Foreword to online version

Tony Bradan (1913-1999) was a guitarist, arranger and music teacher. He wrote the Learning Process for Playing the Guitar Book 1 in 1983, printing a few copies for some of his ex-students. George Arvola (1948-2016) was a guitarist, music teacher and student of Tony’s. In 1997 Tony entrusted George with a suitcase containing 600 pages of hand-written music manuscript. These pages constituted his complete Learning Process for Playing the Guitar. George used the Learning Process manuscript as the basis for four books — Guitar Fundamentals Books 2-5. His own contribution to these books (other than entering them into music notation software, and ensuring the method’s continued existence) was the addition of explanatory text that was not included in Tony’s manuscript. George used this method for his own students, and eventually added three additional volumes to the series. Two introductory books — Guitar Fundamentals Primer and Guitar Fundamentals Book 1 (different from Tony’s Learning Process for Playing the Guitar Book 1) — prepare the student for the Learning Process Book 1 and Guitar Fundamentals Book 2. Guitar Fundamentals Book 6 introduces the player to the art of improvisation.

These books outline a process by which serious, dedicated students can gain:

• the ability to read standard notation for guitar (Guitar Fundamentals Primer and Book 1)
• skill in applying efficient pick control and left hand fingering (Learning Process for Playing the Guitar Book 1)
• an intimate knowledge of the guitar fretboard and flexibility in finding efficient fingerings for melodies, scales, triads, arpeggios and 3- and 4-part chords in real time (Guitar Fundamentals Books 2, 3 and 4)
• the ability to play accompaniment (Rhythm Guitar Studies supplement)
• the ability to play 4-part harmony, chord resolutions and voice movement (Guitar Fundamentals Book 5)
• the basics of improvisation (Guitar Fundamentals Book 6)

We are preserving this guitar method online in the hope that present and future generations of guitarists will benefit from the innovative approaches within. Please visit the links below to view the available volumes in the series.

• Guitar Fundamentals Primer by George Arvola
• Guitar Fundamentals Book 1 by George Arvola
• Learning Process for Playing the Guitar Book 1 by Tony Bradan
• Guitar Fundamentals (Learning Process for Playing the Guitar) Book 2 by George Arvola and Tony Bradan
• Guitar Fundamentals (Learning Process for Playing the Guitar) Book 3 by George Arvola and Tony Bradan
• Guitar Fundamentals (Learning Process for Playing the Guitar) Book 4 by George Arvola and Tony Bradan
• Rhythm Guitar Studies: Guitar Accompaniment and Chord Reading Studies (supplement to Guitar Fundamentals Books 1 to 4) by George Arvola
• Guitar Fundamentals (Learning Process for Playing the Guitar) Book 5 by George Arvola and Tony Bradan
• Guitar Fundamentals Book 6 by George Arvola

If you have gotten any value out of a book in this series, or would like to download an entire book as a single PDF, please consider purchasing the book via Etsy. All proceeds go to George’s family.

Thank you,

Dan Sich, George’s student and friend
Bruce Arbuckle, George’s student, bandmate and friend

Questions? Contact dansich@gmail.com