If you’re learning guitar on your own, the good news is that there have never been so many great resources for teaching yourself how to play. The bad news is that this can be overwhelming – like when you’re researching the best guitar books for beginners.
This page is a running list of the best guitar methods for beginners, as well as the best beginner guitar technique books for ramping up your practice routine. I’ve compiled the list based on positive feedback from sites like Reddit and Amazon.
Most of these methods are broader in scope – they don’t focus on just one genre or style of playing, and they can be used for both acoustic and electric guitar. All of them are best suited for adults and older kids.
If you’re more of a visual learner, there are also beginner DVD guitar methods available. Additionally, today there are modern online guitar lessons and apps that are designed to accelerate your progress and keep you motivated. A couple of the most popular of these are Guitar Tricks and JamPlay.
In this post (click on the link to jump to that part of the list):
- Best guitar method books for self teaching
- Best guitar technique books for beginners
- Are books a good way to learn guitar?
Now here are some of the best guitar books for beginners!
Best guitar method books for self teaching
This section lists some of the best guitar books for beginners teaching themselves how to play, as well as a few guitar methods that are frequently recommended by guitar teachers. I’ve purposely selected methods that are known to be easier or more accessible to complete beginners. (If you’re a beginner who likes a bit more of a challenge, check out the Mel Bay or Berklee guitar methods.)
Teach Yourself to Play Guitar: A Quick and Easy Introduction for Beginners
Author: David M. Brewster
Length: 48 pages
Published by Hal Leonard and authored by a music teacher with two decades of experience, Teach Yourself to Play Guitar is the number one best-selling book in the guitar books category on Amazon. This book is less verbose than some guitar methods tend to be, so you can jump in and start playing right away. It progresses quickly, with concise explanations, graded exercises, and lots of annotated diagrams and photos.
The lessons draw from a range of musical styles, including rock, classical, country, folk, and others.
The book uses tablature, chord diagrams, and rhythm notation to teach guitar – there’s no standard music notation. For some people that’s a huge plus; for others, not so much; so if you want to learn how to read music, check out some of the other best guitar books for beginners in this list.
Teach Yourself to Play Guitar starts with the very basics, such as how to position yourself properly, tune your guitar, read chord diagrams and tablature, and pick and strum.
It then progresses through open position chords, power chords, single-note patterns (scales, fills, and arpeggios), open-position scales (major, minor, and pentatonic), and barre chords. The book manages to demonstrate these concepts using only 12 songs, so it’s a great choice if you want a crash course in the essentials of playing guitar without becoming overwhelmed.
Hal Leonard Guitar Method, Complete Edition: Books 1, 2 and 3 Together in One Easy-to-Use Volume
Authors: Will Schmid, Greg Koch
Length: 144 pages
Hal Leonard’s complete guitar method, suitable for both electric and acoustic guitar, is one of the best guitar books for beginners of all ages. This method is sparser of text than some other methods, and the exercises progress at an easy pace. It can be used with a teacher or for self study.
Like many standard methods, the Hal Leonard method gets you comfortable reading music notation and playing single-note melodies before you start learning chords or reading tablature. In fact, the method doesn’t include any tablature until partway through Book 2, and from there onward the musical examples are usually given both in standard notation and tab.
The book comes with online access to 164 full-band audio tracks that you can listen to or play along with. You can loop the audio, change keys, and slow it down without changing pitch, making the tracks easy for beginners to practice along with.
Book 1 of the series teaches basics such as the parts of the guitar, tuning, playing position, and reading music. Then you’ll get right into playing simple melodies, followed by basic strumming patterns and chords, which are represented using chord diagrams and slash notation. Each lesson contains a few short songs and exercises for practice.
Books 2 and 3 introduce progressively more advanced concepts, including syncopation, playing in other guitar positions, power chords, fingerstyle, bass runs, scales, lead guitar, improvising, movable chords, palm muting, Travis picking, drop D tuning, slides, hammer-ons, pull-offs, and string bends.
The series draws from many musical genres but leans more heavily to contemporary styles.
(Note: The book linked above includes all three volumes of the method. You can also buy books 1, 2, and 3 separately. Book 1 also comes with a CD/DVD version.)
All in all, if you’re looking for a beginner guitar method that’s a bit easier than some other methods but still comprehensive in its coverage of guitar essentials, the Hal Leonard method is a great choice.
Acoustic Guitar Primer Book for Beginners (with Online Video and Audio Access)
Author: Bert Casey
Length: 75 pages
If you’re a beginner guitarist looking for something a little more challenging than typical how-to-play-guitar books, this acoustic guitar course fits the bill. The course takes you step by step through the basics of rhythm and lead playing for acoustic guitar, progressing from the very basics to more advanced techniques.
The course starts out with essentials like parts of the guitar, playing position, tuning, and how to read guitar tablature. Then you’ll learn chords and strumming as you practice easy songs. The lessons gradually progress to more interesting techniques like alternating bass, alternate picking, hammer-ons, pull-offs, and slides. Author and experienced guitar teacher Bert Casey also gives you advice on what bad habits to avoid.
Musical examples are written both in tablature and standard music notation, with lyrics and melody lines so you can sing along. The book includes a guitar chord chart for reference.
The book includes 18 songs, with old classics like “Tom Dooley,” “Worried Man Blues,” and “Wabash Cannonball.” Each song has a corresponding audio track, demonstrated at three speeds with a backing arrangement. There is also an hour of online video instruction included with the course.
Acoustic Guitar Primer Book for Beginners has received favorable reviews from self learners and guitar teachers alike. Some reviewers mention the book is more challenging than typical beginner books, making it a good fit for ambitious beginners.
Guitar Book for Adult Beginners: Teach Yourself How to Play Famous Guitar Songs, Guitar Chords, Theory and Technique (Book and Streaming Video Lessons)
Author: Damon Ferrante
Length: 122 pages
Recommended by RollingStone.com as one of the best guitar books for beginners, this step-by-step book and video course is designed to be fun and interactive.
The course starts off with essentials like how to identify the parts of a guitar (acoustic and electric); tune the guitar; and read notes, chord diagrams, and tablature. Throughout the rest of the book and video course, you’ll learn how to play melodies, strum, and play a variety of chord types, including power chords, movable chords, barre chords, and jazz chords.
The book includes a selection of popular songs like “House of the Rising Sun,” “Scarborough Fair,” “Greensleeves,” and “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” The lessons touch on many popular genres, including blues, jazz, pop, rock, reggae, and funk.
Essential Elements for Guitar, Book 1
Authors: Will Schmid, Bob Morris
Length: 98 pages
Other books in this series:
Essential Elements for Guitar – Book 2
The Essential Elements methods, published by Hal Leonard, are designed for use in middle school and high school band classrooms. That said, several Amazon reviewers report good results using the Essential Elements guitar method as a self-teaching tool.
In this first volume you’ll learn the very basics, including playing position, tuning, and parts of a guitar. You’ll also learn how to read and play notes on the staff. Throughout the rest of the book, you’ll build on your basic music theory knowledge and your technique by playing simple melodies, chords, and strumming patterns.
The selected songs cover many genres, including fun popular pieces like “Eleanor Rigby,” “Let it Be,” “Teach Your Children,” and “You Really Got Me.”
This method is a good fit for teenagers and adults who would like to learn how to read music or are already comfortable doing so. The musical examples are given in standard music notation, chord diagrams, chord symbols, and slash notation.
Alfred’s Teach Yourself to Play Guitar: Everything You Need to Know to Start Playing the Guitar!
Authors: Morty Manus, Ron Manus
Length: 80 pages
Alfred Music’s Teach Yourself series is a highly regarded set of method books available for various musical instruments. In general, reviewers say this is a useful and challenging guitar book for beginners of all ages.
The book starts by teaching fundamentals like guitar types, guitar maintenance, and how to read standard music notation and tablature. It then teaches you how to play notes, chords, and scales, reinforcing the concepts from each lesson with songs and exercises.
Some of the techniques you’ll learn are bends, hammer-ons, pull-offs, slides, and palm muting.
Musical examples are taken from classics like “Amazing Grace,” “Pachelbel’s Canon,” “This Land is Your Land,” and “La Bamba.” Genres include rock, blues, country, jazz, folk, and heavy metal.
The book includes helpful reference materials like a guitar fingerboard chart and a dictionary of tablature techniques.
Best guitar technique books for beginners
The following books aren’t typical teach-yourself-guitar books. Instead, they include a few useful guitar reference tools as well as some of the best guitar technique books for beginners who want to make the most of practice sessions and accelerate their progress.
Guitar Chords: Easy to Use, Easy to Carry, One Chord on Every Page
Author: Jake Jackson
Length: 384 pages
Small enough to bring with you anywhere, this little spiral-bound handbook gives you 360 chord diagrams – one per page – including fingerings and chord spellings. The book is organized by key, with colored labels along the edge of each page so you can easily find the chord you need.
A reviewer says the book has “20 chord qualities for each key in the main text (altered dominants are in the ‘Other Chords’ chapter). Qualities include major, minor, maj7, m7, sus4, 7sus4, 6, m6, 7, and 9 all in two positions. Then 5 (power chord), 6add9, 11, 13, add9, m9, maj9, +, o7, and o (dim triad) all in first position.”
Guitar Fretboard: Memorize the Fretboard in Less than 24 Hours: 35+ Tips and Exercises
Author: Guitar Head
Length: 78 pages
Why would you want to memorize the fretboard as a beginner guitarist?
The author gives four compelling reasons:
- Understand how to play scales all over the fretboard without memorizing countless patterns, which helps you become a better soloist
- Unlock over 1,000 guitar chords all over the fretboard without having to memorize them all
- Become a better songwriter by using more creative chord shapes
- Improvise better by knowing your way around the fretboard
This book gives you a “cheat code” for memorizing all 24 frets across six strings, using a system of pattern recognition combined with memory techniques and games. If you’re ambitious, it’s possible to memorize the fretboard in under 24 hours using this book – a feat that many guitarists take years to do when they don’t have a system.
One reviewer notes that within one day they were able to grasp the concept taught in the book, after over 20 years of playing.
This author also has a couple of other popular guitar books for beginners, including:
- Guitar Exercises for Beginners: 10x Your Guitar Skills in 10 Minutes a Day
- Guitar Scales for Beginners: How to Solo Effortlessly and Create Your Own Music Even if You Don’t Know What a Scale Is
The First 100 Chords for Guitar: How to Learn and Play Guitar Chords: The Complete Beginner Guitar Method
Author: Joseph Alexander
Length: 91 pages
The First 100 Chords for Guitar isn’t just a chord dictionary: For each chord, the book gives you a routine to help build muscle memory. You’ll practice chord changes and progressions to build your fluency in transitioning between chords. You’ll also learn strumming patterns and a bit of chord theory. Downloadable demo tracks are included for each lesson.
If you struggle with changing chords, the exercises in this book will make a great addition to your practice routine.
The First 100 Guitar Exercises for Beginners: Beginner Exercises for Guitar that Improve Technique and Accelerate Development
Author: Joseph Alexander
Length: 91 pages
Billed as “the ultimate course of guitar exercises for beginners,” this book is not a method, but a compendium of exercises selected to build your “technique, control, strength, stamina, and speed.”
The book presents musical-sounding exercises instead of boring technical drills. The lessons are designed to improve your overall technique, while helping you avoid the bad habits of many self-taught guitarists.
The First 100 Guitar Exercises is designed to develop your skills in many areas, including:
- Speed and finger strength
- Left- and right-hand coordination
- Picking and fretting
- Chord changes and strumming rhythm
- Legato playing
- Scales and patterns for soloing
- Fingerpicking technique and patterns
- Bends, hammer-ons, and pull-offs
If you’re looking for a way to level up your practice routine and accelerate your progress, this book should keep you busy for a while.
Are books a good way to learn guitar?
The best guitar books for beginners can teach you the basics of guitar and give you a roadmap for what to practice next. Today there are also many online guitar courses and interactive apps designed to accelerate your progress as a beginner. Some of the most popular online guitar lessons for beginners include:
- Guitar Tricks: This guitar lesson website has over three million users and a huge database of in-depth guitar song video tutorials. They also offer a comprehensive beginner guitar course. Go here to try Guitar Tricks free for 14 days.
- ArtistWorks: This site offers online video-based guitar lessons in a variety of musical genres. You can exchange unlimited videos with world-class guitar instructors and get feedback on your playing. Try out some free online guitar lessons from ArtistWorks here.
Your turn: What do you think is the best beginner guitar book?
Do you have a favorite beginner method book for guitar that I haven’t listed here? Share it in the comments!