Life with Hal - Book One

It's officially been two weeks since I started going through the Hal Leonard guitar books and I've finished book one, so I think it's time for an update. These are the same books that I used when I started my guitar lessons 25 years ago. I bought them again because the books and I had some unfinished business. Also, I'm weak on the fundamentals.

How's it been?

Surprisingly fun. I wish I would've had this mindset back when I was 11. I would be a much better guitar player now, and who knows? Maybe I'd be making some kind of living playing music. But, my life worked out very well anyway, time only moves forward, and all I can do is start from right now and become the best guitarist I can until old age takes it away. These books will help.

I'm saying "books," but it's actually "book" because all three versions are bound together in one complete edition. In fact, it's really hard to find where one book ends and another begins. I had to look at the track numbers for the accompanying CDs and when they reset back to one, that's when the next book starts. So far, I haven't touched the CDs. Maybe I will once I get to the more advanced stuff, but book one was too fundamental to need the CD tracks, at least for me.

That also explains how I got through it so fast. Book one concentrates on the most basic of basics - the notes of the open position, a handful of chords and strumming techniques. I already know all those. Where the book helped, though - and why it was fun - was for sight reading. There's no tablature in this book. If you want to play the songs, you gotta read the music. That proved to be a formidable challenge for me. I like challenges. That's why it was fun for me to practice reading music, even though it was for songs like "Greensleeves" and "When the Saints Go Marching In." When I was 11, I couldn't get past the song choices. I wanted to learn Van Halen. For the record, I actually enjoyed "Greensleeves," not for the melody but for the chord progression. I still play it. Maybe I'll rip it off for one of my songs. Wait - forget you read that.

For the novice, what book one gives you is a firm grasp of the basics of guitar playing, including enough notes to play in three keys (C, G and D) and enough chords to play a buttload of songs. It's a great introduction to guitar if you really want to learn to play - those of you who just want to strum chords around a campfire or who want to learn scale patterns and positions without sight reading should look elsewhere. I highly recommend it for those who fit the first description. In fact, when I'm done with the complete edition (all three books), I'm going to pass it along to someone else who's just learning. Maybe they'll stick with it, like I should've done 25 years ago.