Bob Taylor’s ‘Guitar Lessons’ is an insightful read

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Reviewed by SCOTT MOKRIS,
home-schooled
Taylor Guitars are a part of our family. They are great guitars, whether acoustic or electric. They are so familiar in our house that, when my mother was reading to my little brother and asked him what a tailor made, my brother immediately said a tailor made guitars.
Because we like Taylor Guitars so much, when I heard that Bob Taylor, co-founder and CEO of Taylor Guitars, had written a book, I definitely wanted to read it. “Guitar Lessons” tells the story of how Bob Taylor found his passion in building guitars (but not playing them, he understands the banjo more), started a guitar-making business with two other men, and built it into one of the top acoustic guitar companies in the world.
While at first I thought this was going to be a book about guitars, I quickly realized it was as much, if not more, a business book. Taylor writes about many aspects of his business, including guitar-making, advertising, customer and musician help, and employee relations. I was especially impressed with the drive that Taylor had through the many years when the business was not successful and he was poor.
Although I wanted to read the book because it’s about guitars, one of the most fascinating parts is the chapter about Taylor Guitars advertising. Taylor Guitars took a gamble with advertisements, and it paid off with some very entertaining and award-winning ads.
The other interesting part that I did not expect was the chapter on guitar cases. Taylor Guitars makes its own guitar cases, which are very sturdy. Some customers, as said in the book, are won over to buy a Taylor Guitar when they see the case.
“Guitar Lessons” is an interesting book that not only tells an American success story about the rise of Taylor Guitars, but also gives a lot of valuable business and life advice.

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