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14: 10 Best Guitar Books for Self Teaching · The Guitarjet Podcast

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Guitar Jet podcast, where you'll skyrocket your
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  Speaker 1: knowledge of theory, techniques and fundamentals for guitar. Welcome to
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  Speaker 1: the show. I'm your chief guitar instructor, Miles, and today
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to tell you about the ten best guitar
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  Speaker 1: books for self teaching. And you can find a link
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  Speaker 1: to this list in the podcast episode description. So let's
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  Speaker 1: die right into it. And of course, if you like
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  Speaker 1: this episode, recommended to your friends and subscribe to the podcast.
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  Speaker 1: So if you want to learn guitar with ease, then
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  Speaker 1: you're going to love this list of best books for
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  Speaker 1: self teaching. And some of the books are newer, such
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  Speaker 1: as The Complete Guitar Manual, Complete Technique for Modern Guitar
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  Speaker 1: and The Definitive Handbook The Definitive Guitar Handbook. And some
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  Speaker 1: of the books are timeless classics, such as The Hellanerd
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  Speaker 1: Guitar Method, Guitar Aerobics, and Music Theory for Guitarists. So
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  Speaker 1: let's take look at him, and I want to start
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  Speaker 1: by highlighting the Complete Guitar Manual by DK. This is
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  Speaker 1: like my book in first place, because it's an exceptionally
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  Speaker 1: well written and well crafted Guitar Method Book. It's small
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  Speaker 1: and compact, and it has three hundred and fifty two pages,
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  Speaker 1: and the visual elements are absolutely incredible, and it's a
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  Speaker 1: fantastic resource for every guitar player's book collection. Seriously, this
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  Speaker 1: is one of the most in depth guitar books I
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  Speaker 1: have ever found, So check it out. And the next
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  Speaker 1: book is a staple, the Hal Leonard Guitar Method Book.
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  Speaker 1: Darn near any season guitarist, you'll meet well in this
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  Speaker 1: book for starters. It's written by Greg Cooch. Greg is
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  Speaker 1: a legend as both a guitar book author and a
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  Speaker 1: world class improviser. And second, it's a great book if
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  Speaker 1: you want to teach yourself how to read music for guitar,
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  Speaker 1: because learning to read music will not only teach you
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  Speaker 1: the note names on the fretboard, but it will also
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  Speaker 1: help you understand note lengths and rhythmic symbols like quarter notes,
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  Speaker 1: eighth notes, half notes, and triplets. So make sure to
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  Speaker 1: keep this in mind because these method books don't have
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  Speaker 1: tablature and tell you're more than twenty five percent of
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  Speaker 1: the way through the book. And the third book is
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  Speaker 1: the Helendered Guitar tab Method, which is different than the
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  Speaker 1: Regular Helender Guitar Method because it has tablature and it's
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  Speaker 1: jam packed with popular songs, which makes it quite a
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  Speaker 1: blast play. And there are three books in the series.
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  Speaker 1: You'll learn a wide variety of popular songs, techniques, theory,
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  Speaker 1: and other guitar fundamentals by reading through all three of them.
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  Speaker 1: The fourth book is The hellenterd Acoustic Guitar Tab Method,
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  Speaker 1: so if you're an acoustic player, this will be right
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  Speaker 1: up your alley. It's just like the regular Guitar Tab Method,
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  Speaker 1: and it has popular riffs and licks from bands such
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  Speaker 1: as The Beatles, Johnny Cash, Eagles, The Who, and all
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  Speaker 1: sorts of other great classic rock bands. So I recommend
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  Speaker 1: getting both books, both the Acoustic Guitar Tab Method and
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  Speaker 1: the Regular Guitar Tab Method because reading both will take
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  Speaker 1: you on a convenient A to Z path for learning
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  Speaker 1: acoustic guitar fundamentals. And the fifth book is Guitar Aerobics
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  Speaker 1: by Troy Nielsen, so if you're looking for a fun
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  Speaker 1: guitar practice routine, then you'll love this book. It coined
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  Speaker 1: itself as a fifty two week, one lick per day
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  Speaker 1: workout program for developing, improving, and maintaining Guitar Technique and
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  Speaker 1: it's certainly one of my favorite books for self teaching,
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  Speaker 1: and I still use this book and play through the
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  Speaker 1: exercises after more than nineteen years of guitar playing. So
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  Speaker 1: long story short, get Guitar Aerobics if you're looking for
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  Speaker 1: a fun guitar prectice routine to take you from late
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  Speaker 1: stage beginner to a seasoned advanced guitar player. The next
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  Speaker 1: book is The Definitive Guitar Handbook, which is by Cliff DAWs,
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  Speaker 1: Hugh Fielder, and various other authors. So if you want
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  Speaker 1: a foundation for every subject related to guitar playing, then
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  Speaker 1: you need this book. It will teach you about musical styles,
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  Speaker 1: guitar scales, rhythm chords, effects like delay, reverb, chorus, home recording,
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  Speaker 1: famous guitar players, famous types of guitars, and the history
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  Speaker 1: of guitar. Seriously, this book covers everything about guitar. It's
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  Speaker 1: super cool. I think the examples could be better, but
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  Speaker 1: if you really want to go deep into a specific
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  Speaker 1: subject for guitar, you'll look into another book. So overall,
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  Speaker 1: really great book for learning just everything about guitar. Then
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  Speaker 1: his next book is The Complete Technique for Modern Guitar
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  Speaker 1: by Joseph Alexander. So the first thing to know is
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  Speaker 1: this book is written by Joseph Alexander and he's the
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  Speaker 1: founder of the incredible modern guitar book publishing company called
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  Speaker 1: Fundamental Changes. Their books are well crafted, come with audio examples,
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  Speaker 1: and have both tabs and notation. As for the book itself,
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  Speaker 1: you'll learn a wide variety of guitar fundamentals and exercises.
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  Speaker 1: They're useful for any guitarist looking to teach themselves and
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  Speaker 1: grow as a songwriter, improviser, or even a guitar teacher
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  Speaker 1: slash educator. So overall, you'll definitely want a copy of
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  Speaker 1: the Complete Technique for Modern Guitar if you want a
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  Speaker 1: single modern method book that will teach you useful guitar techniques,
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  Speaker 1: two hundred guitar exercises, tips for finding your voice on
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  Speaker 1: the guitar, teaching you how to write songs, and also
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  Speaker 1: shows you how to so definitely check it out. The
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  Speaker 1: next book is a music theory book called Music Theory
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  Speaker 1: for Guitarists by Tom Cold And of course, guitar theory
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  Speaker 1: is essential to learn for any aspiring professional guitarists, and
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  Speaker 1: this book is one of the best ways to learn it.
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  Speaker 1: This book will take you through every step of theory,
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  Speaker 1: including the musical staff, reading notes, types of rhythm, slash notelenks, harmony,
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  Speaker 1: chord formulas and construction, scale formulas and construction in common
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  Speaker 1: music terminology. It's truly an A to Z self teaching
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  Speaker 1: method book for learning theory. You won't be playing many
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  Speaker 1: songs or super exciting exercises, but you'll certainly learn one
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  Speaker 1: hundred percent of what you need to know if you
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  Speaker 1: want to be competent in music theory for guitar, so
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  Speaker 1: check out that book Music Theory for Guitarists by Tom Cold. Now,
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  Speaker 1: if you're looking for a book for kids, well then
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  Speaker 1: you can't look further than Alfred's Kid's a Guitar Chord
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  Speaker 1: by Ron Mainis. And I've actually taught like a dozen
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  Speaker 1: kids how to play guitar using this book. Unlike other
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  Speaker 1: beginner method books, the examples and songs in this book
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  Speaker 1: are very simple and easy to play because they use
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  Speaker 1: the top three strings of the guitar GB and high E,
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  Speaker 1: and they simplify chord shapes. And this is great and
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  Speaker 1: ideal for kids because of guitar let's face, it can
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  Speaker 1: be tough on the fingers, and it's really frustrating for
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  Speaker 1: first time players if they don't achieve some easy wins.
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  Speaker 1: And another great thing about this book is the selection
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  Speaker 1: of songs, and of course, like I mentioned earlier, the
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  Speaker 1: simple chords that accompany them, and so you'll learn like
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  Speaker 1: G C and G seven and the popular kid songs
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  Speaker 1: are songs that I can almost guarantee they have heard before.
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  Speaker 1: So if you have a kid or noah kid who
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  Speaker 1: wants to learn guitar, you'll be hard pressed to find
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  Speaker 1: a better guitar book for self teaching than this one.
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  Speaker 1: And the last book I have on here is a
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  Speaker 1: classical method called the How Leonard Classical Guitar Method by
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  Speaker 1: Paul Henry, and it introduces you to common classical guitar
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  Speaker 1: techniques and songs and introduce you to the classical music
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  Speaker 1: genre as a whole. You'll start by learning notes on
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  Speaker 1: the first and second strings, and then you'll play classical
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  Speaker 1: songs and melodies using notes on those strings, the B
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  Speaker 1: and high E strings, and you'll continue to do this
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  Speaker 1: with every other string on your guitar, and you'll learn
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  Speaker 1: classical music theory along the way. By the end of
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  Speaker 1: the book, you'll have to. You'll have learned to play
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  Speaker 1: some extravagant, interesting, and iconic classical guitar pieces. Overall, this
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  Speaker 1: Classical Guitar Method book puts you on the right path
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  Speaker 1: to playing classical guitar the way you've always dreamed of
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  Speaker 1: playing it. So final notes about the best guitar books
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  Speaker 1: self teaching. There's a wide array of options when it
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  Speaker 1: comes to books that you can learn with, so read
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  Speaker 1: about each book on Amazon, learn about their authors, and
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  Speaker 1: make your final decision based on the type of guitar
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  Speaker 1: player that you want to become. Overall, though, my top
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  Speaker 1: two books I'd recommend from this list are one The
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  Speaker 1: Definitive Guitar Handbook, which will teach you every fundamental you
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  Speaker 1: need to know about the guitar and its history, and
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  Speaker 1: two the hell Lenard Guitar tab Method Books one through
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  Speaker 1: three because it's a fantastic method book for beginners and
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  Speaker 1: intermediate players, and by the end of book three you'll
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  Speaker 1: have learned a wide assortment of songs, techniques, and guitar licks.
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  Speaker 1: So at the end of at the end of the day,
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  Speaker 1: the decision is yours. Just make sure you do further
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  Speaker 1: research about each guitar method book and pick the book
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  Speaker 1: that jumps out at you. Thank you so much for
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  Speaker 1: listening to the Guitar Jet podcast. I've been your host, Miles.
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  Speaker 1: You're awesome and rate the show. Subscribe to the show,
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  Speaker 1: Tell a guitar friend about the show, and I'll catch
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  Speaker 1: you in the next episode. You have a fantastic day.