Guitar

Want to learn guitar from a book? There are plenty of slimmer guides on the market - but none with the depth and detail of Moran Illustrated Guitar, which packs in color illustrations of techniques. From playing different kinds of chords to power rock, single notes, slides, string muting and much more, Moran Illustrated Guitar packs in the step-by-step close-up color photos so it's hard to go wrong. An outstanding instructional which stands apart from similar-sounding guitar 'how-to' guides.

This book I would extremely, highly recommended for beginners and I mean it. Sure I might be just a kid but trust me I have this book and I know a good book when I see one. Its more likely to keep you occupied since it in color and it shows you pictures of everything so you can see and understand the things it tells you to do. This book tells the history, parts, basic concepts, how to hold, fretting, picking, tuning, how to practice on, how to play a guitar for all acoustic, classical, and electric types of guitars. It shows you practicing techniques and doesn't just say to do things you don't understand. Teaches you to play different chords (barre chords and power chords), strumming patterns, single notes, and suggests songs for practice. Teaches you to read tablature(sheet music for guitars), chord diagrams, guitar symbols. Teaches different types of music rock, blues, folk, country, and classical guitar. Great thing about it is you should buy this book before purchasing a guitar because it gives you a lot of tips on which type of guitar you want to purchase. Explains "all" the care and maintainace required in a guitar and "all" its accessories. Mentions home recording for people who are starting to make bands, CDs or stuff. It has suggestions for reference material as well if you can't find the information you want. I don't think I disliked this book at all. For all the tiny details they might of not included I would look at the reference material for that. They don't specifically talk about certain guitars but more in general. (...)

Maran Graphics has once again come out with a book that absolutely rocks... Maran Illustrated Guitar. Content: Guitar Basics; Getting Ready To Play; Reading Music; Playing Basic Chords; Playing Barre Chords And Power Chords; Playing Single Notes; Articulation Techniques; Playing Rock Guitar; Playing The Blues; Playing Folk And Country Music; Playing Classical Guitar; Buying A Guitar; Guitar Accessories; Guitar Care And Maintenance; Home Recording; Quick Reference; Index As with all other Maran Illustrated books, they've done an excellent job combining clear photos and instructive illustrations to guide you during the learning process. They even use multiple exposure photos with "ghosting" to show fingering sequences so that you can tell what movement should be combined with finger positioning. Very nicely done. In addition to just showing you how to play, they also cover the history of guitars and the masters of the instrument. It ends up giving you an appreciation for the instrument that you don't normally see in a "how to play" book. I like how they go beyond mere mechanics to show you how to care for your instrument, from stringing to cleaning to transportation. Basically, this covers the entire spectrum of the subject. I've often wanted to learn to play the guitar. My wife plays and one of my sons play. I can't say that I have a lot of time to learn it right now, but at least I now have the main tool I need to help me get there when I'm ready. Excellent book, and highly recommended if you want to learn to play...

Back in high school (a LONG time ago) I dabbled in guitar, but haven't touched one in decades. I've been seriously thinking about taking up this instrument again when, lo and behold, a review copy of "Maran's Illustrated Guitar" showed up in my mailbox -- probably because I've reviewed other books with creative graphics layouts. It certainly wasn't because of any expertise on the guitar! But God works in strange ways, they say... This book is absolutely the best beginner's guide I've seen, and the one I'm actually using to learn the guitar. It covers everything from the history of the guitar, famous guitarists, types of guitars (classical, acoustic, electric), how to buy, clean, repair, change strings, perform adjustments and maintenance -- and of course, how to play it. Not only does this book have the usual chord charts, it has actual photos showing how to place the fingers on the frets. And it doesn't just cover basic chords. It also includes a section on reading music and playing single notes -- something I did not find in other beginner's books. After learning the basics, you can turn to specific chapters for pointers on Rock, Blues, Country, Folk, or Classical guitar, with different picking and strumming styles clearly explained. (For each section, the model holding the guitar is dressed appropriately for the genre -- a nice touch!) There is also a chapter on amplifers and other equipment for electric guitar players, and a section on setting up a home recording studio. One of the best things I learned is that there are now electronic tuners for guitars (and most other instruments) -- something that did not exist in my high school days. I immediately bought one. As with everything else in this book, there was a clear description of the types of tuners, the pros and cons of each, etc., complete with photos. The graphical layout is very well done and pleasing to the eye. The photos are interspersed with the text to get away from the boring "Gutenberg box" effect. Another plus is that the binding is flexible enough for the book to lay flat while playing -- a major convenience when both of your hands are busy holding the guitar. In short, this is a beautiful book and a pleasure to use. Highly recommended!

In this book, they have applied their well developed graphical style to playing the guitar. For this book they brought in a technical consultant, Tim Martin, the head of the Guitar Department of the Merriam School of Music. Also they worked with Christian Kennerney who runs a music shop selling top brands of Guitars. As always from Maran, the book is profusely illustrated with very high quality color photographs as well as graphics created specially for this book. Every aspect is covered from the history of the guitar to recording and mixing, even to repairing the Guitar. Unusual in a book on playing an instrument is the chapter on how to read music. This is not a generalized how to read music description, but is written specifically on how to read Guitar music. To go along with the book, there is a specialized web site that contains the MP3 files you will be taught. That way you get an example of the way that your playing should sound. This book is intended for beginners, and is the most complete introduction I've seen. This combined with the maran graphical treatment makes this an excellent way to start.