The Guitar Handbook: A Unique Source Book for the Guitar Player - Amateur or Professional, Acoustic or Electrice, Rock, Blues, Jazz, or Folk

This book is written in a style that is pleasant to read and easy to understand. I haven't read it completely yet, but so far so good. I've learned a lot of useful things. There're some books you buy and they just sit on the shelf collecting dust like "The Jazz Theory Book" which I just couldn't get into because it was too heavy and overwhelming for my music education or rather lack of it. I'm not saying it's a bad book but just that you need to be ready for it. Now this Guitar Handbook right here, it doesn't expect you to have a particular level of musical education. All you need is to enjoy playing guitar and have the desire to improve your playing. You sort of pick it up and read it and learn new things when you have the time. Or when you want to know something you go through this book and likely to find it. Author explains things adequately and concisely. It starts with some history about the guitarists we all know and love, but it's not about things like what so and so likes to eat for breakfast.. but rather useful things such as where the artist is coming from (musically) citing their inspirations, playing styles and types of guitars they've used. This is useful info, because it gives you ideas about your own styles and musical directions. After that there is a section on what makes up the guitar, its parts and their functions. Also very useful for several reasons such as knowing the guitar you already own, maybe changing certain things to improve the sound. As well as giving you an idea of what to go for on your next guitar. Then goes the section on playing the guitar. This is the main part of the book and it tells you How to play the instrument. It explains the notes, various chords, their relationship. All this with nice diagrams and pictures of how to press the strings etc. You then learn about the actual notes on the staff, time signatures and all the technical things associated with that business. Then you learn The scales, major/minor/etc. It gets even more technical after that. Then there's a section on guitar electronics/effects/amps etc. Also introduces the reader to microphones, recording, mixing. Nice overview. The book ends with a Chord Dictionary (diagram of a chord with finger positions) Some of the portions of this book are clearly designed to be studied like the part where you learn to actually play the guitar, and understand how the notes and chords work. Yet other portions are more for reference purposes, such as where the guitar's physical design and electronics are explained. This book has proven useful to me and I enjoy reading it -- so 5 stars! Another book I recommend is "The Mixing Engineer's Handbook". Although it has nothing to do with guitar-playing, it's also a great book and a must, if you are going to record.

As a hobby guitar player off and on for 40 years I find this book well thought out and presented. I feel it is a must have for a beginner to intermediate guitarist. For the absolute beginner, a basic understanding of music theory is helpful. I used "music theory for dummies", and where that leaves off, it leads right into this book. But even without any prior knowledge you can learn beginner to intermediate/advanced theory if you start at the beginning of the book and just keep reading until the end. The print quality, diagrams, and explanations are spot on. Outstanding. For anyone just starting out playing guitar, and they are serious about learning, this is an excellent book to grow with. While it might not be the "end all" of guitar books, by some opinions, this a great resource, not only for learning how to play a guitar but also how to set it up and tune it, etc. It has a few chapters dedicated to history, various players, etc. but it is mostly a rock solid reference book on guitar playing. Another tool in my kit. To the author, I say Bravo!! Well done!

This is the absolute MUST HAVE for any guitarist. I’ve been playing for 2 years and this book has taken me leaps and bounds forward in understanding the theory in why notes are grouped the way they are. It’s also been great to learn the history and progression of the guitar. So happy I got this book!

Believe all the reviews, this is the definitive guide to build a strong foundational knowledge of guitar history, how to play the guitar, and how to maintain and customize a guitar. It even has a section on performance and recording tech at the end. This book has so much information packed in to very digestible sections with plenty of graphics and diagrams. I taught myself guitar 15 or so years ago using tabs of songs I liked. I got much better over the years, but never bothered to learn the fretboard, so I never have truly felt comfortable playing my guitar outside of a list of songs I had learned in the past. This book has made it so much clearer to me than any resource I have used in the past. It has also explained a few music theory concepts that I had never fully grasped from my college theory courses. The book gets right into it and just keeps on going with page after page of essential information that any guitarist should know. Dont hesitate to buy this if you think it may be useful. Might be the best purchase I have made for my guitar, and possibly one of the cheapest.

I received this book from the seller in a moderate amount of time. However the book is in excellent condition, and I have been using it to improve my Guitar playing. I like how the book progresses from history to theory to actual pictures showing where exactly to place fingers for the different cords. My instructor has been playing for 30 plus years and he is impressed with all subjects in the book! This book is an asset to have whether you are learning and or playing any guitar, be it an acoustic and or electric. Whatever level of player you are, this book will definitely make you a better player, if you are just starting out as I am; it makes the learning process much, much easier to understand

I’ve had this book since the ‘90’s and have bought it for a few friends as they picked up guitar. It is a wonderful reference guide. Not necessarily a book you’ll read cover to cover, but more of a wealth of information that’s available when you need it. It isn’t a guitar course. If that’s what you need look elsewhere. Some of the info is very basic while some is more complex. It’s a great item for a guitarist to have on your shell.

The best guitar book I've ever purchased, and I've purchased many. Impressively complete, with well written, clear and understandable explanations. I highly recommend this book.

This books tells you everything from start to finish about guitar. What interested me the most was the simple breakdown of music theory. Almost anyone can figure out how to play guitar on YouTube but what a lot of people don't explain is the reason why certain chords or notes are played together. That's the reason I wanted this book and it delivered. Buy it

It's like the encyclopedia on how to play guitar.

very good which touches very much theory as well as background about guitars and some famous players

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Perfect for anyone who wants to truly learn guitar! Contains easy to understand music theory and connects this to also playing! Loved it highly recommend!

As a student who goes to a class, I was looking for a book to understand a bit of theory etc. And this book is excellent! From history of the instrument to bios of several great players; from physical construction of the acoustic and the electric, to various popular brands; from music theory of chords and scales to the construction and working of amplifiers - and so many more topics related to this wonderful instrument! It's a great buy. Just one CON: it's dated when it comes to brands. The book talks of several guitar brands which are no longer relevant; and many modern brands were not existing when the book was written.