Hey All!

I don’t get to do many book reviews because they take so much time and it’s super rare that I get to review two books at once. Well I finally had this opportunity that allows me to compare 4 different books “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar vs. Guitar For Dummies, 2nd Edition” and “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Learning Spanish, 5th Edition vs. Spanish For Dummies, 2nd Edition.” This was a challenge to say the least, because I needed to find time to now review four books. So I will start with the Learning Spanish books. But I was up for the challenge since I love these kinds of books!

Spanish for Dummies is in its 2nd edition and the Complete Idiot’s Guide to Learning Spanish is in its 5th edition. They are very similar books down to the chapter selection. They also both come with an audio CD’s to help you learn pronunciation and it’s also easier to listen and learn in my opinion. Spanish for Dummies has fun and games pages that will work better for kids or teens who are trying to use these books to learn Spanish, while the Complete Idiot’s Guide to Learning Spanish takes a more text book like approach, where you practice filling in the missing words of a Spanish conversation. The Idiot’s Guide to Learning Spanish’s CD, I find to be the most helpful as it features many phrases that you will use in every day conversation. I find that after just hearing the Idiot’s Guide to Learning Spanish’s CD a few times you will be able to hold a small conversation in Spanish. Spanish for Dummies vs The Idiot’s Guide to Learning Spanish, I say I like the Idiots guide better since I have a teen who needs to be more disciplined so I would like a more text book approach when he’s learning something.

Now onto The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitar vs. Guitar For Dummies, 2nd Edition.

These two books provide everything you need to know to learn to play guitar. The Idiots Guide book is again a little more text book like while the Dummies Book is slightly more playful and visual. Although, the Idiots guide includes many popular songs that you can learn to play, I fined it a little harder to learn through the lack of visuals. You learn in each book through both traditional musical notation and in guitar tablature. The Idiots Guide focuses more on Notation while the Dummies book has a good variety of pictures and notations that also incorporate how to properly hold the guitar to achieve each note correctly…which I really like. I have say me and my teen are more visual people so I appreciate visuals much more, and we learn faster that way then having to guess if we are holding the guitar right. One thing I did like in the The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing the Guitar is it has a chapter about how to choose your first guitar and what aspects of the instrument you should look out for. So in my comparison unfortunately the Dummies Book wins this round.

I loved reading and comparing these books and sharing my thoughts with you. The fab folks at Idiots Guide would love to offer my readers the coupon code CIGBlog11. This code allows for 50% off of one order of regularly priced books from www.idiotsguides.com. The discount runs through October 31.

These are both great brands of books that will help you to learn a great variety of things. I highly recommend you try these books for yourself and maybe do a comparison for yourself.

***Disclosure: I was not compensated or paid in any way for this post. I received a review copy of these books and I am sharing this for the benefit of my readers. All opinions are my own.***