The Most Popular Method for Learning How to Play (Alfred's Basic Guitar Library)

I have enjoyed using this method for learning guitar. It would be best to have a teacher, however I don't have the schedule to allow learning at a set time. With Alfred's books I have been able to slowly but surely progress on my own.

It seems to progress in a very methodical way from one string, two fingers, onto the next string and eventually all fingers. So the student can work up those callouses and build the finger strength gradually. I'm not sure I like how the theory is presented, and so I use a separate book for the music theory. That's why I gave it 4 instead of 5 stars.

Wanted to return this CD, but received this from SELLER: "Return the item in new, unopened condition to us for a refund of your purchase price:". How did I know the CD WAS NOT A PRODUCT THAT I COULD USE unless I opened it! DUH!!!!! I truly was looking forward to some good instructions. I would give this CD a ZERO and I will look elsewhere. When I put the CD in my computer - looking forward to some expert advice - CD would not play properly; video could not be seen. I followed "minimal" instructions on CD, but to no avail. I tried for quite some time! In my opinion, the CD itself is inferior. (Material could have been good, but without playing it in my up-to-date computer, I will never know). SELLER can keep the money I spent.

I purchased this believing that it included links to the audio and video portions of this material. It does not!!!! I had to purchase the hard copy of this book to acquire this additional material. I feel totally Ripped of for the cost of this ebook.

https://www.the store.com/Alfreds-Method-Complete-Revised-Library-ebook/dp/B003HGQK9Y/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
https://www.the store.com/Alfreds-Basic-Guitar-Method-Complete/dp/1470631407/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

I bought the kindle version for convenience sake. But the images in the kindle version were so blur that I feel being cheated. It is below the usual expectation. Finally, I have to buy again a printed version.

Follow this Method! "Alfred's Basic Guitar Method" is a system to make you a real musician. Its' exercises, music and theory leads you naturally and comfortably to deeper levels of musicianship and enjoyment. That must be why this book has been so popular for over 50 years. It has also been updated to include more current tunes.

Want to teach yourself? This Method combines physical and mental exercises with the enjoyment of music-making as the goal:
Physically: It begins with illustrations of good guitar-playing posture, seated and standing. Also shown are correct hand and finger shapes and arm positions. The exercises are comfortably paced making learning enjoyable. You locate notes, one-at-a-time on one string-at-a-time while the hands and fingers are gradually strengthened and made flexible. Soon you will be using finger positions or "pattern shapes" on the fret board to build chords as the strings are learned. Your "mini-athlete" hand and finger muscles are gradually strengthened and flexed for stamina, agility and building "muscle memory."

Mentally: Standard music notation, dynamics (tempo, rhythm, loudness, etc.) and theory are taught in the book. These subjects are revealed and explained as you progress through the exercises. The same is true of chord-building as notes on the various strings are learned and played together. Without realizing it, music understanding and techniques are progressively learned by completing the exercises and playing the enjoyable tunes. Oh, by the way, the material is presented very clearly with lots of "white space" so it's easy to overlook very important information. Be sure to really study each page and not just the exercise before moving on. Suddenly you are reading and understanding music!

A word about chords. Many people start by learning full guitar chords by rote. To a beginner they are painful and awkward finger patterns on the fretboard, without gaining a real understanding of the note relationships. Also, many guitar books separate the teaching of standard notation from teaching chords. As you can see from what has been said above, this Method presents a more gradual and integrated system. Muscles are allowed to adapt and the mind to "see" the logic in the note arrangements.

You may also want to check out the three-books-in-one with CD of this series.

No CD, no activation code printed in the inside cover.
Each music has it's audio track number printed, but there is no way to get download it from alfred.com.
Waste of time and money. I am looking for other method.
Better buy the book and CD at Barnes where you can check that the package is complete.

I bought this book recommendation of my daughter's guitar teacher. She is starting her fourth year of private guitar lessons (she's 11) and has gone through the three youth manuals that were available. We got this one just before she left for summer vacation so she'd have something new to work on before she came back to lessons in the fall. Working through it on her own was definitely a challenge for her (she had difficulties playing with the CD, mainly because she couldn't keep up and she was confused since some tracks have multiple parts being played and she didn't realize she was only supposed to be playing one of them - she did not have a chance to see her teacher for any instruction after the book arrived) but she made great progress with it on her own during the summer. Upon her return, her teacher explained to her how to use the book along with the CD and she's made great progress. It has helped her work on all facets of her playing - chords, rhythm, scales, melody, etc.

I first learned to play guitar through tabs, but then wanted to learn how to read music. This book teaches you how to read music and gives diagrams to locate the notes on the guitar neck. The book progresses at a good rate without becoming unmanageable or too advanced for the learner. It even includes a cd the learner can listen to in order to hear the correct sound of each practice piece. I think this book was an excellent choice and makes learning much easier compared to learning off the internet.