Music Theory for Guitarists

Rating:
Summary: Exactly as advertised
Review: "Music Theory for Guitarists" is exactly as the title advertises. Tom Serb walks the reader through the basics of sound, rhythm, notes, rests, time classifications and signatures, pitch, clefs, scales and modes, chromatic scales, intervals, triads, chord inversions, extended chords, transposition, and chord progressions and cadences. Just under half of the book is dedicated to music theory itself without any particular application to guitar work. This is the section that covers things like notes, rests, and other items that apply to music in general. On page 41 he starts moving the reader into applying this knowledge to guitars and further developing your knowledge of music. For the serious guitarist who wants to know more than how to strum a handful of chords as backup, is a recommended text.

Rating:
Summary: great book for guitarists
Review: "Music Theory for Guitarists" is not your every day theory book. Almost every other theory book I've seen was more suited to a keyboard than a guitar. Not so in Tom's book. He takes a fresh perspective of learning theory on the fretboard, without needing to read music. As a matter of fact the initial 50 pages of the book will teach you all you need to know about reading music so you can understand the rest of his book.

Almost every stanza of notation and scale in the book is accompanied by tab or chord charts. Scales and chord formation are covered extensively. There are also a number of cool things thrown in, like alternate scales. Every wanted to play the Pelog scale or Manaranjani? It's in there. Want to know what Morendo or Rubato means on a piece of music? It's in there.

Perhaps the front cover of the book describes it best,

"A step-by-step guide through the elements of music, with new ways to think about playing."

If you are looking for a great book for basic theory, designed for guitarists, this is it.

Rating:
Summary: Exactly as advertised
Review: "Music Theory for Guitarists" is exactly as the title advertises. Tom Serb walks the reader through the basics of sound, rhythm, notes, rests, time classifications and signatures, pitch, clefs, scales and modes, chromatic scales, intervals, triads, chord inversions, extended chords, transposition, and chord progressions and cadences. Just under half of the book is dedicated to music theory itself without any particular application to guitar work. This is the section that covers things like notes, rests, and other items that apply to music in general. On page 41 he starts moving the reader into applying this knowledge to guitars and further developing your knowledge of music. For the serious guitarist who wants to know more than how to strum a handful of chords as backup, is a recommended text.

Rating:
Summary: Music Theory for Guitarists is fantastic!
Review: The hundreds of illustrations were excellent and made it so simple to follow along with the text. Tom Serb's writing style is geared towards those who don't want to sit in a stuffy class room to learn what others know.

After reading this book my music not only sounds better but other people can now play it off my sheet music. It's nice to now be able to understand what others were talking about all these years.

Rating:
Summary: Music Theory for Guitarists is fantastic!
Review: The hundreds of illustrations were excellent and made it so simple to follow along with the text. Tom Serb's writing style is geared towards those who don't want to sit in a stuffy class room to learn what others know.

After reading this book my music not only sounds better but other people can now play it off my sheet music. It's nice to now be able to understand what others were talking about all these years.