Crash Course - Acoustic Guitar

I just got this today and excitedly opened it, eager to learn. I've been playing nearly a year but still need to learn SO much and have yet to find what I'm looking for. Still, I've learned about eight basic chords through the Internet. So how surprised and disappointed I was to find that the very first chords the book introduces are WRONG. What he calls an "E minor" chord is not an E minor chord. What he calls (and diagrams) as a G major chord is not a G major chord. In each case, he shows only one string held down, when, as everyone with a minimal familiarity with guitar playing knows, a G major requires three strings to be held down: 3rd fret 6th string, 2nd fret 5th string, and 3rd fret 1st string respectively. And an E minor requires pressing down the 4th and 5th strings in the 2nd fret.Whereas his diagram shows a G major chord with only the 1st string of the 3rd fret held down. Makes no sense, and is contradicted by every other source I've looked at. Majorly disappointed.Update on 6/17/16: Okay, so I asked my Beginning Guitar teacher last night about these non-chords that the author calls chords, and she recognized it. Apparently they are something that sounds kind of like the real chords and yet are easier for beginners to do, since they only require holding one string down. But in that case, the author should have *explained* that beforehand, rather than calling something a G chord which is manifestly NOT a G chord, ditto with the C chord and the E minor chord. So I've added a star to the book and am going to continue reading it, although, I can see I will have to skip some of the early chord practice, which looks overly simplified for me.

I've now gone through the whole book once and am now doing it for a second time.It really has helped me a lot. It won't turn you into Eric Clapton in 56 days, but it does give you a great foundation to build on. I've picked up most of the basics and learned to read tablature which I'm very pleased with. He doesn't spend much time teaching you to read music but the tablature and the accompanying CD should help you to understand enough to follow the exercises accurately.You'll need a couple of accessories like a tuner and a metronome - or a drum machine - but apart from that this book is pretty much all you need to get you started playing guitar.Well worth the money.

Arrived fast in perfect condition. Will have to follow up to let you know if I ever learn to play guitar. I've started my lessons and find that it's easy to follow, pace is just right for me. I've tried many, many times to learn to play, this is my last attempt, and so far I'm making progress : )

Easy to understand. Pair with practice for best results!

Look at the sample pages on here. Day 1 starts with fingerpicking each string in eight note patterns. The author doesn't explain once about different note values. I know how to read music so it didn't matter to me but I can see how this can confuse music theory beginners. Most of the book revolves around fingerpicking. While fingerpicking is fine, there's more to acoustic guitar than that technique. Also, my major gripe is the author doesn't specify if you are to continue practicing the previous day's exercises once you move on.

Even as a novice or intermediate guitar player, this is a good refresher course. Very easy to follow the theory and concepts put into practice. Great customer service experience!

I found this book entirely too technical and not user friendly. It had some good points, but I would recommend looking at this in a bookstore.

Item arrived on time & as described.

Excellent book arrived when stated and as described.Would suit absolute beginner as deals with first steps frm choosing a guitar and goes through to playing confidently.Good playingKeith

I have musical knowledge and can read music. I understand different rhythms etc. From this point of view there are parts of this book that are too basic for me. This made me a bit impatient at times and skip pages - not a good idea. However, I could not previously play guitar, only keyboard, and so from this point of view the book very good. I have small thick fingers which, despite anything you may be told, are a big disadvantage. However, I am starting to cope with this even those I am having to adapt some of the chord shapes in the book. A decent buy.

Easy to follow and would recommend to anyone wishing to learn the guitar. Will buy one for my grandson when he gets a guitar

This is The Book. All the basics are covered, and the book progresses at a steady pace with short daily excercises. Learn to play in 28 days without feeling like you are being slave driven. CD shows you how each excercise should sound if you get it right.

If you have an acoustic guitar and you're a complete beginer then this is the perfect book... easy to follow, with a helpful CD and motivating. Don't be put off by the cheesy title. I wasn't and have no regrets :)