Guitar Chord Bible: Over 500 Illustrated Chords for Rock, Blues, Soul, Country, Jazz, and Classical (Volume 8) (Music Bibles, 8) Spiral-bound – August 26, 2009

Really nicely laid out chord bible. The photos and fret references were useful. I've been playing a LONG time but still like to try new chords here and there, this was superb for that.

A comprehensive and simple illustrated guide to all basic and barre chords. Thus book is all you need to learn chords. Highly recommend 👌 👍

This book is a huge reference for all the common chords you might use on guitar. It has a ton of information and I anticipate I'll be using it for years.The book is divided into sections by root note, C through B. Each note has subsections for the main chord qualities; major, minor and 7. Every chord is then laid out with a numbered diagram, as well as a photo showing the proper fingering position. It has several inversions for most chords.To get an idea of the comprehensiveness, the first section (for note C) includes: Cmaj (5 inversions), Cmaj6 (5), Cmaj7 (5), Csus4 (2), Csus2 (3), Cmin (5), Cmin6 (2), Cmin7 (3), Cdom7 (5), C7#5 (2), C7sus4 (3), Cdom9 (1), C7#9 (1), C7b9 (1), C13 (2). That's a total of 15 chord types and 45 inversions just for C! The other 11 sections are similar.My only complaint is the non-standard diagram notation (it's similar to the usual chord diagrams, but rotated at an angle and looks more like a photo than a drawing). This is probably a plus for novices, or people used to learning by watching someone play in front of them; for me it's an annoying mental adjustment. But it works, and is not a big enough gripe to knock off a star.A final note: this book is also a trove for ukulelists (I play both). Since the intervals between the ukulele's strings are the same as the 4 treble strings on the guitar, all the chord shapes listed in the book will also work on the ukulele. (They'll have the same quality; major, minor, 7, etc.; but sound 5 frets higher in pitch, so a Cmaj7 on the guitar is an Fmaj7 on the ukulele. Baritone uke is easier still--even the note names stay the same as the guitar.) Just ignore the two bass strings, and strum away!If you are a ukulelist, I'd also recommend Roy Sakuma's "Treasury of Ukulele Chords", which is available on Amazon too. Happy playing!

I picked this book after looking through several at the bookstore. What I liked about it was that it had lots of chords and it gave you some of the "logic" behind the chord and why/where you might use them. Most other books just have lots of chord pictures laid out on the page which I did not find helpful.Also this book shows an actual photo of a hand playing the chord which I liked. The book's tablature (chord pictures) shows which note is the root in the chord which I also liked.Another cool thing is that the book is spiral bound so that it will lay open flat. This is really helpful when you're actually playing your guitar chords and not holding the book.So while this book doesn't have 1000's of chords like some do (it doesn't get into a lot of "fancy" chords--suspended, 11ths, 13ths, etc) it does give you 500 of the most useful ones. I also like the appendixes that have more blues, jazz, rock chords.It's a good book all in all.

I was impressed with this book the moment I laid eyes on it. The design and the content are both excellent.DESIGN:-The book has a sturdy hardbound cover AND a spiral binding, so it is durable and lays flat when you use it.-The diagrams and photos are crystal clear. This is high quality printing on high quality glossy paper.-There are color-coded note "tabs" on the fore-edge, making it easy to navigate.-The size (6.8 x 1 x 8.1 inches) is just right: not too big, not too small. There are 5 chords per 2-page layout.CONTENT:-There are well over 500 chord diagrams plus real photos of a hand fingering each chord.-Each chord group has a brief 5-7 line introduction explaining the character and uses of the chords.-Every chord includes the fret location of the first finger or barre as appropriate up and down the neck.-All chords include harmonic intervals and note names.-The chord symbols are clear and easy to understand.-There's a handy index.Room for improvement:-Both the chord diagrams and photos are displayed "head-on" with the nut on the right as if you are looking directly at someone playing the chord. This is 90 degrees or 180 degrees different from most other standard chord references, so it takes a little getting used to.-While there are over 500 chords, it would be useful to include more chord types such as Add2, Add9, Diminished, etc.Summary: Many other guitar instruction books are either too crowded from a design perspective, too verbose, or are printed on poor quality paper or come in poor bindings. This chord reference book contains just the right amount of information on each page, expertly laid out, printed, and bound. More music publishers should use this book as a model.

Great reference for learning chords to different music genres.

The book itself is excellent—well organized and clearly illustrated.But there’s a reason the spiral-bound version is so cheap. It’s obviously a used resale copy, and mine showed up with a third-party sales sticker on the cover that was so thoroughly glued on that a new razor blade couldn’t budge it and eventually the cover itself started to disintegrate. Some Goof-Off removed a smear of dark purple ink across the lower part of the cover, but with it went more of the cover.None of this detracts from the book’s contents—but buyer beware.