Hey, Rob here. I made my living as a full-time professional guitar player and programmer. When I was asked to find a good “how to play guitar” program for my nephew I wasn’t expecting the difference in quality of materials available online. The truth is that the majority of “learn how to play guitar” programs online are JUNK!
To see which program I believe is far superior to the rest click here

“Lookin’ For An Online Guitar Course?
Wonderin’ Which Programs Are Good,
And Which Are Absolute Crap?”

I made my living playing guitar in clubs, concert halls and recording studios for over 20 years. It was my occupation, my full time job. I wasn’t just some weekend warrior, guitar player wannna be! I was a professional, well-paid guitar player

My sister asked me to recommend a program to help my nephew start learning how to play the guitar (unfortunately, I don’t live close to them). They don’t have a decent guitar teacher in their little town, so she asked me to find a good online program.

I bought ELEVEN online courses. I didn’t know there was so much CRAP out there. I asked for a refund on 7 of them. Only 4 were worth the money. (And ONE stood out head and shoulders above the rest!)

Seven out of the eleven I purchased were AWFUL!!

There’s an old saying.. “those who can’t do, teach!”
I’m sure that a few of these jokers who put together these “learn to play guitar” programs wouldn’t make a penny if they had to use their “axe” to make a buck.  One guy really couldn’t play at all!

So, I ended up sending 4 programs to my nephew. After speaking to him, he took my advice and concentrated on just one.

A few months later I was impressed by how much he’d learned. The kid could actually play! (It was great sitting down and jammin’ with my nephew). He’d been devouring the Learn And Master Guitar program and watching his favorite musicians on YouTube.
Here’s a little more detail about the 4 programs that are worth a lick (sorry about the pun). Unless you just can’t pony up the cash for the first one (Yep, its the best and it’s also the most expensive.), I highly recommend the first program. Seriously, if you get Learn And Master Guitar, put in the time to go through the whole course, and you can’t really play, I suggest you take up another hobby!.

Learn And Master Guitar was by far the most professional, thorough and complete program I reviewed. Honestly, after sifting through the rest of these programs this one is SOOOOOO much better I really shouldn’t have included the other 3 reviews. If there’s a down side to this program (the reason I gave it only 9.9 out of 10) it’s that you have to wait for the program to be shipped to you. I really wish I had access to this type of training when I was starting to learn. .

There is an online student support site and you get your questions answered very quickly.

Here’s what you get

You’ll receive 20 very professionally produced DVDs, you get 5 Jam-Along CDs and a 100+ page lesson book. And, as I said earlier, a free online student support site.

Okay, this is the most expensive of the program I reviewed, so let me throw in this disclaimer. If you are looking to just “noodle” around and learn one or two songs on the guitar, then maybe you want to choose Jamorama. BUT, if you are serious about becoming a “GUITAR PLAYER”, someone who can really make a guitar sing, and you are willing to put in the time and focus to go through this complete program, this is the only program you’ll need.

They give you EVERYTHING you need to become a good player, the rest is up to your level of desire and the time you put in.

Click Here To Visit Their Official Site

Jamorama would be the second best option for my nephew. It is web based (no DVD or Cd’s to be delivered by snail mail). This is a great package for the beginner to intermediate player. I found the lessons very easy to follow. My only criticism was that occasionally the instructor got a little “sloppy” in his playing. I’m sure most beginner’s would be delighted to play as well as him, but, as you progress you’ll notice that you can probably player cleaner than this guy.

You do get a lot content  for a very reasonable price. I have friends who charge more than this for a single, one hour lesson! At 39.95 you are getting a lot of stuff. Good tabs, good videos and the lessons are laid as pretty well.

What’s included?
Two downloadable e-books
- Jamorama Beginners
- Jamorama Advanced

Approx. 150 Online video lessons
26 “active” jam tracks for you to play along with (you can toggle guitar on and off)
Thousands of lines of guitar tabs (tablature)
lots of helpful audio files

Extras:
Jamorama Metronome (to help you develop your sense of time)
GuitearIt! – A software program that helps you develop chord identification and ear training.
Jayde Musica Pro – A game to teach you how to read traditional notation (not tabs)
Guitar Tuner Pro – Software app for tuning your guitar
Bonus ebook: How to Tune your Guitar e-book
Bonus ebook: Advanced Learning Techniques for Guitar
A dedicated support email line.
Lifetime access to updated lessons and tabs

(Update:) Apparently they now offer a complete DVD and book course as well. It’s over $100. I’d stick with the online lessons for now.

Click Here To Visit Their Official Site

Confession: When I first read the salespage for this program I was VERY skeptical. Ask any guitar player how long it takes to learn guitar and you WON’T get the answer “one weekend”. That being said, I didn’t throw up when I got inside this course.

I guess there are many people who wanted to learn to play guitar, spend some time, don’t see immediate results and quit. This course is probably the best at getting people starting to make some musical sounds on the guitar QUICKLY.
Will you be burning it up in a weekend? NO.
However, seeing some initial fast results might be just what a beginner needs to stick around and commit to the process. I’m sure that for many people this course will be the difference between enjoy the guitar or having it collect dust under the bed in a week. Just don’t expect it to do much more than get you started.

IF you are a complete beginner, this will get you to an intermediate player fast (but that’s about as far as this goes).

This program costs less than $50. Not bad for learning how to play QUICKLY!

What’s Included?
- Beginner’s Guide to Unlocking the Guitar downloadable e-book
- 150 popular songs with four chords or less e-book
- Beginner chord sound files
- “Press and Listen” sound files
- The Perfect Chord Chart for Beginners
- Beginning Singing Techniques e-book

Click Here To Visit Their Official Site

This is my fourth choice. If you are a beginner and you’re easily distracted, stay away from this site! They have a tons of videos, tabs, tips and tricks for every level of guitarist. They also cover every genre and style of playing imaginable. You can access this mountain of information within their membership site. You get more “stuff” for $29.95 than on any of the programs I purchased.

The Downside: There is so much information inside their site that many people could get lost, or become unfocused. In Jamorama there is a slick, well designed series of steps and lessons laid out for you. This is important to many beginners. Inside Guitar Hot Shots is a mountain of information. Some of it not exactly “ready for prime time”. There is information for beginner, intermediate and pro level players. I worry that a beginner might get disillusioned or distracted by the pro level stuff. That being said, I knew my nephew was a fairly self-disciplined kid so I suggested he join this program. (Hey, I even learned a new trick or two inside this)

Conclusion: Not extremely well organized, but there is a ton of resources here.

What’s Included?
Tabs, Rhythm guitar riffs, sound files, tons of videos, ear training, tricks, equipment reviews, buying tips and resources, solo scales, arpeggios (and on and on)
A TON of stuff! (quality aside)

Click Here To Visit Their Official Site

There isn’t a program, or a teacher out there that will have you playing better than Eddie Van Halen, Jimmy Page or Keith Urban. You’ll never play just like Eric Clapton because you’re NOT Eric Clapton.

These programs are a great place to start. But to become a truly great guitar player you need to practice, practice, practice AND you need to listen to great guitar players. At a certain point, you’ll be able to develop your own sound, your own style and your own “voice”. That is when you change from “playing guitar” to becoming “a guitar player”. Don’t try to be better than Jeff Beck, or Carlos Santana, just be the best YOU that you can become. And if you’re playing makes you happy, that’s what counts.

And, when you become “a guitar player”, you won’t believe how people treat you differently!

Old Strat or Martin Guitar — a few thousand dollars
Time Spent Practicing — a few thousand hours

The look on their faces when you start to play —— PRICELESS!

Starting developing your chops by trying one of the programs above (or all four) and then keep workin’, playin’ and listenin’ to develop YOUR own style.

Good Luck

Rob

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Jamorama was the one I ended recommending as the best program online for my nephew. (Update: he’s 14 and he’s done really well with this course)

It has over 150 videos, a couple of ebooks and a ton of extras. I was looking for a well layed out, logical lesson plan so my nephew could progress at his own speed. A few of the other courses I bought could end up leaving a beginner frustrated and confused as to what was next. Also, Jamorama offers all different style of guitar playing so a student can find their own preference.

I thought the price was fair (especially compared to some of the pure crap I bought) and I know that this site is one of the longest running sites for guitar lessons. The only negative thing was that some of the teachers playing was a little sloppy in the more advanced courses. I don’t think this matters for a beginners course, but it bothered me a bit.
Obviously, it isn’t a scam. They have 60 day Unconditional Money Back Guarantee!

– To read my complete review of Jamorama Click Here (Jamorama Review)

– To Visit The Jamorama Website Click Here

– To read the complete story about why I bought all these courses Click Here (My Adventure)

– To read reviews of other courses Click Here

Visit Jamorama

Technorati Tags: beginner guitar course, jamorama, jamorama guitar course, learn to play guitar

Note: I haven't practiced, but I bought it and it said I should be able to play in 30 days. Should I get a refund?

Screw that. Dump it & just:

buy a run of the mill chord book and/or

have friends show you stuff.

That's how most learn if they don't take formal lessons.

e——-
B——-
G–4—-
D–4—-
A–2—–
E———

i have very small fingers too, all it takes is practice, and bar chords are generally easier to play than 'real' chords

http://www.All-Guitar-Chords.com – Quickly look up chords and scales, see them laid out on a virtual fret board, and see progressions of a scale in tab.

http://www.ChordBook.com – A Flash-based site that will let you easily look up the fingering for any chord, and then you can click “strum” to hear how it should sound.

http://www.GuitarLessonWorld.com – Based around the book of the same name, Guitar Lesson World has numerous free lessons, examples, and MP3s to whet your appetite. You can then move on to Guitar Teacher World that offers up video tutorials and more.

http://www.GuitarTricks.com – Thousands of video tutorials for learning to play guitar. Membership is free, and you receive 25 free lessons with that, otherwise it is $10.95 a month.

http://www.LickLibrary.com – Numerous video lessons that you can either subscribe to, or purchase on a per-video basis.

http://www.Video-Tabs.com – Video guitar tutorials split into categories from beginner to requested specific songs.