The 9 Best Guitar Method Books (2023 reviews)

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Best Overall: Buy: Will Schmid Guitar Method Book READ REVIEW

Best For string: Buy: Christopher Parkening Guitar Method Book READ REVIEW

Best For New Guitar player kids: Buy: Mel Bay Guitar Method Book READ REVIEW

Best For kids: Buy: Will Schmid Great Book READ REVIEW

Best For modern Guitar: Buy: William Leavitt Guitar Method READ REVIEW

Best For self Teaching: Buy: Guitar head Guitar Method Book READ REVIEW

Best For Learning rhythms: Buy: William Leavitt Guitar Method Book READ REVIEW

Best For Piano: Buy: Chad Johnson Guitar Method Book READ REVIEW

Best For Beginner lead guitarists: Buy: Michael Mueller Guitar Method Book READ REVIEW

Best Overall: Will Schmid Guitar Method Book

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Will Schmid line of book come in a pretty wide variety of styles, so you can definitely find one that suits your individual preferences and needs. It's a great book for beginners, teaching the strings and how to hold your guitar and pick, and then progressing slowly through notes on the various strings. It's fantastic, if you practice each song and name the notes as you play and play from memory you remember the notes and finger positions and much more, it's an open window to the musical world.

If you wanna actually learn about music theory, sight reading, and what you are actually doing this is a great book. It can teach on a more basic level. It's very easy to transition techniques in the book to a classical, electric, or acoustic guitar. It's perfect for new or intermediate players who want to learn to read music. The pages are laid out in good order with new skills presented then a page of two of reinforcing exercises. It will not make you a rock/country or christian recording artist overnight, it will give you a firm foundation for reading notes and learning the strings.

• Easily accessible for new guitar students
• Plenty of exercises to compliment you in person lessons
• Geared for older kids or adults

Best For string: Christopher Parkening Guitar Method Book

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The christopher parkening guitar method book is the best reliable book on the market today. There are a great many instruction books for beginning guitar players. This allows you to learn the right moves for both left and right hand. It is not a "quicky" method, but contains instruction in reading music, as well as graphic depictions of some playing techniques utilizing the fingers and fingernails. The studies are legitimate "music" that the student will "feel" when playing them, not childish melodies that would squash any normal student's desire to learn more.

These are to show the student which finger to put on the string. It also shows you the proper positioning and posture that should be used while playing. The book is a great place to start sight reading. It is so logical in it's presentation and progression, and everything is very musical.

• Excellent method among many excellent methods
• Parkening eases you in to very slowly
• Adds a fluidity to playing other styles, whether playing rock, blues, or country

Best For New Guitar player kids: Mel Bay Guitar Method Book

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The mel bay guitar method book should be able to handle its purpose and duties with ease. The Mel Bay advanced volumes have some great studies and can keep students busy for years. It covers a lot of material. If you are patient and willing to take your time this is the book for you. It is easy to follow that it takes the place of an instructor for basic guitar. It is a great book if you are learning guitar for the first time. It is easy to follow and there are videos in youtube to compliment the book and it's very helpful.

• Very basic and easy to follow
• Strumming techniques, holding the pick, holding the guitar with less muscle tension
• Good investment for long term

Best For kids: Will Schmid Great Book

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Best part: will schmid great book costs comparatively low and it is available to ship in 24 hours. It is the recommended guitar book from the music school. It is based on years of teaching guitar students of all ages, and reflects some of the best teaching ideas from around the world. It opens all the way and lays flat. It also has a code at the front that lets you access mp3 files to play along with the songs included.

It is easy to follow with what feels like a nice pace. It will get them up to primary speed easily. There is no shortcut, no play in 5 minutes. It is used for auditions or recitals.

• Must have book for beginners to learn how to read sheet music
• Several play-along songs that can be used for auditions or recitals
• Different key signatures, strum patterns, and tablature
• Contains all three books and cheaper than buying three separately

Best For modern Guitar: William Leavitt Guitar Method

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The william leavitt guitar method is suitable and reliable and fits well with your regular usage. A Modern Method for Guitar" takes a music-only approach to teaching guitar. It's not easy to learn the shape of the scale when every single scale exercise throws in a few accidental notes to keep you on your toes. This 3 in 1 volume of the Berklee series by William Leavitt is the most comprehenisive and definitive method for guitar ever written. While it is obviously geared toward driving home certain skills and concepts, many of the tunes are quite pleasant and fun to play with others on their own merit.

This book actually helps to teach technique rather than just learning notes and sightread. It is not easy to learn the shape of the scale when every single scale exercise throws in a few accidental notes to keep you on your toes. If you want to learn music theory and sight reading, this is your book. A Modern Method for Guitar is a method book you will go back to again and again even after you work through all three volumes. This text is light on modern techniques like pinch harmonics, tapping, and advanced tremolo.

• Great book for reading, building chords and scales
• Structured and comprehensive, designed for student/teacher learning
• Good investment for long term

Best For self Teaching: Guitar head Guitar Method Book

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Not everyone likes to purchase book for their regular usage, but the guitar head guitar method book would be an anomoly. Cheaper than a pack of strings, this book will give you a solid start to your journey to being a true guitarist. It is great for self teaching. The lengthy process of learning chords, scales, and boring exercises takes away from the enthusiasm and energy you had in the beginning. It is very detailed and dabbled into the principal of music.

This is one of the best books for beginners to purchase to learn to play the guitar. It is such a step by step approach and you feel accomplished from day to day. The unique system outlined in this book will keep you motivated by giving you quick results from the start.

• Very good quality and good instruxrions
• Great books of exercises no matter how good you are
• Lot of satisfied buyers

Best For Learning rhythms: William Leavitt Guitar Method Book

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This is one of the only books you need to learn to read real world guitar literature, jazz, classical and anything else really. This book has things to offer for players of all levels. It will help your sight reading skills but if that's all your interested in, you've only brushed on the book's potential. They are great for buildingtechnique on the guitar. They are also good for anyone who wants to explore different rhythms for the guitar.

The melodies in this book may not be the most engaging and entertaining things that you will play, but it does work. A subtle change in rest or note length will throw you if you're not paying attention and this book will keep you on your toes.

• Great intermediate and starter note reading book
• Really will help the intermediate student with sight reading rhythms
• One of the new comers and featured product

Best For Piano: Chad Johnson Guitar Method Book

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Best part: chad johnson guitar method book costs comparatively low and it is available to ship in 24 hours. This is a great book for people who want to develop fingerstyle technique. It shows step by step the transformation of a thin melody line into a rich sounding song. This way you don't just have to read or memorize a song, you can figure out how to apply fingerstyle to any song. The thumb runs the 3 lower strings to set the chord base note and to keep the rhythm while the fingers play the 3 upper strings for the melody.

This book has some great lessons and with access to the songs online, it makes it even better. They also have songs and partial song exercises like Yesterday, Fire and Rain, Dust in the Wind, etc. It is written in music notation and tab.

• Solid instruction in making fingerpicking arrangements
• Takes practice and patience and sore fingers but keep at it
• Good techniques and solid suggestions and hints

Best For Beginner lead guitarists: Michael Mueller Guitar Method Book

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If you want nothing but the best desirable book, then michael mueller guitar method book is the one you should definitely consider, as it manages to bring a lot to the table. A lot of the tracks start out with guitar intros and there is no way to catch the first beat. It is good for beginner lead guitarists. The lead vocal parts are played by saxophone, which is kind of offputting at first but serves the purpose of keeping your place in the song. The size is easy enough "to read and learn", but increasing the font would make it a little easier to glance at while playing.

The CD is helpful to play along with and challenges you to keep the tempo up. It is easy to follow and fairly straightforward. It would also be a good idea for there to be demos online for all the riffs that are tabbed out in this book. It is great for self teaching, but the online audio is essential.

• New and hot release
• Good brand reputation