Many of us want to decrypt the instrument and unleash our play, but the study of music, particularly guitar, is fraught with complex theorems and diagrams, rote memorization, arcane reference points, and archaic devices. Most guitar books are a rehash of tools invented centuries ago that turn the process into a slog. It's time for a new language. Meet SIGIL—the new language of guitar. Guitarists who want to improvise and compose, from novice to advanced, will find SIGIL, the guitar decoder ring, which is simple enough to keep in their heads, an accelerator for their progress. Music instructors will gain a refreshing new perspective on the fretboard. The guitar must be freed from the medieval conventions of the orchestra pit and conductor and unshackled from other instruments, like the piano, so guitar players can easily chart their own course. You will not find chord charts, scale patterns, mode charts, wheel of 5ths diagrams, or similar traditional devices in The Guitar Decoder Ring. This is an entirely new and portable language for the instrument that works everywhere, all the time, and does all of it faster and more simply. Most of what's occurring in guitar instruction is not new. There's been very little innovation in almost 600 years (guitar tablature) — 240 if you count the first 6-string. It's time. Be skeptical—it's fine. This book will equip you with a simple, portable, 5-letter alphabet and show you how to use it in every category of learning and progress to tear up the wall charts. Advanced players will speed more interesting solos and compositions. Instructors will have a gold-standard go-to book for equipping learners at EVERY level. The authors are a seasoned musician and thriving guitar instructor, Barry Gilman, and a relatively new musician, Asher Black, with a relevant background in logic, reasoning, history, and storytelling. The book is readable, humorous, and insightful and walks the reader through the toolset with eye-opening examples. This is guitar study re-engineered. Break through your lull or stall and free your play from the pit of worn habit.