• Great for Learning to read notes

  
  As reviewed by J.S. on 2/21/2009

  I really like that the book comes with a cd and a dvd. they are both really helpful. I already knew how to read music before I used this book, so all I was really learning was where the notes were on the guitar and how to move my hand. The book was extremely helpful and EASY TO FOLLOW!!

  13 of 16 people found this review helpful.
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• Great teaching tool - get a student reading in open position

  
  As reviewed by Jake on 4/16/2009

  I am a private guitar teacher and I had been using the Leavitt series for a few years, but I'm now a convert to the Mel Bay books. This book is organized very well - it starts by showing the notes on the high E string then gives very simple example melodies using just those notes, then goes on to include the B string for a few pages, then the G string, etc, until the whole open position on the guitar is covered. I think this is more practical than the Leavitt book, which starts with a group of four notes on the G and B strings. This is much more difficult for somebody who has only been playing guitar for a few weeks! The book is almost idiot-proof in the instruction it gives. For example, whenever a new note is introduced there are several diagrams and instructions indicating how to play that note. I use this book with my students to get them reading and to get a foundation for the technique required to play melodies. I have a seperate curriculum for chord switching and strumming, and I don't work out of this book for those topics. I understand there are other brands of this style of beginning guitar book - so far I'm only familiar with Leavitt, Mel Bay, and the Fender/Hal Leanard books. Out of those three, I like the Mel Bay the best, and if you're a teacher who is teaching your students how to read notation but you do not use a book yet, I'd highly recommend this book.

  12 of 13 people found this review helpful.
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