Fundamentals of Guitar: A Workbook for Beginning, Intermediate, or Advanced Students Spiral-bound – February 25, 2015

These are some pretty complicated concepts for me but I find them fascinating. The writer must be accessing all parts of his brain. A deep, Deep well of ideas, each of which could be their own source of study. Kinda makes me wish I stayed in school. lol

Unusual presentation compared to most guitar books. This is not a book of music where the student learns songs one string at a time. It is more of a reference that could be opened to any section to play/read a specific exercise. I particularly enjoyed the attention to detail in the visual/graphic "explanations." This book is what anyone with "writer's (musician's?) block" might want for exploring fresh sound palettes, or rhythmic ideas, or technical "puzzles." Reminds me of Mick Goodrick's "The Advancing Guitarist." Contains intriguing exercises. It is useful for the common practice theory student as well as the set-class theory student. Well researched, with academic rigor (full bibliography at the back).

This is an interesting book that has made me re-think a few things about guitar playing and music in general. I’ve been working off and on for a long time with books by Van Eps and Goodrick and Sor etc. — they’re still juicy sources of information — but this book is now on the top of the stack. It’s reminding me of some fundamentals I’ve been avoiding. The stack will change after a while, but this one has me moving.And as for the title, Fundamentals of the Guitar, reminds me of Hindemith’s Elementary Training for Musicians that pretty quickly, for me at least, becomes much more that elementary (rhythms that include everything from 8th notes to 64th notes).

First and foremost, there's better books aimed at beginning guitarists. But if you're here looking at this book and reading reviews... you probably already know some of what you're getting into. The author has told me in conversation that much of the purpose of it is to get a bunch of diverse and complicated ideas that he's had rattling around in is brain for years on paper in an organized fashion. So you'll find that a lot of this book may be a page or so on one specific idea that is clearly explained with suggestions for applications that are meant to open up possibilities for your own discovery. And that is one of its main strengths... I can open this book to any page and by the time I'm at the bottom of it, my mind is racing down several different pathways.That said.. I do wish I'd have had this book as a developing guitarist for a few specific sections which the author was kind enough to include. So instead of discussing the book in general I'm going to mention a few sections that I absolutely love.1. The patterns- Miles has mapped out every unique 2 note and 3 note pattern within one octave. If you think you know your scales, go through them using every one of these patterns and then come talk to me.2. The entire rhythym section- Why would anyone want to learn rhythm from Miles Okazaki? I mean... if you're here you probably already know the answer to that, but if you've somehow made it this far and haven't heard the guy play... check him out on Youtube ASAP. He's like a time lord on guitar. The rhythm section covers picking patterns, polyrhythm, articulation.3. Tools and diagrams for intentional composition- Throughout the book Miles includes many exhaustively cataloged figures and instructions for applications in composition, improvisation or just practice. He doesn't just waste paper on exercises, but shows you exactly what you need to know and how you should practice it.Highly recommended for guitarists of all genres. May be applicable to other instrumentalists with an interest in the subject matter.

The topics are fundamental, but the explanations are far from it, definitely not a book for beginners. The diagrams are very confusing and I think more use of notation would make some of the explanation easier to understand. I gave it four star because I feel there is some great info in this book, but it's not going to be easy to get out.

i like this book because it gives the reader a sense of how a guitarist might make up their own practice routines. it gives you a sense for how to explore all the variations of certain elements. how to look at different structures on the guitar, how to see the relationships of things.particularly useful for a beginner, it would serve as a great eye opener into what the world of guitar might contain

I have studied music most of my life and in that time have built a impressive library of guitar books and instructional dvds. This book is exceptional and possibly one of the only guitar books you will ever need .

Miles Okazaki is an awesome player and teacher. Buy his stuff on Bandcamp!