(Part 3) Reddit mentions: The best guitar books

Congrats on picking the less standard classical guitar! Not sure what your ambitions are, but being good at one style of guitar really translates well into others if you ever decide to try them out.

Anyways, Yamaha does have some good budget guitars(I started on and still use my c40 a lot), but at your price range if you're not shy of a different brand I can't recommend a Cordoba C5 enough. It has the option of having an amp input with cutaway, or just a true classical at nearly the same price point. You can find one used at around $250 pretty easily.

In either case, you should try to get a listen of what the guitars you're considering sound like in person before buying one. If you know someone that plays classical, ask them if they'd be willing to demo a few guitars at guitar center or your local music store for you so you can hear the difference and make a better decision. Even if you don't, you can still ask the employees at a store if they have someone on staff that plays classical well enough to demo it for you since you're a beginner and most places would be happy to do so for you. If none of the floor staff can do this, don't be afraid to ask the lessons center if any of their instructors could help you out with this too.

As far as guitar tutorial books go, you can get pretty far by going through the first Aaron Shearer technique book and following it up with the 60 short pieces by Sor(1-38 in vol1, 39-60 in vol2). That said, it is really beneficial and totally worth the money to get a qualified instructor for classical guitar, and you should use the materials they recommend if you go that route since that's how they build their curriculum. You can find more information on the different learning methods over at /r/classicalguitar too, including a link to a forum in the sidebar that has a free online course that is ongoing, hosted by a very qualified instructor and a community that is very open toward players of all caliber.

Good luck and hope you find what you're looking for through guitar :)

>Should I learn to read music the proper way or can I just use tabs?

Tabs are fine. I don't think reading music is absolutely necessary, but you should still study the basics of theory and how it applies to the fretboard. I would highly recommend this book.

JustinGuitar is free and also great, but I would still recommend getting a book you can keep in your guitar case and have the core stuff all in one place without having to click through a maze of youtube videos.

>How do I train my fat fingers to not press other strings while playing chords?

Practice. Training your fingers to hook around the neck is hard at first, but you will make fast progress with steady repetition, same as you would when training any muscle group, be it for sports, body building, etc. In time, your fingers will become stronger and more dexterous.

What part of the fret you place your finger makes a difference too. Too far back requires more pressure to sound a clean note. You shouldn't have to squeeze till it hurts to make a clean sound, but your hands will definitely be sore from practice when you first start building up those muscles.

This has a pretty good explanation of what you should be striving for.


> What songs should I start playing that are around my skill level.

Learning songs through tabs is fun and a good way to stay interested, but it is not necessarily the best way to practice, because you're not getting a complete "workout" by focusing on just one song. With that in mind, you should be able to quickly pick up the rhythm parts of most AC/DC or Black Sabbath songs. Judging by your interest in Metallica, they should both be right up your alley. With Sabbath, you have to be mindful of the tunings, as a lot of their songs are tuned down (i.e. not in standard E tuning).


I can't stress enough how you should not limit yourself to just rote memorization of your favorite songs. The sooner you start incorporating theory, scales, chord progressions, arpeggios, etc into your everyday practice routine the better. That stuff might not be as fun as getting the opening solo to One just right, but if you put the time in to get the fundamentals down across the whole fretboard, you'll learn songs much quicker too. You'll recognize just after a couple of bars of whatever solo you're learning which scale you're in and you'll magically just know how to play the rest of it without even looking at the page, because you've practiced your pentatonics, you already know how the tune goes in your head, and your fingers remember how to get there.

> Do you use your thumb for picking?

Nope. Can't say that I know any classical guitarists that use thumb picks. Even those that played classical guitar second to plectrum steel string generally went without. I occasionally use a thumb pick but it's when playing other styles and always on a steel string guitar.

>How often do you fix your nails? Any particular shape?

This can be a bit individual but the most common accepted shaping can be seen in the link below.

https://www.thisisclassicalguitar.com/fingernails-on-classical-guitar/

>I'm a total noob when it comes to partiture reading, do you think I should learn or I can do fine with tabs?

If you want to study classical guitar at all seriously, you should learn to read music (which is what I assume you mean, partiture is reading different parts on multiple staves).

You can certainly learn well enough with tabs at the start but tabs rarely contain the depth of information sheet music will contain such as fingering, stroke type, dynamics, etc.

>Could you recommend some specific songs/pieces for improving my fingerstyle (considering that my left hand skills are not a problem)

Giulliani's 120 right handed studies + lots of scales work. You'll feel like a boss in no time.

http://www.classicalguitar.org/freemusic/exercises/Giuliani120.pdf

​

I would also recommend this book. They are included. Great technique book and includes these in a modified order in the back that makes a bit more sense.

https://www.amazon.com/Pumping-Nylon-Complete-Classical-Guitarists/dp/0739071580

>I'm mostly interested in playing flamenco, could you suggest some increasingly harder songs, for some orientation.

Sorry never played a whole lot of flamenco.

>Right now I'm playing on a cheap steel string guitar. I hope to buy a nylon guitar on the next month. I'm not sure if I should get a flamenco or a classical guitar, I would like to get a flamenco guitar but most of them are out of my budget (no more than 400 U$D). Is there a big difference between the flamenco and the classical guitar? I mean, is it worth it?

They are very similar with subtle differences mainly in construction, woods used, and set up. The biggest thing things that I often notice are that classical guitars have higher string action, better (imo) tones on the high end and better sustain (flamenco have lower strings for faster action). Flamenco guitars tend to pack more punch/be more percussive (so as to be heard in the midst of a group w/ dancers etc).

​

Hope this helps a bit.

​

work through the original Aaron Shearer books (I linked book 1, there are 3, you should at least go through the first two and maybe some of the supplemental ones) . If your classical technique is decent then you will breeze through them pretty quickly but you might pick up a few subtle things like playing rest-stroke with your thumb at the same time as free-stroke with your fingers and vice-versa. Once you are good there there are two books you should buy: Pumping Nylon for the various exercises it has. They are very good if you play them regularly. Then buy The Library of Guitar Classics. It is a big spiral bound book of repertoire that looks like a lot of those piano-rep books. It has music ranging from easy to very hard and from the renaissance period all the way through the romantic era with pieces by Tarrega and Albeniz. There is a lot of really good rep in there. There is also a second volume of the book that is almost as good. When it comes to more modern music buy the Villa-Lobos book and work through some of that stuff. It is a great book that was edited by - if I remember correctly - Frederick Noad. There are also some really good books with the complete Bach cello/lute suites (although some of that can be found in the books I already mentioned).

If you REALLY want to kick your ass, see if you can dig up a copy of the Abel Carlevaro right hand book. It is like the Giuliani 120 studies on steroids. I have never struggled that hard to play an arpeggio in my life! I think it is this book but I am not sure. I had a really old photo-copy of it and I don't know where it came from.

As a fellow music educator and as a guitarist who is currently student teaching in an orchestra classroom, I can empathize with what you are going through right now. First of all, there are probably hundreds of music teachers each year who are thrown into teaching a guitar class with little or no prior experience with the instrument, so don't feel too bad about your inexperience with the guitar. Like others have said, it is important that you learn the basics of the guitar (basic chord shapes, posture, note names in first few positions, guitar-specific notational systems, etc.) and that you acquire a decent amount of instructional materials (scale diagrams, chord charts, arpeggio diagrams, ensemble materials). I know that a teachers schedule leaves little time for privates lesson, but I would suggest that you take a look at the nearest university to see if they offer a summer guitar class for music educators. The university that I am currently studying at offers a 2 or 3 week guitar class that counts for graduate credits or professional development credits and is aimed at people in your situation.

Now you may be thinking "well that's great and all, but what can I do right now? First, remember that as a certified music educator you have received all of the pedagogical knowledge that you need in order to teach a music class, whether it be a k-6 general music program or a high school band. Are you expert at all the instruments? probably not, but I am sure that during your studies you had the experience of teaching another instrument other than your own.

With your beginners, relate what you already know how to teach (in your case violin/orchestra) to the guitar. The difference in content knowledge aside, how would you teach a beginning orchestra the D major scale? You can approach the concept, as it relates to the guitar, in the same way. Since you are not proficient with guitar you may need to display a scale diagram (similar to a fingerboard chart, but with frets) on the board or with a handout and then use your ear to detect mistakes. Most concepts on the guitar can be approached in this way, the main difference will be chords and for that I would suggest that you think back to how you learned chords on the piano (I assume you had to take some piano for your degree) and drill them on chord shapes and I-IV-V cadences. If you prefer a more structured approach I suggest that you find a good method book so that you do not need to "re-invent the wheel" for every lesson plan. The method book that I used in high school was A Modern Approach to Classical Guitar by Charles Duncan, I think it does a pretty good job of introducing classical technique while also teaching other basic techniques that are used in all styles (rock, pop, etc.), but there are many others that will do the job as well (including "Standard of Excellence").

For the more advanced class you can continue to introduce new scales and arpeggio patterns (again relying on diagrams and your ability to hear mistakes), but I would recommend that you start working on ensemble material because that is something any music teacher can do with out having to be able to play it themselves (I doubt that all band teachers can play the bassoon or clarinet parts in every piece their ensemble plays). If you need material, I would suggest Forrestguitarensembles.com which has hundreds of free ensemble and solo pieces for guitar and are graded by difficulty.

If you need instructional materials (chord, scale, arpeggios diagrams) or need help with knowing how to approach teaching a certain technique feel free to send me a pm and I can send you some materials or give my thoughts on particular lesson plan if you need.

I was like LittlePantsBigShirts too, but now I’ve been playing for 12 years and it’s really worth it even if your not as quick of a learner as this songwriter.

To the songwriter, I was amazed by how clean of finger picking you have. Consistency is awesome, but even small variations are extremely noticeable just like mistakes, but in a good way. You have a video of your original down pat, I would branch off of that finger pattern, even if you don’t want to put it in the song. It may be your next song, you never know.

I’m not an expert or a fast learner, but when I went for a music minor and took classical (which is all fingerpicking like you’re doing) the teacher made me buy these two very thin books. Each exercise for the right hand is gold. I didn’t focus on the scale one as much, but that’s because of trust issues and I thought the right hand was more important. They’re equally important and I’m an idiot.

These are the books, they’re cheap, and a guitarist who’s been playing for 50 years swear by these little books. A guy on YouTube can demonstrate each exercise.

120 Studies for Right Hand Development (Classical Guitar Study Series) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0898981905/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_C7RpDbWE9TX8X

Diatonic Major And Minor Scales Book https://www.amazon.com/dp/1598060597/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_W8RpDbT1SAV2M

Plus I feel you on being lonely around friends. I’m not going to give advice on that to accent the swagtastic info these books give out.

Keep writing, making mistakes and intentional changes help you grow, and eating right (which is often overlooked or confidently not known (5 min microwaved cut sweet potatoes)) helps with everything (emotional/physical/intelligence.)


TMI, I’m done
Keep killing it
✌️❤️🤘

I'm just learning too (starting a class this week, in fact!), but I found the format in Bluegrass Banjo for the Complete Ignoramus to be a great way to learn.

The title is silly, but it did a great job of breaking down how to play, and understanding how you use rolls to fill in the melody. For someone like me—who has never played an instrument before—it was nice that it had no expectations of the reader.

The basic gist is that the book teaches you the raw melody first, then once you get that down, you slowly add in pinches, drone notes, rolls, and slides, until you are playing a very full-sounding piece.

(I also recommend looking up some videos on YouTube, which helps because watching other people play was very helpful. You can just search and see what you find, something like "learning bluegrass banjo" is a good start.)

Tremolo is a huge undertaking, while I personally have not mastered the technique by any means, I am currently in the process of learning Recuerdos De La Alhambra and I'll give you some pointers on where to start.

First, master sequential planting. If your planting technique is lacking, develop that before progressing any further with learning tremolo. Tremolo is essentially a huge sequential planting technique, learning to plant will directly translate over into your tremolo. I would also recommend learning your tremolo on the B string, this will force you to train your right hand to keep your A-M-I tight. Giuliani 120 Right Hand Studies covers both sequential planting and tremolo, I would highly recommend starting there. Also, I would suggest checking out Scott Tennant's Pumping Nylon which covers tremolo technique in detail. This would be a great place to start with your tremolo studies. The timing between your A and P is absolutely critical, take great care with your right hand development.

I will stress that learning the technique is absolutely necessary before learning any specific tremolo piece. Internalize the motion in your right hand, when you get it down and can fully trust your technique you will learn to relax and fall into the groove so easily.

EDIT: Consider learning Carcassi # 7 as well, this is a great piece that is not too demanding during your right hand development.

I don't want to make any enemies here, so don't take this the wrong way CactaurJack, but please don't buy an Ibanez. They are never worth shit resale, they are ugly as sin and I've never liked any that I played.

I would recommend a Mexican Strat. They will be in your price range and you will always be able to resell easily for about $250-$275.

They will sometimes not be set up real well, but that is when you take the time and learn how to do basic setups on your guitar. You can find out a ton of great stuff from books like this, that, or Dan Erlewine's....or sites like Project Guitar and/or Fret Not.

I would say check out some guitars in the used section on guitar center's website...you can find pretty good deals on there. Check your local store, and last resort check local pawn shops, they'll sometimes have something for a good price, but most of the time are fucking jip joints, so be careful.

Used is good because it comes with built in mojo. Give this a shot as well as maybe just using the above resources to re-setup your squire...that may be all it needs and you'll be good to go.

[Monthly] July was a month of...guitar! I'm following this book and made it to book 2 after enthusiastically practicing for 1+ hours everyday. I thought that a few months of violin would help with the finger pain at the start, but nope! At least it only lasted a few days...so maybe it helped after all? Currently learning chords, slowly shifting to first and second positions, and working on overall smoothness of finger transitions. Also practicing playing multiple notes at a time, like in piano. I'm starting to recognize some common note combinations, woot woot. And at least there's no bass clef to worry about. 😂 I'm also working on various other etudes/exercises for fun, so I don't get too bored!

I hope to work slowly but steadily on this second book and see how far I get by the end of the month! Hopefully I can learn a nice little piece to play for my mom when she comes back home next month :D

I hope you are all having a swell summer! Let me know what's up!

There are books that will help, like Ariane Cap's Music Theory for Bass Players, but finding a local teacher is probably a better idea.

​

1. Having a teacher forces you to practice stuff you usually wouldn't and forces you to be honest about your practice schedule.
   
   ​
   
   
2. The right teacher can see what you're doing wrong and fix it, and can also see when you're ready for the next piece of information.
   
   ​
   
   The HARD part is finding a good teacher. There are plenty of amazing players who are not good teachers. Ask around locally, or ask on Talkbass.com for a good teacher in your area. Try to watch vids or see them play BEFORE you ask them for lessons, to make sure you like the choices they make.
   
   ​
   
   Once you find a teacher, ask them if they have a lesson plan or syllabus or something like that: a linear progression of stuff they plan on teaching you.

For the sight reading, I can't recommend these books enough (this is the higher level one, there's another lower one)

https://www.amazon.com/Sight-Reading-Classical-Guitar-Level/dp/0769212859/

The exercises are written for guitar, rather than keyboard, they progressive smoothly, and there's plenty of good advice in the notes.

I'm not sure if you've looked at online courses - I use Classical Guitar Corner's and am very happy, but I don't know what else is out there.

> Anyway all the resources out there seem to focused on dead beginners playing songs that I can play drunk and on fire.

That kind of rings an alarm bell with me. Are you playing with your left and right hand in good position? How's your tone? If that's all good, fine.

Pumping Nylon is great. I'd also look at Noad's classical guitar tutors, which I found very valuable.

Good luck!

I am a beginner guitarist and have purchased two books based on this thread.
The Guitar Handbook by Ralph Denyer is fantastic. Just a great overall guitar related book.
The Advancing Guitarist by Mick Goodrick. Way over my head. I look forward to when I get to a level where I can use this book.

There are two other books I recently ordered too.

The Ultimate Scale Book by Troy Setina. I am really enjoying using this book to learn scales. Ok - I am still on the first scale, but I'm purposefully not rushing through them. Matter of fact, most everytime I pick up the book I start reading at page 1 again. And little things just start to click.

I have ordered (but have not yet received) Hal Leonard Fretboard Mastery also by Troy Setina. I'm hoping that using this book concurrently with the scales book will give me good starting point on a well rounded practice regiment.

I will probably order another book or two - I like learning from books. :-)

Great thread resource this is - thank you!

First you should visit us on /r/classicalguitar

Books are going to be your best friend though. The Noad Book is most frequently recommended by people on /r/classicalguitar, though I have never used it before. My experience has been with The Duncan Method.

What I recommend is getting these books, and working on just them for about a week (try to do about half an hour a day if you can, if not just whatever time you have) and you'll have some foundation for technique. From there, since you like Carulli, I recommend starting with the Sor Studies. They are a great stepping stone for the beginner guitarist, plus they sound fantastic too.

If the Sor Studies are too difficult, play Leo Brouwer's Etudes Simples first - start with #2, then do 1, 3, 4, and 5 in order. If you can get the Etudes Simples down and sounding good then you'll be in great shape for the Sor Studies. Also, don't play the Etudes Simples as fast as this guy, he burns through them.

In my opinion Troy Stetina's Fretboard Mastery is still the most comprehensive, well thought out and explained, and easy to understand guitar theory book. If you could only get one book, this book would cover all you need to understand the instrument.

Beyond that Troy's Speed Mechanics for Lead Guitar is very good book of technique building exercises, Dave Celentano's Monster Scales and Modes is a short, easy to read, and good book for referencing some of the most commonly used scales and modes, it also has some short but good description of when and where to use certain scales/modes.

For a more reference/appendix use, I like the Guitar Grimoire books as they have very complete information and are laid out in a fairly easy to read and easy to understand fashion.

Save yourself a lot of time and find a good classical guitar teacher. makes all the difference. Even for just 6 months or so, they will get your hand technique going and have you playing in no time.

Also start to read music if you don't already. This will really help. just simple stuff (15 min/day)the pumping nylon book/video is great as well.

This was my first book and it worked, Its very well laid out and a great teacher of the guitar

https://www.amazon.com/Classic-Guitar-Technique-Vol-Shearer/dp/0739057103

Better uke setup, still cheap:

• Lanikai 21-T. This is a tenor uke, around $120. I love mine. The strings that come on it shouldn't, so next...
  
  
• Worth brown strings. These really helped my fingerpicking. $12.80, but the strings are cut long enough for two full sets. Crappy or dead strings will not help you develop your ear correctly. Being out of tune will also prevent your development, so next...
  
  
• Snark SN-2 tuner. About $12.00. Finally, you need something to play...
  
  
• The Daily Ukulele is great, and can be used to practice your rhythm playing or to develop fingerpicked versions of classics (lots of Beatles in here, and an easy uke arrangement of California Dreamin'). At a more advanced level, try Learn to Play Fingerstyle Ukulele Solos. If you have not really gotten into fingerpicking, starting this book will be a big revelation: you suck, because you can't play freaking Twinkle Twinkle Little Star the way the author arranged it (anyway, that's where I started). Learning these will be a long process, and you will probably want to make many detours, through scales practice, finger exercises, and music theory, but your playing (even for strummy things) will start improving enormously.
  
  I'll also assume that, since you are a Redditor and know what's up, that you don't need to be told to get a metronome like the Korg MA-30.
  
  So borrow a couple of textbooks instead of buying and set that money aside; that should be about enough to get all of this. Or save money some other way... A friend of mine had a serious Starbuck's habit. I don't think he even realized it, but he was dropping $5-$10 every day at Starbuck's and whining about how he had no money. Coffee at home and two months later, his first uke.
  
  Last, strumming... practice the living crap out of your strums. Count out loud. Use a metronome. Write down the patterns. Speaking and writing the strum patterns is important, drumming them out with your hand (off the uke) is also important. You need to think of the strum as a rhythm that's independent of your uke, like this magical, ideal, Platonic rhythm, and you with your poor wooden uke and your sad meat fingers have to try to mimic it; anything you can do to understand the rhythm better -- whether or not you do that thing on your uke -- will help improve your strum.
  

/r/classicalguitar has a useful sidebar with resources.


I would start learning to sight read with material such as this from Pebber Brown.

I would then move on to books such as 'Sight Reading For Classical Guitar' by Robert Benedict - book 1 and book 2.

I would also include Giuliani's 120 Right Hand exercises to test my accuracy, and Fernando Sor's Opus 60 for melodic diatonic studies, as well as Op 35 and Op 44 for sight reading, scale/arpeggio studies and position work, as well as being nice to play.

Kitharologus The Path to Virtuosity by Ricardo Iznaola is a collection of discipline exercises which run from the straightfoward to the almost impossible.

Sagreras Guitar Lessons Book 1-3 by Julio Sagreras are also well worth studying as left/right hand discipline studies, and are also nice to listen to.

Depends on what you like. I was big into metal and hard rock when I was starting out. Black Sabbath is easy enough that you could be playing songs within the first couple months, if not just weeks.

If you're interested in actually learning guitar and not just memorizing songs I'd recommend working through these as well:

• Fretboard Theory
  
• A Modern Method for Guitar
  
  You'll want to take the Berklee book someplace to get it spiral bound. Also note that it's not a tab book. You'll have to read standard notation. It starts off super easy and gets progressively harder, page by page. A looper pedal for the duets will be helpful.

I started back up after a ~10 year hiatus and I went back to the book my old teacher had me working out of - William Leavitt's "A Modern Method for Guitar".

I'm putting more time in that when I was taking lessons, also I am being much more attentive to playing exactly what is written (letting notes ring out to their full value, not hitting other strings by accident, etc). It was slow going in the beginning, but I am making way better progress.

I did have a setback because when I got the DVD I was introduced to the "rest stroke" and decided to use it. I had to go back to the beginning and work on my technique because the picking style felt so different and I was so slow with it. Now I'm happy I did it because I feel like I have much better pick control than before.

I suggest you take a look at "The Art of Contemporary Travis Picking: How to Play the Alternating Bass Fingerpicking Style" and consider picking up "Beginning Fingerstyle Blues Guitar" if that's what you're interested in. I have both of them and they helped me get a footing in the style - The former has a lot of great songs for you to learn that you can spin your own variations on and play around with, and there's a followup to it for when you get more advanced. Good luck!

Guitar is a yamaha g-55-1 from the 1970's bought from someone on craigslist. It has a lot of dings and a few of the frets were peeling out, but after gluing the frets back down it plays just fine. I got the book A Modern Approach To Classical Guitar plus a music stand, a capo, and a new set of strings.

I am pretty excited. I have tried to teach myself guitar before on an electric but I never stuck with it and always ended up giving up after learning a few chords and scales. I have been using the book for 2 weeks now and I'm liking this a lot more than just trying to learn chords and scales and winging it.

I went to a community college and studied Electrical Engineering Technology and learned enough to get me started on learning about amps. I also found a job in manufacturing which pays well but wish i had gone for regular EE because of the stability of those job and ease of finding new work.

This series of videos will unlock the mystery of tube based guitar amps. It's Uncle Doug and he's the best on youtube for this. He starts with the basics and explains it all so well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5SSKX74DKg

But they don't teach anything at all about Tube electronics anymore. You are still on your own to figure that stuff out. You could very easily learn about the basics of electronics online. after that buy this to get in depth. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0956154522/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

FWIW, I started off self taught. Learned some basic rolls, "learned" cripple creek, started using a metronome.

I ended up taking lessons at a local place. Huge difference in progress. My biggest problem is that I don't have the time to dedicate to practice that a "young person" might, so I have backed off the lessons for now, mainly to just practice what my teacher shared in a timeframe I can manage. I plan on going back for more soon, and maybe dialing back to 1-2 lessons a month rather than every week.

I highly recommend Bluegrass Banjo for the Complete Ignoramus by Wayne Erbsen, whether you are self teaching or with an instructor. I also have Earl Scruggs and the 5-String Banjo (get the one with the CD). A lot of folks recommend it for "learnin' like Earl", but it can get very complicated very quickly, especially for someone without any musical background. It does have all the tabs for Earl's stuff that you could home for though.

All of this of course involves you having a banjo. I have a Rogue, I'm happy with it, my teacher thinks it sounds alright too. Others on this subreddit might not be fans but it works for me. I also got a Mike's Mute to save my marriage.

This was my first book.

http://www.amazon.com/Build-Your-Own-Acoustic-Guitar/dp/0634054635

She's not the prettiest girl at the dance but she plays well and started a great hobby. Now my wait list is about 2yrs long.

I've never done classes but had about 10yrs of woodworking experience and tools to draw from.

I think books are a slower road but they work. The guys that play my guitars tell me all the time about the compliments they get on their sound.

EDIT: forgot to add link

If we're talking about the white and red book with spiral binding here...

It really helped my sight reading and right hand techniques. Helped my sight reading significantly too.

Below are some links I really like for beginners books. Copy pasta from another post I did

First two are beginners books. The third one is one I used pretty heavily to teach you hand techniques, especially for the right hand. Help you learn different patterns and finger movements. Took me forever to find it on Amazon but it's awesome.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0793526272/ref=pd_aw_sim_14_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=VA5WMPNKD6HVPG4R4141

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0793543681/ref=pd_aw_sim_14_of_36?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=2Q2B4NZZQ9KEG6WCDV5R

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0786627239/ref=pd_aw_sim_14_of_24?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=DH1SGFCDSDFGT56VZQJ2

I was inspired by this video and I adapted some tab from The Banjo Player's Songbook into something I could play. It's a fun song to play. Abigail Washburn and Bela Fleck do a really cool version in this video, and you get to see their adorable little baby.

This book is a GREAT resource for getting started:

Blues You Can Use by John Ganapes

As with any guitar book, you have to be REALLY strict with yourself. Stay on a lesson for a minimum amount of time (a week?) and keep going over it. Don't play through it 3-4 times and say "Oh, I've got this down". NO. Stay on it. Play it until it is near perfect. Play it until you almost can't stand to play it again, then move on. That is usually at least a week of playing 15-minutes or more per day.

And use the accompanying CD. Use it every time. It will force you to keep time. It will also train your ear to hear harmonies, tension, and relief in the scales and riffs.

I've found that the best way to play a popular song with distinct melodies with with the Scruggs style.

Basically, just learn to play the simple melody of the song on the banjo. Then, using the Scruggs style, you can add filler notes with different rolls to accompany the melody. This way you can clearly hear the melody of the song and also have that full banjo sound.

The way I learned this method is through this book and I highly recommend it, since it essentially teaches exactly what you are asking:

https://www.amazon.com/Bluegrass-Banjo-Complete-Ignoramus-Book/dp/1883206448

I think the standard classical text is the book series by Frederick Noad, but I never cared for it personally. I’d recommend this book of etudes by Fernando Sor, edited by Segovia:
https://www.amazon.com/Twenty-studies-guitar-Andres-Segovia/dp/0793543681

The studies are graduated and start pretty simple. They sound beautiful as well.

Get a copy of Segovia's Diatonic Major and Minor Scales:

https://www.amazon.com/Diatonic-Major-Scales-Andr%C3%A9s-Segovia/dp/1598060597

Christopher Parkening also has some good method books:

https://www.amazon.com/Christopher-Parkening-Guitar-Method-Technique/dp/0793585201

Also search YouTube for Chet Atkins lessons, he was a major innovator in electric fingerstyle and a big influence on Knopfler et al.

1. Yes lots of electric players don't use a pick
   
2. You can easily sweep pick if you use your index nail as a pick, or use a thumbpick, although arpeggios are usually easier just with multiple fingers - the whole idea is that you don't need to move your pick along each string because you have 4-5 of them (depending on if you use your pinky or not)
   
3. A variety of patterns depending on what you're doing. There are plenty of them for you to study in classical guitar repertoire
   
   Are you playing with your nails? I started on classical and I play with my nails, but if you do two-handed tapping, having nails can make it harder. It just depends on your style and what kind of techniques you want to use. You will get more volume and a crisper tone if you play with your nails.
   
   There is also hybrid picking, which is a good compromise. Traditionally in classical guitar you don't use your pinky, so actually with hybrid picking you don't lose any "fingers" - the pick replaces your thumb and everything else "moves down" one digit. Or you can also try a thumbpick.

There are probably a number of things you will have to do... The most important one is to let go of your ego (the thing that is going to be discouraging you) and practice practice practice.

There are a number of resources... /r/guitar and /r/guitarlessons will be able to give you many more suggestions than I will be able to, but I do know that something you will want to look into is...

Guitar Lessons Books 1-3, by Julio S. Sagreras

You'll need an instructor, or the ability to read music to take advantage of the book, but don't let that discourage you. If you want to play Flamenco, classical and other obscure technical styles, that is going to be a part of it. Practice practice practice. :)

Now that you mention that you are a classical guitarist, I want to welcome you into the wonderful world of electricity. Setting intonation and action on a classical guitar is hard. Doing the same on a strat is easy. I read this book when I was learning to play, and those skills have saved me a LOT of money over the years. DIY!

Buy "A Modern Method For Guitar Volume 1" by William Leavitt. Its written by the guy who founded the guitar department in Berklee College of Music. The book teaches you all of the basics of guitar in volume 1 and moves at a fast, yet manageable pace.

Here's a link to the combined 3 volumes for $22
http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Method-Guitar-Volumes-Complete/dp/0876390114

But you get a DVD if you just buy Vol 1 that has a guitar professer at Berklee (the current head of the department) teaching the book to you.
http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Method-Guitar-DVD-ROM-Berklee/dp/0876390696/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1370752061&sr=1-2&keywords=a+modern+method+for+guitar

The book gives you an amazing foundation for being a good guitarist and musician that you won't get searching for tabs on the internet.

I know I'm gushing over this, but I'm just amazed by how good at playing I've gotten by going through the book. You don't need a teacher or lessons if you have this book.

It is a bit like the RL Burnside type of style?

On the song I listened he uses a finger style drone note and plays repeating riffs on the high strings... on electric. Some songs are a type of "trance blues" staying on one chord.

If you work through a book like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Fingerstyle-Blues-Guitar-Books/dp/0825625564

He is basically playing traditional fingerstyle blues on an electric with bit of overdrive (not alternating the bass note, keeping it on one string). Lightning Hopkins RL Burnside etc. If you know 12 bar blues and blues scales then you can make this stuff up pretty easily and develop your own riffs... important is to practice with a tapping foot/metronome. Mix chords and lead parts without losing track or rhythm.

> So, what i'm asking of you here is if you could make a guide for me that Gets me into the whole music thing, not guitar only. I want to know about scales, keys , and basically everything.

There are plenty of good resources in the FAQ; I think it's asking too much for people to just give you a syllabus for learning all of music theory for guitar. Go through a course like justinguitar or musictheory.net, and you'll learn quite a bit. Not to mention, there are tons of great books out there that you can spend the next year or more mastering the content with him; for example, this is a great book and the material in there will take you a long, long time to master.

>I'm not willing to put up with super Basic stuff on the process, because I know I would get dismotivated

You sort of have to, though. I was in same boat as you. Started playing when I was 13, didn't bother picking up a theory book until my 30's. I've since read all sorts of stuff, but had very little time to practice. Had I only dedicated myself when i was a teenager with no obligations and all that free time!

Anyways, out of all the crash course in music theory for guitar books out there (I've read several), this is by far the best, IMHO:

http://www.amazon.com/Fretboard-Theory-1-Desi-Serna/dp/1508566593

The Sagreras studies are collected in two books here's the first one. As for improvising, learn a few Spanish sounding pieces and figure out the chord progressions. Then make up your own melodies over top. Yes, improvising is that simple, no, you won't come up with something amazing the first hundred or so times you try it. If you really want to get good enough to work professionally, get yourself a good teacher. And I'm not sure what version of Recuerdos you're looking at, it's essentially a tremolo study and doesn't really change much at all.

The Guitar Grimoire series is okay, but once you start getting the understanding of scales and modes, you quickly realize how much of that book is unnecessary. Just a lot of needless repetition of scales.

Personally, I found the Complete Idiot's Guide to Music Theory to be an excellent resource.

If you're looking for something more specific to guitar, any of Troy Stetina's books will touch on theory a little bit, but Fretboard Mastery covers it in extensively and is really good.

All of this stuff is pretty easy to learn to do, once you see it done or can ask questions.

The one resource I recommend to every serious beginner is the Dan Erlewine book "How to Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great".

All of his books have been an invaluable resource for me as well as his video series on StewMac, Trade Secrets.

I like this

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Learn-Play-Fingerstyle-Solos-Ukulele/dp/0786673427/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1398340927&sr=8-7&keywords=hawaiian+ukulele

This - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ukulele-Ensemble-Hawaiian-Songs-Various/dp/1480342203/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1398340968&sr=8-8&keywords=hawaiian+ukulele+books

This is OK - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jumpin-JimS-Gone-Hawaiian-Uke/dp/0634009346/ref=sr_1_17?ie=UTF8&qid=1398341025&sr=8-17&keywords=hawaiian+ukulele+books

This is the best thing ever - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Famous-Solos-Duets-Ukulele-Presents/dp/0786669152/ref=sr_1_22?ie=UTF8&qid=1398341037&sr=8-22&keywords=hawaiian+ukulele+books

And this is good too - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hawaiian-Uke-Tunebook-Ken-Eidson/dp/0871668424/ref=sr_1_52?ie=UTF8&qid=1398341078&sr=8-52&keywords=hawaiian+ukulele+books

I'm playing through Mel Bay Learn To Play Fingerstyle Solos for Ukulele right now. Has some great songs that progress in difficulty as you go. It comes with a CD, which is helpful for me.

This book is great, goes into all the theory you need. As for building tube amps, execution is what yields a good amplifier in the end. Actually designing an amplifier, especially anything beyond medium gain is more of an art rather than a science.

In my classical studies, I've found this book to be crazy valuable.

http://www.amazon.com/Studies-Development-Classical-Guitar-Series/dp/0898981905

It's not a how-to, really. This is a series of exercises meant to strengthen and coordinate your right hand. Excellent warm-up material.

I'm a beginner/intermediate player who went 10+ years without touching a bass. I picked this book up recently. It's helped me get familiar with the instrument again.

Music Theory for the Bass Player: A Comprehensive and Hands-on Guide to Playing with More Confidence and Freedom

The author also has some free videos on YouTube.

I like Wayne Erbsen's books. Depending on the style you want to play, he has two:

http://www.amazon.com/Bluegrass-Banjo-Complete-Ignoramus-Book/dp/1883206448

http://www.amazon.com/Clawhammer-Complete-Ignoramus-Anniversary-Edition/dp/188320643X

My wife is learning the fiddle. I got her the Erbsen fiddle book. She and her teacher both like it a lot.

I've been learning bluegrass. I have found the Erbsen Bluegrass banjo book along with Earl Scruggs book to be somewhat complimentary to each other and I go back and forth between the two.

Excellent Stuff by Ervin Somogyi

The Responsive Guitar

Voicing the Guitar DVD

Older but still Excellent
Guitarmaking: Tradition and Technology

Basically a step by step for a steel string
Build Your Own Acoustic Guitar: Complete Instructions and Full-Size Plans

Edit: Formatting

I recommend reading basic exercises in higher positions. That's the best way I've found. That said - I do like these two sight reading books:

Sight Reading Classical Guitar Levels I-III


Sight Reading Classical Guitar Levels IV-V

They appear really basic but there is more to them than meets the eye as far as phrasing, musicality and rhythms go. I read the first volume all in higher positions for the challenge. The second volume has upper position playing and covers a lot of common classical guitar styles in short snippets. I have them both and they are both worth checking out.

The Banjo Player's Songbook was an awesome find for me when I started playing banjo. It contains a few hundred of the classic standards in various styles (ballads, reels, melodic, etc) arranged for clawhammer.

Other resources I found very useful were the Home Spun Tapes Dvds particularly the David Holt ones once I had progressed beyond the basics.

I love this book... if you enjoy blues....https://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Fingerstyle-Blues-Guitar-Books/dp/0825625564

"Blues You Can Use" is one of the standards, it's pretty good. There's a few others in that series as well, "More Blues You Can Use", "Blues Rhythms You Can Use" and "Blues Licks You Can Use".

Wilfried Welti has put together some excellent ebooks of fingerstyle classical music - some of the text is in German, but the music is understandable even if you only speak English:

http://ukulelehunt.com/2008/11/12/wilfried-weltis-ukulele-tabs/
http://www.dsp-arts.com/publishing/shop/en/Ukulele-E-books/

If you want a physical book, this one is quite good:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Learn-Play-Fingerstyle-Solos-Ukulele/dp/0786673427

Books on guitar are great, never mind those who say otherwise. Just browse amazon for well reviewed ones.

Blues You Can Use (5/5) 62 Reviews.
http://www.amazon.com/Blues-You-Can-Use/dp/0793542057

I'm going to build a tube amp this year, and not from a kit. I'm going to design it from the ground up myself.

I was an electronics technician in the Navy for 16 years, so I have plenty of experience with soldering, amplifier theory (although solid state), and working with high voltage electronics.

Amplifiers are actually pretty simple circuits topologically, so the design phase doesn't concern me that much. The hard part is actually going to be in the construction phase, I'm going to buy a table saw so I can make my own cabinets, but I think I'm going to have the chassis constructed for me, because I'm not really interested in metal-working.

This book is highly recommended if you're interested in learning practical tube theory: Designing Tube Preamps for Guitar and Bass

I'm in the same boat. I picked up this book from amazon, and it includes a CD of various tunes played at the most basic level as well as with some more advanced techniques. It's basically 10 pages of intro/how to and then tabs for ~23 songs with ideas on how to spice 'em up.
http://www.amazon.com/Bluegrass-Banjo-Complete-Ignoramus-Book/dp/1883206448/

Not sure of your application, but I've read a handful of books on tube circuits for musical instrument amplification and this one was my favorite. The same author has books on power amps and power supplies as well.

I really enjoyed Blues You Can Use when I was self-teaching and trying to learn some Blues basics.

Take it slow and thoroughly learn each lesson before moving on. This book won't teach you everything, but it will give you a good basic grounding.

Don't try and speed up the process, it takes a long time and steady practice.

Get this book;

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sight-Reading-Classical-Guitar-Level/dp/0769209742/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375442256&sr=8-1-fkmr1&keywords=sight+read+classical+guitar

And then when you have finished that one, get this one;

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sight-Reading-Classical-Guitar-Level/dp/0769212859/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1375442279&sr=8-2-fkmr1&keywords=sight+read+classical+guitar

And then you should feel confident to play most things.
After those books, I'd recommend folk and bluegrass sheet music as the timings are quite simple (mostly triplets or 16ths throughout).

Jazz and the like will be much harder to read but you'll get there IF you practice.

As first woodworking projects go, you're picking a very big and complex build.

My recommendation would be to either start with kits and work your way towards acoustic non-kit, or go to a luthier school. Even to just get some general carpentry courses under your belt first, so you're familiar with the tools and general safety stuff.

If you're hell-bent on doing it all yourself, then I don't even know where to start to help you. You at the very least need a good stable of hand wood working tools. Thickness sander would be helpful, but that's in the $1500 range alone (for a start, absolute minimum sized one). Belt sander, table saw, and bandsaw are all absolutely necessary (though if you can only afford 2, make them the belt sander & bandsaw). Planes of all different sizes. Clamps - you can never have too many. Chisels. A go-deck clamping system. Fret files, hammer, & slotting tool of some kind (I use my table saw with a fretting blade).

It's a big ask, and there is no simple answer, even just for tools alone. I've heard good things about this book, but haven't checked it out myself:

http://www.amazon.ca/Build-Your-Own-Acoustic-Guitar/dp/0634054635

The banjo player's songbook has some good tunes like Jug of Punch or Whiskey in the Jar, all very simply tabbed out. http://www.amazon.com/The-Banjo-Players-Songbook-five-string/dp/0825602971

This book is really great for beginners. Step by step building. Includes plans. Lots of color photos throughout.

I highly recommend this Mel Bay's book to begin with. Once you get a fair way into that book, begin to look at A Modern Method of Guitar and the Carcassi book if you can find it. If you get through these books, you will be a monster at sightreading guitar sheet music!

I loved the Christopher Parkening method books when I was starting out and I still use many of the repertoire from both of them now!

https://www.amazon.com/Christopher-Parkening-Guitar-Method-Technique/dp/0793585201

There's a basic open G, clawhammer version in the Jumper book

The Banjo Player's Songbook: Over 200 great songs arranged for the five-string banjo https://smile.amazon.com/dp/0825602971/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_cdcZCbFEPGD80

https://imgur.com/a/S4AAEzT

This is the classic book on fingerstyle blues for beginners:

https://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Fingerstyle-Blues-Guitar-Books/dp/0825625564/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1480794244&sr=8-1&keywords=fingerstyle+blues

It helped me a ton when I was starting. Great technical advice too

If you've never done fingerpicking before, buy Mauro Giuliani's Studies for Right Hand Development and warm up 15-20 minutes per day working through it.

All good recommendations. I'd also suggest these are worth a look, even if you're building an electric rather than acoustic:

Kinkead's 'Build your own acoustic guitar'

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Build-Your-Own-Acoustic-Guitar/dp/0634054635

and Blishen's 'The Steel String Guitar'

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Acoustic-Guitar-Making-Steel-String/dp/1847973744/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=nick+blishen&qid=1563977881&s=books&sr=1-1

This is a wonderful book that helped me out a lot.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0996727604/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1499820070&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=bass+music+theory&dpPl=1&dpID=51P-p%2Bbvs4L&ref=plSrch

Edit: Also the talk bass guy on YouTube has a ton of theory videos.

https://youtu.be/--aVuWXcdTs

I recently picked up this book and agree it's an excellent resource for learning theory.

I also picked up Berklee Modern Method for Guitar which I'd also recommend - or a method book of some sort. Be forewarned, however, these method books are not easy to digest, but you'll learn your guitar and how to read music.

https://www.amazon.com/Music-Theory-Bass-Player-Hands/dp/0996727604

I wish I had this book when I started playing bass

If you know how to ready sheet music, you could check out this book by Carcassi. What it starts off with isn't too difficult either, it starts with some pieces that are constructed off of some basic scale patterns, and moves on from there. I would also pick up this Segovia scale book and 20 Studies for Guitar.

Edit: And I highly recommend signing up for lessons. Classical guitar is much, much, more difficult and a lot more tedious than electric guitar.

The Aaron Shearer Classic Guitar Technique books are the best in my opinion. They'll help you not only not only learn fingerstyle technique, but also how to read standard fingerstyle notation. You can find them at just about any music store since they are a staple for classical guitar education.

http://www.amazon.com/Classic-Guitar-Technique-Book-Shearer/dp/0739057103/

Christopher Parkening method is still a pretty highly rated beginners guide to Classical.

ohh and subscribe to Per-Olov Kindgren's youtube channel. Here is one of his vids

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fretboard-Mastery-Online-Access-Code/dp/0793597897/ref=asc_df_0793597897/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=310081590442&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=10455460290521560857&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9046928&hvtargid=pla-454678095978&psc=1&th=1&psc=1

Could be helpful, I've got it and it's got everything I want to know and more

Ah, so I should get his book? Looking at some of the sheet music I found online in .pdf I wasn't too interested in learning. Thanks!

http://smile.amazon.com/Andres-Segovia-Studies-Guitar-Book/dp/0793543681/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1449268325&sr=8-3&keywords=sor+studies

Here's a book that will help with finger picking!

I'm slowly working through Fretboard Mastery by Troy Stetina https://www.amazon.com/Fretboard-Mastery-online-audio-Stetina/dp/0793597897 . Seems to be exactly what you're interested in.

I like Troy Stetina's Fretboard Mastery

http://www.amazon.com/Hal-Leonard-Fretboard-Mastery-Book/dp/0793597897/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1374077797&sr=8-1&keywords=fretboard+mastery

The book, "Beginning Fingerstyle Blues Guitar" provides a decent intro to travis picking and blues. I'd recommend checking that out.

I like this book. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0786673427/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Thanks, This is what I currently have. It isn't quite what you described as a typical guitar teaching book but it also doesn't have a lot of music theory. Would this work?

I was in your shoes once. I bought this book and learned to do it myself. Highly recommended.

Get William Leavitt's Modern Method for Guitar Volume One go through all of it then, if your up for it, you can move on to book 2 and then 3. It is THE book that most guitar curriculums are based off of. This series will not only make you a better sight reader and guitarist, but a knowledgeable and diverse musician.

If you can get your hands on Frederick Noad's Solo Guitar Playing 1, or Christopher Parkening's Guitar Method 1, you could go a long way. If money is an issue, I know my local library has the Parkening book, so that might be a resource to check into.

http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Method-Guitar-DVD-ROM-Berklee/dp/0876390696/

Is this the one you're referring to?

This book starts at zero and takes you through learning finger style blues:
http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Fingerstyle-Blues-Guitar-Books/dp/0825625564

Here is a PDF of that book, but of course without the CD:
http://tommyemmanuel.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/beginning-fingerstyle-blues-guitar.pdf

Edit: In fact, that same site has a whack of PDF books on the topic here:
http://tommyemmanuel.wordpress.com/fingerstyle/

Another book idea:
http://www.amazon.com/Christopher-Parkening-Guitar-Method-Technique/dp/0793585201

http://acousticguitarbuild.blogspot.com/

http://www.amazon.com/Build-Your-Own-Acoustic-Guitar/dp/0634054635

http://acousticguitar.com/everything-youve-always-wanted-to-know-about-diy-guitar-kits/

http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Method-Guitar-DVD-ROM-Berklee/dp/0876390696

Pumping Nylon

Frederick Noad

Start with these two books:

http://www.amazon.com/Hal-Leonard-Blues-You-Book/dp/B000FH4OFU

and


http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Fingerstyle-Blues-Guitar-Audio/dp/0825625564

This book might be of some help

My personnal recommandations (which is what I work with currently):

• For sight reading this and that.
  
• Etudes: Sor and Cassini
  
• Methods : Pumping Nylon and Kitharologus

mel bay fingerstyle for ukulele http://www.amazon.com/Learn-Play-Fingerstyle-Solos-Ukulele/dp/0786673427

Heres one, and two.

Here is the mobile version of your link

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1883206448/ref=pe_385040_30332190_pd_te_s_gc_ti/181-8103069-0668343

This book is incredible. It teaches you how to improvise rolls and the tabs only have the bare bones melody. I've learned from this book so freakin much

If you're in Denver drop by, I'll give you my spare Kay.

That said, getting one is a good start. There's a balance though, if you pay a lot you'll get one that works well and you'll know that the times when it sounds bad are because you're just learning. If you get a crappy one, rebuild it and then play it and it sounds bad then it MIGHT be the instrument and it MIGHT be you which can add some stress. Personally I went with the cheapest I had access to, rebuilt it and the I've played it for a couple of years and only recently discovered that the high frets are in the wrong places making it impossible to stay in tune above, say the 14th fret.

I started with the "complete ignoramus" book https://www.amazon.com/Bluegrass-Banjo-Complete-Ignoramus-Book/dp/1883206448 , learning some tunes and then took actual lessons from a human. You'll need finger picks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhLInd4ZhjE (if you aren't going to learn clawhammer https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=AMv0rT4CYPg) and a tuner https://www.amazon.com/Snark-Super-Tight-Instrument-Tuner/dp/B00646MZHK.

Then get on banjohangout and try