Mel Bay's Modern Guitar Method Grade 1, Expanded Edition by Mel Bay

Mel Bay's Modern Guitar Method Grade 1, Expanded Edition Reviews

• 
  Mark Pedigo

  Mel Bay books are the classics for learning guitar.
  
  For context, my background: I learned to play piano when I was 6 and took lessons for ten years. I got fairly advanced and even considered going to music school. I've played piano on and off during my lifetime (I'm now in my early 50s). So I understand music basics, but on a different instrument. I had a few false starts on guitar: one in fifth grade, when I took lessons for a few months, another few months 6-7 years ago when I started lessons, but then I decided to spend my time learning new skills for my job instead (which btw, paid off :)). In late 2020, during the COVID lockdown, my wife suggested I pick the guitar back up and man o' man, did I ever. I've been putting an average of an hour or two a day for the last year. I've tried Justin Guitar, TrueFire, Hal Leonard, Mel Bay and watched a gazillion hours of YouTube vids, mostly Beato and Rhett Shull. So IMHO...
  
  Audience
  If your goal is to be a 3-chord campfire strummer, then you don't really need to learn to read music and learn to play step-by-step from the ground up. If your goal is to be a well-rounded player, then this is the traditional starting point. If you want to eventually be at a (semi-) professional level, then, yes, you really do need this book.
  
  In any case, I would recommend to simultaneously look at a more holistic approach (either with a teacher or online from, for instance Justin Guitar or TrueFire beginner courses) that will teach you the fretboard as a whole and the overall concepts of playing, not just stick you in position 1 on the bottom end of the instrument for a year and make you crawl up a key at a time over 7 grades and many years.
  
  Pros
  * The classic. This was the first book of its kind so everyone knows it.
  * Ubiquitous. Every serious guitar player has a copy of this book.
  * Thorough. You'll certainly learn a lot.
  * Proceeds from super easy (notes on the top string in whole notes) to some challenging songs.
  * MB is often slammed for being old-fashioned and having you play "Twinkle Twinkle." I don't think that's really a bad thing. You know how these tunes go so it's an immediate check to whether you're playing correctly. Also, you're not obligated to play simple tunes ad nauseum if you don't want to.
  * Comes with audio if you don't have someone handy to play with on the duets. Some of the arrangements are actually quite nice to listen to.
  * There are videos for many of the songs/exercises on YouTube. Check them out.
  
  Cons
  * The classic. This was the first book of its kind so even updated, it doesn't include more recent ideas (e.g., fretboard as a whole) you'll get in newer approaches.
  * I suspect some of the "expanded" material is there just to beef up the size of the book. I think you can safely skim some of the redundant material to see if it's worth working up.
  * No overview of the series as a whole. Not a deal killer, but at the beginning it would be nice to have a tour of the whole series, so that you know where you're going and how you're going to get there, not just dive into tiny details and blindly build from the ground up.
  * Takes an classically-based view of music, so you won't learn about much about popular music (read rock and pop) from it. Since a lot of people really just want to learn cowboy chords, how to use a capo, and a few strumming patterns, this method might not work for them.
  * Uneven. Most exercises and songs are challenging but not overly so (if you've been following along) but occasionally there's a real zinger. These are not marked in any way, so you occasionally feel like you've swung at some many easy soft pitches and then out of the blue been hit in the head with a curve ball.
  * Similar to the previous point: baby barre chords are introduced in a friggin' FOOTNOTE! This is one of the most challenging aspects of playing guitar for beginners and there's only a footnote that casually states, oh yeah, by the way, play multiple strings with one finger like it's no big deal when in fact it's probably the first major stumbling block for players. I wonder how many potential players have given up when they got to the baby F chord.
  * You can easily end up knowing everything and not being able to, you know, play anything. Along with a formal approach, you should also learn/memorize some popular songs for fun and to show off for your friends and family.
  
  The summary. If you seriously want to learn guitar, this is a vital component. But not the only one - you also need a teacher or vids (not just random YouTube vids, I mean something organized like Justin Guitar or TrueFire) to fill in the gaps.
  
  I've found learning the guitar to be challenging and rewarding. Good luck!
  
• 
  Clint the Cool Guy

  Fantastic for study! When I was a teen I had the regular edition. This is my first taste of the “Expanded” edition. Wow. I’m really blown away here! It’s like getting 3x the content. You get way more here than you did with the originals. It is really awesome.
  
  The original has lots of songs and teaches you the notes so you can read music. As a guitar student, I like this a lot. I feel like tablature is sloppy and not helpful in learning how music actually works. It teaches you one song but that’s it. That’s why I really the basic but foundational music reading skill that this book teaches you.
  
  The book gradually builds on itself, covering the “guitar friendliest” key of C first, and then G, with Am and Em also. It teaches you how to read and play every note for all strings on the first 5 frets. And it teaches all the basic chords for keys C and G.
  
  Now with “Expanded”, you get a lot more than just that. You also get:
  
  1. Additional songs for practice.
  2. Many duet songs.
  3. Multiple, multiple scale practice challenges.
  4. A lot more sight-reading opportunities.
  5. Chord strum pattern practice sections, for developing your rhythm guitar skills.
  
  That last one in particular is hugely helpful and really effective. It’s a super nice addition. Practicing that stuff, you’ll be playing with others in no time.
  
  This is not a book to rush through. The material can be quite challenging and if you start skimming tough sections, that won’t help you in the long run. (Trust me I know!) Its better to just take lots of breaks while you are working through it all. It takes lots of repetition to master.
  
  I myself am not “finished” with this book. Yes, I’ve played through the whole thing but a lot of that was stumbling through. So I know I need to slow down and work on it more to master it. My goal is to do all the Mel Bay Modern Guitar books, eventually.
  
  Really great tool for self-learning guitar! No teacher needed! Just time and determination. Highly recommended!
• 
  Mel Bay

  The Modern Guitar Method Grade 1/Expanded Edition provides valuable enhancement to the world’s most popular guitar method. This comprehensive spiral bound volume doubles the amount of studies and solos presented. Every new concept is reinforced by numerous pages of new study material. In addition, every note contained in the original Modern Guitar Method Grade 1 is included and supported by additional playing material.
  
  •Expands entire content of Modern Guitar Method Grade 1
  
  •Double the amount of study and solo material
  
  •Spiral bound
  
  •Provides an incredibly solid foundation for any guitar student
• 
  Blas Alfredo

  i THINK THIS BOOK IS GOOD