Strumming the Guitar: Guitar Strumming for Beginners and Upward with Audio and Video

It's great to get to know some chords in the 1st position and strumming patterns in 4/4 & 2/4 time signatures.

Gareth Evans’ ‘Strumming the Guitar’ is every wannabe instrumentalist perfect read. The author starts with the most basic of lessons. The thing with Gareth Evans’ style of expression is that he draws interest where there was none. The author is unique with his wording and perfectly illustrates what needs to be done for anyone who wants to learn how to use a guitar. He makes even those who had little concern curious enough to enjoy the learning and process of playing the guitar. The text in the book is easily comprehensible. Even when talking about technical terms, the author ensured that the reader masters every playing technique in the book.The author commences by revealing to the reader how to read chord diagrams. He does this with images that show exactly what every learner should do. I acknowledge Gareth Evans’ step by step style when explaining how to handle the chords. The author was generous with the drawings, pointing every necessary move a guitar player uses. One may assume that the guitar can be held in any way. This is not the case as the author clearly illustrates which way the hand should face when holding the musical instrument. The strumming hand is the key determinant in making music with the instrument. You will like how beautifully the author describes how one should hold a plectrum for strumming. The author goes further and writes on where along the strings should be strum.‘Strumming the Guitar: Guitar Strumming for Beginners and Upward’ has six chapters that focus on different parts of the guitar. One gets the impression of being in a fun music class as the author digs deeper on topics like chord changes, fretting finger independence, strumming exercises and much more. It is interesting to note that there are different ways of strumming the guitar. The reader learns that the different techniques produce different sounds and all this can be achieved by following the instructions given. Get to learn the 70 different guitar strumming patterns that professional guitarists are familiar with. Every learner must be familiar with the rhythmical notation. The author does an exceptional job covering this topic.The reader is taken through various notes that include quarter notes, whole notes, eighth notes and how they are used. The charts and diagrams in ‘Strumming the Guitar’ are an excellent addition in the book. The diagrams are strikingly illustrated and the charts excellently designed to make the reader have a better understanding of what is discussed in the text. The images also kill the monotony that would be in the book had the content only been in text form. The drawings are simple but appealing ad easily comprehensible. Gareth Evans’s book is for every beginner who does not know any primary technique in guitar playing. You feel like a pro once you complete the book because of how thorough the author is. Music enthusiasts will love the content in this book.

This book was super helpful to me, a beginner to all stringed instruments, to learn the basics. It covers everything from hand/finger positioning (including pictures to show the reader correct and incorrect positioning). In addition to the pictures, there are also diagrams of notes, sheet music, audio and video links and more to help teach guitar strumming. The flow of the information was smooth and transitioned to more difficult concepts after giving the reader a chance to learn the other foundational steps first. I thought the book ramped up a little too fast for my skill level and I would have liked there to be more "practice this" pages in between concepts to get those foundations a little more firm before continuing. Otherwise, I thought it was a good way for beginners to learn guitar skills.

Coincidentally, this period happens to be the best time to learn some new skills.Yet to complete book's lessons, certainly the lessons included in the book would be difficult to complete in one sitting.However, I must say compilation of the lessons is quite impressive and easy to follow.In some cases, those who would like to learn a musical instrument do seek shortcuts to learning the instrument of interest, and probably do not end up developing a distinct style of playing in addition to the nuances of applying the instrument, along the way.With Gareth Evans' Strumming the Guitar, you wouldn't really need to do that.Pages are easily digestible and pleasant to the eye. Lessons, described aptly, thus easy to grasp. The book takes you slowly, from beginner to the intermediate stage.You do have the audio/video download option at the end of the book.Would be updating this review if I come across anything I feel I would like the author to know.

What better time to pick up a musical instrument than now?!? I have always been self taught on the guitar just experimenting with different strums and sounds. I was kind of excited to pick up this book and get to work learning how to strum right. This book is great for self taught beginners like me. It is informative and the pictures illustrate what you need to do to and the strumming pattern. I really like that this book is very easy to follow and explains everything in an easy to understand way. I am excited to use it to continue learning as much as I can. I feel like this could also be helpful when I am ready to learn more stringed instruments as well. I saw that they have books geared to toward kids too at the end of this book and I will be getting them for my daughter so she can start learning too!

If you’re looking to pick up a guitar for the first time or looking to refresh your rad guitar skills, you’ll want to look at this brief but highly informative book by Gareth Evans. “Strumming the Guitar” provides an introduction to the basics of using a guitar, primarily strumming. Topics covered included musical notation, strumming techniques and patterns, chord changes, and opportunities for practice (guitar not included, of course!). The book is written for the general audience in mind, making it perfect for guitarists of all ages and levels.What I particularly love about this book are the helpful and instructive illustrations. They’ll help you learn proper strumming techniques, hand placements, and the correct and incorrect ways of performing certain actions with your guitar.This book is the first part of a series with the second book progressing to more intermediate and advanced techniques. I highly recommend this book if you’re interested in learning to play guitar!

Well writen, easy to understand ,quite informative ,thanks

really good

E' la cosa più semplice del mondo. il 98% di chi "suona" la chitarra non fa altro che questo. cinque o sei accordi e via, tutto il pop italiano ai propri piedi. Invece l'accompagnamento musicale è un'arte, e non si riduce a 10, 8, 6, 4 accordi.E acquisire una base solida permette di gestire meglio molti altri aspetti dello strumento (ritmo, arpeggi, improvvisazione, passaggio agli strampalati accordi Jazz).E' il primo titolo (2 volumi destinati al principiante e all'intermedio) che vedo in parecchi anni strutturato, progressivo, che permette uno studio dell'accompagnamento ritmico e del rafforzamento della mano sinistra. Bel colpo Evans.

Excellent book, easy to follow with audio and video available. My only regret is that I did not have this book when I started playing. It would of save me a lot of time. Great price for what you get. A must have.

Book is easy to read and train strum patterns,recommended for beginners.