Mel Bay's First Lessons Beginning Guitar: Learning Chords/Playing Songs Book

This book was a disappointment in some ways. The information about proper songcraft and selection was fairly good, and Baloche emphasizes the spiritual as much as the practical. But the book is tainted by his insistence that church musicians shouldn't have to know anything about music. Baloche even goes so far as to claim that knowledge of basic music theory will prevent songwriters from doing a good job because they will get hung up in theoretical issues instead of concentrating on their flow of ideas. This is precisely why Christian music is full of weak, sound-alike songs that rehash the same cliches and chord progressions. Much Christian music is an embarrassment for this precise reason. Encouraging the ignorant to remain ignorant is not the hallmark of a good musician, much less a significant Christian figure, so I was greatly disappointed in Baloche's approach here. His co-writers don't contribute a great deal to the discussion, and from the evidence here, it would seem that all of their best musical achievements were realized three decades ago. There is a definite niche for this kind of book, but Baloche misses the mark in several ways.