Guitar Lessons and Reviews

Guitar Tricks Review: 45 Instructors For The Price Of One?

2010-04-08T07:56:00.003-04:00

At this point in time the Guitar Tricks website offers 45 different instructors delivering over 3000 video lessons. The lessons include fundamentals, advanced techniques, popular musical genres, artist studies as well as lessons on popular songs. Read this detailed review of Guitar Tricks to learn if this Online Video Guitar Lesson Program is a gem or something to avoid.....

...To continue this detailed review please click this link: Guitar Tricks Review OR click here for Company Details, student testimonials, 24 FREE Sample Lessons or to buy.

Learn and Master Drums

2008-12-17T09:04:00.005-05:00

I have recently posted a Squidoo Lens review of the Learn and Master Drum Lessons DVD set by Dan Sherrill.

The Learn and Master Drums course is designed to guide you from the very basics of setting up the drum set to expert playing techniques including improvising over popular songs in several styles of music. It is a professionally produces All-Video DVD Lesson Program conducted by one of the top drummer / instructors in the country. Read my detailed review before even considering buying. Learn and Master Drums

How To Practice Guitar Like A Pro

2008-12-11T08:57:00.002-05:00

Guitar Practice is one of the most under-taught aspects of learning to play. Most of a student's real progress takes place when they are home alone when no one is there to coach the practice sessions. Yet, few instructors bother to adequately teach this critical activity. From my experience, too many teachers just demand that you practice without explaining why or how.

So many students become understandably frustrated when their progress is slow and practice times are just not fun! Many quit practically before they get started. They never have the satisfying pleasure that comes from getting past the initial awkward phase.

For 12 essential guitar practice tips click here: How To Practce Like A Pro

Learn & Master Guitar Review Update

2008-12-11T06:45:00.003-05:00

The Learn And Master Guitar Lesson Video Review has been posted to a new Squidoo Lens. If you would like to visit please follow this link: Learn And Master Guitar

Learn To Play Guitar Software or All-Video DVD Lessons: Which is Better?

2008-12-06T23:19:00.003-05:00

What is your first impression of Learn-To-Play-Guitar Software? Do you assume that it must be an advanced and therefore highly effective way to deliver music lessons because it involves a computer? You certainly are not alone if that is what you think. Let’s explore exactly what current popular guitar lesson software can and cannot do for a budding guitarist. Then let’s compare it to the all video DVD lesson fo...

Learn To Play Guitar Software Full Article.

The Best Guitar Lesson DVDs

2008-12-05T15:25:00.003-05:00

I have started a new Lens on Squidoo that is focused on the topic of the best guitar lesson dvds. It contains a category listing of reviews and publisher links. The lesson reviews include: beginner, intermediate, blues, bass, lead, electric, acoustic, rock, heavy metal and jazz. Please consider giving me feedback on how this Blog and the new Squidoo Lens can be improved. Thank You!

The link to this new Squidoo Lens is:
The Best Guitar Lesson DVDs

Learn And Master Drums Review

2008-09-30T05:49:00.003-04:00

The Goal Of The Course:

The Learn And Master Drums course is designed to guide you from the very basics of setting up the drum set to expert playing techniques including improvising over popular songs in several styles of music.

Who Will Benefit Most From This Drum Lesson Course?

This lesson dvd set is geared for anyone, from young adults and older, that has a dream to master all facets of the drums. This includes first time beginners through intermediate drummers that wish to expand and polish their playing skills.

About The Instructor Dann Sherrill

He has performance and production credits with Steve Winwood, Michael English, Percy Sle...

For rest of my in-depth review just follow this link: Learn & Master Drums Review

Review: Speed Kills Advanced Guitar Picking Techniques by Michael Angelo Batio

2008-08-04T05:43:00.004-04:00

Michael Angelo Batio, considered by many to be the fastest guitar player on the planet, created Speed Kills to be the ultimate guitar lesson on speed picking technique. This course concentrates on teaching speed techniques that challenge even the most advanced players. Even so, an intermediate guitarists can begin working with this and ...to continue this article please follow this link: Speed Kills Video Guitar Lessons by Michael Angelo Batio

Play What You Hear: A Jazz Guitar Lesson Review

2008-07-28T04:43:00.003-04:00

The Purpose of the “Play What You Hear” CD jazz guitar lesson program is to teach the student to ah…well… to play what they hear.

Seriously, the author, Chris Standring, makes a great point that many guitarists learn to master the fretboard through visualizing shapes and patterns. The unfortunate result is that solos improvised in this manner can sound contrived. Chris goes on to say that he believes that many guitarists often have no idea that they do not ..... to continue this review click here: Play What You Hear.

Learn To Play Acoustic Guitar by First Avoiding Lethal Beginner Mistakes

2008-07-23T18:16:00.003-04:00

The initial stage of learning to play acoustic guitar can be tedious and awkward. In fact in the first few days the beginner student may not be able to imagine ever being able to play. This loss of hope can lead to quitting the guitar sometimes before barely getting started.

The tragedy is that in many cases a successful breakthrough is often just a matter of a few more days of smart pracitice. The following 7 powerful tips are designed to assist the new student avoid some of the unnecessary initial hurdles that can derail learning to play acoustic guitar...

To continue just follow this link: Learn To Play Acoustic Guitar

For a detailed review of our highest rated beginner through intermediate guitar lesson program please follow this link: Learn & Master Guitar

Learn To Play Acoustic Guitar by Avoiding Lethal Beginner Mistakes

2008-07-23T18:05:00.002-04:00

The initial stage of learning to play acoustic guitar can be tedious and awkward. In fact in the first few days the beginner student may not be able to imagine ever being able to play. This loss of hope can lead to quitting the guitar sometimes before barely getting started.

The tragedy is that in many cases a successful breakthrough is often just a matter of a few more days of smart pracitice. The following 7 powerful tips are designed to assist the new student avoid some of the unnecessary initial hurdles that can derail learning to play the acoustic guitar.

The 7 tips below are designed to help the new student avoid some of the unnecessary initial hurdles that can derail a great start....continue article here: Learn To Play Acoustic Guitar

For a detailed review of our highest rated beginner through intermediate video guitar lesson program follow this link: Learn & Master Guitar

CF Guitar Lesson: Get A Fun Start To Learning Guitar With 2 Chord Songs

2008-07-22T08:29:00.004-04:00

Some beginner guitar students end up quitting lessons because the initial process of learning to play can be too slow and not very gratifying. In fact, even the best video guitar lesson programs risk losing the interest of young students if they offer too much information in preparation for getting to the fun stuff.

Before jumping into the complete instruction courses it sometimes makes sense to first learn just the bare minimum required to play a few easy chords that together form a simple but familiar song. These chords should be easy to move between like the C F chords for example.

The idea is to get a quick taste of the fun and satisfaction of actually learning a simple song or two that can be performed for sympathetic friends and family. If the plan works it will be inspire new student to hang in with the more tedious but essential lessons of a full instructional course.

Follow this link for the rest of this lesson and for a list of 2 chord songs... CF Guitar Lesson

Read a detailed review of Learn & Master Guitar - our top rated beginner through intermediate video guitar lesson program by following this link: Learn and Master Guitar Review

Guitar Barre Chord Lesson: Faster, Cleaner Changes

2008-07-12T16:12:00.006-04:00

Have you ever tried to learn a song that uses a progression of barre chords that are spread out all over the neck of your guitar? The faster the tempo the more likely it is that you will over or under shoot the correct frets.

While conquering this problem is often a matter of diligent slow-speed practice sessions, there is a fantastic alternative trick that consolidates all of these chords into one small section of the neck called the box. For the rest of this article click here: Barre Chord Lesson

REVIEW: Bass Guitar Secrets by Alex Sampson

2008-06-28T02:01:00.007-04:00

I happen to believe that learning to play bass guitar can improve your total understanding and feel for music. As a result, songwriters, rhythm guitar players and even lead guitarists can benefit from learning bass.

Also, bass players are often in short supply, so learning these skills can be a golden ticket into a great band.

Of course playing bass is great fun and makes anyone playing one automatically cool. (Come on, you know I’m right).

If any of the above appeals to you, then you might want to take a serious look at this review of Bass Guitar Secrets instructional program by Alex Sampson.

The Goal of Bass Guitar Secrets:
As written by Alex Sampson: The Goal of Bass Guitar Secrets is… follow this link for the rest of the Bass Guitar Secrets Review OR follow this link to go to the company site for more information, samples, a free newsletter or to purchase Bass Guitar Secrets.

Guitar Chord Formulas: Learn Simple Formulas To Build Any Chord

2008-06-15T11:38:00.005-04:00

Have you ever needed to know how to play a particular chord on your guitar but didn’t have a chord chart handy? Solving this common problem can be as simple as learning the formulas for building the different chord types. Follow this link for some basic tips for getting started:

Guitar Chord Formulas

Guitar Chords: Learn Simple Formulas To Build Any Chord

2008-06-15T11:30:00.004-04:00

Instantly Play 12 Guitar Chords By Learning Just One Movable Shape

2008-05-30T02:12:00.005-04:00

Learning movable chord shapes is a fairly simple concept. Yet, they can dramatically increase the number of chords and therefore the number of songs at your disposal.

Like many guitar students, my beginner days were spent memorizing about 10 open chords. You know, the ones found at the first 4 frets at the far end of the guitar neck.

When I gradually learned to move smoothly from chord to chord a whole world of songs were suddenly at my fingertips. For the first time I felt like a real guitar player.

It had taken quite a while to memorize the open chords and I just couldn’t imagine how anyone could learn and remember all the chords that reside at the other 18 or so frets on the guitar neck. It just didn’t make much sense. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason for why certain notes were fingered on certain strings. Each and every chord just had to be memorized… or so I thought.... click here for the rest of the article on Movable Barre Chord Shapes

REVIEW: Jamorama Guitar Lessons Are Surprisingly Innovative At A Truly Low Cost

2008-05-14T23:00:00.003-04:00

Ranked 8.5 out of 10

My top recommendations always lean towards guitar instruction programs that are all-video. They offer an easier method of communicating lots of subtle information. Having said that, I feel that although Jamorama is a downloadable written lesson program, it is by far the best in its class. The primary reason for this is because of the quality audio and video snippets added to enhance the learning experience.

The lessons are logical, thorough and perfect for the rank beginner all the way through advanced intermediate players. The course has some of the most innovative software programs and games for taking the mundane parts of learning the guitar and making them fun.

At only $39.95, Jamorama is perfect for someone that does not wish to spend $150- $200 for an all-video program. It is an excellent, low risk way to get started with learning to play guitar. For these reasons, I recommend, with out hesitation, the Jamorama guitar lesson program.

Click here for my complete written review of the Jamorama Guitar Lesson Program.

Click here for FREE Jamorama sample lessons.

Click here for a chapter by chapter listing of all of the Jamorama Guitar Lessons.

Review: Metal Method Video Guitar Lessons

2008-04-18T13:23:00.004-04:00

Rated 10 out of 10

This course is designed for anyone interested in learning to play the electric guitar. It is especially appropriate for those interested in improvising lead solos. While the emphasis is on Hard Rock and Heavy Metal music, the fundamental techniques and theory are common and essential to Hard Rock, Classic Rock and Blues Rock as well.

I have reviewed so many guitar lesson programs that show some good potential but they always seem have one or two fatal flaws. It was a pleasant surprise to discover that the Metal Method Guitar Lesson DVDs where solid all the way through. It is one of the most thorough, polished and well thought out programs I have ever seen. It is obvious that Doug Marks has actually been listening to his students for over 23 years and using that feedback to continually refine each element of his lessons.

If you are serious about learning the electric guitar this DVD series is a must have. According to the Metal Method website they were picked by Guitar World Magazine for being essential guitar DVDs. I couldn’t agree more.

To discover some of the unique innovations that make Metal Method so unique click here:
http://www.compareguitarlessons.com/Review-Metal-Method.html

To directly visit the Metal Method site for additional information or to buy click here:

Metal Method Video Guitar Lesson Website:

Free Online Guitar Tuner Plus How To Tune Your Guitar

2008-03-31T16:13:00.003-04:00

I have just added an Online Guitar Tuner for your convenience (compliments of Mike Giesen at WimpyPlayer.com). Follow this link:
http://www.CompareGuitarLessons.com/Online-Guitar-Tuner.com

You will also find a new series of articles about " How To Tune A Guitar". This is an often neglected part of learning to play guitar, even for experienced players, yet tuning is as important as learning chords, theory, picking, fretting and reading tabs.

The articles cover the following topics:

How To Set Up Your Guitar For Tuning
How To Tune Using Reference Tuning Methods, (How to tune using a piano and more...)
How To Tune Using Relative Tuning Methods
How To Tune a Guitar To Itself
Tuning with Harmonics
How Tune Using An Electronic Tuner
The Types of Electronic Tuners and When To Use Them
Guitar Tuning Tips
Plus A Free Online Guitar Tuner Tool

Just follow this link to my new guitar tuning section: http://www.CompareGuitarLessons.com/How-To-Tune-A-Guitar.html

Please let me know what you think!

Happy Playing,

John Mackinnon

Chord Finder Tool: Find Fingerings for Hundreds of Guitar Chords - FREE

2008-03-05T11:31:00.006-05:00

I have just installed an animated Guitar Chord Finder Tool FREE for anyone to use. Select a chord and watch as an animated dots are superimposed over a photo of a realistic guitar neck. It supports hundreds of chords and derivations. Its amazingly fast and lots of fun. Try it out.

Go To http://www.CompareGuitarLessons.com/Guitar-Chords.html

Be sure to let me know what you think.

Guitar Maintenance: Is Your Guitar Slowly Dying Of Thirst?

2007-11-16T18:34:00.000-05:00

Do you sometimes finger a fret on your guitar and hear a buzzing sound or even no sound? If you answered yes then your guitar may be seriously, even irreversibly dehydrated and possibly headed for the graveyard.

This is the story of how I became a true guitar hero by saving the life of my severely dehydrated guitar.

My Sad Story

Last Winter I remember grabbing my guitar for a typical daily goof around ...ah... I mean, serious practice session and found that my B string made an annoying buzzing sound from frets 4 - 9. I wondered why it was suddenly doing this when just a few days before it was fine. I decided to ignore the problem and hope that it would disappear on its own.

In just a few more days the B string stopped buzzing but frets 4-9 now wouldn't play anything. To make matters worse the G string had now started to buzz.

Initially I thought that some of my frets were coming loose and needed to be repaired. Then an awful thought hit me. Had my guitar become warped because of the extremely low humidity produced by the typical winter weather? Was my precious guitar now ruined?

I also wondered that if my guitar really was dehydrated, was it possible to re-hydrate it and would this reverse the damage? Fortunately, in my case, the answer was yes. My guitar had not yet reached the point of no return. It was indeed possible to restore the sound that I had grown to love. The following describes are the steps I took:

Measuring The Humidity Of My Home

With a little research I learned that most acoustic guitars need an environment that has a relative humidity level of 45% to 55%. An inexpensive, non-digital, device called a hygrometer was purchased at my local hardware store for under $10 dollars (USD).

It was then mounted in the room where I usually kept my guitar. For reasonable accuracy, I selected a wall that did not have an exposure to the outside cold. I also avoided wall locations that were too near the common humid air blasts of the bathroom and kitchen.

After mounting the hygrometer and letting it acclimate for 24 hours, I discovered that my guitar had been constantly exposed, un-cased, to a relative humidity of only 24%. Now that I had confirmed that my guitar was indeed dried out, it was time to find a way to return the lost moisture.

How I Re-Humidified My Guitar

I remembered seeing a humidifier that was designed specifically for a guitar. It had a ½" diameter, foot long, green rubber tube with about 100 small holes poked along its length. Inside the tube was a yellow sponge material. Both ends of the tube contained black plastic plugs with one end attached to a string. The other end of the string was attached to a black plastic disc approximately the size of the guitar sound hole.

The idea was to cover the sound hole with the disc then dangle the water soaked tube inside the body of the guitar. As the moisture inside the tube evaporates it would re-hydrate the wood causing it to return to its previously un-warped shape. The plastic disc was designed to prevent the evaporating moisture from escaping the inside of the body of the guitar.

So That's The Theory Anyway But How Did It Work in Reality?

In about 24 hours, a simple visual inspection of my guitar revealed that the partial re-hydrating of my guitar caused the wood to begin to move back to its pre-warped state. The bridge, the device holds the ends of the guitar strings near the sound hole, had rotated in such a way that it raised the guitar strings slightly higher off the frets and therefore began to eliminate the buzzing or dead sounds at certain frets.

After 2 days I noticed that the sound of the B and G strings had continued to improve. After a total of 4 days of checking and remoistening the humidifier's sponge, it had improved even more but, the buzz still had not completely gone away. At this point I wondered if the tube-in-the-body method was too slow and didn't allow the entire guitar to properly re-hydrate.

Bringing Out The Big Guns: Satisfying The Need For More Moisture

I decided to use a standard table top room humidifier to increase the relative humidity in the entire living room. I bought a Sunbeam Ultrasonic Model 705 at a local Pharmacy. Its capacity was about 5 quarts of distilled water which turned out to be just about the amount of cool, distilled water vapor that it could dissipate in 24 hours.

It took about 4 days to increase the room's relative humidity from 24% to 43%. During this time I propped my guitar on a stand outside of its case in the same room. I had also removed the humidifier that was inside the guitar. At the end of these 4 days the buzzing and dead fret sounds had completely gone away. What a relief, my guitar hadn't been dead after all - just very sick.

The bottom line for Guitar Humidity Control

1. Don't expose your guitar to extremely dry environments for extended periods. This includes the trunk of your car during extreme cold or extreme hot weather. While a hard shell case or a gig bag can offer some protection they cannot prevent damage in extreme conditions.

2. If your guitar is primarily stored and used in one room of your home then humidify the entire room in the driest seasons. Monitor the room's humidity using an inexpensive hygrometer available at most hardware stores. Target 45% to 55% relative humidity.

3. If you cannot control the relative humidity of your home then make sure to keep your guitar in its case a much as possible. Use an in-guitar or in-guitar-case type of humidifier.

Think prevention. Don't wait until your guitar is in trouble before you start to worry about humidity control. It is possible to dry out a guitar to the point where it cannot be fixed. Remember, it's never fun to attend a guitar funeral.

About The Author: John Mackinnon started taking guitar lessons over 40 years ago and still enjoys the learning process. His website http://www.CompareGuitarLessons.com is dedicated to providing guitar player reviews of DVD based and online guitar lesson programs. He also offers guitar related articles, guitar resource links, a free newsletter.

REVIEW: Lead Guitar Secrets Transforms Strummers Into Soloists

2007-10-02T23:19:00.003-04:00

Does this sound like you?

You have been dreaming about playing a smoking’ hot guitar solo from one of your favorite songs but just don’t have a clue where to begin.

Or… You have enough guitar skills to memorize a few impressive guitar solos from your favorite songs but, to save your own life, you can’t figure out how to create decent solos of your own.

Or… you would love to be confident enough to sit in with a great but unfamiliar blues band and instantly improvise heart stopping solos over songs that you are hearing for the first time.
The Purpose of the “Lead Guitar Secrets” DVD guitar lesson program is to teach you how to create your own hot guitar solos and to play any existing solos with just 10 minutes of practice per day.

What are some are the essential elements that make a great guitar lesson program?

1. A great instruction program will go beyond the limitations of just reading a book by offering clear audio and video demonstrations of each lesson.

2. The program’s author should ideally possess the following credentials:
- play well themselves
- have played in a band
- toured with a band
- recorded
- must be a gifted and preferably experienced, formally educated guitar teacher

About The Author Dan Denley:
Dan Denley fits the above definition of the ideal guitar instructor well. He has been a member of 10 bands and has played in some large venue performances. Dan is a competitive music scholar, has a college degree in music and is a guitar instructor. He is also the author of the highly rated and successful beginner through intermediate guitar lesson program called “Amazing Guitar Secrets” , a blues guitar program called “Blues Guitar Secrets” and a program called "Acoustic Guitar Secrets".

Dan has an easy to listen to voice coupled with a relaxed style of communicating. He wisely leaves in some playing mistakes while demonstrating the lessons. This is one of the reasons that makes Dan easy-to-relate-to and therefore effective in his teaching.

Who Will Benefit Most From This Program?
Although learning to play lead guitar does not require advanced playing ability it does help if you are comfortable with at least one of the movable major or minor scale patterns. However, the Lead Guitar Secrets course will walk you through all of the fundamental building blocks of playing lead guitar.

Is This Lead Guitar Course For Acoustic Or Electric Guitar Players?
Since lead guitarists use both acoustic and electric guitars to play solos, the short answer to this question is both. It is actually a helpful educational experience to play solos on both. If you do choose to use an acoustic guitar it helps if you have a cut-away section near the body of your guitar because some of the solos require access to the high notes way up on the neck.

Most of the fundamentals taught in Lead Guitar Secrets apply to both types of guitars but, to get the most out of this course you should eventually have access to an electric guitar. With many styles of music you just won’t experience the intended sound if you don’t use an electric. Dan Denley uses and electric guitar through out the entire course while demonstrating each lesson.

The Physical Parts:

Plastic DVD / CD Organizer
Progress Tracker
4 Lesson DVDs
1 Audio CD
1 CD-ROM
1 200 page spiral bound lesson book
1 Introduction Letter
1 Quick Start Guide

A Partial List of The Lessons:

DVD 1
Finger Strength Exercises
The Pentatonic Scale
F# Pentatonic Minor: movable pattern, 2nd through 5th position
Connecting Scales Patterns
3 & 4 Note Vertical Patterns
Horizontal Movement: 2 and 3 String Ascending Patterns
3 String Box Positions

DVD 2
Major Scales & Modes
Modal Practicing Techniques
50 Solo Guitar Licks

DVD 3
14 Solos to Learn of different styles and modalities

DVD4
Scale - Chord Relationships
Background
Intro To Major Scale Harmony: Laying The Foundation
Taking a Position
Inversion
Major or Minor?
How Standard Notation Relates To Tabs
About Chord Charts
Breaking The Code of Chord Harmony
Real Life Example: How This Stuff Works

The Negatives:
With some of the past guitar lesson programs Dan would sometimes refer to a musical term before he would define it and a few of the author’s explanations of terms were not crystal clear. Lead Guitar Secrets shows improvement and polish. While not perfect, this issue is not really a problem.

The Positives:
- The author: Dan Denley is experienced at putting together effective guitar instruction courses like “Amazing Guitar Secrets” and “Blues Guitar Secrets”.
- The author: Dan Denley is an expert, experienced guitarist and a trained educator.
- The author: has a relaxed, organized and easy-to-relate-to style of communicating.
- This course takes the mystery out of how to improvise solos on the guitar.
- This course is easy to follow and understand
- excellent use of video close ups to clarify fingering chords and scales.
- includes a Jam Track CD for developing essential skills for playing with a band.

- This course uses video, audio and the illustrated written word to appeal to all of the important senses when learning to play guitar. This is especially important if the student’s learning style requires more than reading a book alone can provide.

- Lead Guitar Secrets is primarily a video course with written support materials and not the other way around. I have found that it is less effective and more difficult if you must first read an instruction manual then find a video snippet on your computer that supports the book lesson. I like the much richer experience of watching, listening then emulating a live instructor demonstrating an entire lesson. It is much more effective to use the instruction book only as a means to clarify the video lesson. Lead Guitar Secrets got this part exactly right.

The Price Analysis:
Option One: is $197 USD, (as of this writing ), and includes the Lead Guitar Secrets Lesson Program as described above plus 12 issues of Dan Denley’s Online Video Newsletter.
Option Two: is $149 USD (as of this writing ), and includes the Lead Guitar Secrets Lesson Program as described above without the 12 issue’s of Dan Denley’s Online Video Newsletter.
Lead Guitar Secrets by Dan Denley contains the equivalent of 6 months to one years worth of guitar lessons if you were to space them out as if you were taking weakly lessons from a local guitar instructor. A local instructor typically will charge anywhere from $20 to $50 per weekly lesson. Your minimum cost, ( not including materials ), at only $20 per lesson for 6 months would be at least $520.

The choice comes down to:

- the Lead Guitar Secrets DVD Program at $149 to $197 or
- a local instructor at $520 to $1040.

Guarantee:
Lead Guitar Secrets comes with a 90 day, unconditional, money-back guarantee.

Free Sample Lessons:
Lead Guitar Secrets offers 6 “test drive before you buy” lessons sent by email. Generous online audio samples are also available of some of the solos you will learn as well as some of the exact video lesson found in the course. Click Here For Free Sample Lessons

Shipping:
Shipping is available to any country in the world.

The Bottom Line:
I have witnessed many guitar players that have a nack for emulating a few classic guitar solos. While that can be a lot of fun, it limits you to just a small part of the total joy of playing the guitar. Lead Guitar Secrets offers an open window into the world of understanding the building blocks that are at the root of every solo. With this powerful new information you will be able to figure out and play any solo, not just a few that you may have memorized. You will also be well on your way to improvising your own leads.

I found this course to be organized, thorough, easy to follow, lots of fun and priced exactly right. It earns my highest rating of 10 out of 10. I can, without hesitation, recommend this Lead Guitar lesson program for anyone that has a few basic guitar skills and a desire to master this beautiful instrument. If you are ready to be transformed from a guitar strummer into a lead guitarist then Lead Guitar Secrets is the program for you.

Click Here For More Information
Click Here For Free Sample Lessons
Click Here To Buy Lead Guitar Lessons

How To Learn Guitar Faster With Less Practice

2007-09-22T15:06:00.003-04:00

If you really want to learn to play guitar well you must do one simple thing before anything else. You must learn how learning takes place between your muscles and brain. If you understand the process that your brain must go through to train your muscles your practice sessions will produce predictably effective results.

You have probably heard the term muscle memory. This is the process of your brain learning and storing a set of precise instructions for each group of muscles needed for every small task you want your fingers to perform on the guitar. When muscle memory is solidly established it becomes a naturally effortless and an almost unconscious act to play the guitar well.

These tasks need to be practiced at speeds that are slow enough so that you can consistently perform them perfectly. If you practice the guitar at a tempo that produces lots of mistakes you end up teaching your muscles how to play the exercise with the mistakes included. Unfortunately muscles cannot distinguish between playing with mistakes and playing without them.

Here are 12 tips for having practice sessions that will support the development of good muscle memory:

1. Prepare your whole body for the practice session. Practice while relaxed. Just like an airplane pilot checks over the plane prior to take off you should check your body for any tension, stiffness, tightness, pain or any discomfort. Tight muscles can become tighter during practice which can seriously limit the full range of motion needed to master the guitar. Even tension in the shoulders can travel to the arms and then eventually to the fingers. Stretch and warm your entire body before playing in order to stay loose. Begin practicing with slow, easy exercises to prepare your hands for more demanding new material.

2. Practice in a quiet, comfortable place where you are unlikely to be disturbed.

3. Commit to a specific time each day for practice. Begin each day with a firm commitment to a practice plan that includes the specific details of when, where and what to play.

4. Keep your practice sessions short, frequent and very specific. It is more effective to practice 20 minutes everyday than to practice two or three hours once a week.

5. Always practice with a metronome. Let me repeat that. Always practice with a metronome. It is surprising how often even good guitarists break this rule. Training yourself to play at a consistent tempo will make your music sound professional. This is valuable whether you plan to play just for friends at a party or in a stadium full of screaming fans.

6. Tune the guitar before each practice.

7. Determine your optimum practice speeds. For each part of a scale, exercise or song find the fastest metronome speed that you can play without making mistakes. Practice it for a day at 25% to 30% of that maximum tempo. Follow this with a day at 50% of maximum then another day at 75%. On day four practice at your old maximum speed. You may be pleasantly surprised to find that you have a new, faster maximum speed. Be forewarned, however, that this routine might seem ridiculously slow but, hang in there because it really will pay off.

8. Do not try to learn too many different things at each practice session. Practice only small sections of an exercise or song at a time. Working on an entire new song, all in one setting, makes it more difficult for your brain to cement solid muscle memories. Just like a newborn baby can’t handle an entire meal of solid food we need to practice only a few, small musical spoonfuls at a time.

9. Work on the problem parts not just what you already know. This may sound extremely obvious but there is a tendency for new guitarists to play the easy parts over and over while continuing to stumble over the problem spots.

10. Spend the first ten minutes warming up, then split the remaining time equally between new exercises and new songs.

11. Set aside some time to just goof around with the guitar. Make sure to inject a healthy dose of fun in each practice session. If you have been working on blues scales then why not put on some jam tracks or even your favorite blues CD and try to improvise a solo. Select a favorite song to work on at the end of each practice session.

12. If you plan to perform in front of people ... Perfect your songs in private then practice playing in front of sympathetic friends and family members. Create a practice environment that is as close to the conditions of your upcoming performance as possible. If you will perform standing up then practice that way. Tell your friendly practice audiences to feel free to talk and laugh it up during your practice. This will help you learn to become comfortable in a distracting concert environment. Consider recording your practice sessions with a simple home video camera on a tripod.

Opening night jitters can throw off your game no matter how well you know the material. If you have repeatedly practiced playing in simulated concert environments then the real deal can be a breeze.

The bottom line: in order to play well you must acknowledge how your body is programmed to learn then design practice sessions that are complimentary.

Recommended Guitar Lesson Program:

Learn & Master Guitar has earned CompareGuitarLessons.com's highest possible rating for beginner through intermediate players: Rated 10 out of 10.

This is a complete 15 DVD guitar lessons course for beginners through advanced intermediate players. The skills and styles covered go way beyond what we can cover in our free lessons; Acoustic Guitar, Rock Guitar, Classic Finger Style, Blues Guitar, Jazz Guitar and Country. This well produced program is authored by Steve Krenz, a 20+ year veteran guitar instructor, former player for "The Fifth Dimension" and current recording artist in Nashville, Tennessee, USA...

Click Here For My Detailed Video Review of Learn & Master Guitar.

OR Go To The Learn and Master Guitar Company Site For More Information or to Buy.

2007-08-23T20:18:00.004-04:00

10 Tips For Selecting A Guitar Lesson Program

When I began guitar lessons over forty years ago there were few choices for learning to play the guitar. You either bought a book and taught yourself or you called the local music store to set up lessons with a randomly selected live teacher.

I was only eight years old when I met my first guitar instructor and I remember it like it was yesterday. He was a part time lounge guitarist that always smelled like cigarette smoke and definitely didn’t enjoy teaching kids. He was impatient, grouchy and didn’t hesitate to yell at me when I nervously chewed on my guitar pick. I didn’t understand him, I didn’t enjoy the lessons and soon wanted to quit. Fortunately my mother understood the problem and talked me into continuing with a different teacher.

I was luckier with my second teacher, Miss Mosier. She was a twenty-something hippy that loved kids as much as she loved to teach. I actually began to look forward to my lessons. When she introduced a little finger picking exercise that lead to playing an old Bluegrass song called Buck Dancers Choice, I was hooked. Finally, I was actually learning to play guitar and having fun!

Today, due to inexpensive video technology, there are many options that take the guess work out of learning to play guitar. Now it is possible to bring world class instructors into your home to teach guitar for less money and often in less time then it takes to learn from a randomly selected local instructor.

Here are 10 tips for selecting a guitar lesson program:

1. The Medium: find a dvd based or online guitar lesson program that offers both video and audio lessons with a book as a reference guide. This combination should work well whether your primary learning style is reading, listening, watching or a combination of all three.

2. Good Production Values: the video lessons should be thoughtfully organized. There should be lots of close ups of both of the instructors hands as they demonstrate each lesson. The audio needs to be clear so that each note and chord can be distinctly heard.

3. Skill Level: If you are a rank beginner make sure that the guitar lesson program states that it is geared for beginners. A beginning guitar program should teach the parts of the guitar, re-stringing and tuning as well as the fundamentals of scales, chords, keys, reading tabs and playing songs. If you are interested in a specialized program like Blues Guitar Lessons check to see what level of skills are required before you begin.

4. The Instructor: ideally should have experience as recording studio musician as well as touring with a band. A college degree in education and lots of hands-on teaching experience are equally important.

5. Music Theory Instruction: should be peppered through out the guitar course. A basic understanding of how scales, keys and chords work can free you from the limitations of just memorizing songs. This can provide the musical tools necessary for writing songs and improvising solos over just about any kind of music.

6. Guided Practice Sessions: this means that the video instructor first teaches you a system for practicing the guitar then plays along with you to help establish good habits. Much enjoyment and progress can be lost due to poor practice routines. In fact, I would be willing to bet that a high percentage of the people that quit do so because of a poor understanding of good practice fundamentals. Only one guitar lesson course that I am aware of gets this exactly right.

7. Jam Tracks: these are usually short recorded songs or rhythm tracks that provide a way for a guitar student to practice playing with a band. Jam Tracks can be invaluable for learning to play rhythm guitar parts in synch with other musicians or while improvising solos.

8. Individual Pacing: a guitar lesson program should provide an environment where the student can learn at a pace that is ideal for their individual learning style.

9. Fun: that’s exactly right, a guitar lesson program should be fun. If it isn’t fun early in the program it will be hard to stay motivated long enough to develop even basic guitar skills.

10. Price: expect to pay about $130 to $200 for a top-notch, dvd based, guitar lesson program that is aimed at rank beginners through intermediate acoustic and electric guitar students. There are many lesson programs available in the $30 to $60 range that have some of the important benefits mentioned above but I have found most of them to be somewhat incomplete and inconvenient. For detailed guitar lesson reviews go to a website like CompareGuitarLessons.com.

While a great, organized, video guitar lesson program taught by a top instructor can be critical to learning to play the guitar there are also a few other essentials:

- Start out with the highest quality guitar you can afford. Too often cheap beginner guitars won’t stay in tune, are hard to play and just don’t sound very good. A guitar that is priced in the $200 to $500 range will be much more satisfying to play. Why make learning guitar harder than necessary?

- Expect that playing the guitar will feel awkward at first but that slowly it will become easier and smoother. Don’t quit. Practice frequently in short bursts of 10 to 20 minutes. When your hands are sore or you start to become frustrated take a break.

- Learn how to practice like a professional: this is a significant weakness of many, if not most, guitar lesson programs. Rarely is there enough emphasis on learning how to practice effectively. A good practice routine should have a definite structure and purpose with fun activities at the end as a motivator. Practice sessions that are generally short, frequent and fun usually stimulate rapid learning. For more information on this topic read an article called “Learn To Play Guitar Twice As Fast In Only Half The Time” at CompareGuitarLessons.com.

Recommended Guitar Lesson Program:

Learn & Master Guitar has earned CompareGuitarLessons.com's highest possible rating for beginner through intermediate players:
Rated 10 out of 10.

This is a complete 15 DVD guitar lessons course for beginners through advanced intermediate players. The skills and styles covered go way beyond what we can cover in our free lessons; Acoustic Guitar, Rock Guitar, Classic Finger Style, Blues Guitar, Jazz Guitar and Country.

This well produced program is authored by Steve Krenz, a 20+ year veteran guitar instructor, former player for "The Fifth Dimension" and current recording artist in Nashville, Tennessee, USA...

Click Here For My Video Review of Learn & Master Guitar.

OR... Go To The Learn & Master Guitar Company Site For More Information or to Buy.

REVIEW: Blues Guitar Secrets

2007-08-11T22:15:00.001-04:00

Question: What do Muddy Waters, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Van Halen and John Mayer share in common?

Answer: besides having the distinction of being just a few of the many notable guitarists from the last 60 plus years, they also came from a Blues background or at least had a strong appreciation for the beauty of this mode of music.

Question: what do the musical styles of modern country, rock, metal and pop music share in common?

Answer: they represent some of the many musical genres that are often influenced by the Blues.
Blues Guitar Secrets

Besides the sheer fun of learning to play Blues Guitar it is also a highly recommended way to increase the musical tools that a student can use to write, accompany or solo with many types of music. Learning Blues Guitar can be a smart, educational progression for any guitar student with at least some proficiency with a few basic scales and barre chords.

The Purpose of the Blues Guitar Secrets DVD guitar lesson program is to quickly teach the student:

12-bar blues in multiple variations

blues chords and progressions

blues scales in all positions and keys

improvising Blues Guitar Solos

What makes a great guitar lesson program?

1. A great instruction program will go beyond the limitations of just reading a book by offering clear audio and video demonstrations of each lesson.

2. The program’s author should ideally possess the following credentials:
- play well themselves
- have played in a band
- toured with a band
- recorded
- must be a gifted and preferably experienced, formally educated guitar teacher.

About The Author Dan Denley:

Dan Denley fits the above definition of the ideal guitar instructor well. He has been a member of 10 bands and has played in some large venue performances. Dan is a competitive music scholar, has a college degree in music and is a guitar instructor. He is also the author of the highly rated and successful beginner through intermediate guitar lesson program called “Amazing Guitar Secrets”, a Lead Guitar Soloing Program called "Lead Guitar Secrets" and a program called "Acoustic Guitar Secrets".

Dan has an easy to listen to voice coupled with a relaxed style of communicating. He wisely leaves in some playing mistakes while demonstrating the lessons. This is one of the reasons that makes Dan easy-to-relate-to and therefore effective in his teaching.

Who Will Benefit Most From This Guitar Lesson Program?:

Although learning to play basic blues guitar does not require advanced playing ability it does help if you are comfortable with at least one of the movable major or minor scale patterns and some barre chords. However, the Blues Guitar Secrets course will walk you through the Pentatonic and Blues Scales that are the fundamental building blocks of Blues music.

Is Blues Guitar Secrets For Acoustic Or Electric Guitar Players?

Both. Even though the author begins the course explaining the interesting details of his electric guitar set up, he demonstrates the lessons using a mix of both electric and acoustic guitars. One of the lesson sections is entitled “Acoustic Guitar Blues Riffs”.

The Contents of Blues Guitar Secrets:

(2) Blues Guitar lesson DVDs

(1) Jam Tracks* CD ( included in the Gold Edition only )

(1) Book - DVD Companion: Here’s All The Notation, Tab and Chord Symbols That’ll Have You Playing Like A Blues Master In No Time!”

(1) Book - “Mastering The Pentatonic and Blues Scales: Discover the Secrets To Creating Your Own Solos and Killer Blues Riffs”

(1) Book - Complete Step By Step Guide To The Jam Tracks* CD! - Includes tabs, chord symbols, fretboard diagrams and a complete theoretical analysis of each Jam Track* ( included in the Gold Edition only ).

(1) Progress Tracker

(1) Intro Letter

(1) Step by Step Guide: “How To Use Your Blues Guitar Secrets Course”

* Jam Tracks are comprised of short blues songs that create an opportunity to practice rhythm parts or improvising solos while playing with a recorded back up band.

A Partial List of The Lessons:

Intro To Blues Guitar

The Pentatonic Minor Movable Scale Patterns in 5 Positions

The Blues Pentatonic Movable Scale patterns

Blues Chord Progressions

Using Minor 7th, Dominant 7th, VI Major 7th, Dominant 9th and Minor 9th chords and scales as well as combination forms.

12-Bar Blues: Open Position Chords

Acoustical Guitar Blues Riffs

Classic Blues Solo Licks

Blues Runs

Solo Practicing Techniques

Adding Bends

Strumming Techniques

Using Syncopation

Bonus Videos

The Negatives:

Dan sometimes refers to a musical term before he defines it. A few of the author’s explanations of these terms are not crystal clear. This might occasionally frustrate the most inexperienced player but overall I didn’t find this to be a huge problem.

It would be nice if this course came with a protective case or organizer to keep all of the materials together. None of these issues are significant but rather are just minor annoyances.

The Positives:

The author: Dan Denley is experienced at putting together effective guitar instruction courses like “Amazing Guitar Secrets”.

The author: Dan Denley is an expert, experienced guitarist and a trained educator.

The author: has a relaxed, organized and easy-to-relate-to style of communicating.

This course takes the mystery out of how to improvise solos on the guitar.

This course is easy to follow and understand

Excellent use of close ups to clarify fingering chords and scales.

Includes a Jam Track CD for developing essential skills for playing with a band.

This course uses video, audio and the illustrated written word to appeal to all of the important senses when learning to play guitar. This is especially important if the student’s learning style requires more than reading a book alone can provide.

This course is primarily a video course with written support materials and not the other way around. I have found that it is less effective and more difficult if you must first read an instruction manual then find a video snippet on your computer that supports the book lesson. I like the much richer experience of watching, listening then emulating a live instructor demonstrating an entire lesson. It is much more effective to use the instruction book only as a means to clarify the video lesson. Blues Guitar Secrets got this part exactly right.

The Price Analysis:

The Standard Edition is $127 USD, (as of this writing ), and includes all of the items mentioned above in the “Contents” section without the Jam Track CD or Book.
The Gold Edition is $159 USD (as of this writing ), and includes all of the items mentioned above in the “Contents” section including the Jam Track CD and Book.

Blues Guitar Secrets by Dan Denley contains the equivalent of 6 months to one years worth of guitar lessons if you were to space them out as if you were taking lessons from a local guitar instructor. A local instructor typically will charge anywhere from $20 to $50 per weekly lesson. Your minimum cost, ( not including materials ), at only $20 per lesson for 6 months would be at least $520.

The choice comes down to:
- the Blues Guitar Secrets DVD Program at $127 to $159 or
- a local instructor at $520 to $1040.

Guarantee:
Blues Guitar Secrets comes with a 90 day, unconditional, money-back guarantee.

The Bottom Line:
I can, without hesitation, recommend Blues Guitar Secrets for anyone that has basic guitar skills and a desire to learn the essential Blues Guitar basics including how to improvise solos. The course is organized, logical and priced right.

For More Information Or To Purchase Blues Guitar Secrets Click Here

About The Reviewer: John Mackinnon started taking guitar lessons over 40 years ago and still enjoys the learning process. His website, http://www.CompareGuitarLessons.com is dedicated to reviewing dvd based and online guitar lesson programs, offers guitar related articles, guitar resource links and a free newsletter.

Review: Learn And Master Guitar by Steve Krenz

2007-08-11T20:35:00.001-04:00

"Learn & Master Guitar is serious guitar training. It is by far the world's most complete video instruction course for the guitar... it is the only instructional package you'll ever need for total mastery of the guitar. All you provide is the practice! "

About The Author: Steve Krenz, according to the Learn & Master Guitar web site, has a degree in music and has played professionally with a broad range of bands from symphony orchestras to the well known “Fifth Dimension”. Steve is currently an active guitarist playing and recording in Nashville, Tennessee. Besides having taught thousands of lessons to students of all ages and skill levels he has held guitar playing and music workshops all over the world.

I found Steve to be soft spoken and down to earth with out being boring. His matter-of-fact style of teaching made me feel like I could really succeed. His teaching was logical and thorough while moving along at a good pace. He cleverly offers short , fun and impressively inspiring performances as transitions between many lessons.

The Package: Includes 10 well produced DVDs that include 20 learning sessions, a 108 page companion book that follows the contents of each DVD and five Jam Along audio CDs that contain a full band playing all of the songs offered in the lessons. You can play along with the Guitar part or turn down the guitar by reducing the left stereo channel. The Jam along CDs were definitely the most fun of the entire course… a nice payoff to all the hard work. The package includes a well organized, convenient plastic case that completely encloses the DVDs, the audio CDs, and the work book.

The Lessons: Each Lesson is divided into three main parts; a play along video lesson demonstrated by Steve Krenz followed a video tips section that offers helpful information on useful auxiliary equipment, guitar maintenance and protection as well as how to pick out a guitar. The final section of each lesson is called the Workshop. This is a guided, play along practice session. I found the Workshops to be an ingenious way to learn exactly how to practice. This built in structure prevents wasting time. It’s almost like having your teacher helping you at every practice session without the additional cost. As far as I am aware, this is the only guitar lesson system with "guided practice sessions".

The Lesson Topics:

Starting Off Right
Reading Music
Notes on the 1st and 2nd Strings
Notes on the 3rd and 4th Strings
Notes on the 5th and 6th Strings
Basic Open Chords and Roll
Minor 7th Suspended Chords
Barre Chords on the 6th String
Barre Chords on the 5th String
The Secret to Great Strumming
Fingerstyle Guitar
Pentatonic Scales
Advanced Chords
Playing the Blues
Giving Your Playing Some Style
Electric Guitars - The Heart of Rock
Advanced Strumming
Going Beyond the 1st Position
Jazz
Soloing
All the Chords You Need to Know

Support: A members only website includes a discussion board for posting questions. Other resources, such as additional exercises are also available.

Children: The Learn & Master Guitar course is definitely appropriate for most children to learn independently from about 8 years old and over. Children under 8 years old may need some initial supervision at first in order to establish good habits and a good practice routine. They need lots of encouragement in the beginning which is often a time of hard work and the least fun. Once they get over the hump of learning to play a few notes and chords, the fun will follow. The author, Steve Krenz, states that it is possible to learn a few simple songs in just a few weeks. I found this to be a reasonable claim.

Beginners: This course is nearly perfect. It begins with the assumption that the student knows almost nothing about the guitar. First the parts of the guitar are named followed by a quick but smooth transition to the first two guitar strings and two chords. Simple songs are soon introduced to break up the tedious work of playing notes and chords smoothly. I found that I actually progressed much faster with the video lessons than when I had a conventional live teacher. The play along Workshop practice sessions are nicely designed to teach efficient and effective practice habits.

Intermediate Players: As an intermediate player I found new ( to me), material in about the 5th CD. I found that although I knew most of the beginner lessons I was glad they were there as a refresher. The early lessons are a good reference.

Advanced Players: Someone that has played many styles of music over a long period may have to travel quite a ways into this course before finding something new. Probably the biggest advantage to an advanced player is to pick up knowledge about guitar styles that you may not have tried yet. This course is also a good resource for review. However the $200-$250 price tag is not likely to bring nearly as much value to a seasoned pro as a beginner or intermediate player. A less expensive and more targeted “internet only” course would save a lot of money and might offer more in-depth coverage of an individual guitar style, ( Jazz, Funk, Blues etc. ).

Guitar Teachers: I believe Learn & Master Guitar would give a student a distinct advantage maximizing practice time between your live sessions. The video workshop sections of each lesson would teach efficient practice skills because each practice session is performed in unison with the video teacher. I can see this cutting off bad habits before they have a chance to become ingrained. This could should move students along much faster than if they are left to their own devices between Live lessons. Better practice time should help the student progress faster.

Minor Negatives: …and I do mean minor. The book doesn’t lay flat. A wire binding would solve this problem. The special style sections for Jazz, Blues, Funk and Country Chicken Picken were well done but too short. I really enjoyed these style sections and was able to pick up a few fun beginning skills. I was left feeling hungry for much more. Because this is a general guitar course that covers a very broad spectrum it is not reasonable to expect every thing under the sun to be covered in exhaustive detail.

Money Back Guarantee: If you are not satisfied with it for any reason, simply return it within sixty days for a full refund of the purchase price.

Payment Options: 1, 2 or 4 payment options

The Bottom Line:

Learn & Master Guitar easily earns my highest rating of 10 out of 10 points. It is one of the best general guitar courses I have ever seen. It has been designed to suit many different learning styles and is the only Guitar Lesson Program with "Guided Practice Sessions". It involves no set up. Just grab your guitar, pop in the first DVD and everything is on autopilot. It's simple, fun and jammed with tons of lessons, songs and tips..... but, best of all it really works.

For more information or to purchase Learn and Master Guitar click here.