Music Theory for Guitarists: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know But Were Afraid to Ask (Guitar Method)

Customer Reviews

a nice book to have if you are starting

This is a good book that covers most of the basic you need to know about guitar

One Of The Best.

This is one of the best and most complete guitar guide/book I have had a pleasure to buy. It is a compilation of all the important aspects of the music theory all good guitarists should know and it is a fantastic reference guide, so you can be sure it will never stay long on your bookshelf covered in dust. Notation, tabs, CD with plenty of tracks, 104 pages easy to understand for everyone. The author did a really good job. Do not look at the price as it is like for free. At last I put all the pieces I was learning before in a one good shape.
Thanks Tom Kolb, Hal Leonard and Amazon for delivering this great release.
Regards,
Grzegorz Witkowski

Alot of information packed in...

This reference book does not have many pages, but it does have a huge amount of information. This information is presented in a logical sequence, and I found it easy to read. Be aware that, just as with any guitar theory book, actually LEARNING the contents and being able to use what you learn in your playing will take you months if not years.

Well-Structured Book, Wealth of Material

I think the irony with many standard guitar methods, at least the better ones, is that they usually expect you to have a basic knowledge of music theory to allow the exercises to really sink in from the very beginning. Conversely, I think the irony with starting a music theory course or method is that it normally expects you to have already begun contextualizing the material on the instrument of your choice before you can even begin to make practical sense of the material and apply it. It seems very much like a Catch-22.

What Tom Kolb manages to do in the opening chapters of this book is quickly and thoroughly provide the vital concepts you need to really get going with both: a diagram of the fretboard with all of the notes on it (without the high register), a nice explanation of the different types of notation, the terms you need to begin to develop your musical language abilities, scales and key signatures, intervals, and triads (the most basic chord forms). He uses a bottom-up approach; however detailed or complex the material gets, he usually manages to apply it to the larger context. And I use the word "usually" because it's very apparent that music theory becomes an infinitely large topic the more you cover. The latter chapters contain some very heady concepts that require playing experience to contextualize.

This book is loaded with material, and can be challenging depending on how much you invest yourself in it. If you use a healthy balance of memorization and application all the way through, there is no doubt that you will benefit.

gonna be very helpful

I'm one of those who has to know every step on the way to big picture. For those who need to KNOW how to play rather than just bang it out.