leonard Guitar Method, - Complete Edition: Books 1, 2 and 3 Bound Together in One Easy-to-Use Volume!

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am teaching myself quite slowly as that is unfortunately my pace and I had tried three guitar methods before this one:

Progressive Guitar (Bk/CD/DVD)
I used this for a while and learned something from it but eventually lost interest.
Modern Guitar Method Grade 1, Expanded Edition, Book/2-CD Set
I could not get into this one. It did not inspire me. I did not have the version with the CD so that might have helped.
From Liverpool to Abbey Road: A Guitar Method Featuring 33 Songs of Lennon & McCartney, Book & CD
I still use this one as a supplement. It is a lot of fun and very accessible to beginners as well but not quite as smooth a progression as the Hal Leonard series so not perfect as the only method book.

The Progressive Guitar series was going fine but it did not introduce chords early enough. The Mel Bay series does but I didn't enjoy it. However the Hal Leonard series is great for my learning style. It is a very gentle progression and introduces chords early on. The exercises are fun enough but not as fun as "From Liverpool to Abbey Road". Most importantly they are very well sequenced and paced to improve a beginners technique.

As one reviewer has said a drawback of this volume is that some of the exercises are not on the CD including most of the rhythm exercises. This forces you to get out a metronome sometimes but that is good practice too. Also, if you purchase some of the supplements you will get around these issues. I have purchased the "Easy Pop Melodies #1 and 2", "Easy Pop Rhythms #1", and "Hal Leonard Acoustic Guitar Method". Together you have everything you need: The Acoustic Guitar method supplement has recorded versions of the rhythm exercises plus more, the Easy Pop Melodies and Rhythms give you some graded exercises that are longer and more inspiring without having to search the net looking for tabs at the right difficulty level.

This has become my base book for practice with some Hal Leonard supplements plus some other books for fun and variety. I believe it is perfect for the first year of guitar or longer if you are slower like myself. I am finally making some progress therefore I felt compelled to write my first book review.

Easy Pop Melodies: Book/CD Pack
The Hal Leonard Acoustic Guitar Method: A Complete Guide with Step-by-Step Lessons & 45 Great Acoustic Songs

Most Straight forward book when it comes to learning guitar notes from scratch. Highly recommended!

Nice book for beginner... Learn to read music... Hard at first, but with practice everything is possible. A very recommended book !

This book is one of the best guitar beginner books. It helps in the following areas:

1) Builds music reading ability.

2) Teach you in a string-by-string approach.

3) Music is wonderful especially played along with the CD.

4) Coil binding makes it very easy to read.

However, it does have some drawbacks:

1) Not all sounds are played on the CD, especially for strumming.

2) Introduce chords too earily in the book, which makes them hard to play for beginners.

3) Guitar sound track is not sepearated from other music instruments, and makes it difficult to listen to the guitar and learn the details.

Compare with Alfred's guitar method, I found Alfred's book is better than this book in that Alfred's book has all the benefits that this book provides except it is not coil-binding.

This is a great system for learning the guitar. The instructions and photos are clear and this gets you reading music and playing tunes quickly. (Includes TAB in the second book) - since all three volumes of this serires are bound in one terrific spiral binding - this is an excellent value. I am a pianist and like this system because it gets into reading notes immediately. I tried another system that did not explain what notes were where on the guitar and found it frustrating since I knew where they were on the piano, I wanted to know where they were on the guitar - not just where to place my fingers. This is a great book!

The 3 book/3 CD compilation of the HL Guitar Method is where I began and what I use to teach students how to master the guitar and to become... musicians. The book methodically relys on learning to read actual music (later in the book the tab method is introduced) and slowly, patiently develops the student's fingers, ears, and appreciation of harmony and melody. Theory is introduced ever so subtley and enjoyably.

The CD tracks are excellent and make quality self-study feasible. Many of the songs or exercises are presented in slow and up tempo versions.

This is a treasure chest for the teacher and student or the student who is teaching himself. There are excellent supplemental books (pop and rock melodies, rhythm books, riff and lick books, etc.)and I recommend them all.

I played piano long ago as a kid, but have been out of music for quite a few years now. This is a great way to get back in, learning the bars, notes, and strings. I'm a fan of progressive rock and metal, so I plan to follow in the footsteps of guitar greats like Yngwie Malmsteen and Eddie Van Halen. LONG way to go, but the melodies in this book are a great first step.

By the way, if you wanna learn an instrument but find yourself running out of steam, listen to music you enjoy for a while .. You should feel the urge to copy it, and you'll be ready to go again.

ive have studied this book under the instruction of my teacher and now i teach myself and use this book as a tutorial. excellent for revealing basic theory and has good exercises for the beginning to intermediate guitar player to sight read.(as opposed to the destructive method of guitar tablature.)

This book is great. I'm a teacher guitar and i youse this book for my lesson. But if you are a beginner and you never read music you should choose a athor boock for start.