New York City Guitar School

[WilliamTK1974]

Has anyone ever used the New York City Guitar School textbook for any of their process of learning to play? I found it while cruising the big online retailer of everything.

A lot of self-teaching books seem to either guarantee a painless effort, or the ones I've seen may explain some theory without backing it up with real-world examples. I don't mind sore fingers and frustration at times, and want to learn how to play real songs, at least some of the time.

[Guitar Slim II]

You don’t need a textbook to learn to play a real song, IMO. And why do you want to play “real songs” only some of the time?

The best way to learn how to play songs is...to play them! No textbooks or multi-volume method programs needed. Playing tunes, correctly and in time, is the first musical skill you should learn. Technique and theory come after, not before.

If you already know a few chords and a scale or two, that’s all you need to get started. Get some charts and tabs, watch some YT videos, and learn the songs. If you haven’t gotten that far yet, then a text like this is going to be too advanced. Start with a kid’s beginner book that will introduce notes and chords — and then start learning songs ASAP.

Don’t be a scholar. Be a guitar player. Play songs!

[jdobrick]

I really like the classes . I think they are good value for money and I like learning with a group but I wouldn't recommend trying to use the textbooks for standalone instruction. They don't teach songs so much as teaching chord progressions which of course are used in many songs and they use some school specific terminology which won't be of much help and may be confusing to some outside the classes.

For self teaching, resources I like for playing songs are Justin Guitar, Rob Swift, and Jerry's Guitar Bar.

Hope this helps