1st Steps for a Beginning Guitarist, Chords and Chord Progressions |
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| Title: | 1st Steps for a Beginning Guitarist, Chords and Chord Progressions |
| Author: | Bruce E. Arnold |
| Publisher: | Muse Eek Publishing Company |
| Type: | Book / Paperback |
| Publication Date: | 01 January, 2001 |
| ISBN / ISBN-13: | 1890944939 / 9781890944933 |
| List Price: | $23.99 |
| You Save: | $3.48 |
| Amazon Price: | $20.51 |
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This book is also available, brand-new, from 3rd-party marketplace sellers at Amazon.com, from $11.60.
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Editorial Review / Publisher's Information:
Product Description
The guitar is the most popular instrument in the world yet most students of the guitar are self taught. This book is a comprehensive for guitar students who have no prior musical training. No matter what type of guitar you play, this book will give you the information you need, and trouble shoot the various pitfalls that can hinder the self-taught musician. The author knows from over 25 years of teaching experience that students form most of their good and bad habits in the first six months of practicing. It is therefore extremely important to use a method book that clearly and concisely covers the important subjects of proper playing technique, tuning, picking, strumming, music theory and rhythm. Furthermore, the only way a student can remember the information learned is to apply it. The hardest part of learning the guitar for a student is switching between chords. This unique method book contains chord progressions using both "open" and "barre" chords that gradually take a student from a beginning level to an advanced level. The publisher's website also has mp3 and midifiles to be played along with, for developing the strumming, time and feel for each chord progression. The chord progressions presented are commonly found in hard rock, rock, folk, blues and country, giving the student a solid harmonic foundation in all these styles. This method book not only gives you pages of pictures but also gives you access to video clips via the publisher's website to demonstrate playing basics in action. The Muse-eek Publishing Company believes the education of a student shouldn't stop with the purchase of a book, therefore our website, offers a FAQ page where students can write in to the author with questions that may and a free "member's section" where students can download other learning materials to further their education.
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Customer Reviews:
• How Serious Are You About Learning To Play Guitar?
06 January, 2005
First, I would like to point out that this book is but a small part of a VERY thorough collection of educational material for guitar from Mr. Arnold. Each of his books targets particular aspects of guitar and often music in general. The books are part of a complete system by which you can communicate with Mr. Arnold. He actually answers e-mail that you send him and responds with VERY thorough and understandable answers. This "Beginning..." book has a good introduction to chord progressions, technique, and virtually everything you need to get started. I can not recommend this book highly enough. It is NOT a "quick fix" method by which you learn patterns on the fretboard and never even know what notes you are playing. It is not really targeted for any particular music genre, so I think it is appropriate for anyone that is serious about truly learning to play guitar. You begin to learn theory, sight reading, technique, and he will probably encourage you to begin ear training as well (another one of his books). His books are augmented with videos and additional information available on his web site. You can get access to the site by buying any one of his books.
The chord progressions are basic and easy to learn. Yes, it will take some time to learn them, if you are 100% new to guitar, but it is worth it. Each progression is played at three levels and the notation helps you to begin to understand rhythm as well. THIS BOOK COVERS ALL THE BASES FOR THE BEGINNER! E-mail Mr. Arnold if you have questions and he will fill in any ambiguity.
I would like to repeat that although you could just learn your basics from this book, without any of his other workbooks and such, I think that once you get started, you will be hooked. Bruce Arnold knows how to teach music and knows how to convey information in his books, web site, and with personal e-mail. This book is part of a total system (books, workbooks, website, e-mail) that Mr. Arnold can customize for you (by suggesting the appropriate books) that will allow you to take your guitar knowledge as far as you want to go, whether you want to go pro or primarily just play for fun, such as myself.
I think that this is the best method of learning. You have the luxury of learning at your own pace with plenty of reference material AND you have e-mail access to the author of the books if you get stuck on something. It is the best of both worlds of lessons and learning on your own. I have not found anything else quite like it, particularly with the quality of information that Mr. Arnold provides.
If you want to really learn, BUY THIS BOOK. If you just want to strum chords to folks songs for kids, get the e-Media CDROM and go through it (It puts me to sleep.) If you want quick fixes and don't care to understand what you are playing, this will not provide what you are looking for. If you just want to be able to "shread" through pentatonic scales at blazing speeds on your guitar to impress your friends (never actually understanding what you are doing or why), this is not your book. You will need to be serious about learning about music and about the guitar to get through any of this series of books, including this one. These books are for people that want to understand what they are playing so that each new song is not like starting over in your learning process. With a solid foundation, each new song is learned in a fraction of the time it would take if you don't understand anything but where to put each finger for a few chords.
I would also suggest that you purchase (in the near future) a songbook of "Easy Guitar" songs (or something similar) to start working on as well as this book or any beginning method book. This book provides the foundation, but you will want something else to work with at the same time that provides some songs that you have fun learning. Mr. Arnold will probably also recommend that you be sure to spend some time just having fun playing your guitar as well as practicing from the book or doing theory study. You have to continue to enjoy PLAYING as well as learning. That was key for me to maintain my interest.
All I can say is: If you want to learn from a pro, BUY THE BOOK! You won't regret it. Just plan to put a little time into it. As with anything worth doing, it takes time to learn to do it properly. This book will begin your journey.
- Amazon Customer Review
• Amazing Amount Of Information
27 February, 2004
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.
- Amazon Customer Review
• Stuff I Actually Want To Learn
01 July, 2004
I bought eMedia Guitar Method, Vol 1 and 1st Steps for a Beginning Guitarist. For myself I greatly prefer 1st Steps for a Beginning Guitarist. I thought eMedia was way over priced for what it offered. I guess if you are really struggling with the guitar, can't even finger a C chord after a few weeks of practice and like songs like Michael Rows a Boat Ashore eMedia would be perfect. 99% of the songs they teach I would never care to play. The Chord finder was cool but no songs for most of the chords in the chord finder so I was unsure how to use them. On the other hand I thought 1st Steps for a Beginning Guitarist was great. I should point out that you really should have a DSL or cable connection to the internet for this book. It comes with nothing but the publisher's website and it has 100's of videos, mp3 and midifiles for the information in the book. I've ordered a few of Mr. Arnold's books and I should also point out that he's an author that targets a student that really wants to play well and maybe form a band. His education style is more like one musician to another budding musician rather than giving you stuff that is corny or uninteresting. He also interacts with you via email if you have questions. So I guess what I'm saying is eMedia is fine if you really just want to accompany children or actually like campfire songs on the other hand if you want to learn stuff you wouldn't mind playing with your friends or in a band then I'd go for the 1st Steps.
- Amazon Customer Review
• Some Good Info, But Incomplete And Over-priced
12 September, 2008
I'm self teaching and I'd like to be clear from the outset that I found some very useful information in this book. For example, on the basics of holding a guitar and hand technique Arnold provides clear information; importantly he tells you /why/ things should be done his way. In addition, he understands what a beginner will find hardest and prepares you for this. He also knows what the common mistakes are that you will make and preempts them impressively. Top marks here.
The book is arranged as follows:
1. Basics of holding guitar and hand technique.
2. tuning
3. music theory & chord construction
4. Description of some 25 or so common chords
5. A section on rhythmic notation in music
6. Ten chord progressions for you to practice.
I like the book but am deducting 3 stars for the following reasons:
1. It's horribly edited. Littered with spelling mistakes. At least one reference to an image which shows something different. Photos are at the back not in-line with the text.
2. It's rather short: 52 sides of actual information 11 plugging his other books. The section of music theory is so short and incomplete that it can't be understood on its own since new concepts are introduced without being explained. If you want understand what he's talking about you are told to go buy his music theory book (which is twenty bucks) for a proper grounding. This is rather cheeky. Either you write a self-contained introduction to the topic or don't include it at all.
3. It's too expensive given what it provides. I'm working through the Hal Leonard book which is a shade above 20 bucks and for this you get 3 whole books and 3 CDs. The Leonard is poor on technique descriptions and music theory so I bought the Arnold. It looks like I'll need to shell out more to get the information I need from Mr. Arnold. If you can find his books second hand for a tenner, then go for it. Otherwise shop around and see if another book gives you the same information for less money.
- Amazon Customer Review
• Amazing Book
25 June, 2004
This book is like getting a book and a DVD. Amazing amount of information for a beginning guitarist to explore. The book is well organized and the on-line video etc... is well laid out. I found the videos showing the pitfalls of each chord type to be very informative. The strumming help files also help me coordinate both my hands. Highly recommended as a First Step for those of us just getting started on this cool instrument.
- Amazon Customer Review
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