Product Description

Selections from all periods of classical guitar literature for the beginning or intermediate player , in both standard notation and tablature. Includes a full-length CD of performances by the author to guide you through your studies.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #30070 in Books
• Published on: 1998-12-01
• Released on: 1999-12-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 80 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780825617294
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Customer Reviews

Excellent book!
I am a rank beginner, having only purchased my first classical guitar 4 months ago. I use several method books in my daily practice (Noad, Parkening, et al), but the one I open the most is this excellent compilation by Jerry Willard. It is well organized, starting with easy pieces that get gradually more difficult. The book has both standard notation and tablature.

The first few pieces are easy enough for even an early beginner like myself to play (not like Mr. Willard, of course, who plays all the songs beautifully, but well enough to keep me interested and keen to practice). The songs are simple but very attractive, and I find myself actually listening to the accompanying CD a lot, at work or in the car.

The only reason for not giving this 5 stars: I would have preferred a spiral binding - it is not that easy to keep the book open, and after a few months of daily use I am getting worried about pages starting to become loose. Not a big deal at all, though. If you are a beginning or early intermediate classical guitarist, this book will definitely not disappoint you.

Good Set of Easy Classical Guitar Solos
I'm an accomplished flat-picker and finger-picker. I picked this book up a couple of weeks ago and have been learning the pieces in it, and I'm satisfied.

The fifty pieces in the book are arranged in more or less increasing order of difficulty. There is a nice variety of different tempos, time signatures, keys, etc., and the pieces are about as good as they can be at this level of difficulty.

I'm torn between four stars and five stars for this book. The reasons that I've decided on four stars are:

The pages in the beginning devoted to brief biographies of the composers would have been more useful had they been devoted to things like explaining that p means the thumb, a means the ring finger, and general advice on right-hand patterns where the notation does not explicitly give right-hand fingerings.

The notation should give right-hand fingerings more frequently. Very often, I can get the notes in several different ways. My guess is that some of them will build up bad habits when I move to more demanding pieces; it would be helpful to be practicing patterns that will prove helpful in the future.

These are, however, minor criticisms. This is a very nice collection of pieces, and I can recommend it whole-heartedly.

Who are you?
If you are a classical player, you probably shouldn't be picking up a classical book with "easy" in the title, don't you think? I'm a fingerpicker, and when I get stuck in a merle travis rut, this book is a great way to get out of it. Nothing all that hard, but well presented and chosen.
My only complaints are the same as some other reviewers: the biographies would be better replaced with some technical notes (if I feel the sudden need to read about Sor's life, there's always Google). Also, wire-bound would be nice so I wouldn't have to prop up my tuner and a beer can to hold the book open.