Guitar Party
This book is almost finished and will be available to order in September 2025.
“Guitar Party” is a beginner’s guitar book, with a strong emphasis on learning both the melodic and harmonic side of the guitar from the very beginning. The book literally has two sides, since most of the pieces consist of a melody (on the left-hand page, written in standard stave notation) and a chordal accompaniment (on the right-hand page, written in tablature). Many pupils will initially feel more comfortable with one side or the other, but all are encouraged to explore them both.
The melodic side and the harmonic side will present different challenges, but they are both carefully progressed and kept in tandem with each other, so that the parts can be played by pupils at the same general technical level. One is not in itself harder than the other. The chord forms are chosen to give the maximum musical and tonal effect while placing the minimum amount of strain on the fingers.
The guitar can be a very challenging instrument, but it is also capable of making beautiful sounds when played in a very simple way. This book invites pupils to spend some time in this gentle sound world, with plenty of space for those all-important four “E”s: “Experience, Enjoy, Explore, Experiment”.
“Guitar Party” could be used by any first-year guitar pupil or group. All the music can be played on a variety of guitars, and is suitable for fingerstyle playing, plectrum playing or any mixture of the two.
For a quick learner with an enquiring mind, it could make an ideal standalone tutor book for the first couple of terms, before any decisions are made on exactly which sort of guitarist the pupil wishes to become in the long term. New notes and chords and introduced in a logical progressive way, and any new musical concepts and terms are explained as they arise, as you would expect in any tutor book.
Because of its inclusive and invitational nature the book does – quite deliberately – avoid going into a lot of detail on technique (particularly right hand technique) and it is very much left up to the teacher and pupil to decide which techniques to explore and in which order. So “Guitar Party” would also be a compatible supplement for a wide range of established guitar tutor books which focus more on particular playing styles.
Finally, since almost all the pieces consist of a melody and an accompaniment, I hope this will be a useful go-to book for junior guitar ensembles.
Enjoy … and let me know how you get on …
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