Best Guitar Book

thomasross20

Had this book gathering dust for a year and now I'm on holiday I find it to be an almost complete work for beginner or advanced guitarist. A tad outdated or not, it's a joy to read and the theory section is solid.

The Guitar Handbook by Ralph Denyer.
Hands down best guitar book.

Philly_Q

It's more of a reference book than a teach-yourself-guitar book, but it is very good and covers a lot of ground.

That's one thing you lose with the internet, key information properly edited and gathered together in one place.  Now everything is scattershot!

cruxiform

I still have my 80's copy of The Guitar Handbook, I learnt loads from it.

thomasross20

I reckon if you read it cover to cover it could be largely the only guitar education you need

TonyR

I lent my copy to a mate years ago, not seen it since.

thomasross20

Buy another, well worth it!

gordiji

Another guitar handbook fan, i got it for a birthday about 30 yrs ago. I didn't know about triads, flat sevenths and stuff like that before said book. It's a poor 2nd to youtube though . Kids of today really have it all, good cheap gear & free tuition !

thomasross20

Yeah but there's TOO much info these days. At least it's condensed in the book.

Aidanspaghetti

My dad got it for Xmas years ago and it never left my bedside! That picture at the back with the boogie etc.... Man, I spent many many nights perousing that one.....

thomasross20

Lol...

Philly_Q

thomasross20 said:

Yeah but there's TOO much info these days. At least it's condensed in the book.

Yeah, I look at tuition vids on YouTube occasionally but there are too many, pitched at all different levels, some good, some awful. It's overwhelming.

If I was starting to play again (...and I often do consider going right back to basics and starting from scratch) I'd have no more idea how to approach it and where to begin than I did 35 years ago.

Aidanspaghetti said:

My dad got it for Xmas years ago and it never left my bedside! That picture at the back with the boogie etc.... Man, I spent many many nights perousing that one.....

And Andy Summers with his Hamer Sunburst.  I had (almost) the same guitar so it was always nice to see it in the book.

thomasross20

Even though it was printed years ago, I really enjoyed the section on stagecraft and on the artists. 

Sorry @Philly_Q - you basically said the same thing as me (condensed material) in your original reply!

Neil

I have a copy from 1989.

Excellent book indeed if  a bit dry.

Unfortunately  I find myself falling off to sleep when I get to the theory parts.
:-S

MikeB

Well there was a cheap one on Ebay just now so I've bought it as some reading material for the holidays this summer. 

thomasross20

Exactly what I did when in Greece - almost read the whole thing in a week (but lots to work on after having read it)

Philly_Q

It is certainly a bit dry, not a "holiday read" IMO - unless you're the sort of person who actually enjoys reading textbooks and manuals. It's more of a reference book to dip into.

But it's all so nicely presented - colour coded pages for the different sections, good layout, really nice chord charts at the back...

thomasross20

I dunno... the artist section was good, as was the tech section at the back. The theory section is highly relevant and if you're on holiday you can just do "fretboard memory" practice

Zodiac51

I have the self same, often dive into it - excellent book

All the theory stuff was written by Isaac Guillory (so he told me, a long time ago) and as his name is on the IFC I have no reason to doubt it

Best left hand in a guitar player period..

https://youtu.be/E2lyu0s-DbI 

Flink_Poyd

Picked one up off eBay the other day, I like how it covers things like the construction etc rather than just flat out theory. Well worth the £8

thomasross20

That was a great vid!

GuyBoden

thomasross20 said:

Had this book gathering dust for a year and now I'm on holiday I find it to be an almost complete work for beginner or advanced guitarist. A tad outdated or not, it's a joy to read and the theory section is solid.

The Guitar Handbook by Ralph Denyer.
Hands down best guitar book.

In a lot of guitarist's opinions, the greatest ever guitar book is the advancing Guitarist by Mick Goodrick:




There's even a YouTube video (I've not watched it)