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Kid's Guitar Course, Book 1 (Book and Enhanced CD) (Kid's Courses!)


Kid's Guitar Course, Book 1 (Book and Enhanced CD) (Kid's Courses!)

Binding: Paperback
Author: R. Manus
Manufacturer: Alfred Publishing Company
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Features:
Average Rating: 4.5
Total Customer Reviews: 21
List Price: $14.95
Our Price: $10.76
Sales Rank: 3248

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Product Description


Alfred's new Kid's Guitar Course is the easiest method ever that teaches children to play songs on the guitar right away. This 48-page full-color book comes with an enhanced CD that always lets you hear how the music should sound, and each lesson on every colorful page is explained in plain language that's easy to understand. Plus, you get to learn from three irresistable guitar experts-a clever classical dog, one cool jazz cat, and a friendly alligator who loves the blues. They keep your attention focused by pointing out what's important on each page and help you learn by making music fun! When the enhanced CD is played on a computer, additional tools are available, including a chord dictionary and a guitar tuner. You can see and hear the music, adjust the tempo of songs, and even record yourself playing with a band!

Users Product Reviews:

Product Review Summary: Six-year-old takes off

I purchased this book for my six-year-old granddaughter to help her get started on her new guitar. The book is great! She was able to understand the fingering of the chords and how to fit them with the words of the songs. I am already looking for the next in the series. This approach is very good for young learners. Using real songs that she recognized captured her interest and sparked her desire to learn the chords.

Product Review Summary: Great Guitar Method for Young Children

I have been teaching classroom music for over 30 years. I also teach guitar. I was always afraid to begin young children on guitar, because the coordination was too difficult for them. I discovered The Kid's Guitar Course, Book 1 and Book 2 a few years ago. It is kid friendly. It has only a little music on each page, has fun pictures and clear explanations. A few years ago, I had several parents approach me to teach a guitar class to second graders. I have been using this book with the matching course book for about 5 years. The children love the book and are very excited as they advance through the pages. I see the advantage of 3 string chords, as well. The children learn to keep strumming as they change chords, rather than stopping to figure out how to make the chord. They also learn how to play simple melodies on the first three strings. The note speller is a great reinforcement of what they are learning in the course book. I highly recommend this guitar course to use for any beginning guitarist up through 10 years old.

Product Review Summary: Decent, not great

I don't think this book is quite as great as some other reviews have made it out to be, but it has been better for my couple of younger students than the Mel Bay book. The smaller, easier 3 string chord forms are good for young kids that don't have hands big or strong enough to play full 5 and 6 string chords. Towards the end there is a good mixture of single notes and chords which is nice. The variety of songs do a decent job of teaching about different rhythms and rests. However, I'm not crazy about the lyrical element, they have not helped at all, especially since the written melody for guitar doesn't usually match up with the traditional melody that would go with the lyrics used from well known kids songs. Still glad I chose to get a couple copies of this.

Product Review Summary: One of the Best Methods for the Early Beginner

This is one of THE BEST methods out there for the young guitar student learning to play pick style guitar. The book and enhanced C.D. are excellent instructional tools. I've used this book for a few years in private instruction and just started using it in my young beginners group guitar class with great success in both areas.

The text starts with three-string chords and progresses through various rhythmic combinations (though never using eighth notes) with the C,G,G7, and D7 chords. Along the way the student will play some original and folk songs (i.e. three blind mice, etc). The melodies are provided on the accompanying C.D. and are quite easy to pick out.

The second half of the book focuses on learning to read standard notation. (NOTE: there is not TAB) The text covers notes through the first three strings. As with the chord section the child will play various original melodies as well as famous classical and folk melodies (i.e. Ode to Joy, Jingle Bells, etc). In this section the student will play the chords they have learned previously along with the notes they are learning.

If you are using this book in private or group lessons you may want to introduce standard note reading alongside the introduction of chords, instead of moving sequentially through the book. As stated earlier there is NO TAB in this book which may turn some teachers off. After completing this book the student would understand the material roughly through the first half of Book 1 of either the Hal Leonard or Mel Bay Guitar Methods.

If you are looking for a method for classical guitar for the young this is NOT for you! I would highly recommend getting Classical Guitar for the Young by Jay Traylor. An even better book though difficult to get in the U.S. is The Guitarist's Way by British guitarists Peter Nuttall & John Whitworth.

Product Review Summary: Great for young kids. Best parts are the three-string chords.

After reading the positive reviews on this book, I ordered it to help me get my kids (8 and 11) started on guitar. They are learning on a steel string acoustic, so they are both still working on properly fretting, but this method is a great way to get kids started. I had never before seen the three-string chords presented, and these are great. Three of the most commonly used chords can be played by fretting only one string! Once the kids learn a few of these, there are many songs they can play along with, even outside this book, and that kind of positive result will keep them interested. Drawbacks? This book teaches chords before playing any individual notes, which is like a cart before a horse. I'm jumping around in the book to introduce some single notes first. Also, I wish the songs for them to strum chords to also showed a melody, to allow me to play along and also give them more basic melodies to play. The CD, however, does play along with them, so that part isn't too bad. I'd buy again for any student under about 10-12.

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