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List Price: $24.95 | | Publisher: DK ADULT
Salesrank: 1004133
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| Our Price: $11.27 |
| Used Price: $0.76 |
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| Media: Hardcover |
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Editorial Review:
Foreword by Eric Clapton!
Here is a truly definitive book on an instrument that has captured the imagination of generations. Guitar looks at the incarnation of this versatile instrument in its different musical contexts throughout the world, from modern classical and flamenco to blues, folk, country, jazz, and rock 'n' roll. In addition to tracing the guitar's origin from over two thousand years ago to the present day, the author focuses on 300 artists featuring the highlights of their performing careers and analysis of their style and technique along with transcripts of their most famous songs. From Andrea Segovia to Jimi Hendrix, this beautifully detailed book is a comprehensive treatment of the instrument and its players. Guitar offers insight for both guitar fanatics and casual fans.
Guitar: Great Players and Their Music Reviews:
Great Book!! 
2009-09-17 - I use this book in my Rock History/Guitar middle school classes. It is perfect for historical tidbits that I put in a powerpoint along with video clips of the different guitarist.
I highly recommend this book!
Nice coffee table/reception room book 
2008-05-25 - Other reviewers either loved this book or hated it. The photographs are probably more impressive than the written content, and I think that baby boomers might like it better than the children or grandchildren of baby boomers. Lots of nostalgic photos. It filled in some of the gaps in my knowledge, but as one of the other reviewers has stated, there is more detailed information to be found elsewhere.
Good Overview of Guitar History 
2008-03-10 - I bought this book since I have recently started playing the guitar and have become very interested in all things guitar. This book, while not the most detailed, does provide a large overview of the history of the guitar and its music. Some other reviewers say you could find the same information on google, which I think is wrong. While if you knew a specific guitarist you might be able to find similar information, you would never be able to find it all combined into a single source. That is why I enjoyed the book, it gave me a large overview of the entire history of the guitar, and I learned a tremendous amount. I would recommend it as a starter book for any aspiring guitarist you wants to know the history of the instrument he or she is playing.
Pros: Easy to read, beautiful pictures, interesting sections on individual guitarists, large overview of guitar's history
Cons: Limited tabs were not very helpful, some guitarists not mentioned or mentioned very little, would have liked more history on actual guitars and guitar making
Useless..... 
2007-11-17 - I like the DK books for reference purposes when writing first and foremost and that is why I buy them. Some of them turn out to be useful while others are completes duds and "Guitar" falls into the latter category. Unless you have a reference use for this subject, all of the information in this book is better found elsewhere or like the other reviewer said, using Google.
The book is divided up into three section. Famous guitarists, famous guitars, and guitar playing basics. The guitarist section is way to terse and really only goes into introductory detail about its subjects. The famous guitars section has a brief history of the guitar and some of the most famous brands and models. This section is ok but again, various websites and other books cover this much more in depth. Finally, you have a do-it yourself guitar lesson section. I always hate these things because rarely are they well written or constructed well enough to be useful and this one is particularly bad. Anyone looking to start learning guitar should go to a music store and buy a book (that is regular sized as well since this one is way to small) that is solely dedicated to teaching.
Bottom Line: Some decent pictures and subject matter that tries to cover a lot of ground but just doesn't end up doing anything well.
Is anyone actually reading this before they review it? 
2007-08-07 - It looks like all of the information found in the book came from someone typing a topic in Google. It is also worse because two of the pictures are referenced as different people. The greatest blues guitarist of all time is Stevie Ray Vaughan and the book references his picture as Jimmy Vaughan, Stevie's brother. That in itself is a reason to never even contemplating a purchase of this pathetic book. Someone should've been fired.
