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  #16  
Old 01-10-2005, 04:04 PM
tds tds is offline
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I also picked up the fretboard logic books (vols 1 &2) about six to eight months ago. I have learned a lot from it, particularly in regards to getting around on the fretboard -- knowing where to find the leads for the key i'm in, building chords and that kind of thing. i also agree that the dvds help a lot. It provides a lot of material to digest, but if i remain true to mastering one area before moving on to the next it has lived up to the logic part of its name. of course, when i cheat and move on before i'm ready, those lessons tend to crash and burn
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  #17  
Old 01-10-2005, 04:16 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff M
..... The other book I HIGHLY recommend no matter what style you are playing is Jamie Andreas book on "Guar Principles". This is not a book on chords and songs, but on how to actually physically play the guitar-how to make fretting and picking/plucking easier and how to get the tone you want from your guitar, and HOW to practice to get the most out of your time. Another book that I wish I had read years and years ago. Goes well with any otherinstructional material you might buy.
http://www.guitarprinciples.com/
Jeff, i receive the email newsletters from Guitar Principles and find them interesting. But I often find myself thinking they are sort of "preachy" and I wonder if I really want to tackle a whole book written from that perspective. But I don't see a ton of books out there about HOW to practice and I'm at a point where I think this is part of what I need. Did you -- or anyone else who has used Guitar Principles -- ever have that reaction to Jamie Andreas work?
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  #18  
Old 01-10-2005, 04:50 PM
Tom S. Tom S. is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff M
Fretboard logic was a good book. "The Skeptical Guitarist" series is better.
http://www.skepticalguitarist.com/
I have the Mel Bay series-didn't like the way it jumped around from topic to topic and followed a "easy" lesson with a harder one. Thought that the Hanson series was much better there.
I got Skeptical Guitarist Vol 1,2 for Christmas. I just finished volume 1 and I thought it was fantastic. I have Fretboard logic. It is interesting but I found it less helpful.
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  #19  
Old 01-10-2005, 05:01 PM
Jeff M Jeff M is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tds
Jeff, i receive the email newsletters from Guitar Principles and find them interesting. But I often find myself thinking they are sort of "preachy" and I wonder if I really want to tackle a whole book written from that perspective. But I don't see a ton of books out there about HOW to practice and I'm at a point where I think this is part of what I need. Did you -- or anyone else who has used Guitar Principles -- ever have that reaction to Jamie Andreas work?

I've never seen his news letter. The book was, for me, well written. I can see where some would see it as a bit ponderous and "preachy", but from the standpoint of describing in detail what he is trying to get across (which is how I learn best) it was great. What I most liked about it was that he goes into detail describing how things shoud FEEL. He just doesn't say "here's a C chord. Now play an alternating bass line". He describes how to hold your hand, what kind of stroke your picking fingers should make, how those strokes should FEEL and how to do them, how to pay attention to the tensions that subconsciously develope and make playing mechanically harder than it needs to be. It was worth the $25
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  #20  
Old 01-10-2005, 06:05 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff M
I can see where some would see it as a bit ponderous and "preachy", but from the standpoint of describing in detail what he is trying to get across (which is how I learn best) it was great. What I most liked about it was that he goes into detail describing how things shoud FEEL. He just doesn't say "here's a C chord. Now play an alternating bass line". He describes how to hold your hand, what kind of stroke your picking fingers should make, how those strokes should FEEL and how to do them, how to pay attention to the tensions that subconsciously develope and make playing mechanically harder than it needs to be. It was worth the $25
I found the book ( and forum ) preachy as well.....but also very useful...apparenty a fair number of folks expressed that in a way so that these materials received Acoustic Guitar's silver award for instructional materials. Just filter out the preachy stuff....and the photos in the book are of poor quality too. Nonetheless I also recommend it ( keep in mind I'm mostly a humble strummer )
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  #21  
Old 01-11-2005, 01:49 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by astrummer
I found the book ( and forum ) preachy as well.....but also very useful...apparenty a fair number of folks expressed that in a way so that these materials received Acoustic Guitar's silver award for instructional materials. Just filter out the preachy stuff....and the photos in the book are of poor quality too. Nonetheless I also recommend it ( keep in mind I'm mostly a humble strummer )

Thanks for your thoughts guys. I suspect I will spend the money despite any reservations i might have. i do learn from the newsletters and i'm in this for the long haul so i want as much advice as i can get on proper techniques. i can't help but notice that people divide into camps on this. one says whatever works. the other insists it must be technically correct to be truly mastered. personally, i'm happy when it sounds good but figure i'll hit a wall eventually if my technique is lacking. anyway, thanks again.
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  #22  
Old 01-12-2005, 01:59 AM
Jeff M Jeff M is offline
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It's not a matter of "mastering" the guitar, it's learning the easiest way to play it. There is a misconception out there that "mastering" the guitar involves pain and tension. Exactly the opposite.
Andreas has a saying in his book I love. Basically, you ever notice how you hear somebody play a wonderful complex sounding piece of music, try to play it yourself, fail, and think "how can they play that?" Well, if that person was trying to play that music the way YOU do they wouldn't be able to play it either, it would be way to hard!

Mapletrees gave a good analogy some time back.
Imagine trying to play linebacker without having put in the hours of practice. The first time you are out there everyting moves so fast you cant tell what to do-where to go. Your play is uncooridinated, you play behind the action, out of the play. As you receive the daily training and practice the skills needed the speed of the game seems to slow down. You can follow the action, get where you need to be much easier.
Same thing with guitar. Sure you can pick it up, learn a song and just start to play-but if you take the time to work on your skills, learning the easiest way to do things you will play MUCH easier and better.
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  #23  
Old 01-12-2005, 07:01 AM
RokketMan RokketMan is offline
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Well Jeff if what you say is true, I'm really going to enjoy playing this instrument. The right way is the easy way...can't say that about too many things in life...
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  #24  
Old 02-07-2005, 01:21 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tds
Jeff, i receive the email newsletters from Guitar Principles and find them interesting. But I often find myself thinking they are sort of "preachy" and I wonder if I really want to tackle a whole book written from that perspective. But I don't see a ton of books out there about HOW to practice and I'm at a point where I think this is part of what I need. Did you -- or anyone else who has used Guitar Principles -- ever have that reaction to Jamie Andreas work?
I agree that the "Principles" book and site feels "preachy". But is it well worth overlooking this feeling and digging into the book and the site. I had to just get over that feeling and get on with it. I hope you do the same.

The Principles is a gold mine of CRITICAL information about HOW to practice/play guitar - not WHAT to play. There is a extremely important core of truth there. Had I been exposed to it when I started playing guitar my skill level would be much much higher now. NO OTHER BOOK IN THE MARKET COMPARES TO JAMIE ANDREAS' BOOK AND THE POTENTIAL BENEFITS TO PLAYERS WHO PUT IT TO ACTUAL USE. My playing has greatly improved in the 2 years that I have been applying (not perfectly) his teachings - some of which is just common sense that I needed to be slapped up-side-of-the-head with.

The Hanson books and all the books mentioned above are great and have their place. But the Andreas book is 10 times more important than any of these IMHO. I have nothing to gain from this strong recommendation. I just want others to avoid the years of problems that I had prior to getting into the Principles. And I have plenty of other materials like Hanson's, etc., but they do not address the REALLY CRITICAL ISSUES like the Principles do. Books telling you WHAT to play are "a dime a dozen". Everyone should own and apply the book telling you HOW to play/practice.
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  #25  
Old 02-07-2005, 06:53 PM
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Are the Principal books available anywhere but online? I'd like to peruse one in a store. Thx!
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  #26  
Old 02-07-2005, 07:21 PM
ovangkol bill ovangkol bill is offline
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It may not be a "beginner's book" per se, but "The Guitar Grimoire" by Adam
Kadmon is an excelllent book to have handy. In my mind it will give you
all of the theory you'll ever probably need. AND, you don't necessarily need
to know how to read notation. It uses a "block "approach to building
chords, scales and modes. Very easy to understand. It can be used as
an adjunct to any other book. Another good one is "The Complete Guitarist"
by Richard Chapman.
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  #27  
Old 02-07-2005, 10:40 PM
Jeff M Jeff M is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by d-red
Are the Principal books available anywhere but online? I'd like to peruse one in a store. Thx!
As far as I can tell, only on line.
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  #28  
Old 02-12-2005, 01:50 PM
Greg Greg is offline
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I've got the Guitar Principles (yes, preachy, but he's onto something), Guitar Grimoire Series (valuable as a resource, but not an instruction book), Fretboard Logic, Tim Gillespie's books (Uncle Tim), The Heavy Guitar Bible, Troy Stetina's Speed Mechanics for Lead Guitar, and the three volume series: Guitar Compendium, co-authored by the late, great Howard Roberts.

There are also some other books I have lying around over the years, like that old Alfred series, some chord books, and there's a Jazz book around here some place.

The most concise diatonic and pentatonic scale system of the lot IMO is contained in Uncle Tim's Building Blocks. Unlike the Grimoire, I can kind of get my head around those. The CAGED system is an interesting method, but not something I absorbed very well. Jamey's book made me aware of a lot of tension that I hold in my body when I play, and he makes many fine points. It's the way that guy pontificates that eventually made me discontinue my subscription to the newsletter. I'm sorry, but arrogant musicians are not very inspiring to me. I've heard he throws a tantrum with his students and charges a fortune for lessons. He seems to think he's a Zen master or something, but I've heard his CD, and it's no understatement to say that there are better players lurking around here. Jamey said that Jerry Willard was a teacher of his. I've met Jerry, who is a nice guy and a brilliant player--I'd rather pay him for lessons. Despite my somewhat negative opinion of him, bravo to Jamey Andreas for taking the step in discussing the fundamentals of how to practice for once.

The other series I've taken an interest in is the Guitar Compendium. There is no "starting point" in that series which is probably the only thing I don't like about it, but on the other hand, if you could master every topic in these books, you probably wouldn't need much of anything else in terms of instructional material. The material is all in standard notation, and since I'm a sucky sight reader, I am forced to go slowly and think about each note. There's really a LOT going on in those books, I only wish they were sorted out better for a numbskull like myself.

Another thing I'm checking out is Beyond Bedroom Guitar. Has anyone looked at this?
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  #29  
Old 07-03-2013, 04:59 PM
Chenpion Chenpion is offline
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Question H'lo.

Thank you for starting this thread and for all the responses to it. I'm a guitar newbie (used to play piano... oh-so-long-ago...) and found the information here very helpful for someone looking to learn acoustic guitar on his own.

I bought Fingerstyle Guitar: Complete Edition by Lou Manzi, Nathaniel Gunod and Steve Eckels along with my guitar before I stumbled across this thread, and based on the recommendations here, I have now bought:

Guitar Principles: The Beginner's Package

Hal Leonard Guitar Method Complete Set w/ CD
The Hal Leonard Acoustic Guitar Method: A Complete Guide with Step-by-Step Lessons and 45 Great Acoustic Songs

Mark Hanson's The Art of Contemporary Travis Picking: How to Play the Alternating Bass Fingerpicking Style (Bk & CD)
The Art of Solo Fingerpicking : How to Play Alternating-Bass Fingerstyle Guitar Solos (book and CD)
Beyond Basics Fingerstyle Guitar (The Ultimate Beginner Series)

Fretboard Logic Box Set Deluxe 3+3

John Petrucci - Rock Discipline - Bk+CD+DVD

Passed on Mel Bay's Mastering the Guitar 1A -- kinda didn't know which one to buy on Amazon...

Same problem with Skeptical Guitarist -- the from Scratch ones or Music Principles?


A couple of books I also picked up that weren't mentioned here were:

Roger Evans' How to Play Guitar: Everything You Need to Know to Play the Guitar

Troy Nelson's Guitar Aerobics: A 52-Week, One-lick-per-day Workout Program for Developing, Improving and Maintaining Guitar Technique


Can't wait for them to arrive! (I got them on Amazon and have to wait quite a while for them to be shipped to Hong Kong). Is there any one in particular I should start on?

Ordinarily, I would go with Hal Leonard Guitar Method Complete Set w/ CD, but that is being shipped to my friend in the U.S. (they wouldn't ship internationally), so I won't get that for a LONG while.
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