Hal Leonard Classical Guitar Method Book 1– Beginner’s Guide with Online Audio | Learn Classical Guitar Techniques, Sight-Reading and Repertoire from ... and Beethoven (Hal Leonard Guitar Method)

As an absolute beginner learning how to play classical guitar, I initially found this book to be a bit overwhelming, and it initially didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. I decided that there's just no way to properly learn from a book and started taking lessons that used Hal Leonard's Guitar Method book to learn the basics of music theory and reading the music. After about 4 months into my lessons using the Guitar Method book, this book made a whole lot more sense to me and was much easier to follow. The exercises are much more enjoyable than playing a song note by note as in the Guitar Method book (something I do to learn, but don't really find enjoyment in). Once I could cross over to this book, I found myself practicing more because it was just more fun for me.If you're an absolute beginner, like me, definitely get yourself a teacher. Get your feet wet with some guitar music theory and then add this book to your repertoire , it'll make much more sense and be much easier to progress with. At least that made a difference for me. And if your focus truly is to play classical guitar, be clear about that with your teacher.

I am four months into a decision to take up guitar as an adult. I had a musical background from previous work with the saxophone, which included some music theory and sight reading ability. My goal for the first year is to pick up through self-teaching some fluency in modern guitar rhythm and melody and some acquaintance with classical guitar. Accordingly I am working through two books - the Hal Leonard guitar method volume one, and the classical guitar method.The classical guitar volume is more difficult, though it could serve as an introduction to the guitar for a dedicated individual. The strength of the book is graduated exercises that teach important skills and at the same time sound pleasant and musical and are interesting to play. I can play these exercises in the evening after the rest of the house has gone to sleep and receive only compliments the next morning.I don't understand some peoples criticism in review about the lack of tablature - surely learning sight reading goes hand in hand with any form of classical study?I purchased both the hardcopy and the kindle version. Initially I was enthralled by the kindle version - with embedded music, I travel a lot and the ability to be portable with both written music and audio tracks is very helpful to me. However, after some practice, I decided that the small font made site reading and playing the exercises too difficult. I now use the hard copy for practice, and the kindle version to play the accompanying tunes. In my opinion, care is needed in the way you approach the backing music. To me, the best way is to work through the pieces unaccompanied until a degree of fluency is established, then use the backing tracks. Even better is to practice the exercises with a metronome extensively first.A very handy method for an adult playing interested in exploring classical guitar method, but there is plenty of work to do in this book. The great strength is that working through it will be rewarding and sound pleasant from the earliest pages.

I love this book. It offers excellent, straightforward instruction for the beginning classical guitarist, whether an experienced guitarist in other forms or someone who has never picked up the instrument before. The author, Paul Henry, moves along at an easy, but progressive pace that keeps things varied and interesting. He offers just enough rudimentary instruction to get you started, but without the material ever becoming overly pedantic and boring. I've been learning guitar for a few months and had waded through the Hal Leonard Method Book 1 with the assistance of an instructor, but I've been on my own for a while since I decided to throw my picks away and concentrate on the classical guitar. I've acquired copies of practically every classical guitar method book ever published, and have found some, especially those by Frederick Noad, Christopher Parkening, and Scott Tennant to be particularly good. But for the initial plunge, this book is definitely the best of the lot. I received this book today and it was a genuine pleasure just to skim through it and appreciate its content. Even though I am at the "advanced beginner" stage by now I am so impressed with this book that I'm looking forward to working through the entire book, cover to cover, which I'm convinced will be very productive and satisfying. This was the last method book I bought, but for building a solid foundation in playing classical guitar, I'm convinced this one is the very best.

Hal Leonard has produced a series of great guitar method books focused on different styles including Blues, Rock, Country, Acoustic, Jazz, and Classical. This guitar method book by Paul Henry is designed to take the new guitar student from the very basics of guitar technique and note-reading to proficiency in playing basic classical guitar pieces. The book begins appropriately not assuming any previous knowledge on the part of the student and builds consecutively from basic note reading and playing, fingerpicking, and eventually full classical pieces.Many Classical Guitar favorites are found here such as the works of Tarrega, Carcassi, Carulli along with other traditional pieces by Bach and Beethoven. The book includes a very well recorded CD with all of the instruction sections and guitar pieces performed by Paul Henry. This book is very well arranged and generally contains good selections of music for the student to try their hand at. Too many method books contains pieces that either infuriate the student or bore them to tears. This method book generally avoids that problem. By the end of this book, the student will have laid a solid foundation for further guitar studies, classical or otherwise.