Beyond Basics: Fingerstyle Guitar, Book & Online Audio

I am a self-taught guitarist and I considered myself a beginner. Being self-taught, I'm pretty directionless and whimsical when it comes to practicing and learning. I randomly pick songs off YouTube to mimic, download random tablature and more recently I decided to start investing in guitar instructional manuals to try rein in my lack of discipline. Beyond Basics Fingerstyle Guitar is one of the books I purchased a few weeks ago.For someone who is attempting to self-teach and lacks direction, this book is great. The book is broken down into several sections, each of which build up to a simple but beautiful song. The author takes different measures out of the song and explains both in the book and on the CD and the breakdown is very clear and logical. The author is also very encouraging, especially on the CD; he has a very patient and calm voice - feels like having a nice teacher in the room with you. He plays the tracks slowly at first and then speeds up to tempo and adds encouraging words along the way.Given the title "Beyond Basics" I assumed that the author was assuming at least some foundation in fingerstyle but he starts from the very beginning and the book, I feel, doesn't take you very far beyond that. This is not a bad thing. I feel that he tries to make sure you've developed basic fingerstyle skills without frustrating you, so while progress might seem incremental, they are building solid foundational skills in a slow but non-frustrating way. Other instructional books I've acquired seemed to jump around with skill level and techniques and this book is like a nice comfort blankie to come back to because it assures you that you are progressing while other books may suddenly drop a roadblock on you.One thing that was a little different about this book was that the author immediately takes you up and down the fretboard (albeit on the same two strings). Other beginning instructional books usually never stray past the first 5 or even 3 frets so that was a nice change.Overall, I recommend for the absolute beginner. If you already have some guitar skills and are looking to develop some fingerstyle skills, this book may not be for you. If you already have some fingerstyle skills (you've developed some right hand finger independence), this book may be OK especially to review but it will not take you very far. I felt it was a little easy for me but I really enjoyed his teaching style and will definitely move on to his other fingerpicking books.

I like Hanson's books - he's a good teacher with good material, as are most other authors of tutorial books with CDs. However, I could've saved a lot of money on books had I first come across the DVD "How to Play Fingerstyle Guitar" by Eltjo Haselhoff (available through [email protected]), which I'd come upon at YouTube. The video production is top notch, from lighting to scripting, to camera angles, etc. and Mr. Haselhoff's goal is to get you to a point of fingerpicking mastery that you needn't have to have tab to play a tune that you've heard. His instructions are very clear, and, like his playing, precise. And he has a pleasing personality as well.Check it out.

This book,like other Mark Hanson books, is not only well written and presented, but comes with a CD that's almost like having a teacher at your side. I'd certainly disagree with the review by A. Mutimer who says "If you have basic finger separation and the ability to play two and three note thumb patterns you may easily be able to play, and remember, everything in this book in a bit over an hour." While an advanced player would be able to get through this material quickly, how many of those who are just learning fingerstyle guitar are at that level? Played at tempo, a piece like "Key to the Kingdom" obviously requires expert finger control and speed, which is one reason, I'm sure, why Hanson says he plays this piece in most of his concerts. It's impressive, and anybody who can play it like he does is definitely an advanced guitarist. But what makes this book so appealing is that even a beginner can tackle this piece at a much slower tempo and enjoy trying to develop their skills. Other pieces in the book, like "Canyon Canon" are easier, but still challenging enough for beginners and intermediate players who haven't mastered fingerstyle technique, and provide plenty of opportunity for improvisation to take them to a higher level. I give this book a 5 star rating even though it has some errors. I contacted the author's website to mention the errors I found in the chords/notation/tabs for "Key to the Kingdom". It's played correctly on the CD, but the printing errors could confuse somebody who realizes that some of the printed notes don't correspond to the way it's played. I was told that Warner books, the publisher, failed to give the author a chance to proofread the book before publication. I'd be happy to share these errata with anybody who can't figure them out.

BE AWARE! My first exposure to fingerstyle was in lessons from a classically trained guitarist. He introduced me to the p-i-m-a designations of the fingers of the right hand. Because of this early exposure, books that teach fingerstyle technique using any other nomenclature are confusing. This one uses t-i-m-r [thumb, index, middle, ring]. This might make sense to you and be suited to your purpose. That wasn't so for me. Yes, it would be possible to go through the book changing all the finger references over to the system I'm familiar with. But it would be BETTER if Amazon's 'Look Inside' feature actually showed some useful content so that I might avoid the error in the first place. I returned the book to Amazon, so rated it 3-stars, not wishing to slam it, nor give it high praise since I don't have enough experience to form an opinion on the content.

For a long time I've been comfortable with playing chords, strumming and singing songs, but I never really learned to pick.This book is an excellent bridge and skill builder.If you just practice and work your way through the book you will get better. I know that can be said of a lot of things i.e. the practice part, but I've either purchased or borrowed from the library too many books that really don't take you along a sensible path, expect a level of dexterity that my spade like hands will never achieve, or have you playing pieces that are meaningless.The book itself consists of a number of pieces, with each piece broken down into the component parts. Very simple, easy to follow, and with a CD for reference.Highly recommended.

I have learned so much from this book already!! never played fingerstyle before, but now I even played my electric fingerstyle

Had this book ages ago but lent it out and never got it back so its been great to get back into it, really like his teaching style and found it very easy to follow as a beginner fingerpicker.

this is one book that i have really wanted as i like this style of playing also have other books of Marks

The book is very well constructed & the CD is good as it shows what the song is supposed to sound like. I just found it very basic & unchallenging. If you really are a total beginner & want to learn this style I would recommend the book. If you can already do basic finger picking then this is not advanced enough to teach you anything new.