How to Play Guitar: Everything You Need to Know to Play the Guitar
586795
Our Bernese Mountain Dog ate the first one, thus this was an identical replacement.  My wife is learning how to play guitar and in her words - THE BEST STUDY GUIDE YET...  For an experienced player (as myself) I found it little awkward to navigate - yet again, I already know how to play.  So, two runs  16 x 30min) with a guitar instructor yield less results vs. this book.  So it must work - recommend to a beginner guitar player or more patient then me experienced players :).
3123726
This book is just what I needed to shake the dust off my guitar knowledge.  Concise information that is pertinent to guitar-related music theory.  This information enables the user to teach him/herself at their own pace.  Going to start scheduling some practice time with myself, and this book will defintely help out.
1948475
This is a great book for beginning (and more advanced) guitarists.  I have had a copy of it for many, many (like 50) years.  I bought this copy to give to a friend who is just starting out playing, and he was very happy to have it.
4106635
Great for learning, I've never held a guitar and it took me from the early stages of holding a pick and holding it to advanced techniques. I've played it for about a month and have a basic understanding. Pick it up if you want to learn without the pressure of an instructor.
1026834
I've had this book for a couple years, I would pick it up and play a bit then stop and come back weeks later and do it again.
Well your not going to learn much doing it that way, and I didn't.  Finally when I actually bought a real guitar, I was able to start going right thru this book.  Obviously going thru parts of it previously helped but with a good guitar made it fun.  My old acoustic was just too difficult to play chords on, and that where I got stuck.  So in the last 2 months been playing using this book and also doing Rocksmith on my PS3.  For both, its like you get so far then it seems to get much more difficult. Thats where if you really want to learn to play you have to bear down and get thru it. Some of the stuff on there towards the end of the book gets a little more into musical symbols and things that can become confusing.  There's a lot more to playing than just strumming notes.
There are some things that could be improved, such as more practice songs using the top few strings, like Boogie Bass song.
Also, the chord listing on the back page is great.  I wish I would have noticed that sooner.  Spend time daily just practicing those chords and going from one to another to another.  And now you can supplement this book with stuff online and youtube such as Danfie.  But no book or game is going to teach you anything until you actually keep practicing and do the work to make it happen.
3434188
3 Chord Songs is a great addition to every one just beginning to play the guitar. Instruction and tips are clearly articulated and easy to follow. The chords are displayed in an easy to follow graphic. I love it.
4840395
A great way to learn how to play the guitar. Don't let Amazon push the Kindle version on you, though. For $3 more, you can buy a glossy, spiral-bound book that comes with 3 CDs, which can be imported into iTunes and transferred to your mobile device.
4137703
This book will show you everything you need to know about guitar scales, but be advised that the author uses spread fingering.
562254
Study and practice with this book and your playing will improve dramatically. Move from beginner to intermediate folk and instrumental guitarist. You will learn new methods, rhythms and riffs in several different styles of solo guitar. Best of all, its fun. The cd accompanying the book is super helpful.
995789
After reading a book on how to become a better piano player, I decided to read this book on learning to play the guitar. Ever since I was young I have always been interested in how people can play the guitar so well. Thinking that I could never be a good guitar player, I never tried to learn how to play until now. I decided to purchase this book because I felt that it would help me out. It really did! After following the simple steps that the book gave, I saw my guitar playing improve gradually over the past couple of months. The book was pretty small and right to the point which was nice. Continuing to see improvements, I decided to teach my children how to play the guitar using this book. They are now almost as good as I am! I would definitely recommend this book to all those who want to learn how to play the guitar better!
545874
I love this learning to play guitar book because it includes ALL kinds of music: rock, country, fusion, bepop, punk, and on and on. Each chapter is a different style of music, so you can flip around to your favorites and learn a bit of everything! As a beginner, I thought the difficulty level was perfect. I learned a lot of new techniques. Only a few of the music pieces (each one is short - not a full song length) were too hard for me. I felt like I improved a lot especially with barre chords and different styles of strumming.
829681
As stated, if you are a beginner who doesn't even know how to string a guitar, have trust that you'll learn here. From simple folk songs, like Clementine to Knockin on heavens door (by both Bob Dylan and Guns and Roses) you'll learn by playing. It comes with a metronome to help you learn the beat, a tuner (and by comes with I mean, it uses your microphone on your computer, so you're best to actually buy a real tuner) and a full chord chart.

The instructor is dry as ice but he's descriptive and accurate.

If you've just picked up the guitar like I have, give it a try.

Also of note, it comes with nothing more than the CD. Don't expect a book to follow along with, it is completely media driven.
665534
I started with the method 1 book and am just getting into method 2 (along with learning from a few other sources, it took ~1 year). I am a huge fan of the style and presentation of this book it is an excellent way to develop your play and understanding of the guitar. From method 1-3 the book is extremely comprehensive and should provide a strong foundation for guitar playing in any individual with the time to dedicate and practice, practice, practice. I recommend taking your time, developing an understanding of the musical notation, and playing along with a metronome (you can download a phone app). Playing in time with a metronome can really help demonstrate the proper sound of each piece and allow you to learn without using the audio tracks (I have never used the audio).

Strongly recommend.
1224102
For someone who has never picked up a guitar and knows very little about playing a musical instrument this is a great way to learn. There are alot of things to do besides just picking strings to a song. There are alot of games, lessons, options more. I'm on day 6 and loose track of time when playing.

The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because the guitar was slightly damaged. The neck was pulling away from the body, where the 4 screws go through. Luckily I had a friend fix it for me, so I can continue playing without going through the hassel of returning it.  For those who need to know: its a decent guitar.
3542291
I have gotten many books on how to play and they were good but they never explain the whys and hows of chords and the fret board. This book explains how the fret board is laid out and how scales and chords are constructed.

If you are happy with "put your fingers here for a G chord" look somewhere else. If you want to know how that chord is constructed and how that knowledge translates to other chords this is the book.

Ever wonder how a group can play together for the first time and say, "let's do this song in A" and away they go? you will learn in the first 20 pages the mechanics of the fret board and the patterns of ALL scales and how and why they relate.

I have only read part of the book so far, but only because I need to become familiar with what I have learned so far to understand what is ahead.

This book includes exercises and examples of every concept along with explanations of why it is an important building block to learn before yo move on.

I would say that this is a must have if you want to be a serious musician who plays the guitar and not just a guitar player.
1178232
I am an experienced guitar player who loves Rockabilly music.  This is an excellent instruction.  No matter what your level of playing you will definitely learn something of value from this.  I recommend this along with Jason Loughlin's 50 Rockabilly Guitar Licks You Must Know and The Guitar of Brian Setzer if you really want to get a handle on Rockabilly guitar.
47831
This book is great for beginners, because it takes you through the beginning stages of learning how to play guitar. It gives you tips on how to choose what guitar would be best for you, and it gets straight to the point.