14: 10 Best Guitar Books for Self Teaching

Looking for the best guitar books for self teaching? Then look no further than this episode!

I'll break down my favorite method books for:
- acoustic guitar
- electric guitar
- classical guitar
- guitar theory
- guitar for kids
- guitar foundations as a whole
- and more!

Subscribe to the Guitarjet Podcast for more episodes like this.

And have a great day!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Guitar Jet podcast, where you'll skyrocket your
knowledge of theory, techniques and fundamentals for guitar. Welcome to
the show. I'm your chief guitar instructor, Miles, and today
I'm going to tell you about the ten best guitar
books for self teaching. And you can find a link
to this list in the podcast episode description. So let's

(00:22):
die right into it. And of course, if you like
this episode, recommended to your friends and subscribe to the podcast.
So if you want to learn guitar with ease, then
you're going to love this list of best books for
self teaching. And some of the books are newer, such
as The Complete Guitar Manual, Complete Technique for Modern Guitar

(00:46):
and The Definitive Handbook The Definitive Guitar Handbook. And some
of the books are timeless classics, such as The Hellanerd
Guitar Method, Guitar Aerobics, and Music Theory for Guitarists. So
let's take look at him, and I want to start
by highlighting the Complete Guitar Manual by DK. This is

(01:08):
like my book in first place, because it's an exceptionally
well written and well crafted Guitar Method Book. It's small
and compact, and it has three hundred and fifty two pages,
and the visual elements are absolutely incredible, and it's a
fantastic resource for every guitar player's book collection. Seriously, this
is one of the most in depth guitar books I

(01:29):
have ever found, So check it out. And the next
book is a staple, the Hal Leonard Guitar Method Book.
Darn near any season guitarist, you'll meet well in this
book for starters. It's written by Greg Cooch. Greg is
a legend as both a guitar book author and a
world class improviser. And second, it's a great book if

(01:51):
you want to teach yourself how to read music for guitar,
because learning to read music will not only teach you
the note names on the fretboard, but it will also
help you understand note lengths and rhythmic symbols like quarter notes,
eighth notes, half notes, and triplets. So make sure to
keep this in mind because these method books don't have

(02:12):
tablature and tell you're more than twenty five percent of
the way through the book. And the third book is
the Helendered Guitar tab Method, which is different than the
Regular Helender Guitar Method because it has tablature and it's
jam packed with popular songs, which makes it quite a

(02:33):
blast play. And there are three books in the series.
You'll learn a wide variety of popular songs, techniques, theory,
and other guitar fundamentals by reading through all three of them.
The fourth book is The hellenterd Acoustic Guitar Tab Method,
so if you're an acoustic player, this will be right

(02:55):
up your alley. It's just like the regular Guitar Tab Method,
and it has popular riffs and licks from bands such
as The Beatles, Johnny Cash, Eagles, The Who, and all
sorts of other great classic rock bands. So I recommend
getting both books, both the Acoustic Guitar Tab Method and

(03:16):
the Regular Guitar Tab Method because reading both will take
you on a convenient A to Z path for learning
acoustic guitar fundamentals. And the fifth book is Guitar Aerobics
by Troy Nielsen, so if you're looking for a fun
guitar practice routine, then you'll love this book. It coined

(03:39):
itself as a fifty two week, one lick per day
workout program for developing, improving, and maintaining Guitar Technique and
it's certainly one of my favorite books for self teaching,
and I still use this book and play through the
exercises after more than nineteen years of guitar playing. So
long story short, get Guitar Aerobics if you're looking for

(04:01):
a fun guitar prectice routine to take you from late
stage beginner to a seasoned advanced guitar player. The next
book is The Definitive Guitar Handbook, which is by Cliff DAWs,
Hugh Fielder, and various other authors. So if you want
a foundation for every subject related to guitar playing, then

(04:23):
you need this book. It will teach you about musical styles,
guitar scales, rhythm chords, effects like delay, reverb, chorus, home recording,
famous guitar players, famous types of guitars, and the history
of guitar. Seriously, this book covers everything about guitar. It's

(04:44):
super cool. I think the examples could be better, but
if you really want to go deep into a specific
subject for guitar, you'll look into another book. So overall,
really great book for learning just everything about guitar. Then
his next book is The Complete Technique for Modern Guitar

(05:05):
by Joseph Alexander. So the first thing to know is
this book is written by Joseph Alexander and he's the
founder of the incredible modern guitar book publishing company called
Fundamental Changes. Their books are well crafted, come with audio examples,
and have both tabs and notation. As for the book itself,

(05:26):
you'll learn a wide variety of guitar fundamentals and exercises.
They're useful for any guitarist looking to teach themselves and
grow as a songwriter, improviser, or even a guitar teacher
slash educator. So overall, you'll definitely want a copy of
the Complete Technique for Modern Guitar if you want a
single modern method book that will teach you useful guitar techniques,

(05:50):
two hundred guitar exercises, tips for finding your voice on
the guitar, teaching you how to write songs, and also
shows you how to so definitely check it out. The
next book is a music theory book called Music Theory
for Guitarists by Tom Cold And of course, guitar theory

(06:11):
is essential to learn for any aspiring professional guitarists, and
this book is one of the best ways to learn it.
This book will take you through every step of theory,
including the musical staff, reading notes, types of rhythm, slash notelenks, harmony,
chord formulas and construction, scale formulas and construction in common

(06:31):
music terminology. It's truly an A to Z self teaching
method book for learning theory. You won't be playing many
songs or super exciting exercises, but you'll certainly learn one
hundred percent of what you need to know if you
want to be competent in music theory for guitar, so
check out that book Music Theory for Guitarists by Tom Cold. Now,

(06:53):
if you're looking for a book for kids, well then
you can't look further than Alfred's Kid's a Guitar Chord
by Ron Mainis. And I've actually taught like a dozen
kids how to play guitar using this book. Unlike other
beginner method books, the examples and songs in this book
are very simple and easy to play because they use

(07:16):
the top three strings of the guitar GB and high E,
and they simplify chord shapes. And this is great and
ideal for kids because of guitar let's face, it can
be tough on the fingers, and it's really frustrating for
first time players if they don't achieve some easy wins.
And another great thing about this book is the selection

(07:36):
of songs, and of course, like I mentioned earlier, the
simple chords that accompany them, and so you'll learn like
G C and G seven and the popular kid songs
are songs that I can almost guarantee they have heard before.
So if you have a kid or noah kid who

(07:57):
wants to learn guitar, you'll be hard pressed to find
a better guitar book for self teaching than this one.
And the last book I have on here is a
classical method called the How Leonard Classical Guitar Method by
Paul Henry, and it introduces you to common classical guitar
techniques and songs and introduce you to the classical music

(08:20):
genre as a whole. You'll start by learning notes on
the first and second strings, and then you'll play classical
songs and melodies using notes on those strings, the B
and high E strings, and you'll continue to do this
with every other string on your guitar, and you'll learn
classical music theory along the way. By the end of
the book, you'll have to. You'll have learned to play

(08:42):
some extravagant, interesting, and iconic classical guitar pieces. Overall, this
Classical Guitar Method book puts you on the right path
to playing classical guitar the way you've always dreamed of
playing it. So final notes about the best guitar books
self teaching. There's a wide array of options when it

(09:03):
comes to books that you can learn with, so read
about each book on Amazon, learn about their authors, and
make your final decision based on the type of guitar
player that you want to become. Overall, though, my top
two books I'd recommend from this list are one The
Definitive Guitar Handbook, which will teach you every fundamental you

(09:24):
need to know about the guitar and its history, and
two the hell Lenard Guitar tab Method Books one through
three because it's a fantastic method book for beginners and
intermediate players, and by the end of book three you'll
have learned a wide assortment of songs, techniques, and guitar licks.
So at the end of at the end of the day,

(09:46):
the decision is yours. Just make sure you do further
research about each guitar method book and pick the book
that jumps out at you. Thank you so much for
listening to the Guitar Jet podcast. I've been your host, Miles.
You're awesome and rate the show. Subscribe to the show,
Tell a guitar friend about the show, and I'll catch
you in the next episode. You have a fantastic day.