Back to basics

While reminiscing about my first foray into guitar lessons I mistakenly thought the book I used was a Mel Bay guitar book. I recently figured out that it was, in fact, a Hal Leonard book. How do I know that?

I just bought it again this weekend.

To be more accurate, I bought the fully bound, three-books-in-one version with a CD for each book. Back then I just had book one with no CD. In fact, I don't even think CDs were widely available back when I first started taking lessons. Yes, I'm old.

So why would I go and buy the same book that I used as an 11-year-old when I'm obviously advanced beyond it? Well, I'm not as advanced as some may think. Sure, the book is very rudimentary, but it's those rudiments that I'm missing. On the plus side it means that I don't have to struggle with the mechanics - I already have the ability to stretch my fingers to form a G chord - and I can focus on what's missing, which is theory and sight reading.

What I like about this book - and why I bought it over other books that teach the same things but in a "modern" way - is that there's no tablature to cheat with. If I want to play along, I have to read music. The only way I'll read music is if I'm forced to read it. My other book, Scales over Chords, is an excellent book and I've learned a lot from it, but it's noted in standard notation and tablature and I always find myself reading the tab and not the notes. If I want to learn to read music, and I do, I need to be forced into it. There's no other way.

As for the book itself, it's not much different than what I remember from 25 years ago, except it's been updated a bit. For example, the picture used to demonstrate how to hold an electric guitar shows a fairly modern looking guy holding a Stratocaster, while the old book had a picture of a guy who looked like he stepped right out of Bill Haley and His Comets, complete with suit and tie, holding a Gibson ES-355. There's also a section on "Alternative Rock" which I'm sure wasn't included in my older version. Other than that, it's pretty much the same, with the same organization and musical pieces (I can't wait to learn "Greensleeves").

I'm having fun with it so far. The aforementioned rudimentariness of the exercises means I can get through them quickly - I got through the open notes of the high E, B and G strings in one day, as opposed to the month it took me as an 11-year-old. I'm jazzed that I'm actually reading music, as simple as it is. I also feel like I have unfinished business with this book. I stopped my lessons without even getting through book one, so this time I want to finish what I started all those years ago. Then I'll move back to Scales over Chords knowing I have the rudiments covered and by then I should be a much better player. I hope.

I'll let you know if it works.