Guitar Theory FD

Just an outstanding book. It's not really for dummies; you do need to know how to play the guitar and have some basic understanding of music, plus a desire to learn theory. Beginning guitarists, or those who just want to play popular songs probably won't want to put in the effort to grasp the bigger picture here. But for those who really want to learn, the instructor explains everything very clearly and takes you step by step. And learning theory is the way to go. I've played guitar, on and off, all my life for personal enjoyment. Took some lessons when I was a teen a long time ago. Late in life, I decided to take lessons again, and at first I just took songs to my teacher to learn how to play them. But then I discovered that after playing them 70 or 80 times -- in order to play them really well -- I would tire of them. So, I was constantly learning something new and forgetting what I learned before. I discussed this with my teacher and he recommended learning theory, then I could play anything. He's been teaching that, along with fun stuff to play, but I got this book as an additional guide. It's a lot more than that. Everything you need is here. It's really thorough. And done right. I find that I can open it to almost any page and just focus on that page, or maybe two pages, and learn something valuable, or reinforce something my teacher has taught me, or see how it relates to other things I've learned. Now, I play lead guitar to blues and jazz backing tracks, or I join the band as a guitarist on a favorite song, just to see how I can fit in. I find this a lot more fun. And soon I realized that music isn't that hard for the enthusiast, as it's just simple math with everything repeating over and over. Just get the basic patterns down and you can use them all over the fretboard. I've got a ways to go yet, but this is an excellent exercise for the older brain. Should have done it a long, long time ago. Takes some effort to get over the hump, but it's so worth it, and this book really helps! I haven't used the online resource yet... that's just one more feature. You can hear the examples, and the author also relates the keys, and chord progressions, and modes, etc -- to a lot of popular songs you'll know, so you can hear real-life examples. A really good book for the guitarist who wants to understand the structure of guitar music and then apply it all over the fretboard. A really practical feature is that once you learn how it works, you can easily change keys. I have some favorite keys, so if I find something I Like in A flat that I want to change to A or B or E, no problem. If I find something in F#m and I want to change to A minor of E minor, no problem. Much smarter way to approach guitar.

I am a great fan of Desi Serna. I have Fretboard Theory Volume I, Fretboard Theory Volume II and all of the CDs. Now, I have purchased Guitar Theory For Dummies to complete my collection. Guitar Theory For Dummies has a similar scope to Fretboard Theory Volume I and Fretboard Theory Volume II. However, it is combined, updated, redone, reorganized and formatted in the popular For Dummies style. It includes many updates and added content (like all new audio and video instruction including professionally recorded guitar play-along backing tracks). Desi Serna really makes guitar Fretboard theory interesting and easy to understand. His books and CDs really teach you guitar theory and will help your understanding of the guitar and what you are playing. In addition, Desi can be contacted and will respond to your questions. I would highly recommend his books and CDs to others.

I’m a little more than halfway through this book and overall it is very helpful. I wouldn’t recommend this book for someone just starting on the guitar, but if you have some basics down then try this. The examples are helpful for the most part and the audio/video links are good too. Also, for me, one thing that helped is when I hit a topic that was confusing, I would just Youtube it for more explanations from other people to make it click. Music Theory is tough and it takes a multi-prong approach to help it sink in. Anyway, best of luck!

Desi Serna has authored a truly unusual and high quality self guided learning tool, and then managed to have it squeezed into a single book, with details and well thought out explanations of guitar theory then any single individual I've run across, period. And, I've been dedicating a lot of time and effort as a self-taught individual attempting to conquer this subject prior to paying for High Dollar Lessons and dozens of DVD's with tablature (TAB) via downloaded "pdf files" or more costly hard copy spiral bound books. You cannot beat the price and quality offered, period. This book includes a huge list of popular songs which allows a student a means of chasing down musical examples should they take the time required to use the internet search engines such as You Tube to find actual audio recordings. A valuable resource in itself. This list of songs are identified as part of the lessons through out the book as well as in the index. 295 pages long & loaded with diagrams and each diagram supplemented with additional textural explanations...how can you go wrong. I use this book A LOT!!!

This book taught me a lot. Before working my way through it i could play basic chords - buuut nothing over the 3rd fret with any understanding. Yeah, playing by ear is fun. But obtaining a general understanding of fretboard theory has proven to be invaluable for me. This book was detailed, easy to understand, and had helped me improve my guitar playing tremendously. I would encourage any beginner to moderate player to pick up a copy of this book if you, too, are in a rut and searching to broaden your understanding and improve your playing ability.

Book ist sehr gut geschrieben. There is a wealth of information to find in this book. Desi Serna shows you a bottom up way to learn how to play the guitar. Along the way he suggests many songs to use to help with your practice and that's what learning players really need to come to grips with. Use your own skills, develop your listening skills. Two thumbs up for Desi Serna

I can't compare this with other books of the same kind, but I have learned quite a lot from it already.

As a lot of Rock/Blues guitar players out there I've never had any formal guitar lessons. I learnt to play "by ear" by asking friends and other guitar players lots of questions. Now this was back in the 1970's (I'm 56 now and started playing around with the guitar when I was 15) and information on guitar playing was limited to only one or two magazines and the "How to Play Classical Guitar" books in the local public library of which I wasn't interested in learning. How I wish the internet had been around then. Anyway, I think it was due to pure dogged perseverance that I was able to attain a skill level to play in bands of various styles over my playing career with a reasonable level of success and more importantly to create my own music (which was the reason I wanted to learn guitar in the first place) but, I've never had a basic comprehensive knowledge of guitar music theory with the emphasis on guitar. Working out other peoples songs has always a laborious process for me, I'd pretty much get there in the end but boy was it hard work. Composing my own music has always been a case of experimenting with chords and notes that work well together with my ideas but not knowing why they do. It always felt a kind of "hit and miss" process. I knew it would be quicker if I had the theoretical knowledge but I couldn't find anyone who could explain it to me in a way I could understand and that related specifically to guitar, until I stumbled on Desi Serna's podcast and then his website. Then (and I am being genuinely honest here) HIS way of explaining it started shining a light into my deep, dark pit of the mysteries of fretboard theory. I've only just started applying my fingers to the practical application but having skimmed through the books, with the online videos and podcasts I've had so many little "lightbulb moments" of realisation going off in my head it's like a blurry picture that's starting to come into focus. For example; I've never really understood the Maj and Min aspect of the Pentatonic Scale. I thought there was just a Blues scale a Major scale and a Minor scale with a couple of slight variations and that was it. Also I'd only be using certain parts of the fretboard when playing solos and just not touching other parts. I've known for a long time that I've needed a way to link these areas together and the way Desi Serna explains all this in his book "Guitar Theory for Dummies" it's lighting up the path ahead for me.

He cogido una buena base musical y he aprendido muchas cosas fundamentales que desconocía. todo está muy claro, pero tienes que saber inglés. Igual estaría bien una edición es español

This is a great book, great explanation. Easy to understand. A must have for guitar players.