Sound of China Guzheng Basic Tutorial is an English-language book written by Carol Chang, owner and operator of Sound of China and ChineseZither.net. It is a frank overview of what you need to get started learning the guzheng. There is no fluff, no romanticism, and very little cultural context - just the straightforward basics. It’s intended for absolute beginners, providing everything you need to get started and using an instructional style that spaces out lessons and practices between greater challenges. This review is based on the edition that ChineseZither.net distributes online as part of their Resources section. I have not listened to the CDs but if you include them with the listed purchase price of $19.50 it is well worth it.

Teaching Foreigners to Play Guzheng is an English-only book written by Yao Ningxin when she was an Associate Professor of Guzheng at Beijing Opera Art’s College. It is an earnest and heartfelt effort to teach people who already know some music but who are unfamiliar with Chinese characters or cypher notation to play the Guzheng. All of the music is written in western Flag and Staff notation. It sets a fast pace for learning new techniques and contains fantastic information. It unfortunately suffers from frequent grammatical errors and odd word choices. While it’s generally low price tag of about $10 before shipping makes it an affordable choice, it is not well suited for the absolute beginner. Read on for more.