A Modern Method for Guitar Complete Edition | Volumes 1 2 and 3 in One Book | William Leavitt Berklee Guitar Course for Beginners and Intermediate Players | Essential Guitar Study Guide

I used to play the violin and am now learning the guitar. The style of instruction in Modern Method will be very familiar to those who have studied a classical instrument: gradual introduction of new techniques and musical elements, introduced and reinforced by études ("studies", i.e. technical exercises). The exercises aren't particularly tuneful and the rewards mainly come in learning to play better. Although this book serves as the backbone of a course in guitar, you'll probably want to supplement it with material which is more fun to play (tabs for favorite songs, blues licks, riffs, play-along CDs, whatever). Working through this entire book will require amounts of time and commitment comparable to multiple college courses, so you might as well reward yourself along the way. It is all standard notation (no tab), but it introduces notation progressively, so you needn't already be able to read. Guitar-specific annotations (fingerings, strings, positions, picking) are used, so it's not ambiguous how the pieces are meant to be played. That said, the notation is not busy: the authors annotate a figure when it's introduced, and you're expected to play it without annotation from then on. Since I already knew how to read music, it's hard for me to gauge how difficult it would be to start from scratch with this book. The initial material is beginner-level but I suspect the learning curve is steep if you're simultaneously being introduced to the instrument and to written music. The advantage is that you're learning to be a musician, not just a guitarist. If, however, you're interested in learning a specific genre (blues, rock, metal) which is based on basic chords and/or riffs, this book will definitely not be the shortest route to your destination. There is very little text in Modern Method; it's almost all music. It's pretty clear that this book is meant to be used with a teacher. If you're learning on your own (as I am), you'll need plenty of attention to detail to get the most out of the exercises. The exercises often are meant to instruct you in subtle elements of technique which aren't explicitly stated; for example, it may become clear after looking carefully at a piece that it's designed to be played with very few changes in left hand fingering. If you just play the exercises rather than study them, you'll miss these fine points. It's in these subtleties that the quality of the book really becomes apparent. This kind of detail combined with years worth of material is worth a high rating. One of the other reviewers suggested getting the book coil-bound at a copy shop so it will lie flat. I did this and strongly recommend it; it probably makes this book more convenient than the individual volumes, and it's cheaper overall.

Yeah, it looks cool to know how to play guitar. Or you want to serenade someone with a guitar piece. But what use is that dream if you don't know where to start? Well, guess what? Start with this book. I ordered this book back in April 2011. But due to life commitments, I hadn't picked up the book until a week ago when I got it rebound into spiral binding. This is probably the best book I've picked up in terms of learning guitar and reading standard notation. I wished I picked it up sooner. I regret all that time wasted over 3 years. My background involves piano lessons for 7 years and then quitting lessons and playing off and on for 10 more years after that. I also attended a college guitar class a couple years ago which helped with my beginner guitar skills. Because of the class, I already knew some guitar basics by the time I started using this book. Like many other reviews have stated, this book has no tab whatsoever. I was fine with this concept because I frankly don't like tab. I am used to reading standard notation for many years, so using this book helped me stay in my comfort zone. I know I can't avoid tab forever, because there are some sheet music that I want to play which only comes in tab. This book actually helps to teach technique rather than just learning notes and sightread. I noticed that other reviewers say that there's this "learning curve" once you begin the book. The reason is because you're immediately introduced to strings 1-5 (high E to A) and expected to play these notes along with chords that they throw at you in the first 3 lessons and the first duet. At the same time, this book teaches chord fingering, guitar strumming, and builds finger strength at the beginning. I have a steel-string guitar; it is definitely painful to develop the calluses. As a beginner, it is hard to play for very long. I usually practice for 15 to 30 minutes to 1 hour every day just to get better at guitar. Just a warning for those who want instant gratification, you are definitely NOT meant to rush through this book. I started this book a week ago and I started on page 10 today. I still can't pick the chords perfectly, but I'm very close. (I just get some buzzing on my fretboard because I'm not pressing hard enough.) You are not meant to be stuck at one exercise until you perfect it. If you get the gist of it and can get most of the fingering, strumming, and timing correct, I feel that you can move on. But as the book states, it says to keep reviewing all the exercises as you move on. Which they're totally right about. Playing as much as you can will bring you closer to being a better guitar player. And reviewing and perfecting old exercises become easier in time. That also helps to boost confidence in playing. I'll post an update as I get near the end of volume one of the book. I recommend spiral binding the book. The glue binding is shoddy. With some use, I can expect some pages to just slide out. Do yourself a favor and pay $6 at OfficeMax to get it rebound. It's so much better to read when it's lying flat and not closing on itself. I also recommend playing with a metronome if your timing isn't the best. And if you know someone who has lots of guitar experience and standard notation knowledge, that can help with learning this book too. Overall, I still recommend this book for those are really studious and dedicated to learning how to play guitar. It's a bit dry, but I still enjoy the fact that I'm solidly learning how to play guitar.

If you are familiar with the "old" Modern Method for Guitar, you know that it's old. As in, very old. As in, the old days of typewriters, and mimeographed pages, old. And to this day if you buy MMFG 1, you will see the same off axis formatting, and the scribbled and very crowded layout. But with this new 3 books in one tome, they have cleaned up the formatting. The text is clear, pleasantly spaced easy to read and just as a whole, it's so much better t read. I love MMFG, and I think if you have the personal discipline to do the exercises, and pace yourself, and take the time to absorb the content, it's very hard to beat. But, in the old formats, and typewritten font, it adds just a small reason to scare off all but the most tenacious of students. The new one is gorgeous, and removes some of the barriers to learning. I compared my old pages with the new one, and I actually found some clarity to some previously ambiguous teaching sections. Now for the not great - a book this size would really benefit from spiral binding, for ease of reading on music stands.At over 400 pages in length, it's a bit of a beast. However the binding is liberal and when opened, does a nice job at staying flat even in the earliest pages. This is not a bad thing, but it's important to understand. This book does not cater to you. It does not hold your hand or spoon feed you. You have to be willing to come up to it's level, and not the other way around. It's the kind of book where "I told you once, you should have been paying better attention/once should be sufficient" is the norm. If you need things explained a lot of ways, and made easy, consider using this book in conjunction with a private teacher. Overall, this version is a classic that is so much nicer to go through. That is precisely the reason that I bought it. Improved formatting. It would be great if there were supplemental resources available, such as a CD that plays one part of the duet, while you play the other (for people who are studying this solo). There used to be some, and this series does have some Video CD Instruction out there, but in these modern times, downloadable MP3's and examples would be a welcome sight.

Well, this is the Berklee method and it's everything you would expect from such a renowned music school. The method is serious about musicianship and thorough in that regard. The arrangement and pacing is as good as other methods such as Mel Bay, and a little more gentle than Nick Manoloff, although there is always room for debate on how and in what order the topics are presented. This book (or really, series) is all about making you a true musician who can sight read, transpose, understand keys and intervals, how chords are built, etc. Yes, other methods do this too, but the Berklee method really stresses this. All of the exercises and pieces are original. You won't find recycled, old public domain stuff. That's both good and bad. The downside is that it limits the material available in the book. You'll find yourself seeking supplements. There are perhaps enough exercises, but they tend to the pedantic, and the actual pieces are rather limited in number, especially compared to Mel Bay. Now, when I say pedantic, I don't mean the utter stiff-necked, you're not allowed to have fun approach of someone like Aaron Shearer. But nevertheless the book is far more professorial than collegial. I'd rate the difficulty of the method as harder than Mel Bay and not quite as hard as Nick Manoloff. But that's a generalization, and the big takeaway for me was that the Berklee series isn't very suitable for self-study, whereas the Mel Bay definitely is, and Nick Manoloff is at least in the ballpark. So to come to the bottom line: use this book with a teacher, and only if you're truly interested in being a musician as opposed to a casual player who just wants to do some comping or play a few riffs. Four stars.

I love this book. It is very complex yet easy to follow. It explains most aspects of guitar playing. It makes me much better guitar player than I was before I studied this book.

GET THIS BOOK! I haven't been playing for very long. Up to this point I have my chord transitions down, The bar chords down pretty solid, and had been working through the pentatonic and blues scales but soon just felt kind of confused and lost, not sure how to put it all together or what it really means. This book is where I should have started and basically I am starting completely over it feels like. Its fantastic, probably geared more toward adults. I've been grinding with this book every night for the past 2 weeks so far and already notice a huge difference. The main thing is actually learning how to read music which I didn't think I cared about and was probably a little scared of it but it really helps to know exactly what notes you are playing and standard notation forces you to stay in good time if you use a metronome. Tabs are stupid. Understanding what the actual notes are in a scale instead of just memorizing patterns or fret numbers makes a lot more sense to me and now the chords are making more sense. Also noticed a giant difference in things like skipping strings and the ability to stretch my fingers. Cant wait to get farther along, I am going to buckle down and throw out all of the other BS until I finish this book which might be 2035 it feels like.

After messing around with guitars for years but never getting any good at it, I decided it's time for me to get serious and really learn how to play. This is a great book for me. It doesn't hold your hand at all. It'll briefly describe something and assume you get it, which is how I like it. There are plenty of videos on youtube if I want a more detailed explanation on a certain topic. I can see absolute beginners getting overwhelmed at first but just go at your own pace. One of the things I really like about this book is there is no tab at all. While I'm not against using tabs nor am I some standard music notation snob, I really wanted to get better at learning how to sight read and this book will definitely help you with that since it won't let you cheat. None of the pieces in this book are well known songs and thus you also can't cheat by already knowing the melody. I do, however, recommend that you have a basic understanding of how to read music before diving into this book. You don't have to be good at it but it will help to know the basics before hand. Another thing I really like are how the duets are written. Lots of music books have a student part and a teacher part where the latter is quite a bit harder. In this book, both parts are designed to be played by a student. What I do is hook up my guitar to my iPad (via an iRig HD 2) and use GarageBand to record myself playing one of the parts and then I play the other part on top of it. Doing this has never been easier and I recommend getting some sort of audio interface and hooking up your guitar to your PC/Mac/iPad/etc. It also makes it more fun to practice. I suggest you supplement this book with a music theory resource (there are plenty of videos on youtube that go into detail) and also stuff that's fun to play. Unless you're very serious, you'll probably get bored by only playing stuff out of this book. Pick your favorite songs and try to learn them as well. That'll break up your practice sessions and keep it interesting.

Beautiful book, I have had this in my possession for the last 6 years (I am 25) and have stopped studying it for around 4 years. I made it to the end of volume 1, but I recently picked it up and am studying it fairly intensely again. Studying this book has a refining effect on me, it's like a breath of fresh air. I feel like I am studying the way a real musician is supposed to study sight reading and music. There is an hard initial learning curve that one needs to get past. It will probably take 3-6 months of constant practice and study to sight read with ease in the first position of the guitar. Then the book takes you into sight reading in positions higher on the neck. This book takes a lot of commitment but if you want good technique and great sight reading ability (which will set you apart from most other guitarist) this is the book to study. In addition, the pieces are harmonically and melodically beautiful. The sounds of the pieces have a kind of early twentieth century pop sound but mixed with a certain amount of classicism. For the duets (if you don't have a study partner) I recommend recording the first line and then playing it back while playing the second line to it. I do this using garage band and its really satisfying to hear how the lines mix and complement each other. It fun! Also use a metronome when studying this book. Highly recommended. Good LUCK!

I read music decades ago, originally playing the piano, but had lost most of what I had learned. I dropped piano and picked up the guitar (self taught) but never read music notation again. Instead I played using tablature or by ear. In the last couple of years though, I've been consolidating my guitar music knowledge and improving my playing, mainly through online videos and books that I've purchased. About a month ago I decided it was time to regain what I lost years ago. I don't think this book is for absolute beginners, and I don't consider this to be a 'learn how to play guitar' book. Also, this is not a book you read while sitting in a chair or lying back. This is not a book you 'read' ... it's a book you 'do' ... with your guitar in your hands. If you know how to play guitar at least at a beginner to intermediate level, and want to learn how to play guitar to music notation (sheet music), this is your book. I'm only about 25 pages into this book but there is no question that by following each page and doing each exercise to at least an 80% proficiency, I will read music notation fluently before long. It's surprising how much I've learned already but I expect to spend 12 - 18 months to finish this comprehensive book. The fun is in the journey as much or more than the destination.

Libro excelente con muy buena encuadernación.

Completo método de guitarra. Trabajo para años.

The quality of the book is really good. I have used this book for 2 months straight. Progress is slow since there are lots of pages to cover, and it can get slightly overwhelming! Stay motivated and learn everyday! I put on the metronome and practice for atleast 15min with this book. This book will really help you understand sight reading, if that's what you are going for!

コンプリート版一冊で基本から学べる。初心者から中級者の時しっかり熟読、プレイすれば後が楽。トータルスキル知識を伸ばすならコンプリート版がいい。お金に余裕がありインストラクターが必要なら、DVD付きがよさそう。