David Braid
Backbeat Books: 146 pages (Includes a CD)
There are six main sections here, that take you from the absolute beginning, reading music, how to sit, how the guitar fits together, and with some basic pieces to get you started, until the second section introduces you to quavers and semi-quavers, more complex rhythmic ideas, some accidentals, dynamics , and generally bringing the pupil on in a slow but steady fashion. By section three the emphasis is on tempi, memorization, 2nd position, the order of the sharps and flats, half – Barres and again gradually increasing your knowledge without there being too many huge leaps along the way. The fourth brings in the full barre now, the third position, and then the fifth position before entering into ornaments .By now the pieces you are playing are much more interesting and this process continues through the final two sections where the more advanced ideas come into focus.
You don’t feel that you are being rushed when going through the book as Braid is very careful not to rush anything as things are introduced very gradually and in most circumstances a pupil will greatly benefit from everything appearing very naturally, and a good teacher (because I would never recommend a pupil trying to learn on his own!) would naturally steer the pupil in the right way, and explain things that maybe they didn’t fully comprehend, and also add any supplemental material at the right moments.
As such this book is perfectly fine and would suit many pupils. Yes, there are always places in every tutor book where things could be better, and this book is no exception, but I can see this generally fine volume being of some considerable use.
Chris Dumigan
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