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The Guitar Handbook: A Unique Source Book for the Guitar Player - Amateur or Professional, Acoustic or Electrice, Rock, Blues, Jazz, or Folk
The most comprehensive resource available for beginning and experienced guitarists alike, whether acoustic or electric. Completely redesigned and with many more full-color photos than the original, this new edition surveys recent models and profiles current masters, includes an expanded lesson section, and encompasses 10 years of technological change in recording and amplification.
256 pages, Paperback
First published October 12, 1982
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
December 19, 2013
A friend mentioned in his holiday letter that he and his son were learning guitar together, so I bought this as part of a guitar care package I'm sending to them. The other parts of the care package: a capo, a string winder/peg puller, and a CD with a bunch of mp3s representing a range of guitar styles and guitarists that I respect.
I've sent this book to around 5 people who have mentioned they were interested in learning the guitar. (Sorry if I didn't send you a copy. It was because I didn't believe you were serious about it.)
So anyway, I spent an hour or so last night skimming/reading through the book since it was sitting out by the Christmas tree. In college had the 1982 edition (with the cooler, black cover and the Andy Summers intro) that I must have picked up and consulted at least once a week, so I was interested to see what was different in the updated 1992 version (with the less cool, blue cover and the Robert Fripp intro). Nice Lee Harvey Oswald smirk in your photo by the way, Mr. Fripp.
Since acoustic guitar making (luthiering?) has pretty much been perfected and an electric guitar is just a hunk of wood with mid-20th century electronics in it and most guitarists aren't interested in music theory or music production beyond c. 1980 -- despite the exhortations in Mr. Fripp's introduction -- this book has actually aged pretty well.
I could complain about this or that guitarist being left out of the The Guitar Innovators section, as the majority of my reviewing peers have, but I was mostly glad to see that Steve Cropper was included and surprised to see that Syd Barrett was included. So no complaints there. Well, okay. I can't help myself. Why the hell is there no Muddy Waters or Mississippi John Hurt, dammit??? I'm sorry. I couldn't resist.
I had forgotten just how complete of a reference this book is. The Guitar Handbook is really too modest of a title for how much information this book contains. Aside from my girlfriend and David Letterman, every one of my interests during college is in this book: famous rock guitarists and their gear, Gibson guitars, guitar repair and customization, music theory, chords, scales, electronic theory, audio electronics. (Weirdly, I had no interest in computers back then.)
It's also amazing how packed in the information is into only 250 or so pages. Each concept is clearly written with nice illustrations or a photo showing how to put your fingers. It can get quite deep quite quickly. It would take years to memorize, let alone master, the material in this book.
For example, I was flipping through the chords sections looking for a refresher on my favorite 9th chord fingerings, and the entire opposite page is taken up a section titled Altered Ninth Chords that has 12 illustrated gems such as the "Seventh augmented ninth augmented fifth chord fingering." The great thing about it is that the tone of the prose is so calm. It patiently refers back to the page numbers of sections that it is building on, and plows on like this is no big deal. Guitarists play chords that take a staff and a half and two sharps and a flat to notate all the time. No need to panic.
Two pages later: Chord synonyms. Two pages after that: Modulation using secondary chords. (Yuck! Sounds like jazz to me. Tear that page out.) These are probably entire college courses somewhere, but if read carefully and practice your scales and your chords all will be revealed to you.
The sections that help you understanding how your guitar is put together and how to adjust and fix it are very helpful too. And they are explained extremely well with diagrams and plenty of background theory. Being your own guitar tech not only strengthens your relationship with your guitar, but it helps avoid being spoken to condescendingly by a baby boomer with a grey ponytail, which is one of my pet peeves.
It will also help you determine the difference between a crappy guitar and one that just isn't adjusted very well. They both play just as poorly, but only one is salvageable. Nothing makes a beginner want to give up quicker than a guitar that is hard to play. So it's good to be able to make your guitar as playable as possible, whether it's a First Act thingie from Wal-Mart or a Les Paul Custom you found in your uncle's basement.
Bottom line: You don't need the Internet. You don't need to apply to Berklee College of Music. You just need some determination, a decent $200-ish Fender Squier Strat or Epiphone Les Paul and you can become a decent guitarist. A patient girlfriend helps a lot, too.
And later maybe get a breadboard, assorted electronic components, and a copy of Electronic Projects for Musicians for some real geeked out fun.
I recently donated the Les Paul that I played throughout college to the Bay Area Girls Rock Camp in Oakland. It was a happy instance where my desire to pass on some of the joy from my younger days dovetailed nicely with my fear of picking up guitar again as part of a midlife crisis. I would recommend any other Gen-Xers out there to consider doing the same. I should probably send them a copy of this book too now that I think of it.
I've sent this book to around 5 people who have mentioned they were interested in learning the guitar. (Sorry if I didn't send you a copy. It was because I didn't believe you were serious about it.)
So anyway, I spent an hour or so last night skimming/reading through the book since it was sitting out by the Christmas tree. In college had the 1982 edition (with the cooler, black cover and the Andy Summers intro) that I must have picked up and consulted at least once a week, so I was interested to see what was different in the updated 1992 version (with the less cool, blue cover and the Robert Fripp intro). Nice Lee Harvey Oswald smirk in your photo by the way, Mr. Fripp.
Since acoustic guitar making (luthiering?) has pretty much been perfected and an electric guitar is just a hunk of wood with mid-20th century electronics in it and most guitarists aren't interested in music theory or music production beyond c. 1980 -- despite the exhortations in Mr. Fripp's introduction -- this book has actually aged pretty well.
I could complain about this or that guitarist being left out of the The Guitar Innovators section, as the majority of my reviewing peers have, but I was mostly glad to see that Steve Cropper was included and surprised to see that Syd Barrett was included. So no complaints there. Well, okay. I can't help myself. Why the hell is there no Muddy Waters or Mississippi John Hurt, dammit??? I'm sorry. I couldn't resist.
I had forgotten just how complete of a reference this book is. The Guitar Handbook is really too modest of a title for how much information this book contains. Aside from my girlfriend and David Letterman, every one of my interests during college is in this book: famous rock guitarists and their gear, Gibson guitars, guitar repair and customization, music theory, chords, scales, electronic theory, audio electronics. (Weirdly, I had no interest in computers back then.)
It's also amazing how packed in the information is into only 250 or so pages. Each concept is clearly written with nice illustrations or a photo showing how to put your fingers. It can get quite deep quite quickly. It would take years to memorize, let alone master, the material in this book.
For example, I was flipping through the chords sections looking for a refresher on my favorite 9th chord fingerings, and the entire opposite page is taken up a section titled Altered Ninth Chords that has 12 illustrated gems such as the "Seventh augmented ninth augmented fifth chord fingering." The great thing about it is that the tone of the prose is so calm. It patiently refers back to the page numbers of sections that it is building on, and plows on like this is no big deal. Guitarists play chords that take a staff and a half and two sharps and a flat to notate all the time. No need to panic.
Two pages later: Chord synonyms. Two pages after that: Modulation using secondary chords. (Yuck! Sounds like jazz to me. Tear that page out.) These are probably entire college courses somewhere, but if read carefully and practice your scales and your chords all will be revealed to you.
The sections that help you understanding how your guitar is put together and how to adjust and fix it are very helpful too. And they are explained extremely well with diagrams and plenty of background theory. Being your own guitar tech not only strengthens your relationship with your guitar, but it helps avoid being spoken to condescendingly by a baby boomer with a grey ponytail, which is one of my pet peeves.
It will also help you determine the difference between a crappy guitar and one that just isn't adjusted very well. They both play just as poorly, but only one is salvageable. Nothing makes a beginner want to give up quicker than a guitar that is hard to play. So it's good to be able to make your guitar as playable as possible, whether it's a First Act thingie from Wal-Mart or a Les Paul Custom you found in your uncle's basement.
Bottom line: You don't need the Internet. You don't need to apply to Berklee College of Music. You just need some determination, a decent $200-ish Fender Squier Strat or Epiphone Les Paul and you can become a decent guitarist. A patient girlfriend helps a lot, too.
And later maybe get a breadboard, assorted electronic components, and a copy of Electronic Projects for Musicians for some real geeked out fun.
I recently donated the Les Paul that I played throughout college to the Bay Area Girls Rock Camp in Oakland. It was a happy instance where my desire to pass on some of the joy from my younger days dovetailed nicely with my fear of picking up guitar again as part of a midlife crisis. I would recommend any other Gen-Xers out there to consider doing the same. I should probably send them a copy of this book too now that I think of it.
February 8, 2007
Useful, but I still can't play for shit
October 8, 2012
My guitar playing is still shit. :) But that's no reflection on this book. The book is alright, though it does seem dated now. To give you an idea, I have the 1993 edition. Bought it new in 2007. It makes no mention of Joe Satriani whatsoever! If updated, it could be a worthwhile buy for those that love having a book about how guitars work, set-up, the various styles and how the electronics work. The chord book towards the end is handy. A very good primer, if you will. Be warned though, it contains no lessons whatsoever. For those serious about learning to play the guitar, I'd recommend Barrett Tagliarino's Guitar Fretboard Workbook.
April 23, 2011
A very complete sourcebook and 'owner's manual' for both would-be guitarists and veteran axe-slingers. Perhaps the section on pioneering guitarists could be expanded to include a few more names, and perhaps there are better books to use if you are starting playing from scratch (such as the ones that include CDs etc), but all in all very complete. This book also deals with issues such as adjusting your guitar's neck, the 'playing action' and amplification and should really be on the bookshelf of every self respecting guitar owner.
March 15, 2015
First book I used to learn chords back in 8th grade. Good times. This book helped me learn many things from the different parts of the guitar, different guitars, how to play harmonics, different rhythms, scales, as well as learn the dreaded circle-of-5th's- which was surprisingly very helpful. Good book to get an introduction.
January 14, 2019
I purchase the original book 30 years ago. This is the best and most informative book on guitar and music knowledge I have ever come across. My wife bought this new version for me last year and it is still the most informative and educational book on guitar and music and the history of famous guitar players i have ever seen!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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February 2, 2013it is nice and fun
June 14, 2011
If you only buy one book as a guitar player's companion, make it this one.
March 6, 2013
The single best reference book I've found for all things guitar
August 3, 2021
As a teaching tool this book is an ambitious failure, as a reference tool it might have been somewhat useful prior to the internet. I've been playing for 25 years but I'm one of those players who never intentionally learned any music theory, I picked up quite a bit over the years but ultimately I was learning songs by patterns (sometimes with a very basic knowledge of the underlying concepts) and finally decided I wanted to get a little more musical education. This book looked good as it was supposed to be pretty complete. Even though I didn't really need to read the first half or so of the book I went through it anyway just so I didn't miss anything and could give the book the shot it needed to teach me. Unfortunately while this book covers a WIDE range of topics it doesn't go into them (at least not the ones I needed) to actually be of any help. This book tries to cover in half a page what there are whole series of books devoted to. And because the subjects are covered so briefly it's done mostly in musical shorthand and jargon that doesn't always make sense even if you KNOW what they're talking about already. This book actually made me second-guess knowing things I already knew. Ultimately you'd be better off using a combination of the internet and maybe some other more focused books than this one. And so much of this book was pretty pointless to learning guitar anyway. I don't really need a short corporate history of Fender and Gibson or a ton of guitarist biographies that are shorter than the blurb on the back of their actual biographies.
June 20, 2020
Every guitar player and aspiring guitar player should own this book. Every time I open it I'm amazed at the shear quantity of information Denyer managed to include in this. I use it for a reference for both acoustic and electric guitar. It's my encyclopedia of guitar. This is the second edition I've owned and I've owned it for decades. It should be the first guitar book you buy. Period. I didn't mark a "date finished" because it never becomes obsolete! I write very few reviews but felt compelled to write one for this terrific book. You won't be disappointed. I would bet my entire self-imagined reputation on it. Enjoy.
January 19, 2022
One of the best reference books for hobbyists as well as professionals, and clearly written by a music authority.
It touches rather briefly on the history and influence on culture, especially of classical guitar music. But on the other hand, many insights are woven into other sections of the book.
Especially the part on varieties of the instrument is wonderful, and the section on luthiership is amazingly detailed. It almost contains a complete instruction manual for building a guitar yourself, whether acoustic, steelstring, or electric.
An essential compendium for every guitar aficionado.
It touches rather briefly on the history and influence on culture, especially of classical guitar music. But on the other hand, many insights are woven into other sections of the book.
Especially the part on varieties of the instrument is wonderful, and the section on luthiership is amazingly detailed. It almost contains a complete instruction manual for building a guitar yourself, whether acoustic, steelstring, or electric.
An essential compendium for every guitar aficionado.
August 9, 2017
I read it through years ago, but this is an essential reference for any guitarist. I can't think of one book that covers as much: the instrument itself, theory, practice, equipment, history, set-up. I can't say I go back to it constantly (I'm a bass player, not a guitarist), but it's a must-have on any guitarists shelf.
June 2, 2021
A Great Book.
Useful for anyone at any level.
Packed with hints and very informative. Very nostalgic for an older guy like myself...
I've had this book since the mid 80's, and bought a new copy every time it wore out.
Useful for anyone at any level.
Packed with hints and very informative. Very nostalgic for an older guy like myself...
I've had this book since the mid 80's, and bought a new copy every time it wore out.
August 16, 2018
4.5 stars.
November 30, 2020
I love this book. All time my favourite guitar book .
December 10, 2020
Reads like a guitar textbook. Lots of useful information. Keeping it out to reference for years to come.
June 19, 2023
Can't make any better textbook for those wanting to become great
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December 21, 2024Fundameltal.
December 20, 2023
This work is instructional and useful in describing the hardware of various types of guitars; the basics of how to play them; and introductory for some supplementary devices used for playing live and recording.
Where the book severely lacks- even though I have a version from 2020- is that the latest revision is from 1992, which is blinding for 2 reasons:
1. So much has advanced technologically as to make much of the gear material irrelevant.
2. I couldn't care less about the rather large section covering "guitar heroes" since I wasn't born in 1960- there's plenty of guitarists since 1992 that could have been added or substituted in to make this more worthwhile to the modern reader. Alternatively, had that section been omitted entirely, it would not have hindered the work.
The continuous printing of this book while the authors & publishers not taking a relatively small amount of time and effort to actually update it is what makes this lose 2 stars. Otherwise, I consider this a worthy purchase.
Where the book severely lacks- even though I have a version from 2020- is that the latest revision is from 1992, which is blinding for 2 reasons:
1. So much has advanced technologically as to make much of the gear material irrelevant.
2. I couldn't care less about the rather large section covering "guitar heroes" since I wasn't born in 1960- there's plenty of guitarists since 1992 that could have been added or substituted in to make this more worthwhile to the modern reader. Alternatively, had that section been omitted entirely, it would not have hindered the work.
The continuous printing of this book while the authors & publishers not taking a relatively small amount of time and effort to actually update it is what makes this lose 2 stars. Otherwise, I consider this a worthy purchase.
October 10, 2013
Great reference book. Not very adequate for learning how to play a guitar, as it has no exercises - it just lays down the theory without any kind of step-by-step exercises or progressive learning curve (altough it does feature a great, complete and handy chord dictionary and charts) but great as a reference book as it has very complete and varied information on guitar theory, equipment, guitar history and even includes small bios on guitar luminaries (it's somewhat crimminal that it does not reference Jimmy Page but I suppose I can forgive them for such a minor mistake). So if you want to learn how to play pcik something else up but if you are looking for a good reference book you need not to look any further.
August 18, 2014
A very thorough compendium on all things guitar, with sections covering maintenance, guitar care, theory, a chord 'dictionary,' basic how- to play, and 'guitar innovators.'
I bought the newest edition, and it is greatly greatly in need of revision and updates, particularly in the section on guitar innovators. There is not a single woman represented in this list which goes on for 33 pages! Also, the word "Negro" is used--welcome to the 21st century!
For those trying to learn guitar, this may not be the best as it doesn't feature many images and contains an almost overwhelming amount of information. However, I have found it useful as it explains tablature and has such an extensive chord dictionary.
I bought the newest edition, and it is greatly greatly in need of revision and updates, particularly in the section on guitar innovators. There is not a single woman represented in this list which goes on for 33 pages! Also, the word "Negro" is used--welcome to the 21st century!
For those trying to learn guitar, this may not be the best as it doesn't feature many images and contains an almost overwhelming amount of information. However, I have found it useful as it explains tablature and has such an extensive chord dictionary.
February 14, 2014
The best single book on the topic: "The Joy of Cooking" for guitar. A reference to keep coming back to, a really solid foundation for so many things, in terms of playing and the instrument itself.
Why it's not 5 star: I don't love the "Guitar Innovators" section much; the foundation music theory stuff is maybe not guitar-specific enough; some of the the more specialized topics (refinishing, MIDI) aren't don't really work as a half-page; the inclusion of bass guitar stuff is haphazard/unbalanced.
Why it's not 5 star: I don't love the "Guitar Innovators" section much; the foundation music theory stuff is maybe not guitar-specific enough; some of the the more specialized topics (refinishing, MIDI) aren't don't really work as a half-page; the inclusion of bass guitar stuff is haphazard/unbalanced.
December 30, 2012
A fantastic resource for anyone interested in the electric guitar. One will keep going back to this as it is more a manual than a coffee table book. A really nice reference book for the guitar. In addition to pages on iconic guitar makers and players it has multiple useful charts on scale, chords, progressions etc. A must have for anyone who loves this instrument.
December 30, 2012
A fantastic resource for anyone interested in the electric guitar. One will keep going back to this as it is more a manual than a coffee table book. A really nice reference book for the guitar. In addition to pages on iconic guitar makers and players it has multiple useful charts on scale, chords, progressions etc. A must have for anyone who loves this instrument.
October 24, 2007
Lots of good chord and scale voicings for those of us that need quick reference. And the added benefit of having everything on maintenance from changing strings to building your own guitar from stratch.
May 26, 2010
It's a reflection on what sort of kids GJ and I were that I recall a conversation on a bus sometime during high school in which he corrected my mispronunciation of the author's name: "Denyer, not Denver".
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March 13, 2011For everyone: Bought the first edition of this book and it just gets better. This is THE book to own. The style is excellent and clear.
A pleasure just to pick up and browse through at any time, practicing or not.
July 7, 2012
This book is a bit dated now and I think it leans heavily toward electric six string guitars, but it is still an excellent introduction to the instrument: everything from how they are made to famous makes and models to how amplification and effects work to musical theory and chord fingering.
January 17, 2008
Best guitar reference book ever. History, construction, playing. A#dim4? Can't remember which way to adjust a saddle to correct intonation? Tuning a Floyd Rose? Its in here.
And its awesome.
And its awesome.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews