Guitar for Dummies [With Featuring Play-Along Exercises]

by Jon Chappell and Mark Phillips

Book Overview

Have you always wanted to play guitar? Who wouldn't? Think of Jimi Hendrix wailing away on his Stratocaster. . . Chuck Berry duck-walking across the stage to "Johnny B. Goode." . .B.B. King making his... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 076455106X
• ISBN13: 9780764551062
• Release Date: September 1998
• Publisher: For Dummies
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 7.4" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

The DVD was gone!

I really wanted and paid for the book which included the DVD. The pocket was in the book but someone removed the DVD!

Nice book

Book in great shape, shipped fast! Ordered similar book for a friend too.

Good for all levels

It's like a encyclopedia for all things Guitar. From simple questions to Theory,it has simple nuggets of info. A good book just for reference.

Great Book for overview of guitar but...

I recently purchased both Guitar for Dummies and 1st Steps for a Beginning Guitarist by Bruce Arnold. I thought I made a very wise choice for both texts. First let me say that Guitar for Dummies is a great reference text. It has information on so many aspects of playing the guitar like; changing strings, guitar accessories, basic maintenance, etc. All this information was very useful because I'm a total beginner. I felt that as a method to learn to play guitar Guitar for Dummies wasn't that great. Don't get me wrong there is a lot of information in this book about how to play the guitar. The problem for me is that much of this information is nothing I would ever consider playing for anyone. For example "Oh Susanna" and "On Top of Old Smoky" might be great songs for a camp counselor to learn but I'm more into rock and folk music from the 60's to the present and Guitar for Dummies does not contain any music like this. This is were the 1st Steps for a Beginning Guitarist by Mr. Arnold really helped. The chord progressions were challenging, gradually became more difficult and sounded like something I felt good about playing in front of somebody. Mr. Arnold's book also went into much more detail about many aspect of learning to play guitar and music in general. In my opinion these two books make a great combination for a beginner guitarist.

Highly Recommended

I have eMedia Guitar Method, this book and I've been taking lessons with a local teacher. While this book doesn't cover everything that I've learned from my teacher, it gives a lot of supplementary exercises and information that has really helped broaden my guitar education. I recommend this book highly over any software I have seen (eMedia, Voyetra's Teach Me Guitar, etc.) First, the book is cheaper. Second, it's a whole lot better. (I say better because it isn't just basic lessons like the software gives, there is a lot of extra info in the text that is really quite valuable and entertaining).It covers chords thoroughly, goes on to explain how to play melodies and has some good exercises for getting the hang of it. Plus, the CD gives you a recorded version of the songs and the exercises so you know exactly what they should sound like.There's also information on various styles (folk, rock, blues). It also covers simple maintenance (I finally found out why there was a little wrench in the box when I bought my guitar). There's a whole chapter dedicated to changing strings.Since my teacher is giving me all the music theory in addition to playing, I was really happy to see the chart on page 331 that shows the relationship between the notes on the music staff and the strings/frets on the guitar.This really is a great book for a beginner.

Great, great beginner's reference!

Guitar for Dummies is the epitome of learning tools for the guitar. This is the undisputed king of all guitar books.If you're anything like me, you've given up the guitar multiple times because learning it has always been so boring. Most lame books always start you off with notation reading. Those books teach to read music. Not PLAY music. That's what makes this book so great. You'll be playing Kumbaya within minutes. Not Mary Had a Little Lamb after 4 hours.The CD that accompanies the book is invaluable. It gives you the ability to track your progress against a recorded version of the song. It's simple and easy to use.The best part of the book to me is the section on barre chords and power chords. If you have the patience to make it to this section, you will never put the guitar down again. That's because all of a sudden you can play nearly every song you've ever heard.I highly recommend this book to anybody who wants to learn how to play guitar. Once you've studied the book for awhile, the rest gets easier and easier.

Simply the best guitar reference book I have used.

Guitar for Dummies definitely was made for dummies. This book was made for people with little to no knowledge of the guitar. Even though it is made for beginners this book has many sections that even a experienced guitar player can learn from. With this book you can learn to buy a guitar, take care of one, learn about famous guitarists, and of course, play one. When I bought this book there was no need to buy any other guitar books. This is simply the best and is really 'The Ultimate Guide to Playing the Guitar.' What the book advertises to teach you, it does. You can learn chords, improvising solos, styles (rock, blues, jazz...), you even have a buyers guide to accessories! The CD that comes along with this is a tremendous bonus. With it you can actually hear what the songs are supposed to sound like. Also with the CD you can train your ear and then learn songs off your own personal CDs! There are some great songs included in this book that it teaches you how to play. You can learn how a guitar is made and how to discern a great guitar from a mediocre guitar. This book can start out kind of cheesy with all the basics but once you learn them you can rock out with all the advanced techniques it teaches you. Excellent book, a must have for beginners and certainly a good read for veterans guitarists.