Rockschool Guitar - Grade 3 (2012-2018)

Was requested by my son's guitar teacher. Good quality.

This is an excellent learning aid for the electric guitar, although to maximise the experience it really needs a teacher to take one through some of the techniques.It consists of six compositions for the electric guitar which cover a range of musical styles from Alternative Rock, Blues, Heavy Metal, Indie Rock, Progressive Rock and Pop Punk. These are composed specially for the Rockschool syllabus so they are novel pieces. Each are designed to include a variety of guitar techniques including chords, power chords, played both ringing and palm muted, together with solo phrases using hammer-on/pull-offs, slides, bends and vibrato etc. at the appropriate level of difficulty. Each piece has playing instructions and tips, describes the genre in which it is written giving examples of bands with similar styles, and includes recommendations for amp settings etc.Together with this there are a listing of the required scales and arpeggios, and sight reading and ear-test examples, and examination details and techniques. There is also one preview composition piece from the Grade 4 book.Learning guitar effectively and in a fun way requires are number of resources, however this series enables one to develop a range of techniques progressively. It is a really excellent syllabus, and well worth the investment even if one doesn't enter for the examination.Some have commented that a CD is no longer included in this series, which is correct. However the backing tracks with or without the guitar section can be downloaded using the code provided. This takes all of about a minute to do, and is then conveniently filed and accessible on the device; can't see a problem with this!

Price

So far I have really enjoyed learning to play using the Rockschool Guitar - Debut. I have learned the first three tracks and the information is clear and the demo and play-along tracks on the CD encourage a higher standard of playing. Having a framework to work in really is helping me and keeping me motivated. I plan to take the associated exam at the next opportunity. I would give this 5 stars but the overall costs (the book and the exams) are a little higher than I would have expected; also there is now an App for Rockschool Guitar and I do not yet know if you have to re-purchase each level to access the material via the App; hopefully this is not the case but I await a response on this. I also have a seven year old grandson that is starting to learn the guitar but I think the materials are too expensive for most young families.

Covers the ground needed to pass the rock school exam at grade 3, and does so in a friendly and straight forward way.It is harder however to assess how good a book it is overall compared to the competition. It is required for the Rockschool exam. Ie you have to show the book, and get it signed, presumably so it can't be used for the exam by someone else.That means a) it has no second hand value, which affects the value for money. (What happens if you have more than one in the family who is taking their grades. Does reach have to have their own new copy?)b) you HAVE to have bought their book inorder to sit the exam. In addition to the examination fee that is. (Seems to me that the exam should be a test of competence, however acquired. Not a test of whether you have purchased their book?)

Its good to hear my son learning riffs and twiddly diddly bits on his guitar. This is a good course for the guitar and he appears to really be enjoying this. I do not find his practice objectionable at all.You have to download the music to play to. I find that a chore on occasion, but other that that great.

Son used to practice and pass his grade 3. Has everything in you need to know, learn and practice.

I have this book. I have been playing for a while following a Charanga Guitar Training PC Program but wanted something else to play as well. I struggle to play TAB for most proper songs so wanted something I could work towards fairly easily (I can play basic RIFFs and power chords but I am not particularly fast or fluent). These were spot on for that and I am enjoying playing along to them. They are NOT copies of other artists music but do copy some of the basic styles and have quite a bit of teaching material in too.