Learn & Master Guitar

Learn and Master Guitar is the most comprehensive guitar lessons course on the market today. It has recently been updated and augmented – and know boasts 20 full-length DVDs, an extensive book and 5 CDs full of active Jam tracks. It is designed to cover all aspects of guitar playing and is appropriate for novice to intermediate skill levels.

In addition to its comprehensive coverage, Learn and Master Guitar exudes quality from its website, to its packaging, to its videos and course materials. Everything has been professional done. Another asset for guitarist is the student forum provided by Learn and Play Guitar. This members’ only site enables you to interact with other students and teachers, and post comments, questions, and receive help, suggestions and advice.

Pros

If you are looking for the best Guitar DVD course on the market that is packed with content, built with value, and provides excellent value, this is it!

Cons

Perhaps the single biggest criticism against Learn and Play has been their pricing. This, however, has been resolved in our opinion, because they have lowered the price AND doubled the course content. In our opinion this criticism is no longer relevant. For the quality and comprehensive content this guitar lessons course is an excellent value.

Guitar Tricks

Guitar Tricks.com is the oldest, longest running, and most extensive guitar lesson site on the web. It offers more than 3000 online lessons with downloadable videos and audio. The site offers a free membership to anyone that signs up with no strings attached, and it contains 24 free lessons that you can view and review to make sure you like what you see before you enroll.  

For just $12.95 a month you will gain full access to a fantastic wealth of information and the invaluable experience of 45 seasoned professionals. All of the instructors on GuitarTricks.com are masters of their own playing styles, and together they offer the most diverse range of expertise and insight available anywhere on the internet. The Guitar Tricks lessons’ menu covers the full range of guitar styles, music genres and lesson topics.

Pros

Guitar Tricks offers by far the largest content of any video guitar lesson on the internet. It provides a free trial membership, and it is less expensive than Jam Play, another membership site reviewed on tis page. Although we like Learn and Master Guitar slighly better, we have no argument with those that might prefer this site, due to its low monthly membership pricing and extensive guitar video instruction material.

Cons

There are not many cons with this site.  I am told that some their older lessons (remember this site started in 1998) are not of the quality of the newer lessons – but this is simply overshadowed by the sheer volume of high quality material on their site.

As with Jam Play we must point out that Guitar Tricks is a membership site. By their very nature, membership sites are both good and bad from a pricing standpoint.  They allow one to subscribe at a very reasonable monthly fee. However, if a customer stays with the site for several years, the cost of the membership over that time can become substantial.  We’ll leave this up to you as to whether you consider this a CON or not.  

A broadband or high speed internet connection is a must.

Jam Play

Jam Play is the newest of the guitar courses that make our top 5.   Like Guitar Tricks, Jam Play is a subscription site.  Jam Play boasts 23 instructors and, at last count, something around 1000 video lessons, covering the complete range of guitar playing topics.

The lessons range in difficulty from easy to advanced, so this sites works well with both beginners as well as more experienced guitar players.  The guitar lesson videos are top quality as is the website itself.  

Of the guitar membership sites, we rank Jam Play second only to Guitar Tricks.  This ranking is based upon its smaller content and higher price.  That being said, Jam Play, as the new kid on the block, has grown rapidly, and Guitar Tricks better be on guard, because Jam Play may just make a run to overtake them within the next few years.

Pros

Jam Play offers about 14 free video lessons on the site.  These free lesson allows interested guitarists the opportunity to examine the quality, content, and lesson styles to see whether it fits their needs. Also the month to month subscription of both Jam Play and Guitar Tricks avoids the big upfront expenditure associcated with one-time purchases like Learn and Master.

Cons

Jam Play is slightly more expensive the Guitar Tricks and it has a smaller lessons library.  By their very nature, membership sites are both good and bad from a pricing standpoint.  They allow one to subscribe at a very reasonable monthly fee. However, if a customer stays with the site for several years, the cost of the membership over that time can become substantial.  We’ll leave this up to you as to whether you consider this a CON or not.   A broadband or high speed internet connection is a must.

Jamorama

Jamorama is one of the oldest guitar lessons available on the internet. This longevity does speak to its value.  Compared to Learn and Master Guitar, which we discussed earlier, it is not nearly as comprehensive but for a low cost, basic or beginner guitar instruction course, it is an excellent value.  The most basic package starts at $39.

Jamorama provides several product options.  The most basic is a completely downloadable course which retails for $39.  This course is also available in a physical format with Ebooks, DVD’s and CD’s provided as part of the package that can be shipped to you.

The Jamorama course consists of two eBooks, almost 150 video lesson files, 26 unique Jam-Tracks, numerous audio files, and additional bonus eBooks, guitar software programs and games.   

Pros

The Jamorama site offers a series of free lessons.  This is a great way for potential customers to see the quality of the material and the presentation format used by the instructor.  The site also has a series of FREE bonuses that it gives away to purchasers. If you are looking for a quality, low cost guitar lessons course that has proven itself over time, Jamorama is the product for you.     

Cons

There are potentially several issues to consider.  If you buy the downloadable product, you will be tethered to your computer when using the course.  You may want to consider the physical version if this is a concern.  A second issue for us is the web site; it can be confusing.  There is not only the basic Jamorama course, but other courses like Jamorama Acoustic and Jamorama Lead, and it can be a bit confusing trying to figure out which of the different purchase options might be best for you. In our opinion stick with the most basic Jamoram course for $39. If you'r think of of buying their entire package we suggest you remember our recommendation for Learn and Master Guitar.

Guitar Leads

We must begin by stating that we have a financial interest in this site. That being said, we have put it on the Top 5 list because there really is nothing else like it on the internet. 

Guitar Leads is a six volume set of CD’s that contains more than 300 riffs from some of your all-time favorite classic rock songs.  The riffs are bundled in flash files that makes them interactive.  Each riff was recorded using a vintage Fender Stratocaster and is provided at full speed and half speed - - and is accompanied by accurately transcribed tabs.  The interactivity is in the recorded music.  Once you start it, it will play and then loop continuously until you stop it – either at full or half speed.   This approach to learning the guitar is a See It, Hear It, Play method. 

Surveys done with customers show that the half speed slow down feature allows a guitarist to learn much faster, because it enables them to hear WHAT is being played and HOW it is being played.  In addition to the slow down feature the most common compliment about the course is - -it is FUN! 

 

Pros

The slow down feature helps guitarist learn faster, and the quality of the real guitar audio and the use of classic guitar songs, gives guitarists and incentive to practice.
 

Cons

The biggest criticism is that the lessons are not for the complete song.  Remember, though, this is represented as a guitar leads or riffs course, so the intent was not to teach the entire songs, rather to use classic rock songs as a tool to get people to enjoy practicing Some lessons include only 1 or 2 riffs from a song. Other lessons might include more and occasionally a complete song is provided.