Good beginners theory books?

[jackss565]

Any recomendations? Preferably with links to UK suppliers. Thanks

Jack

[greybeard]

Tom Serb's (Noteboat) book - you can get it directly from me.

If you'd like the book, send me a PM and we'll sort it out.

http://www.amazon.com/Music-Theory-Guitarists-Tom-Serb/dp/0972472304/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1212521403&sr=8-1

I send out the book from Germany, not the USA.

[kingpatzer]

There have been a number of posts on this -- but here we go again:

I respect Tom a great deal, but I see his book more as a companion piece to a more general theory book than as a first book on the topic. He made some topic order decissions that I don't quite agree with (which doesn't make them wrong, it just makes it not the way I'd do it if I were more industrious ).

I recommend The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music Theory as a better starting place for folks who really know nothing about theory. Supplimenting that book with Tom's will give you a very solid grounding in theory as it relates to the guitar. But if you were only going to get one, I'd advice that you pick up the Idiot's guide instead (sorry Tom!)

[Nick]

I think Tom's book is a fine starting point, but if I was going to pick up two....I'd go with his and David Harp's :

http://www.amazon.com/Music-Theory-Made ... 0918321999

It's a whopping great $5.95

[jackss565]

Any recomendations? Preferably with links to UK suppliers. Thanks

Jack

Get a good teacher and you wouldn't need any books.

I would get a teacher but i'm 17 and can't afford it, i have enough difficulty finding money as it is.

Jack

[jackss565]

I think Tom's book is a fine starting point, but if I was going to pick up two....I'd go with his and David Harp's :

http://www.amazon.com/Music-Theory-Made ... 0918321999

It's a whopping great $5.95

Thanks Nick, i've bought David Harp's off amazon UK and will be getting Tom's shortly.

Jack

[Nikhil]

I am interested in learning guitar so I would like know some basic books that are available which hopefully makes the learning process much easier.

[Rgalvez]

I have Tom's book and it's really good for beginners, but as Kingpantzer stated it's not that comprehensive (we're waiting for the second book Noteboat!). Anyway I bought Mike Christiansen's Fingerboard Theory for Guitar from Mel Bay which I found quite excellent .What it's special about this book is that the theory is applied for guitar students only. I learned many tips from this book and It has many topics: It teaches the fundamentals but it also covers other territory essential for a guitarist like intervals, inverted intervals,scales, the modes, drop 2 chords,harmonizing melodies,secondary dominants, chord substitutions, even quartal harmony. For its price I think it's excellent to give you a good scope about theory. Take a look (Sadly I't s unavailable in Amazon UK but you can import one from USA):


http://www.amazon.com/Fingerboard-Theor ... 164&sr=8-1

All the best
Roberto

[BluezOldy]

Before buying books on the 'Net, it's worth checking out price and availability at The Book Depository in the UK as they send by free airmail post anywhere in the world. I've bought a lot of books from then now and saved a small fortune. They also have a lot of out of print guitar and music books.

http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/WEBSITE ... mepage.php