As a guitar teacher, one question you may be asking yourself is “Which guitar method book should I use?” There are many books out there, and all of them seem to offer something different. Finding the right method book is crucial, but the process can take a lot of trial and error. This article will take a look at 4 of the most popular beginner guitar method books in an effort to make your teaching experience a lot easier.
What Makes a Good Guitar Method Book?
Before we look at the books, let’s consider some factors that we will be looking for in each book:
Pacing
Pacing is particularly important for younger beginners who have no experience with music. Some books tend to get ambitious with their expectations of the student. You don’t want to put months of work into a book, only to realize it will take you forever to finish it.
Repetition
After learning a new set of notes, a new musical concept, or a new technique on the guitar, the student should be able to practice the new skill before moving forward. A well-paced book will take into account that the new information needs some practicing. It will provide a decent number of songs for the student to practice for that skill.
Focus on Rhythm
There is no doubt about it. If you fully understand how to read rhythms, you will be a better musician. I spend a very good chunk of my lessons making sure my students are playing each rhythm correctly, preferably while counting out loud. A good book will have a variety of rhythms without overwhelming the student.
Song Selection
This is a struggle for all guitar method books. Most of them rely on American folk songs and songs that younger students would have known – in the 1960s. I find that it is easier for a student to truly read a song if he or she does not already know the tune. That being said, a book with a good song selection gives the student an opportunity to learn traditional songs. It also gives the teacher an opportunity to teach a little bit about the notable musicians who performed them. Kids these days are definitely being deprived of “Red River Valley!”
There are certainly many more factors that can be taken into account when deciding whether or not a guitar method book is right for you. For the sake of simplicity let’s leave it at that four. We have some books to look at. The order in which I have chosen to list these books outlines my own personal journey as a teacher. The first was the first guitar method book I used and the last is the current book I am using.
The Books
Jerry Snyder’s Guitar School
The Pros
My Guitar Pedagogy class in College used this book as the main example of how to teach beginning guitarists. This book certainly tries to cover as much ground as possible. In order to accomplish this, it has a very unique format. There are two sections: Section 1 is all about chords and accompaniment and Section 2 teaches musical notation. Both sections are to be used simultaneously so the student can develop a working knowledge of both chords and melody at the same time. This book covers so much ground, those finishing this book will know techniques on the guitar that most methods don’t cover until well into book 2.
Section 2 (which is similar to other method books) has students thinking about rhythms from the very first song. There is a great emphasis on rhythm, and plenty of helpful information about music theory. Many of the songs are melodies taken from classical guitar repertoire, which makes the classical guitarist in me very happy. Most songs also have an interesting, but not terribly difficult second part for the teacher to play.
Section 1 starts with basic chord progressions and uses many popular melodies such as “Amazing Grace,” “Our Land,” and “When the Saints Go Marchin’ In” to help the student understand basic strumming. This section covers a wide variety of techniques, including power chords, bass-chord accompaniment, and fingerstyle accompaniment.
The Cons
I eventually stopped using this book because of how it is paced. Almost every song has something new to teach. This is excellent for the student who picks up on musical concepts quickly. I found it rather difficult for a student who needs a bit of practice with each concept to fully grasp it. That being said, I definitely recommend this book for a more mature music student who may already have some musical training.
Mel Bay’s Modern Guitar Method
The Pros
This book is a classic. I trudged through this book in the earlier days just like many others. Unlike Jerry Snyder’s Guitar School, Mel Bay has a much more straightforward approach. Students learn the guitar string by string while gradually learning musical concepts and 3-4 string chords.
The Cons
This book is my least favorite of the books mentioned in this article. In my early days of teaching, I was having a hard time getting my students to move on from songs because of how difficult they were. Finally, I had a major epiphany: “What if I don’t use this book anymore?!” There you have it, one of the most scathing things I’ll ever write on this blog – I hope.
The portion of the book concerning the first string (Pages 7-8) has good examples of the E, F, and G notes with different rhythms. The page introducing the second string is exactly what it should be. Page 10 launches the student immediately into confusion. There are longer songs that skip between strings like it’s not a problem for little fingers. By page 15 students are already learning eighth notes and alternate picking. By the time chords are introduced, the book becomes downright impossible for some students.
Alfred’s Basic Guitar Method
The Pros
I used this book for a very long time. It is very similar to Mel Bay in its layout but it is definitely more mindful of any learning curve the beginning student may have. There are plenty of songs for the student to practice after each string is introduced, which allows the new notes to really sink in. The book teaches musical concepts and 3-4 string chords at a slower pace than Mel Bay as well. There are a lot of good folk/Great American Songbook songs in this book. This provides lots of opportunities to talk about Pete Seeger, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, etc.
The Cons
Reading shorter musical examples is very helpful for the student who is learning to read music for the first time. Alfred’s Guitar Method doesn’t seem to agree with me on this. Many of the songs students learn early on in the book are 16-25 measures long. At this point in time, it is more important for the student to be focusing on reading 4-8 measure songs that contain pitch and rhythmic variations.
Another issue with this guitar method book is there are way too many quarter notes. A good number of the songs are a torrent of quarter notes, not allowing the student to properly focus on counting. There are songs with plenty of rhythmic variation towards the beginning of the book, but they are so long that the student ends up spending more time trying not to lose his or her place than reading rhythms correctly.
Finally, it is my opinion that learning to read rhythms is much more important than being able to play bass-chord accompaniments. By the time students have gotten to the low E string and have begun reading 8th notes, there is plenty of material to keep them challenged. At this point, the book puts a lot of emphasis in Carter style bass-chord accompaniment, which most students aren’t ready for yet.
Hal Leonard Guitar Method
The Pros
This book is my current favorite. I do not think it is perfect, but there is a substantial use of the first three “factors:” it is well paced, there is a lot of repetition of concepts, and the major emphasis is on rhythm. The book immediately introduces a variety of rhythms in very short songs and examples. The student gets plenty of practice reading simple rhythms before the book begins introducing eighth notes.
My favorite thing about this guitar method book is that chords and melody are kept separate. This makes the songs much less of a physical burden. Less physical burden means more time counting and focusing on technique. As the student starts to learn different strumming patterns with the chords, his or her working knowledge of rhythm is strong enough that changing chords is more natural. By the time my students approach the more sizable duets at the end of the book (including Bach’s “Minuet in G”) they are much more confident in their reading abilities.
The Hal Leonard Guitar Method’s song selection has some real gems. Many of the untitled songs are actually “Easter Egg” songs, which are famous pop/rock melodies disguised as mere exercises. There’s “Brown Eyed Girl,” “Spirit in the Sky,” and others. It’s always fun seeing if the student can recognize the song just by reading the notes.
The Cons
My main complaint about this book is the lack of even spacing between notes. This book could definitely use a good cleaning up as far as layout is concerned. There are spots where quarter notes are jammed in with eighth notes and other spots where quarter notes have as much space as the surrounding half notes. I have to remind my students once in a while what rhythm they are looking at, and it is usually not their fault.
Other Books
There are many other guitar method books out there that I did not mention. I have spent countless hours going through these books with my students over the years, so I thought it would be best to write about the books I have experience with. Perhaps in the coming months I will write a follow up to this with some different books. If you have a particular favorite, please don’t hesitate to let me know!