Jerry Snyder's Guitar School, Method Book, Bk 1: A Comprehensive Method for Class and Individual Instruction, Book & CD

I've been teaching private guitar and group lessons using Jerry Snyder's books since 1974. "Guitar School" is his main guitar method book these days. This book is divided into two sections, with the front half devoted to learning chords and various strum and picking patterns and the back half is devoted to learning single notes using standard music notation. Snyder now tosses in a bit of TAB, which is helpful since so many songs are learned on the Internet via TAB. What I appreciate about his approach is that he introduces the student to various styles of guitar playing, using either (or both) picks or fingerstyle. The styles include folk, rock, jazz and classical. Since some of the songs in this book are a bit dated, I always supplement my lessons with additional songs from other sources to keep the students interested. I always stress to my students that learning standard notation is important if one wants to have a career in music. One of my former students worked as a studio musician in L.A. for a few years and I know that his ability to read notation made a big difference. I've used this book with students down to the 3rd and 4th grade. I used the previous edition of this book in guitar classes with both adults and elementary students. It works at all levels.

I'm using this book to teach a student how to play the guitar. I love the CD.

My son just switched to a new guitar teacher. The teacher uses this book to teach theory and beginning notation. It has made a huge difference in his understanding of music and he is enjoying playing the short drills. Great foundational start for guitarists.

I have used this book to teach guitar in both group and private settings, and found it to be very comprehensive for beginners. I appreciate the fact that it presents a variety of styles while allowing students the repetition needed to actually read music notation. Be sure to check out the companion Teacher's Guide w/ CD, where you'll find reproducible theory worksheets and tests as well as additional song sheets, fingerstyle/classical tablature, and some scales (pentatonic) and improvisation sheets.

this book is great my husband is using the book in collage taking a guitar class and learning to read music he has been playing for 30 years by ear and now this book is teaching him to read music the book is super thank you.............