In seeking a good guitar learning book, it is important that you keep in mind why you want to play the guitar. It is usually because you want to play great music, and even make your own music. In order to do that it is essential that you understand the guitar: what it is and what can be done with it, before you try to play the fast notes that you can hear on your CDs.
Fail to do that and all you will play is fast noise, but certainly not fast music. Endless repetition of chords can be very tiresome, and is not necessarily needed at first, but a time will come when you will want to know how to form the common chords in order to follow sheet music. OK, there are many guitarists that can't read a note, but are you one of those? Or are you just an ordinary guy that needs to learn the basics and then take it a step at a time, learning how your instrument works and how you can personalize your own style?
A good guitar learning book will be one that meets your needs. However, there are some pointers as to what you should be looking for. Your book should focus on concepts rather than long lists of chords and finger positions. Learning to play a guitar involves a combination of memory, understanding and physical exercise.
Yes, physical exercise: you will be using muscles you have never used that way before, and it is important that you build up some strength in them. You will have a number of basic chords to remember and the various finger placements to attain specific notes. You will also have to understand the concept of what you are trying to do, and basically how a guitar works and how you can get it to do whatever you want it to do. The majority of beginners give up after a few months, and a good guitar learning book can help you to avoid that.
It will also stop you from getting some bad habits - habits that will prevent you playing properly and effortlessly and that will come back and haunt you at the wrong times, no matter how hard you try to get out of them. The only way is not to get them in the first place, and that is where the guitar book can help.
It is easy to learn what notes each position on the fret makes with each string, but the book should tell you why certain note combinations, or chords, are pleasing to the ear, and how to form them. The book should teach you correct fingering, since that can not only enable you to form the notes properly, but also save you from a lot of physical pain. There is pain in learning guitar, but it can be reduced if the fingering is right.
So when looking for a guitar learning book, check out the book and find out if it shows you how to hold the guitar and place your fingers properly on the fret for both individual notes and chords, and also if it provides you with an explanation of the formation of chords and some scale and chord exercises. It should explain to you the concept of 'keys' and how each key is basically the same, only played on different parts of the fret.
You shouldn't have to spend hours learning chords before playing, though, and it is great if a CD or DVD comes with the book. That will not only let you hear what you should be playing, but will also provide a backing track that you can play against, and perhaps even slowed down versions of the tracks you should be playing.
Perhaps the CD will allow you to make up your own music to the backing provided, but at the very least will let you hear what the piece you are playing is meant to sound like. A good guitar book will allow you to play real tunes and backings while you are learning, and that helps to maintain your interest - especially when you can hear yourself continually getting better at it.
A good guitar learning book should allow you to learn while having fun, but also provide you with the essential knowledge and concepts such as chords or note combinations, keys, scales and fingering, while also being truthful with you. It should explain the purpose of keys and why all tunes cannot be played in the same key. It should come with a CD or DVD and allow you to play along to backing tracks, and also let you hear what each lesson should sound like. There are plenty books out there with page after page of chord diagrams and tabs; but if you concentrate on getting the basics right, you will find that the rest will come a lot easier.
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