I have never seen a guitar played that fast. It almost looked fake. Perhaps what is more amazing, however, is that Michael can actually teach these seemingly impossible techniques to us mere mortal guitarists.

If you have ever desired to play lead electric guitar solos for rock, hard rock, metal, blues, pop, country or improvisational jazz then please pay close attention to this review.

The Purpose

According to the author, Michael Angelo Batio, Speed Kills was created to be the ultimate guitar lesson on speed picking technique. This course concentrates on speed techniques that challenge even the most advanced players. Even so, an intermediate guitarists can begin working with this and expect incredible gains.

About The Author, Michael Angelo Batio

Mr. Batio has been referred to as the fastest guitar player on the planet. After watching his video guitar lessons I absolutely believe it. And as if that was not amazing enough, he actually taught himself to play a custom built, combination of a right-handed and a left-handed electric guitar both at the exact same time. Seeing this alone was worth the price of the first DVD.

Guitar One Magazine chose Michael Angelo Batio as the Number 1 Shredder of All Time.

Batio has created the ultimate face-melting instructional DVD says Guitar World Magazine.

One of the elements that make Batio such a master guitarist is his depth of knowledge about music theory and classical music. He has even produced a DVD called 25 Jazz Progressions.

Who Will Benefit Most From Speed Kills?

This guitar lesson course is ideally suited to intermediate guitarists that wish to improve their lead guitar skills and techniques with an emphasis on speed. Having a thorough knowledge of music theory is not necessary but having some basic understanding of chords, scale types and modalities would be useful.

An excellent preparation for this course would be the 6 part Metal Method Complete Video Guitar Lesson DVDs by Doug Marks.

Is This Speed Guitar Course For Acoustic Or Electric Guitar Players?

Electric guitar.

The Lesson Format

Each lesson begins with a brief talk by the author explaining the upcoming exercises. This is followed by a fast then slow video close-up demonstration and a clever play-along animated tab with sound.

The Contents of the Speed kills Lead Guitar Lessons DVDs

- A protective organizer case for the DVDs

- Each DVD contains a printable PDF file with chapter lists and tabs for each lesson.

DVD #1 Speed Kills, This DVD introduces advanced picking techniques with a No Boundaries performance, tuning, tremolo picking, preventing hand injuries, alternative picking, hammer-on and Pull-off, arpeggio madness, diminished licks plus a discussion and solo performance of the Double Guitar.

DVD #2 Speed Kills 2, This DVD contains more advanced techniques plus developing essential warm-Up skills. 28 lesson groups with 69 exercises.

DVD #3 Speed Kills 3, This DVD contains the most challenging techniques plus advanced Shredding.

DVD #4 Speed Lives, Michael step by step teaches the song, No Boundaries. In the last section of this DVD you play the lead part over his rhythm accompaniment.

The Negatives

It was annoying to print out the support materials for each lesson even though it only took about 15 minutes for all four DVDs. I would prefer to receive them all pre-printed and bound. However, this would substantially increase the cost of the course so I suppose that it is actually a reasonable compromise.

The course would benefit from more topical details on the video titles. It can be a little confusing if you wish to return to a specific lesson.

The Positives

Receiving advanced guitar instruction from a true guitar virtuoso is a rare opportunity. Michael speaks and plays with confidence and humor. He is down to earth, articulate and easy to follow which is somewhat unusual for someone of his extreme playing ability.

The clarity of the video production is excellent. The close ups and angles of the shots are extremely clear and understandable. I am glad that this course is not made up of just video snippets but instead offers the richer learning experience that can only come from wall to wall video.

This course is incredibly affordable not only because the pricing is lower than most programs of this advanced level but, also because you can purchase just one DVD at a time with no obligation to buy any more.

Support

The Metal Method Company offers email, phone, mail and a student forum to answer questions. They also offer a fairly exhaustive frequently asked questions section at their website for quick reference.

The Price Analysis

Metal Methods Speed Kills Video Guitar Lessons contains the equivalent of about 6 months to over a year worth of guitar lessons if you were to space them out as if you were taking weekly lessons from a local guitar instructor.

A local instructor will typically charge anywhere from $20 to $50 per lesson. Your minimum cost at only $20 per lesson for 6 months would be at least $520.

The choice comes down to:

The Complete Speed Kills DVD Program at $64.80 to $79.80 USD, depending on how many DVDs you purchase at a time, or a local instructor at $520.

Guarantee

You can return the DVDs for any reason within 60 days of receipt for a 100% money back refund.

The Bottom Line

Let me see. Do I recommend the inexpensive, advanced speed technique video guitar lesson DVD series that is taught by Michael Angelo Batio, the fastest guitar player in the world, who just happens to be incredibly entertaining? You bet I do. In a heart beat. Speed Kills is truly a must have advanced electric guitar lesson course for anyone that is in serious pursuit of lead guitar excellence.

This Review was written by John Mackinnon. For more course details, free lesson samples, a video of Mr. Batio Playing his Double Guitar or to buy any of the Speed Kills DVDs just follow this link: http://www.compareguitarlessons.com/Review-Speed-Kills-Lead-Guitar-Lessons.html For a detailed review of the electric guitar course that serves as preparation for the Speed Kills Lesson series please click here: http://www.compareguitarlessons.com/Review-Metal-Method-Guitar-Lessons.html

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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 eakness 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.

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.

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What Are Formal Guitar Lessons?

Formal guitar lessons consist in a guitar teacher imparting his or her knowledge of playing guitar upon a student. The effectiveness of the guitar lessons depend in large part upon the quality of the guitar teacher. Naturally, the beginning guitar student must have a strong desire to learn.

There are many guitar instructors, so called, that try to teach people how to play guitar for a fee. Unfortunately for someone looking for easy guitar lessons, an incompetent guitar teacher might make a new student believe that guitar mastery is a couple months, or even weeks away.

An ineffective guitar teaching method is obvious when the teacher focuses on performing for the student, rather than teaching the basics from which the student can build upon. Over the course of a few short weeks and months, the new student becomes an ex-student. I cannot begin to tell you how many people I run into that tell me they took guitar lessons for a couple months and then quit.

The Components of Excellent Formal Guitar Instruction

Before I get started on this subject, let me assume that you are not looking to become a performing classical guitarist. If your aspirations are to play in a classic orchestra such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, then you will need to enroll in an accredited music school. I am guessing though, that you want to play some popular music tunes. Okay, with that out of the way, what are the components of excellent formal guitar instruction?

1. Hire a Professional Guitar Instructor

Your guitar teacher should be someone who has earned a music degree from an accredited college or university. You definitely should not take guitar lessons from someone who is self-taught. Just because a guitarist can play “Eruption” by Van Halen does not mean they can teach you how to play guitar. Therefore, I recommend that you take formal guitar lessons from an instructor affiliated with a reputable music store. I have found that some of the best guitar instructors work out of family owned music shops, not chain stores.

2. You Need To Be Dedicated

If your guitar instructor does not demand that you practice at the very least, one half hour per day, then you are not going to adequately develop as a guitarist. Mastering the guitar takes years of practice and learning. If you plan on taking guitar lessons just to learn one or two songs you happen to like, you will never learn those songs or any others. Be realistic about your ability to devote the time and effort needed to really learn how to be a good guitarist.

3. Your Guitar Instructor Must Be Demanding

A demanding guitar teacher is very essential. I am not saying the person must be mean or cruel, but there are certain standards in regards to proper posture and fingering. If you find that your guitar teacher is constantly correcting your posture and repeatedly telling you to use the tips of your fingers, then you have a real gem of a teacher. As a beginner, I cannot tell you how many times my first guitar teacher told me to change position, use the tips of my fingers, and to “do it again” until I got it right. You might not like being told over and over to readjust your body or replay a certain guitar part, but it is well worth it.

4. The Basics of Guitar Music Theory

Despite your worst fears as a beginning guitarist, you will need to learn some music theory in order to understand how music works. The guitar is a complicated instrument because of the immense diversity of musical options on the fretboard. The guitar is what I would consider a 3-dimensional instrument. Whereas, the piano is a 1-dimensional instrument. Why? All the notes on a piano are in a straight line.

Now, effective guitar instruction will teach you how to read music. Yes, reading tabs is fast and easy, but it does nothing for helping you understand the musical structure of a song. You can be assured that music theory for guitar is not at all difficult. You just need to focus a little bit. Remember, this is not classical concert guitar school. Learn it and move on. You will find that music theory is an aid to being great on guitar.

5. Do Not Expect To Be Jamming Immediately

You have to learn to crawl before you can walk. And, you have to learn to walk before you can run. You will have to play “Tom Dooley” and “Streets of Laredo” before you can play “Dust In The Wind.” There is no way around it. If your first lesson as a beginning guitarist is to learn how to play a contemporary rock guitar solo, then you will be an ex-guitar student very soon. You must be persistent until you are able to play some more difficult tunes. You will eventually walk and then run. Give it time and practice.

Guitar Lessons Are Expensive

If you cannot afford in-person formal guitar instruction, there are some wonderful options available to you. Distance learning via the internet has taken the world by storm. Some online instruction programs are excellent. I have looked at some of these and find the quality of the teachers to be top notch. Also, the educational materials that accompany the lessons are comprehensive. The only drawback is that you are left to your own devices, which might be a problem.

A solution would be to perhaps take an in-person guitar lesson every so often to make sure you are on the right track and not developing any bad habits in terms of form and method. But, it is possible to learn how to play the guitar from a very good online instruction program.

William Meisseur

Easy Guitar Lessons

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