Why you shouldn’t buy a chord book
For those that don’t know what a chord book is, it is simply an entire book built with
different chord shapes. You can use them as a reference tool to find a chord and use it.
The problem with this tool is that it’s basically feeding off of beginners who don’t yet
know how chords are built and are trying to avoid doing the work. If you want to
improve as a guitar player and further expand your knowledge of
music, avoid the chord book. "
# To put it in simple terms, here are all the reasons a chord
book is unnecessary/harmful to your journey on guitar:"
1)People avoid learning theory"
2)People avoid learning the notes on the neck"
3)It gives off a misleading approach to learning chords"
4)It gives you a lot of information, but doesn’t tell you how
to use any of it."
Now that we’ve discussed all these things, let’s go into detail
about each section."
1. People avoid learning theory by attaining this book:"
# Most people who own a chord book consider it a way to avoid learning the
formulas for the chords. Why learn theory when they can just give you all the chords?
The problem with this approach is twofold: chord books don’t have all the chords, and
it prevents you from seeing how notes relate to each other. These concepts that you
gain from understanding the relationship between chords will allow you to build new
interesting chords and connect chords you may not have thought of. If you have a
chord book, it’s like having someone do your homework in high school. Sure, you have
the answers and the grade, but did you learn anything? I assume that if you’re reading
this you have a passion for music. Do you really want to just get by on your passion?"
# If you have a chord book, it also means you’re probably trying to put chords and
music together. In this case theory is necessary, and having a chord book is useless."
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2. People avoid learning the notes on the neck"
# The easiest way to get good at learning the notes on the neck is to use this
knowledge to help you check chords and notes on the neck. Basically, you will be
using it as a reference tool. Every single player I’ve ever met who uses a chord book
doesn’t know the notes on the neck completely. "
# They use this book as a crutch, and when they’re in major need of this
knowledge of the fretboard, they don’t have it, whether it is a jamming situation or a
composition situation. This book ends up harming and plateauing their playing more
than anything else."
"
3. It gives off a misleading approach to learning
chords:"
# When a player receives a book like this, the first thing
going through their brains is, WOW, I have to memorize
all of these chords. When you give someone a blank
sheet of pictures with no concepts, what else can you
expect them to think?"
# Chords are formulas, if you understand the formulas
you can form any chord you want in any way you want.
You don’t and shouldn’t be aimlessly memorizing a bunch of chords. This is a very big
waste of time. Learn the building blocks — the formulas. Then find the chords you like
best and learn those chords."
4. It gives you a lot of information, but doesn’t tell you how to use any of it."
# The final reason you should avoid chord books is due to how they tend to
overwhelm the reader. They give you a lot of chords, zero context about how to play
them, which ones you should learn first, how you should go about playing them and
how they go together. Not to mention, in this day and age, you can find it all online.
There’s no direction, and information with no direction is going nowhere. You’re better
off finding a method that has a strategy and plan that will allow you to learn in an easy
and fun way."
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