Rockschool Guitar Method

Overview

Rockschool Guitar Method is a beginner-friendly contemporary guitar method designed to help new players build fundamental guitar skills through practical lessons, popular styles and play-along material.

Formerly titled Let's Rock Guitar, the method introduces essential guitar knowledge, basic music reading, chords, riffs, scales and playing techniques through 12 progressive lessons across six musical styles. Each lesson includes supporting audio and video tuition, making the book suitable for guided lessons as well as independent practice.

The method is also linked to Rockschool's entry-level pathway, with the six main pieces providing material for the Rockschool Premiere Performance Certificate.

Key Features

• Beginner-friendly introduction to contemporary guitar

• 12 lessons in six musical styles

• Rock, Pop, Country, Metal, Indie and Hip Hop

• Instrument quick guide covering guitar parts and basic operation

• Introduction to reading music

• Chords and power chords

• String crossing and rests

• Major and minor pentatonic scales

• Riff playing and basic melodies

• Playback and performance skills

• Six progressive performance pieces

• Over one hour of downloadable audio and video content

• Approximately 120 supporting audio tracks

• Video tuition for getting started and key techniques

• Interactive quizzes to reinforce learning

• Full-track and backing-track material for playing along

Featured Repertoire

The six main performance pieces are:

• Rock City

• Party People

• Road To Nashville

• Lead Boots

• Parka Life

• Represent

The book also contains three additional ensemble pieces at the back:

• Overload

• Slam

• Under The Radar

The six main pieces correspond to the six styles explored in the lessons, giving students opportunities to apply the techniques they have learned in complete musical arrangements.

What Students Will Develop

Students will develop:

• Basic understanding of the guitar and its components

• Correct playing position and basic technique

• Fundamental music notation skills

• Basic rhythm and timing

• Chord playing

• Power-chord technique

• Single-note melodies

• String crossing

• Alternate picking

• Major and minor pentatonic scales

• Basic riffs

• Playing with backing tracks

• Listening and playback skills

• Performance confidence

• Familiarity with different contemporary guitar styles

• Basic ensemble-playing awareness

The method's progressive structure allows students to learn a technique through musical examples before applying it to a complete piece.

Technical Exercises

The technical material is integrated into the 12 lessons rather than presented as a separate graded-exam technical syllabus.

Students are introduced progressively to:

• Basic picking technique

• Alternate picking

• String crossing

• Rests and rhythmic accuracy

• Chord changes

• Power chords

• Major and minor pentatonic scales

• Riff playing

• Basic melodic playing

• Reading standard notation

• Playing along with a backing track

Each lesson builds toward a musical example or performance piece, helping students apply technique directly in a contemporary playing context.

Product Details

• Brand: Rockschool / RSL

• Series: Rockschool Methods

• Instrument: Guitar

• Level: Beginner

• Publisher: Rockschool Ltd

• Publication Year: 2020

• Pages: 52

• Product Type: Guitar Method Book

• Format: Softcover

• Audio/Video: Downloadable supporting audio and video

• Language: English