The principles of correct practice for guitar

• Publisher:   Jamey World, Inc.
• Number Of Pages:   106
• Publication Date:   2005
• ISBN-10 / ASIN:   B0006RKLZG
• ISBN-13 / EAN:  
• Binding:   Perfect Paperback

I have improved in my playing a great deal from this book, my fingers look and feel and glide along the strings better when I play, I have been playing for years off and on bc I felt like I was practicing so much with little results, I practice more diligently with "The Principles" bc I have seen results in a relatively short period of time. This book is all about "muscle memory", your fingers NEED to remember doing the right thing while practcing, otherwise, your fingers have the possibility of just "scrambling" all over the place awkwardly trying to strike chords successively, which I had problems with up until now, I actually feel comfortable calling myself a guitarist now, I am naturally a piano player as I has started playing at an advanced level rather quickly, I was quite arrogant about picking up any instrument as quickly, but the guitar had rather painfully slow progress for me for years, up until I got the Principles. This book is all about advancing the fastest through small adjustments here and there in your approach to playing guitar. Highly reccomended, helped me with my piano playing as well.

This book would be a real asset had it not been so poorly written, over worded and unorganized. I think for the selling price the writer should have gotten a professional to help weed through it. As another commenter said "get to the point". I don't know if its over packed with useless paragraphs to help bulk up the book or not. I just feel that it could have been written in a much better way. Good information just a lot of digging and time wasting to weed it out.

Let's clarify a few things:First off someone has a selling price of 89.99 posted which is absurd unless it includes the DVD. You can buy a new copy of the book for a heck of a lot less from the web site.Second, Jamie Andreas is a woman, however for whatever reason, her assistant, partner, whoever often comments on the web site, etc. so it's confusing whether a man or woman wrote this book. The web site is one of the best out there,chock full of good advice. Third many complain the book is geared towards"classical players" partially true, yet there is a section on how to play with a pick. Fourth, while I haven't purchased the DVD, I suspect it's a great supplement to the book. All that being said, yes, it's awfully cluttered at times, perhaps not properly edited, etc but can be a useful practice tool and certainly a book one must continue to read and re- read for maximum absorption. The DVD is quite spendy however I'll assume a visual teaching tool cuts to the chase.

I think this book is excellent and a must-use (not must-read, more on this later) for any beginning guitarist or for any experienced guitarist who are finding it hard to play better, especially the self taught. There are thousands of books, dvds, cdroms, and internet sites that will bombard you with chords, scales, songs, etc. that will tell you WHERE to put your fingers and WHICH strings to strike. But they almost always don't give a hint on HOW to train them to do it the best possible way, or just barely mention it without stressing it enough in the best cases. This book is completely on the other side of the spectrum. You won't find a single chord, note, song, etc. I can only recall the author barely mentioning a C chord once. But you will learn how to practice the exercises found in other books, and how to spare you a lot of problems when trying to reach higher levels of playing from the beginning of your learning process. You won't learn to play guitar using this book alone. You need either another book or, better yet, a teacher. If you are using a book or an interactive method (that's what I am personally using) to learn the guitar, do yourself a big favor and get Jamie's book. This book is not to be read from beginning to end and then put aside. Maybe the first time. But then you must use it constantly, reviewing the material several times, and jumping from section to section depending on the particular problems you are encountering at some point understanding why you are doing the exercises and then actually doing them, otherwise you won't benefit from it. It is not a compilation of exercises, as the author doesn't wan't you to just go blindly exercising your muscles, she wants you to understand why they must be done so you can commit to them. They are also not to be done mindlessly, the author asks not only for your physical effort, but your mental and emotional effort too. If you think you are capable of putting this effort into your playing and if you WANT to do it, then buy this book, otherwise don't bother.

The exercises are both mental and physical. I found that they do help my "real world" playing. I had been playing for 14 years before picking up this book, and majored in Music performance. So I can say that although the exercises are basic, they were, even to me, helpful. I play rock, metal, blues, and some jazz. The exercises helped my single line playing.

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