Guitar: The Circle of Fifths for Guitarists: Learn and Apply Music Theory for Guitar (Learn Guitar Theory and Technique)

I can honestly say that out of probably 15+ guitar books that I own, this is the first one that I actually read cover to cover. I did more than just read it, actually - I connected with it and worked through it , fully understanding each concept and then moving on to the next. I am very satisfied with the purchase and look forward to getting more of Joseph Alexander's excellent books. Having played guitar for roughly 35 years, on and off, in a mostly self taught manner, I have always felt very inadequate in terms of my actual understanding of what I was doing. It feels great to finally be opening that door, with Mr. Alexander's help, and actually beginning to understand what my fingers have been up to all these years.

I was looking for a book that would address the question of why certain pitch changes sound good, and how to build music around those changes. This book isn't really that. Half of the book is wasted space, not only in how sparsely printed the pages are ( mostly whitespace .. I've never seen a book so sparsely printed ) but also in directions about how to build keys with the correct sharps/flats/etc. 99% of guitar players don't care about sharps or flats !! It's like the author is saying "you've got this wonderful visual tool - the fretboard - but instead of learning around that, I want to tell you about how many sharps are in this scale..."Furthermore the author only mentions 3 options for 5th/4th pitch changes on the fretboard when there are at least twice that many. So this is really a book for extreme beginners, who have very little education in music theory. If you have ever taken a class in school you could probably skip this book.Only 3-4 pages cover what should really be the main topic of the book, which is *application* of the circle of 5ths in music. Those few pages are gold, which is why I give this book 3 stars instead of 2. If the author wanted to improve on this book I would suggest spending the first third on simply fretboard movements and the last 2 thirds on modulation. Get rid of *everything* else because most of us who are learning guitar simply don't care about the rest.

Guitar: The Circle of Fifths for Guitarists: Learn and Apply Music Theory for Guitar I have purchased a few of the books in this series. The author is adept at simplifying musical theory and keeping it focused especially for those who have been frustrated by traditional methods of learning. Included with the book are links to audio examples of the point being discussed. Together his methods and layout take you through the process simply and effectively. In a short time you will find yourself comfortable with the guitar instead of lost and discouraged. You will start to hear the individual notes and be confident with their location on the neck and be able to reproduce what your hear, as well as reach the point of writing your own basic compositions. I couldn't recommend any series of books more emphatically than this series.

I amazed at how quickly I am learning music theory and more with the Circle of Fifths for Guitarists. I recently finished the first chapter and am blown away on how much I realized I really don't know about music. I am 67 and started teaching myself when I was 10. I did take lessons for about 3 months until my family realized financial challenges and my lessons were terminated. I believe that after just the first chapter I am finally going to realize my lifetime dream of really playing the guitar and creating music that finally makes full sense. I am excited to continue on working through the rest of the book so my ideas for music composition can finally be realized. I am looking forward to working with many of your books to further my knowledge into playing this wonderful instrument. I fully recommend this book for anyone serious about increasing their skills and understanding of making music.Thank You, Joseph for your dedication in bringing guitar work to a new level for me and all others interested.

As a guitar teacher, and a moderator of a songwriter’s workshop, I’ve always included a study of The Circle of Fifths as part of my curriculum for my more advanced students. Mr. Alexander has added some deep insight into my understanding of the concept both as it relates to the fretboard and it can be a valuable tool in the songwriting process.While I’ve always known how to use The Circle, I find his detailed account of how to construct it starting from square one adds a deeper understanding of not only its functionality, but how it relates to those of us who read staff.I found his treatise on using The Circle as a modulation tool for composition to be particularly lucid and something to keep in my back pocket while writing new pieces.Well organized, logically laid out, an easy read delivered with a certain amount of humor makes this a valuable teaching tool—John E MauserGuitar InstructorStudio Producer/EngineerMidnight Watch Music

Easy to follow and to understand. I took Theory many years ago and just plain forgot a lot of it just because I never used theory much, I played guitar in cover bands and just learned music by ear. Though you learn to navigate through this method, no really understanding themethod behind it kind of limits me, so this book was a great refresher and also has taken me to new depths of understanding and I'm only a 1/3 of a way through the book, there are a lot of "lights on" moments for sure. Invaluable tool in understanding composition and note selection.I truly believe this should be a starting point for any guitarists, understanding how "musical" notes work in the context of any song helpsone to "cheat" the steep learning curve of just taking stabs in the dark fleshing notes out learning by ear. Guitar: The Circle of Fifths for Guitarists: Learn and Apply Music Theory for Guitar

I have a growing number of Guitar/Music tuition books some fair to good, some poor. This is the first by Joseph Alexander and I am well impressed. He takes a fairly dry subject and makes it easy and fun to understand. Best of all you can download for free sound files which make learning a great deal more graphic. I can not fault this book. I feel it is great value for money, fun, easy and complete. It covers the whole subject and does not submerge the reader in gobble-de-gook. I am just sorry I had not discovered this author earlier as I would have bought his books instead of some of the stuff I have been disappointed with in the past.Looking forward to getting other titles. Keep up the good work Joseph.

An excellent book that explains how major and minor scales are made up, the relationship between the different keys how to determine which key a piece of music is written in and a lot more. I'm only going through the book quickly at the moment but I already feel I've learnt a lot about basic music theory already. The availability of a 'circle' to print out along with music files of all the examples are an excellent addition.The content of the book is five stars but I've had to knock a star off as the print version is relatively poor value. Amazon charge £10 for the paper back and only £5 for the Kindle version, for which you get fifty five pages of content. While I think the content is worth the money it does seem a big difference in price between the two formats. You need a computer to listen to the music files, so you might as well just read the book with the computer's Kindle program (then you can buy even more of these books!)

Like many, I learned the guitar by ear and only had a vague notion of theory. It all seemed so dry when there were amplifiers to wind up and peddles to abuse. And sequentially parents, girlfriends, pets, wives and children to annoy. Having returned to the guitar many years after I first picked one up, this book has been a revelation. Well written, easy to digest and a great reference, it's brought my rather blurred vision of music theory into focus and I've already bought 2 more of Jospeh's books, determined to get a better grip on my fingers just repeating the same old licks. Certainly the section on key changes is worth the price of the book on its own. In an age where youtube tuition is awash with some fairly dubious stuff, this is great to take your time over and thoroughly ingest. Excellent stuff.

I found this book really useful because it explains the concepts very clearly. This was one of a number of Joseph Alexander's books I purchased to help me with learning music theory and has been a great addition to my collection of books. It's also a good reference to refer back to again and again.mailto:[email protected]?subject=Please%20send%20me%20a%20PDF%20copy%20of%2025%20MAJOR%20Pentatonic%20Licks%20for%20Blues%20Guitar&body=Hi!%0A%0APlease%20paste%20a%20link%20to%20your%20review%20here:%0A%0AWe%20will%20send%20a%20PDF%20copy%20of%20%E2%80%8B25%20MAJOR%20Pentatonic%20Licks%20for%20Blues%20Guitar%20within%2024%20hours.%0A%0AThanks!

I decided to invested more time into actually learning music theory having winged guitar for 21 years. I know the circle of fifths to be valuable..and interesting. Rather than depend upon youtube videos or articles, I find it much more useful and pleasurable to sit with a book and guitar in the living room. The book is good quality. The front is colourful and the inner pages are the run of the mill black and white which is common for these types of books. It's all that's necessary however. A bonus is that the book isn't wafer thin (like some), but nor is it a novel The book re-assures the reader and introduces the theory gradually. I had to read over a few things, but then they became patently obvious. I'm sold on this line of books and will definitely buy the others. Recommended!