Rating: 
Summary: Painfully Boring
Review: Simply put, this book does not have enough pieces. After completing the first position at page 116 and moving on to the second position, you have only learned six little pieces that you can perform. The rest of the musical examples are exercises. There are plenty of beginning level solo guitar literature written within the confines of the first position but Noad does not provide them. I firmly believe you must not lose sight of the reason for playing the classical guitar, which is passion for the music. Doing day after day of exercise could cause a student to lose interest. Most students will never reach a professional level of performance on the classical guitar. The classical guitar is an extremely demanding instrument. I think most students are more interested in having fun, and playing pieces if fun. It's ok not to beat your self up doing exercise because it is just a hobby. I recommend Charles Duncan's "A Modern Approach to Classical Guitar." Duncan has simple arangements of well known tunes. It is very important for student to learn music they are familar with so they get an intuitive understanding of rhythm and interpretation. Unfortunately, most people are not familar with 16th to 19th centurary solo guitar music. For a very lucid explanation of guitar technique at the advance level, get Charles Duncan's "The Art of Classical Guitar Playing." Good luck!
Rating: 
Summary: A very good place to start
Review: This is the book I started with and I'm very glad I did! Noad is probably the most accessible guitar method author around. I'm self-taught and believe me there are many ways you can go wrong by being your own teacher. If you like the dummies genre of computer books you'll love this method. He doesn't assume you know anything to start with or try to impress with his advanced mastery. But he does have an intimate knowledge of what a beginner needs to know and how to impart that knowledge. His book one and two are an excellent example of what separates a great guitarist and teacher from just a great guitarist. But you need to read and re-read the text very carefully. There are subtle points, which if glossed over will cause untold pain and cursing later on. But it's all right there in the book. If you heed his advice and study twice as carefully as if you had an instructor whom could catch those mistakes then you'll be ok! All these guitar methods (including this one) have one glaring deficiency: Lack of enough and varied practice material. Maybe I'm a little dense but classical guitar is not easy. It takes time and a LOT of practice! One can only repeat the same few lines of notation so many times without getting bored to tears. So I solved the problem by getting just about every method book known to man. After the first couple of books it starts to flow and become fun! Each book goes over the same concepts in a little different way with of course different practice pieces. The flaws of one book are cancelled by another and it becomes exciting as you move faster and faster through each text. What was once arduous becomes smooth and pleasant! The Carcassi book is great once you are a little more adept. It's purportedly for beginners but is rather dry and pedantic and a tough slog if you're just starting. There's some great stuff in there however if you already have the basics of notation down. I found it very useful for learning the higher positions. The Christopher Parkening books are great. He starts right out and keeps going with very pleasant sounding practice pieces, which helps keep your enthusiasm high. But like most others (unlike Noad) he leaves out small but crucial details that leave one scratching ones head or throwing projectiles. But if you've done Noad first you just say AH! I know what that is! Jason Waldron is also good and straight forward, easy to understand. (Although I wish he would come out with his second book already!) He has a whole gaggle of songbooks (6) filled with familiar folk tunes, some classical and including CDs. They are very pleasant, easy, confidence building practice pieces. But I prefer Baroque. Node does a very excellent book of Baroque pieces. He also has a Renaissance book with some very pretty tunes. What a joy to read and play such beautiful pieces from hundreds of years ago! It's definitely worth the work! Now, to end on a bit of a heretical note. I had to teach myself because I really don't like the sound of nylon strings on the classical guitar! I wanted to play baroque music on an electric or steel string acoustic guitar. Just like each person plays every piece a little differently and with his or her own interpretation, I wanted to be able to shape my own personal sound with electronics. Besides, I just like the sound of steel!
So, I use a flat pick to replace the thumb and steel finger picks on the last three fingers. As an added bonus you don't have to fuss with all that fingernail growing, filing, business! I like it and it works pretty well although I still haven't quite figured out how to do harmonics... but I'm working on it! Who knows, you might want to try it also? So, I hope you come to enjoy the classical guitar as much as I do. Persevere through the initial pain and you will never be sorry you did!
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