Guitar Books Review #1: Alfred Beginning Fingerstyle Guitar Method
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- Опубліковано 25 сер 2024
- Is this one of the best or worst method books for learning to play fingerstyle guitar?
You can learn to play music using a variety of resources including teachers, online resources, and books.
Alfred Publishing's “Beginning Fingerstyle Guitar Method” is an excellent method book aimed at beginner and intermediate guitar players who want to learn to play solo fingerstyle guitar arrangements complete with melody, bass lines, and inner harmony. I wouldn’t recommend starting in this book if you are just picking up a guitar for the first time, but if you have your basic chords down then you should be ok. Even if you are a late-intermediate or advanced fingerstyle player, this book is a great creative springboard for new ideas and inspiration.
1) Good information about general fingerstyle guitar technique and useful music theory (the stuff you really need to know including diatonic chords).
2) Good fingerstyle patterns followed by musical application of those patterns. These make for great warm-ups/technical skill-builders and they provide creative inspiration.
3) Introduces all the elements of playing fingerstyle guitar. Melody, bass, inner harmony, alternating bass, special techniques, introduction to alternate tunings.
4) Great repertoire. All original songs (no famous songs that you’ve heard on the radio), but they are legitimately catchy and you could play a coffee shop gig with just the tunes in the book.
5) Audio Access
The book does not get into arrangement for fingerstyle guitar (taking a tune or melody and creating a solo fingerstyle arrangement/version). It also doesn’t get into the modern percussive techniques used by modern players like Michael Hedges, Don Ross, Andy McKee, Mike Dawes, etc. No thumb slaps, guitar body percussion, or tapping.
This is the first book in a 3-book series (Beginning, Intermediate, and Mastering). The latter books do discuss more advanced techniques and dive deeper into alternate tunings. However, this first book is extremely musical. It’s also worth checking out Alfred’s “Beginning Fingerstyle Arranging and Technique for Guitar.”
Acoustic steel string or classical nylon string guitar. Published by Alfred Publishing, written by Lou Manzi. © 1996
My eBook: Arranging for Fingerstyle Guitar: purchase a pdf of my book at joemcmurray.com...
Riding the Wave: my second fingerstyle guitar album is available on all streaming platforms.
Such an incredibly thorough review. Thanks! Am getting this.
Great review! I have owned all three books of this series for a few years, but couldn’t stick with it for some reason. I think your review is gonna be the impetus to get me back to it. Thank you!
Thanks so much! Glad to give you a little push as well! Let me know if you ever need anything musically.
Loved it and bought the book. I’ve had so many books in the basket on this subject but this showed me that this was exactly what I wanted. Thank you for the depth of the video 🙇
So glad to hear that the video was helpful! Have fun with your guitar!
Great review with examples. I have the book but stopped using it - but you have inspired me to pick it up again. Thanks again for the detailed review
I'm glad it was helpful! Make sure to incorporate the repertoire tunes at the end of the book into your practice while you go through the book. Let me know if you ever need anything or if you have any other book review suggestions.
I found this coincidentally a few days after getting the book. Actually, I got the complete edition I think with beginning, intermediate and mastering. I've been working on fingerstyle for a couple of years since I first started playing. I'm pretty good at basic stuff, but the very first patterns in this book were challenging. I'm just on #4 and muddling through very slowly. To me, this is a good thing. It tells me, I will be working on this book for a long time. Thanks for the great review and looking forward to more. (I love books also)
Darryl - Thanks for commenting! I really like and recommend this book (and the entire series). You could warm up with the patterns in Chapter 3 each time you sit down to practice, but simultaneously keep moving forward in the book. Chapter 4 ("Playing Two Lines") is so important and enjoyable, and uses a different sort of coordination from Chapter 3's arpeggiation patterns. If you can make your way through the just "Beginning" book then you'll be able to play some satisfying and crowd-pleasing solo fingerstyle tunes.
Great video, thanks for sharing these reviews with us!
I'm glad they have been helpful! More in the pipeline.
Man, everything you’re playing here sounds great. Plus that guitar sounds amazing. Just wondering, is this book series orientated towards folk or classical.
Thank you!! I do love my Lowden... Recorded my 2nd and 3rd albums with it and the sound is noticeably better than on my first album. This book is definitely geared more towards folk and "fingerstyle" rather than "classical." Which are you more interested in?
@@JoeMcMurrayMusic Duly noted. On the book front, since I am learning to read and already play a little (with a pick) I went ahead and bought two books - one classical and one folk. The Aaron Shearer Classic Guitar technique which is beginner level I believe + a collection of intermediate songs in notation called "Fingerstyle Guitar Songs: Hal Leonard Guitar Method Supplement". The second is likely to be a challenge but hopefully UA-cam will help with technique. Will fiddle around and see what works.
Only worry is whether The Hal Leonard will have fingerings or not.
Shucks. Just checked the displayed pages of the finger style book on Amazon and I see there are no markings for fingering. I might have bitten off more than I can chew. Any advice? Can one wing it with a little help from UA-cam.
@@accentontheoff If you are interested, spending time studying classical guitar will seriously help your "fingerstyle" playing. Learning to improve your tone, to choose the most efficient fingerings, etc. I actually have the Aaron Shearer book to see if I want to use it as a teaching aid, but haven't had the chance to go through it yet. So the only "fingerstyle" book you own is the Hal Leonard supplement? I'd really suggest getting one of the methods that I've reviewed on my channel, as that will help you to play those supplemental songs much more than browsing on UA-cam for tips! Or work with a teacher!
Great review! Very helpful for me, an early intermediate player wondering which direction I should lean toward (fingerstyle or rhythm). One question: are the exercises presented in "tabs" or in standard music notation or in both (ideal)? Thank you!
Thanks so much! If you aren't a singer, then fingerstyle may prove to be much more satisfying. Even if you are a singer, then you can do the James Taylor thing and learn to play great fingerstyle accompaniment. You really can't go wrong.
The exercises in this book are all presented in both TAB and standard music notation.
@@JoeMcMurrayMusic Great. Thank you for your reply!
Hi Joe, I ordered this book after watching this video (and subscribed to your channel). I have also read good reviews of Ken Perlman's fingerstyle guitar book. Do you know that one? How does it compare to this Alfred method? I am thinking of ordering that one too
Hey Daniel- thanks for checking out my videos! I really like the Alfred Fingerstyle series (including the Beginning, Intermediate, Mastering, and Arranging books). They have good difficulty graduation and they have approachable tunes. I haven't ever used Ken Perlman's book, but I just pulled it up on the internet and I'm planning on purchasing it so that I can do a review of it in the future. Let me know if you are looking for anything in particular and I can help direct you to something that I have already worked through.
@@JoeMcMurrayMusicThat's great thank you! I have been playing guitar for 6 months only but I can play the piano, I guess that is why finger independence on the right hand is surprisingly easy for me on fingerstyle. I have also ordered the Leavitt modern method. I now it is for plectrum but I will play with fingers. My ultimate goal is arranging and even improvising so I need to know how to move around the fretboard. Could not find an equivalent method like Leavitt to play with fingers. Keep posting these videos, please, I love them!
If there is intermedia book can you do review of it so we know is it worth to start that series?
Thank you
Hey Konrad - the intermediate book is a wonderful extension of the beginning book and I will do a full review in the future. Definitely worth working through these two books if you're looking to get into/improve your fingerstyle playing. The 3rd book in the series (Mastering) contains a lot of advanced concepts that take significant hard work to master and incorporate into your playing. It may or may not be for everyone!
where does one find your book on arranging and composing fingerstyle guitar?
Hey @johnmcleod8961 you can find my book at joemcmurray.com/checkout/. Let me know if you need any guidance while going through it! Thanks!
thank u so much...I'm looking forward to it.