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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eMedia’s Guitar Method (for beginners) is amazing. I bought it 3 years after playing guitar, and wish I had it from the start. It’s very easy to follow, teaches you nearly everything you need to know in one CD, and…you can learn it all pretty quickly.

If you are one of the many people looking to learn guitar notes, what are you going to do with these notes when you learn them? There is an idea alive and well in alot of people’s heads that if you want to learn how to play the guitar, all you need is to find out where to put your fingers to play the notes, and there is nothing more you need to do. In fact, learning the guitar notes is a very small but important part of guitar playing. So let us take a look at the other pieces of the puzzle.

Guitar playing is based more on learning chords than on playing single notes. If you listen to solo guitar playing, it usually consists of a combination of single melody notes, bass notes and chords. Anyway, having established that there is much more to guitar playing than learning guitar notes, let us take a look at these notes we are so anxious to learn.

Standard tuning for a six string guitar is, starting at the lowest note, E  A  D  G  B  E. If we take an acoustic guitar without a cutaway body as having the minimum number of reachable notes, that gives us twelve frets worth of notes to play. But the guitar can only give us a total of thirty-seven different notes, so that means we have lots of different positions on the guitar neck to play the same note.

Now let us go back to basics for a bit. You probably know that musical notes are named after the first seven notes of the English alphabet. At least, they are if you play the guitar in English. So starting with the sixth string that plays the note E, on the first six frets you have F G A B C D, then you start again at E on the seventh fret, right? Wrong! The steps between notes are not uniform.

Starting with the open string E, the first fret is F, but the second fret is not G but F sharp there are sharps after A C D F and G. There are no sharps between B and C or between E and F. So if we look at the sixth guitar string again, instead of starting the next octave with E on the seventh fret, we start with E on the twelfth fret.

So let us look at the notes on all the strings of the guitar up to the twelfth fret:

E F F# G G# A A# B C C# D D# E

B C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B

G G# A A# B C C# D D# E F F# G

D D# E F F# G G# A A# B C C# D

A A# B C C# D D# E F F# G G# A

E F F# G G# A A# B C C# D D# E

So the notes at the twelfth fret of each string on the guitar are the same as the notes sounded by the open strings. You can use this diagram to pick out tunes if you already know how to read music. If you do not know how to read music yet, you can start finding out how to learn the guitar notes by finding recurring patterns up and down the fretboard.

Ricky Sharples
http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/learn-guitar-notes-713343.html

If you are going to take electric guitar  lessons and the first day of the  class is still quite far, you can  turn to  the Internet  to get a jump-start . It is always helpful   to acquire some basic knowledge so that you will not  fall behind once the electric guitar class starts . Through the Internet, you can  get a good overview in  learning electric guitars. This  includes  the right   type  of guitar to use,  things to watch out for , and the  required equipment in owning an electric guitar. With this, you are all set even before you can start taking lessons . Having a head start would ensure  that you can easily finish the course and play the electric guitar like  an expert.

But,  make sure   that you don’t reply solely one online guides .  You will still need some practical one-on-one guidance with a professional . This way, you can get to avoid most of the bad electric guitar playing habits .  These habits will prevent you from performing your best. You can visit  message boards  to get advice from professional  guitarists. These people have playing electric guitar as their source of livelihood  or as their main hobby. Such experts   dedicate  their spare time  teaching  beginners on developing the needed skills  in playing the electric guitar. Getting tips from them  on learning electric guitars is going to be a great help .

At the start  of your classes in playing electric guitar, your teacher is probably going to teach you the proper hand positions and the correct way of holding your electric guitar. If you think you can skip these basic lessons, you are wrong. Don’t think you can skip these basic lessons. Don’t disregard these seemingly simple lessons. If you think you can pass up these basic lessons, you’re in for a surprise. Improper holding of your guitar  can lead to an injury in the wrist and the arms.  Keep this in mind because the lifespan of a guitar player depends on his or her wrist. Thus, in learning electric guitar, you should always  listen to your teacher’s advice .
Having your own electric guitar is advisable  if you are going to take guitar  tutorials. This allows you to practice even  during your free time just to review  what you have learned for the day. However, before buying yourself an electric guitar, you might want to use the nylon guitar first. The nylon guitar is best suited  for beginners because of the soft feel of the strings . This  lets you train your fingertips to press down on strings and strum it. After you get used to it , you can now move on  to electric guitars.  Once you’re at this level, your fingers should have already developed tolerance for  constant contact with strings. Learning electric guitar through this path  is better, since you  start by mastering the basics .

Learning electric guitar is  much easier than commonly believed . You just have to be  diligent  and  committed.  If a professional is guiding you ,  someday you’ll find yourself on stage and rocking the world.

Matthew Kepnes

You might have met those musicians jamming wildly on stage. The thinking might have crawled into your intellect then ñ if he can do it, why canít I? If you are reasoning of learning yourself acoustic guitar, then you are in good fortune. In this short article, we shall contemplate over umpteen methods with the aid of which you too will be able to jam like the ones you see on stage. There is a myth associated with studying guitar, that one will never be able to master it without attending to some form of nominal education in a music school.

The people who demand this myth forget that the greatest musicians are not made on music schools. You will be able to overcome all of it by yourself. Before instructing yourself how to play acoustic guitar, it is proposed that you should commit on one. For learning purposes you could commit on a second hand acoustic guitar. If you are adorning on a revolutionary guitar, then the directions for tuning up the guitar will be offered in the sort of leaflets along with the product. Hither lies our foremost factor, before you begin instructing yourself acoustic guitar play you should be complete in stringing and tuning up the guitar.

Capable data about stringing an acoustic guitar is made accessible on the cyberspace. Tuning Up the guitar is likewise an intimate function of the studying operation. Tuning Up can be completed either with the service of instruments like the tuning fork or with your ear itself! Technical progresses can be observed in this niche, and you will be effective to see tuners that are known to exercise automatically by exposing right readouts betting upon the annotations formulated by the guitar strings. You will have to give great grandness to chords if you are searching options to learn yourself acoustic guitar.

Utmost studying of the chords can be concluded with the service of commands that are widely accessible online (free) or in the closest music shop (for a reasonable fee). You will have to exercise your fret fingers generously. It is functioning to be a mediocre feel because your digits are not habituated to these forms of activities. With the transition of clock time, calluses will be wrought on the fingertips, and then you will not have to worry about the connected pains. In fact, when you go to a music school, this will be the foremost teaching contributed to you ñ produce callus on the fingertips.

The chords must be represented arbitrarily so that extended exercise is offered to the fret thumbs. In depth knowledge of the scales is also essential in this niche. The thought is to practice every day ñ day in and day out. The more you exercise, the advisable the instrumentalist you will become. In fact, posters naming all the accessible scales can be observed in numerous music shops. Invest on one or get them for complimentary from the cyberspace. The grandness of exercising cannot be transmitted in inexpiable phrases. If you desire to execute something, then you will have to strain hard for it ñ this must be running in your intellect at all times.

Once you reckon that you have perfected at least more or less of the chords and the scales, it is time for you to speculate out into cruder arenas. On the cyberspace, you will find the notes for numerous identified songs. Download them, publish them (if possible), and initiate exercising and playing them at your leisure time. Master yourself one of these songs, before learning a new song. Duplicate the procedure and you should be the best of the set in no time.

Lanny Mcpherson
http://www.articlesbase.com/art-and-entertainment-articles/how-to-learn-yourself-acoustic-guitar-1146134.html

So you want to know how to play the electric guitar and how to be a great lead player. Follow these 3 simple steps and you will be on your way.

1. Learn pentatonic scales. Pentatonic scales are the foundation to many improvised solos in most music styles. This will also help your fingers learn to move across strings, which will help you develop a more sophisticated style.

2. Start slow. Begin with something that you can play accurately and then increase the speed or the difficulty. Focus on how every note sounds. This is counter intuitive, but to play fast, you need to play slow. You need to show your fingers where and how to move to produce great sounds out of your electric instrument. This is commonly known as vertical growth.

3. Focus on vertical growth. It is better to learn one song from beginning to end rather than learning the first few bars of 10 songs. That way, learning more pieces of repertoire will become easier and faster. The focus needs to be on quality, rather than quantity.

4. Practice. This sounds boring but you will not be able to play electric guitar without spending time with your instrument. Always use a metronome. This will teach you to develop a good and reliable sense of rhythm. The more you have a guitar on your hands, the better you will get at it.

How to play the electric guitar is very simple if you apply good principles to every single practice session. You can find good lessons online or find a teacher that you feel comfortable with. Take it slow, and youll be playing great music in no time.

How To Play The Electric Guitar – Learn To Play Like Clapton Or Hendrix Fast

Dave Durham

There are many ways to notate music on the guitar. You can use sheet music easy to understand when you have learned to read sheet music. To learn to read sheet music on the guitar is however not so easy for many students.

What different ways are there to notate guitar melodies?

1. You can use guitar sheet music. The advantage is that it is universal, meaning that other instrumentalists will understand the notation.

2. You can use guitar tablature. A tablature staff consists of six lines representing the six strings on a guitar. Number on the lines indicate what fret to press down. Guitar tablature is very common on the net and is a widely used.

3. Use another system.

4. Describe with words how to play the melody on the guitar.

In this article I will use an easy system that doesn’t need a staff and I will also describe how to play the melody on the guitar with words. We will learn to play the melody Happy Birthday To You.

How to read the guitar notation

The first number tells you what fret to press down. The second number what string to play on. An example:

1/2

This means, press down the first fret on the second string.

Let’s play Happy Birthday To You. We can divide the song into four parts:

1. Start by playing the open third string twice. When you play a string without pressing down a fret is called to play an open string. Then you press down the second fret on the third string and the open third string. Play the first fret of the second string and the open second string. It will look like this:

0/3 0/3 2/3 0/3 1/2 0/2

2. Play the open third string twice. Play the second fret on the third string and the open third string. Play the third fret of the second string and the first fret on the second string. It will look like this:

0/3 0/3 2/3 0/3 3/2 1/2

3. Play the open third string twice. The third fret on the first string and the open first string. The first fret string two and open second string. Second fret on the third string. It will look like this:

0/3 0/3 3/1 0/1 1/2 0/2 2/3

4. We finish the song by playing the first fret first string twice. Open first string and first fret second string. Third fret second string and first fret second string.

1/1 1/1 0/1 1/2 3/2 1/2

Learning to play the song Happy Birthday To You on guitar is a good investment. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, “Happy Birthday to You” is among the top three most popular songs in the English language.

Peter Edvinsson
http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/guitar-lesson-learn-to-play-popular-melody-on-your-guitar-13088.html

Classical guitar is a beautiful instrument that helps in transforming your feelings into music. You can express grief, melancholy, cheerfulness, distress, faith and love among other feelings as you strum through the various chords of the classical guitar. It is also known to some as the Spanish guitar.

The basic body and style of the classical guitar is similar to that of a normal acoustic guitar but does have its difference. The classical guitar generally has a wider fret board and utilizes nylon strings than other guitars. A notable playing style difference between the classical guitar and its relatives is that it is played by picking the strings rather than strumming.

A classical guitar lesson will not only teach you how to play the instrument but also let you deeply involved in it. If you want to learn how to play the classical guitar well, weekly classical guitar instruction under the guidance of a good instructor is the way to go. Whether you’re a beginner or an advanced player, good classical guitar teachers and daily practice are great assets. Quality classical guitar lessons will save you time and frustration. And it will keep you from acquiring bad playing habits that will eventually hold you back.

The initial (first) phase of classical guitar lessons will focus mainly on the fundamental sitting position, how to hold your guitar, left-to-right and right-to-left hand motions, and the motion of thumb. These are essential to learning how to play the guitar flawlessly. Once you start learning how to hold the guitar and use it, then I will be convenient for you to go ahead with the second stage which brings more excitement.

The second phase will be focusing more on beats, notes, and sound of the guitar. Beats basically refers to of the sound that comes out when two different notes are played together. Depending on how you play it, beats can vary in speed. The notes are of primary importance as you will learn to get used to playing each and every note individually, simultaneously and finally together. After acquiring understanding of the basic notes, the phase three will start. It includes free stroke and the rest stroke and will throw light on understanding artificial harmonics.

Phase four of classical guitar learning is quite important as you will start to understand the difference and similarity between the pitch, dynamics, rhythm, and timbre. Each of these has to be understood in detail and practiced in order to achieve perfection in playing the classical guitar. Last but not the least, you will learn to understand and play the various scales including common scales and their application.

Regular classical guitar lessons will help you stay focused and motivated. Advanced classical guitar players, including concert performers, can learn an incredible amount by studying with other musicians too. Accomplished musicians, other than guitarists, are a gold mine of musical knowledge and inspiration.

Harry Rackers
http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/classical-guitar-lessons-735791.html

A guitar chord progression chart doesn’t need to be complex to sound good.   When musicians look at a chord progression chart they often look for simple chord progressions.  This is especially true with many guitar players.  What is one simple guitar chord progressions?  Where did it come from?

 

A Simple Guitar Chord Progression and It’s Mechanics

 

One simple guitar chord progression is the I, IV, V, iv chord progression.  In order to understand this progression more clearly we should look at an example. Let’s look under the hood of a C major chord progression (A major chord progression is often simply called a chord progression.).

 

Major Scales and How They Contribute to Progressions

 

First, we must know the C major scale because it has the same letter name as a C chord.  The C major scale has a C, D, E, F, G, A and B note.  We will call the C note the 1st note and the D note the 2nd note etc.  A chord progression comes from the 1st, 4th, 5th and 6th notes.  Therefore, the C chord progression is made up of the C, F, G, and A minor chords (The sixth note leads to a minor not a major chord.).  Now we know how to get major chord progressions.  How about minor chord progressions?

 

Under the Hood of Minor Chord Progressions

 

A common minor chord progression is the i, iv, V progression. Let’s say we want to find a C minor chord progression.  A minor chord progression is made up of the 1st, 4th and 5th notes.  The 1st and 4th notes become minor chords because the Roman numerals are lowercase (i, iv).  On the other hand, the 5th note becomes a major chord because the Roman numeral  is uppercase (V).  Anyways, the i chord will be a C minor chord.  The iv chord will be a F minor chord.  Finally, the V chord will be a G chord.  How about some different progressions that are not common to rock  or folk music?

 

Different Chord Progressions

 

Some common jazz progressions include the ii, V7, I form.  Jazz also has forms like I, vi, ii, V7 and the ascending II, VII, II VII.  Which chord progressions should we learn?

 

What Beginners Should Study

 

I would advise beginners to study the I, VI, V, vi chord progression.  Of course, popular musicians do not always use this progression though it’s very common.  However, it gives us a basic understanding of music and music theory.  If we know this progression in every key then we can sound very professional despite inexperience.  Of course, we should also know guitar tuning, rythym (I would advise learning basic drumming though it’s not the only way.), chord memorization and a basic knowledge of the guitar fretboard chart (root notes, movable chord shapes etc.). Since were discussing scales and thier relations to progressions let’s look at chord construction.

 

What are chords made of?

 

A major chord is made up of the C, E, and G notes since  C, E and G are the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes in a C major scale.  On the other hand minor chords are made up of the 1st, flatted 3rd and 5th notes of a major scale.  Therefore a C minor chord would have a flatted E.  Finally, 5th chords are composed of only the 1st and 5th notes.  So we can say that a C 5 chord is made up of a C and G note.  Now, let’s go back to the main topic.

 

Conclusion

 

The guitar chord progression chart are for that matter any chord progression chart isn’t difficult to understand.  Of course you don’t need to know music theory.  For example, you can simply memorize the C major progression (C, F, G) or the D major progression (D, G, A).  However, knowing where it came from gives us an edge.  For example, some beginner musicians cannot easily play uncommon progressions (For example, a person might want to play a guitar song in C # (sharp)). However, you might be able to easily  figure out an uncommon progression without the aid of a chord progression chart.  In addition, if you can understand the guitar fretboard chart (and movable chords and scales) then you will be able to quickly find the chords themselves not just the progressions.

 

 

 

In conclusion, the guitar highway begins with many things and one is the chord progression chart.

 

Jason Y.
http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/a-fun-chord-progression-chart-for-learning-a-guitar-chord-progression-673117.html

Thanks for you help

Try "reeducation through labor" it’s really easy but it’s tuned a half step down. One way to do that is if you have a capo put it on the first fret and tune it regularly or just bar the strings on the first fret with your finger and tune it.