The Practical Guide to Modern Music Theory for Guitarists: Second Edition Paperback – November 20, 2014

I started playing guitar at 13 and had a couple of years of scattershot music lessons before going out on my own to conquer the rock/alt/metal world. By 30 or so, it was clear the rock/alt/metal world had conquered ME and I slowly played less as the kids and responsibilities piled up. Just about a year ago I decided to put music back into my life and wanted to retrain bad habits I had developed over the years while (more importantly) filling in the gaps in my knowledge and application of theory.I'm so glad I found Joseph Alexander's books. Between this book and Chords in Context, my practical knowledge of theory has improved by leaps and bounds. I am slowly becoming more capable at Jazz (a form I had long envied but had only incorporated random elements of as I found them), but not only that. Everything I try to play is now easier.Learning to think in intervals has been incredible. When I used to have a progression or riff I could hear in my head, or a tune I heard on the radio I wanted to figure out, the process was mostly trial and error and could be incredibly frustrating. Now I'm finding that what used to take hours to figure out now takes minutes. I'd swear my ear has improved significantly too, which is not something I really expected this quickly. After only a few weeks with these books, I have made great strides in improving my playing. What's maybe more important is that I have a clear roadmap for how to continue improving. So far this is the best series of instructional books I have ever tried, hands down. I started out this most recent trip into music with the Fretboard Logic books, but now they have been reduced to quick reference for patterns as I work through Mr. Alexander's books. Highly recommended!The one caveat: I originally bought this book as a kindle edition and there were significant layout problems with my Kindle Fire. I returned it (with no hassle) and immediately bought the paperback edition since I knew the material was exactly what I needed. Since then I have bought the Chords in Context book on Kindle and it works great, so maybe I just had a weird download or something.In summary, I came into this with a fair amount of technique and experience on the instrument, so others mileage may vary, but this guy's books are really hitting the sweet spot of what I want (and for decades have needed) to learn. I sorely wish I had had a copy of this book when I was 18 and playing original music in clubs every weekend. Who knows? Things might have gone differently. Oh, well, never too late—am I right? ;-)

I have given this book five stars, not because I think this will answer your every last need for a book on music theory, but because it's among the best I've seen at learning theory through practice. I am currently studying classical guitar with a tremendous teacher, and I have come to realize the importance to my playing of developing a working understanding of music theory; however, most of my lesson time is devoted to technical matters, and I have been picking up theory from many sources. Textbooks like "Harmony in Context" or "Tonal Harmony" offer an intensive presentation of matters theoretical, but what I actually need, as a player, is something more "essential" and practicable.That's the value of Joseph Alexander's "Modern Music Theory for Guitarists". Joseph Alexander's approach is extremely accessible, with a focus on what is immediately relevant. For example, to learn common chord progressions, it's not necessary to learn multiple 7th chord voicings. Instead, the author trusts that you will be able to fill in the gaps as you go. And a very nice feature of this entire series is the supplementation of the material with audio examples that are available at the Fundamental-Changes website.As you may see, Alexander has quite a few books out there (of which I have purchased three), and my one recommendation for the author would be this: at the start of each book, it would be good to have a sort of "program of study", allowing a guitarist whose goal is eventually to become a jazz player to move from the most basic to the most advanced book in the series. (Another program would apply for blues players, et cetera). By this comment, I am suggesting that guitarists can make a lot of progress with these books, including "Modern Music Theory for Guitarists".

This book is pretty good. I have accrued a lot of theory books over the years, I pick them up whenever I can, each one usually has at least one thing that it explains better than the others. I am a guitarist, but I tend to prefer books that cover theory in a more generalized, instrument agnostic fashion. I dunno, I think this stuff just gels better with me when it's more abstract.I think this book in particular is a great starter book for guitarists that want to play basic, traditional rock-n-roll. While it does have some good information about diatonic scales and modes, there's a pretty strong slant towards pentatonic playing... that can be good or bad depending on what you're trying to accomplish.This book is straightforward and easy to understand, and honestly better than most of the shorter theory books out there. There is one thing that It does a great job at hammering home: the difference between a mode and a position... this particular topic is a bit of a pet peeve of mine because it was something I had a lot of problems with when I was younger. I don't know, I guess I've always found the complete lack of clear information on this topic frustrating. It makes me wonder how many instructors understand it themselves?Worth a look for sure.

I've been playing guitar off and on for 15 years and have some background in piano and other instruments, but had never really engaged with the way theory meets the guitar fretboard. I wanted to get a book that would start from the ground up and give me a good foundation for understanding how music theory works on the guitar specifically. This book does that really well. The chapters are organized in a logical sequence that build on each other well, but you can also jump around if you want to look at something specific (say, constructing a minor 7th chord). The downloadable audio tracks are helpful, though I would have preferred if each example were its own file; as it is, one needs to sit through or skip around to get to a specific track in the group (typically 3-5 examples). This is a minor quibble. Also, and this seems to be an issue with almost every music instruction book I've purchased, there are some minor editorial er.ors, but these don't detract from the overall quality of the content. I'm really enjoying the book and look forward to continuing to use it as a reference for years to come.

I really like how clear and simple the explanations are in this book. Finally, something that I can read and understand. The book begins with very basic concepts and gradually moves into much more complexed.

These books are probably the most detailed and practical I have ever seen regarding teaching theory basics as it relates to guitar. I bought nine of these books already and I would highly recommend them to anyone who is interested.

I have a few of these books by the same author and I genuinely enjoy them. Im a 36 year old guitarist who has been struggling for 20 years to play guitar well. Since finding these books I now understand scales, rhythm and some of the concepts I always heard of but never understood. I would recommend this to the middle of the road self taught guitarist and upwards. Interesting stuff!

I have been playing guitar for a number of years but am completely self taught. Having recently retired I decided to try and learn more and extend my playing skills. I also wanted to understand more about music theory. I bought this book alongside two others by Joseph Alexander. I have started working through this book and have been surprised by how easy it has been to follow and very impressed that one can download the music from the link provided in the book. I have also gained a lot from the free lessons which Joseph sends out in his subsequent emails. I still have a way to go in this book and am looking forward to working my way through the others. I am sure the effort will pay off.