Hal Leonard Guitar Method, Complete Edition: Books & CD's 1, 2 and 3

I chose this book because I hadn't picked up a guitar in years, and I had never known more than how to play a few chords. This book takes you through how to read music and play the guitar right from the beginning, but it's also a wonderful review for those who already have some experience. It's very clearly written and easy to use for those who want to teach themselves to play. I highly recommend it.

I bought 25 copies of this book for use in a high school guitar class, and it's going very well. Basically, I needed something to engage the students so I can go from person to person and give individual lessons during class time, and I've found appropriately challenging material for every student. Some of the more advanced kids are doing two lessons at once (stuff later in the book for a technical challenge, and earlier in the book to work on reading), and that's working well too. The CD's are a nice addition, and kids have brought in their own personal CD players to practice with headphones. It would be cool if those files were available as mp3s or mp4s for ipods...

I'm not sure how well this book would work without an experienced musician to guide the reader. There are just too many things that need to be correctly interpreted, but that's not the book, it's the nature of the "music method book" in general. I plan to buy more of these next fall for sure!

Been wrestling with the guitar (acoustic & electric) for longer than I want to admit (like the saying goes, it's an easy instrument to play---badly!) but I have fun so what the hey. Anyway, along the way I've amassed a variety of guitar books/dvd's; IMHO this is probably one of the best method books and a good place to start. I like the structure of the lessons, how they progress and how they build on each other. It encourages basic sight reading (there's no tab). For the most part, I liked the varied selection of songs used. The availability of the DVD makes for an OK supplement. Maybe add in Alfred's Basic Guitar Method - Complete, then supplement them with something like Teach Yourself Visually Guitar, a Dummies book, or the Alfred's Teach Yourself to Play Guitar cd-rom. Or, if you like the Beatles, throw in Hal Leonard's From Liverpool to Abbey Road-A Beginning Guitar Method, and there's plenty to work with and maintain interest, but best of all, to have fun with!

I have no musical background at all and decided to teach myself to play the guitar. This book is excellent and very easy to use. I am on string 4 after only a few weeks of play! I like how it teaches you each string and I love the CDs to play to. I am very pleased with this product!

I was reluctant to try learning guitar from a book, as opposed to from an instructor. Music does not come easily to me, but this book has been perfect so far. It's clearly written and I'm having a lot of fun with it.