Gayageum Guide Book in English and Korean

The book has number of positive qualities. It covers the history briefly as well as instrument design features. It also inckudes numerous scores which a beginning learner can use quite easily for practice.

The various playing techniques, both right and left hand, are listed and briefly explained.

The book also discusses the differences between types of gayageum play, court music and folk (Sanjo) music, and provides scores for each genre.

Overall the book is a nice simple introduction and overview of the instrument with accompanying beginning level music scores.

The book, however, has several notable shortcomings. Primarily, the explanations of the techniques are not suitable for learning. They are quite brief and difficult to picture for a beginning student of the instrument. I bought the book hoping to use it as a reference when practicing techniques between my lessons. But the technique descriptions are relatively useless in guiding my practice.

It also would have been helpful to have photos of the techniques.

Finally, there are numerous misspellings and typos in the English portions.

The shortcomings i have noted are probably only an issue if the reader's expectations are, like mine, for learning purposes. It's not really a guide for learners. It is however a nice succinct informational introduction to the instrument.