So I remember my brother lending me a simple easy basic book to learning guitar earlier this year just a few months before i came to GT that I though was cool . Anyways he knows that my progress has been good and that I am having a blast .

So this year for Christmas he surprised me with buying me a series called " The Hal Leonard Guitar book Method Complete Edition which also comes the cd's . And while I like the gift I find reading music symbols and getting even a basic understanding of measures and stuff really hard to grasp .

I know my brother told me if I was seriously considering becoming a musician that I would have to know this stuff and better to start early then much later on .

So here I am definitely interested in becoming a musician and no doubt these books are great but I'm sort at the cross roads on what to do . I love guitar tricks and having a blast learning more and more each day but I also don't want to this present to go to waste considering my mom told me it was hard to track down these books .

Is these the books that are "hard to track down"?
http://www.amazon.com/Hal-Leonard-G...k/dp/0793533929

Edit: $17 for the set here:
http://www.amazon.com/Hal-Leonard-G...e/dp/B000RQ73GQ

About $6 for the first one on Amazon. $25 for the entire set of 3 books. Doesn't look like it's anything particularly special compared to many other guitar books out there. I'm not a full access member here, but I can assume that GT teaches you the same things in the book. You can use the book as a reference or an additional thing to learn from. I've been working on a book from the Berklee college of music, plus one by Frederick Noad which is pretty popular.

Long story short, there are tons of books/websites that you can learn from. You you don't have to limit yourself to just 1 thing. Just read through the book from the beginning. Not sure exactly what you are asking though.

Always good value in learning some alternate perspectives. I have several band book/dvd combos aside from my GT subscription. I like the different approaches; it can help to reinforce things when I have two instructors to draw from.

In all objectivity, if you find you get what you need from the CD's then that is the end of it.

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...so ever since then, I always hang on to the buckle.

Thanks guys for the feedback . I have a friend who knows his stuff on music theory and how to read music and will see him in the new year . I'm also just considering that once I become a musician to use it as a supplement for extra income .
The reason for it is because music and guitar playing has provided so many avenues of escape for me from the real world and the learning experience has been so much fun . I want to keep it fun and not have to go to college or anything for a bachelor degree in music especially when the competition is very hard .
So music and becoming a musician will most likely just remain a hobby for me with maybe the exception of using it as a small extra source of income .