The Complete Guitar Player

What more is there to say. Book was new, promptly delivered, and prices was as agreed.

In early 2006 I retooled my guitar class at Troy University department of music part of which was changing my class text from Frederick Noad "First Book for the Guitar" to The Complete Guitar Player Books 1, 2 & 3 Omnibus Edition (Complete Guitar Player) by Russ Shipton. This transition was a success; my students love this book and perspective it brings to the class. I still think the world of the Noad series of books however students have changed, and "The Complete Guitar player books have captured their imagination. Andy Williamson

If your impatient to learn like me, this book is perfect because it's quite easy to flip back and forth. It also jumps into bass-strumming and figure-picking early, which makes the guitar sound more awesome than straight strummed chords, but with not much more difficulty. Reason for not getting 5 stars are (1) songs are not fully anotated with chords to save space. (2) On accompaning CD, you can bearly hear guitar above background music.

The reason this book is so good is it gets the beginner playing songs on the first page. This makes practicing fun and interesting, rewarding beginners right away. And by the end of the short book, you learn several different styles of strumming, alternating bass runs, and arpeggio. All of which are immediately used and practiced in various songs. Songs are from artists like Dylan, Donovan, Simon & Garfunkel, John Denver, and others.