Posts Tagged: guitar music lessons

When you are starting out and the guitar hasn’t really captured your imagination yet, it can be hard to think of the learning budget you’re willing to commit to. Who’d want to say, “I want to dedicate myself to the God of all guitars, but I’m not willing to put down change any larger than $10 for a lesson”? My father hated the idea of skimping when learning , and he sent me to a great guitar instructor; but even my idealist father began to realize that a $50-an-hour lesson plan wasn’t going to get me very far. To begin with, his dollars would begin to run out before I got along too far. And when you are just starting out with your guitar music lessons,getting your fingers to feel their way around doesn’t really take professional coaching. There is the feeling of self-conscious embarrassment, playing before anyone else too when you learn in a traditional setting. And what do you do when you forget a pointer the teacher gave you? Online guitar music lessons, a software application or online videos for the beginner are a deal that can’t be beat. Let’s look at some of the choices you have at your service, shall we?

For online video lessons, Jamplay is one of the top names in the business. What it is, is an online guitar website with a stockpile of 400 hours of professionally recorded guitar lessons. With that much instruction a click away, you get to skip around, and watch experts in every style of guitar playing lay down the basics in a really approachable manner – there are chord diagrams, exercises, tablature, everything. And best of all, Jamplay has instructors online to help students through rough spots. Now 400 hours is a pretty big deal; if it weren’t for the user-friendly layout they use, it would be pretty impossible to navigate the website. Thankfully though, they’ve paid attention to this, and you could easily get more value on an online guitar music lesson site like this then you could buying your own set of videos. Unlimited access goes for $20, and it’s hard to argue with it at a price point like that.

Next up, let’s look at what it should be like taking guitar music lessons with  software you install on your computer. Jamorama has been at the top of the heap for PC-based guitar music lessons. The great thing about this package is the way it addresses the absolute beginner. Jamorama has a basic instructional method that is effective; and large well-designed books that you download to supplement the software. A couple of hundred video examples and jam tracks keep you company with everything in the book, and you get all kinds of useful support software -  a metronome, guitar playing video games, a guitar tuner, and a chord instructor. The package goes for $50, and for the price, you truly get value.

My personal favorite though, is the Learn and Master package that consists of 25 DVDs. You can’t download it though, considering how large it is. The package is a concept of the Legacy Learning Systems program in Nashville, and the instructor on the job, Steve Krenz has a great teaching style. Each DVD contains two teaching lessons, and there are five disks that give you a full well-accompanied version of all the songs they teach you on the DVDs. Turn them on, and you have a blast playing along the with your newfound guitar playing skills. The instructional disks themselves teach you how to read music, how to strum, how to build harmony, and how to pick chords in the blues and rock styles; the recording in slow-paced, and the teaching quality is matchless. At $150, there are a steal.

Technology certainly democratizes things. Consider how difficult it was at one time to have any access to professional quality teaching without paying the full price of entry. In my book, this truly is progress.

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Most American youths at one time or another want to take guitar music lessons. This instrument is undoubtedly the most famous instrument in the world with little wonder. Today, when we think of music, we think of a band of guitar players strumming happily and crooning while shoulders bounce to the rhythm of a set of drums. The guitar is truly a symbol of the youth and vigor of America, indelibly marked in the American consciousness since Elvis Presley and B.B. King, and is poised to remain the symbol of the young for generations to come.

With the guitar having such an appeal, American youth continue to flock to teachers and musicians offering guitar music lessons at schools, youth centers, and private homes. There is no better teacher to give guitar music lessons then, well, a teacher, some person who can instruct, observe, correct and lead the music student as she makes her way to musical adeptness. Unfortunately, most public schools do not give guitar music lessons, but continue to concentrate on those instruments typically found in a marching band. Out of touch for nearly a century now, our elementary and high schools still hold to the philosophy that music should be for marching, not for appreciation. Having a rascally reputation, the guitar has not gained proponents among our music teachers who seem to have been convinced by Plato that anything not leading to the glorification of the state has no place in the education of the young. Despite the appropriation of the guitar by the classical genre, guitar music lessons are still not regarded as a legitimate means of introducing the young to the soul shaping power of music and, as a result, many young who might otherwise have gone on to develop a love of the classics, have neglected what musical potential lies in their own grasp.

If you are in a position to influence the music curriculum at your school, for the sake of music, convince your board to offer the guitar as an instrument appropriate for the transmission of our musical cultural heritage. Much of it, whether we like it or not, involves the guitar.