[.ca] Chord Workbook for Guitar (ISBN 0964863219)

I would have killed to have these in college!:
Bruce Arnold is an accomplished jazz guitarist and educator. I reviewed three of his instruction books: 1st Steps for a Beginning Guitarist; Chord Workbook for Guitar; and Music Theory Workbook for Guitar. I also listened to an incredible jazz music album he provided for my listening pleasure. As a player, he is awesome. As a writer of instruction manuals, he is very good for the more advanced student. I compared his books with the Mel Bay series, which I use for my students (and on which I learned). His go into much more depth than those I'm accustomed to. Ideally, I would introduce his material after a couple of months. I am eager to see some of the other books he has in his series of over thirty instructional manuals. I believe depth is the best term to describe what this educator has to offer. He takes on some of the more difficult aspects for guitarists and digs deeply into the subject material. I would have killed to have manuals like these when I was in college.

Helpful on it's own, but better with an important partner!:
Compared to most guitar instruction books for beginners, this one is easily five stars, but against the bar it sets for itself, it's a four star book: well-done and quite helpful, yet flawed enough to be a little irritating. Three-quarters of the book is basically an encyclopedia of chords, but not in the useless manner of so many "chord dictionaries". Arnold presents chord forms that can be played anywhere along the lowest 2 strings of the guitar. All chords are in their root position. A wonderful surprise is that he includes not only illustrations of the chords but also their notation in written music, so from the beginning, you are exposed to proper notation--whether you use it right away or not is up to you. I have no complaints about the amount of chord forms he includes--often several options for each chord. He has you practice them "cycle five," a good way to learn the chords and the fretboard for 3 of the strings. Arnold includes small essays on how chords are formed, how to read music, and, later, on reharmonization theory, but I don't imagine these essays would neccessarily be clear to every reader. They are better than usual, though. While there is a mass of information in the book and the suggested exercises are helpful, I do wish he would have included something about the "system" of chord formations. I shouldn't have put that in quotes--there actually is a system to it. If he would have explained some of what is explored in Bill Edwards' (highly recommended) Fretboard Logic, the chord formations would not have a tendency to seem random and overwhelming. I found myself going through the book thinking "ok that's a C form, an E form..." and so on (you'll understand that if you read Edwards' book; furthermore, the Volume 2 of Arnold's Chord Workbook series might be rendered uneccessary, as the inverted chords are merely all or part of the "next" chord form in line. Anyway.) An explicit mention of what notes are represented in each chord form--like if it is the 1, 3, or b7--would have been helpful, too. Bruce Arnold has authored a rather large series of books that might make you think he's in it for the money. But I think he's sincere, and a good teacher. He's got a website where you can download helpful video and audio files, and even ask him questions! Those are points in his favour, but this book is still lacking. The "Music Theory Workbook" that goes with this is helpful, but not as helpful as combining this with Edwards' Fretboard Logic SE: Vol. 1 and 2. If I hadn't have worked my way through the Edwards book, I would have found this book a little overwhelming--but take note that Fretboard Logic is incomplete without a book like this just as much!