Title: Exercises (Guitar Reference Guide)

Author: Joe Charupakorn

As a guitarist, you can never have enough exercises to work on. Exercises are at the foundation of developing speed, finger dexterity and technical aptitude. Exercises (Guitar Reference Guide) contains over 150 exercises, ranging from warm-up exercises to arpeggio sequences.

The book's overall presentation is neat and clean for the most part, with each page containing 2 to 4 exercises. There do seem to be a few misprints here and there, but it doesn't affect the overall experience in a significant way.

The first section of the book is made up of warm-up exercises. These exercises are your standard chromatic finger exercises, but they are varied and challenging, especially if you haven't tried anything similar.

In terms of scale exercises, the book only covers 3 scales (major, harmonic minor, and jazz melodic minor), and therefore couldn’t be considered a scale reference book. Since the same 3 scales are repeated (albeit different fingerings and sequences), the exercises can get a little dull and monotonous after awhile. That isn't to say that your playing won't benefit from it. Just know that you will be working on the same scales for over 100 pages (if you choose to work through all of them).

The scale exercises are followed by arpeggios. The book first demonstrates a wide variety of arpeggios with different fingerings, and then presents exercises (i.e. sequences) using said arpeggios. Towards the end of this section there are also diatonic arpeggio sequences, but these aren't a noticeable departure from scale sequences (maybe because they're diatonic).

At the very end of the book there are 3 classical pieces from violin repertoire, and while these are more interesting than exercises, they are equally (if not more) challenging than the rest of the book combined.

Recommended For...
Just about any guitarist looking to improve their technical ability. Some exercises are harder than others and beginners would be really challenged by this book. If you're patient, disciplined and stubborn, this book is an even better fit for you.

Would I But It Again?
Now that I've worked through most of the book, I doubt I would miss it if it was gone. Nevertheless, it's still a great book to have around as a guitar teacher. I would pick it up again if I lost it but a used copy would suffice.

Overall 4/5
If you're looking to dedicate a significant stretch of time to single-note studies, then this book is sure to provide you with hours of grinding. Practically every guitarist could benefit from this book, but you have to be patient and disciplined to get the most out of it. I would have liked it a little more if there were some unusual chromatic exercises and string-skipping examples. This article was written by David Andrew Wiebe, web designer, graphic designer, guitarist, bassist, keyboardist, songwriter, guitar instructor, and music expert. Interested in winning a free CD? Click here for more info! Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Recommendations? Email me.

Published on February 26, 2008