Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This book contains many gaps in teaching the basics, thus could even be a setback to beginners. Its author is strong on encouragement, but unrealistic about the basics of performance. Seeing the great number of positive reviews on Amazon for this book, I ordered it, and hoped to pick up some pointers, but unfortunately, I was incorrect. One apparent reason for the many positive reviews and the author's claim it is the "#1 Amazon bestseller" (quite unlikely since it's been available only for a few months and is gotten mainly through mail, not at music stores) is his frequent pleading to the reader---SIX times through the book's pages---to click on the website given to email positive reviews for posting on Amazon. But to the specific problems in the book's content: 1. The book's exercises are all drill, with nary a single song given to practice them. One learns guitar techniques and learns to enjoy the guitar mainly by playing songs. This is a serious flaw. 2. He omits many basics, the exclusion of which can get beginners practicing incorrectly, leading to even more difficulty in unlearning those errors later, e.g., chord changing, the kinds of strings and how to put them on, etc. The book purportedly is for both acoustic and electric guitarists, but he says virtually nothing about the latter, for instance, the use of power chords. On the other hand, he will sometimes go into excessive complexity for beginners to sort through, e.g., listing dozens of fingerpicking patterns, rather than giving a few most useful and versatile ones. 3. He develops unrealistic expectations about practice and proficiency. Note the book's subtitle: "How anyone can quickly become a strumming, chords, and lead guitar ninja." That definitely won't happen with the partial skills imparted here. In dozens of pages, Andreas repeatedly states that the quantity of practice is much more important than innate talent. This advice will bring relief to many unconfident students of the guitar. But missing is practical advice on HOW to practice, for instance, practicing regularly every day, if only for 10 minutes, playing a piece very slowly, not up to tempo, until you can play it error-free. 4. The book is oddly organized, ending in not an index, but a plea for "A Cause Close to My Heart"---animal welfare! This self-published book desperately needed a good editor. There are many superior guitar instructional books out there. One I've especially liked and learned from is The Complete Guitar Player, by Russ Shipton, which includes accompanying CDs.