Are you like me?
Have you been overwhelmed by all of the "learn guitar"
programs available on the web? It's crazy!
Worst of all, most of them are pretty worthless and it's
difficult to tell how good they're going to be until
after you've already paid. I've reviewed
several and found at least two that are good. If
you can afford it,
Learn & Master Guitar
is by farthe best product I've seen anywhere,
and
Jamorama is also pretty good if you don't
mind taking lessons in front of your computer.
Wondering whether our reviews are biased? Read our
disclosure,
or check out the unedited
user reviews.
Learn
& Master Guitar is the Rolls-Royce of
guitar training products. It contains ten DVDs,
five jam-along CDs and a 108 page book. It's a bit
pricey, but if you're serious about really learning guitar, there
just isn't anything better.
Everything is super high-quality -- from the website, to
the video production, to the pro players they use for
the Jam-Along CDs.
I like that it provides training in a
variety of musical genres and that it takes students all
the way from beginner through very advanced instruction.
The assignments are clear and easy to follow and the
instructor has a very natural communication style that
makes it easy to learn. I also really liked
the Jam-Along CDs. Having a CD to play along with
while learning your songs makes the lessons a lot more
fun! None of the other courses offer this.
What impressed me most, though, was that
they also give free support after the sale. Once
you buy the course, you get access to a members-only
site where you can discuss your progress, post
questions, and chat with other students. Steve
Krenz, the author of the course, answers most of the
questions himself and seems to be on the discussion
board almost daily. This is a huge help!
Bottom Line:
If you want something more substantial than a brief
introduction to playing guitar,
Learn
& Master Guitar is the best guitar
training course available anywhere. It really is
in a league all it's own. It does cost more
than the computer-based courses, but
if you're ready to get serious about really
learning guitar, it's well worth the investment.
Insider Tip: It seems like they put the
course on sale
about once every three months or so, usually for two or three
days. If price is a factor, check their website
often or sign up for their newsletter so that you're
notified when the sale happens.
Update: It appears that
Learn & Master Guitar has recently been expanded to 20
DVDs since I first wrote my review. I would presume that
the expanded version has only made it better, but I
haven't viewed it myself. If you have, please take a
moment to post your own review.
Jamorama is the best of the low-cost,
software-based guitar instruction courses. Because
it is software-based (no DVDs or CDs), you will have to
practice your lessons in front of the computer.
However, the training is quite extensive and the
computer lessons are fairly easy to follow.
Because the lessons are downloadable, it is easy to
purchase them from anywhere in the world. However,
I found it somewhat cumbersome and inconvenient to
practice in front of a computer every day.
Fortunately,
Jamorama does
come with some video clips, which many of the other
computer-based courses do not.
Bottom Line: If cost is a factor and you
don't mind taking lessons from a computer,
Jamorama is
not a bad way to go. It is the best of the software-based instruction
courses.
Update: Although I
stand by my review, it seems some users have disagreed
with my assessment. Please read all user reviews before
deciding whether this course is for you, and if you have
personal experience with the course, good or bad, please
take a moment to share it.
The Beginner's Guide to
Unlocking the Guitar is my next choice.
Like Jamorama, it is downloadable and computer-based
training. It is not nearly as extensive as our
other top choices, but it does take a pretty novel
approach to learning guitar. It also does not have
video, just audio lessons with pictures, which I did
not find to be as helpful. If you seem to be
having difficulty learning with the more traditional
methods and want to pick up a few songs quickly,
The Beginner's Guide to
Unlocking the Guitar may be worth a try.
Bottom Line: Although it is not as
extensive as my top two choices, my first impressions
of
The Beginner's Guide to
Unlocking the Guitar are fairly good, despite
the fact that it does not come with video.
However, I have not yet had this course thoroughly
tested by true beginners, so if you try it yourself,
please post a review and let me know how it works for
you.
The author of
Guitar Tutor Pro says that he made
this course in response to the
other online courses which, he claims, contain
theoretical errors. (In other words, they teach
the easy way, not the right way.) This is actually
true of many of the computer-based downloadable courses,
but for casual students that may not be a major concern
anyway.
Again, my major complaint with this computer-based
program is that it does not contain video. There
are three downloadable e-books, and the lessons are
given in audio files with pictures. And again, you have
to practice your lessons each day while sitting in front
of the computer.
Bottom Line:
The Beginner's Guide to
Unlocking the Guitar is a nice
supplemental course if you want to know more about music
theory while learning guitar. The lack of video is
a major downside.
*Disclosure:
As a professional review site, we are
compensated by the companies who's products we review.
Our readers' trust is of the utmost importance, so we
are completely open and honest about every product we
review. In the interest of being as unbiased as possible, we
also post our
reader's reviews, good
or bad, so be sure to read them as well. In some
cases, you will see that our readers do not always agree
with us.
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