Between work, family, friends and school fitting in time for practicing a new skill has become more of a challenge. Online courses for education have become increasingly popular over the last decade for this very reason, and for an aspiring guitar player this might be the only way to squeeze in time to learn.

Free Online Guitar Lessons

The internet offers a wealth of online guitar tutorials, a great deal of which are free. Are the free online guitar lessons just as good as lessons you would pay for? That may be a matter of personal opinion but the old adage “you get what you pay for” speaks volumes about free online guitar lessons.

The average free online guitar lesson begins with the instructor teaching you how to hold a guitar. Next they explain the strings and the frets, very quickly. Then they will typically dive right in to showing you how to strum a few chords. So far so good, but most of them will not teach you a thing about musical theory, notes, chords and other concepts that you should know.

These lessons are fine if you want to learn enough guitar to memorize a few songs to play for a family gathering, but you will probably never jam along with a song on the radio at will if this is how you were taught.

These courses teach guitar like a parrot is “taught” to speak. Parrots learn to talk by mimicking human voice. Parrots do not understand what they are saying when they talk, they simply copy the sounds that they hear. This is not how you want to learn to play guitar.

Play as You Practice

Let there be no confusion, I am not saying free online guitar lessons are no good. I have come across several free guitar lessons that were very informative from well meaning musicians trying to help out their fellow man. My problem with these courses is that they start out teaching you a few basics and jump right into playing.

It is true that guitar is not a spectators sport so it is good to promote playing while learning, but they skipped some elementary steps and dove in a little too quickly for your average beginner. For someone with any prior guitar knowledge this would be no problem at all, but for an absolute beginner, this can be very confusing, frustrating and damaging to your guitar playing ability.

How Do You Learn?

So how do you find a solid free online guitar lesson that will help you achieve your guitar goals? Do your research. Watch several free online videos to get a feel for the teachers, their methods, their curriculum and your ability to follow what they are saying. We all learn differently and prefer certain teaching styles. Some people learn better visually, seeing what they are learning helps solidify the information in their brain. Others are perfectly content to read a book and let their mind fill in the blanks.

For the guitar in particular, learning visually is a requirement. Concepts that would take you less than five minutes to learn with a visual example would require a teacher to write a whole book on the subject. In this aspect, free online guitar lessons are all good in the sense that they all provide video.

Do Free Online Guitar Lessons Work?

In all honesty, my best advice is to take free courses with a grain of salt. There is a great deal of guitar instruction in most of these lessons, but they usually jump around a bit skipping over key details. This can be confusing and frustrating for the absolute beginner.

The worlds greatest musician may not be the worlds greatest teacher. I would suggest eventually finding an instructor or course that you have to pay for, and using the free lessons as practice or review of what you have learned. This is a great way to track your progress.

Try TABS Guitar

You do not necessarily have to be a whiz with music notation and theory to play the guitar. There are other methods such as TABs guitar. TABs will get you playing the guitar rather quickly, but for the beginner that would like to be considered an advanced player eventually, even a small amount of education on standard music notation and musical theory makes a world of difference. This more well rounded approach to playing guitar is better suited to playing and writing your own music.

If you learn to play guitar with an inexperienced guitar teacher who does not have a good grasp of teaching the guitar you will be fighting an uphill struggle that most novice guitar players lose. You will most likely end up feeling like you are doing something wrong when in all actuality your lessons were poorly constructed and less than user friendly.

Learning to play guitar may not be rocket science, but it is a new skill that requires lots of practice and lots of patience. You will encounter enough frustrations learning from a great teacher, do not set yourself up for added difficulty. The lack of lesson structure and choppy content could be the breaking point from you becoming a great guitar player, or quitting from sheer aggravation.

Did you know that 65% of beginning guitar students quit within 2 months? Why? Lessons or a teacher that didn’t work for them. Find the best guitar lessons that will work for you with a video guitar lessons review.

For the top rated online guitar lessons check out Guitar Superstars.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Max_Fowler

There are two basic routes available – private lessons with a teacher, or teaching yourself. Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of these choices for adult learners.

Lessons With a Teacher

1. Private guitar lessons for adults

Children who are learning to play the guitar often have private lessons with a guitar teacher. This isn’t always the obvious solution for adult learners however, for a number of reasons. For one thing, adults typically respond to different teaching methods than children. Some teachers may be less experienced or comfortable with adult students, and in some locations it can be hard to find teachers of the style of music you’re interested in. Even after finding a good teacher, adult students often find it difficult to attend lessons regularly. Budget can be an issue too, especially if you’re going every week.

On the plus side, a teacher will demonstrate the correct technique, and will provide encouragement during tough times. If want private lessons, ensure that the teacher is happy to teach adult students, and request references from previous/existing students. Don’t be afraid to interview several teachers if you can – most will offer a no-obligation consultation to new students.

2. Group guitar lessons

You can also learn guitar as part of a group. Group lessons may be offered by private teachers, or by local colleges, music stores etc. These can be lots of fun, and the cost is usually lower than one-on-one private lessons too.

However, some people don’t want to learn in a group situation, and these lessons often seem to be targeted at young men; if you’re not part of that demographic, you might not feel comfortable. If group lessons appeal to you, make sure that they’re teaching the kind of music you want to play.

Teaching yourself to play guitar

1. Tutor books/DVDs

Many adults choose to teach themselves to play, especially those learning pop and rock styles (as opposed to classical guitar). Traditionally, people have taught themselves using a tutor book. Today these books often include CDs, so you can hear how the music/exercises should sound, and sometimes DVDs too, showing you the correct hand positions, posture etc.

Most guitar instruction books are written for a mature audience, so adults often feel comfortable learning guitar in this way. They’re also much cheaper than private lessons, and you can go at your own pace, with no need for travelling or fitting in with someone else’s schedule.

The downside of learning this way is that it can be difficult to figure out exactly what you should be doing from written instruction and photos alone. Your motivation may also wane, especially if the book teaches music you don’t like much.

2. Online guitar lessons

Today, many people turn to the internet for adult guitar lessons, for good reason. As well as being economical and allowing you to learn at your own pace, quality online guitar lessons usually combine written, video, audio and software content, making them more effective and fun to use than books. They’re flexible too – e.g., you can play a video over and over again. Internet lessons cover many musical styles, and can be downloaded and/or viewed online, so you can access them from anywhere. And online guitar lessons are usually created with the needs of the adult learner in mind.

You do have to select your instruction carefully though. Since anyone can put up a website and call themselves a guitar expert, the quality varies, so ensure that you choose lessons from a competent instructor.

Jamorama is a top quality, professionally produced course of online guitar lessons for adults, and is perfect for anyone wanting to learn to play rhythm or lead guitar. Find out more about the course at http://learntheguitaronline.info or check out my review of Jamorama to read more about my experience with it.

Sam Marks is a guitarist who enjoys writing about music and sharing helpful, high quality resources, and may receive compensation as a result of making these recommendations.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sam_Marks

When I first started playing the guitar over five years ago, guitar lessons online were sprouting up all over the place. The problem was that there were very few quality online lessons that allowed for rapid advancement.

While there were many reasons for this, technology has moved quickly and lessons online now offer audios, videos, jam tracks and guitar lessons on DVD that allow for much faster advancements than the traditional sit down guitar lessons.

Where it once took the average person six months to reach an advanced level, there are now many guitar instructions that allow you to reach that same level within one to two months. In fact if you choose the correct lessons you should be playing your favorite songs within a few days.

That though is the trick, finding the best guitar lessons. When I was first looking for beginner guitar lessons over five years ago, I had purchased several lessons that were very difficult and left me frustrated. After a few days the guitar was in the closet and I figured I would never reach the level I desired.

Now don’t get me wrong, learning the guitar takes practice, but what a difference when you have the proper tools in place including lessons from instructors who have the experience and tools that allow for very fast advancement.

The first two lessons I purchased involved weeks of learning music, notes, chords, bar chords, frets and so much more without playing a single note. Once I had the right lessons, I was using what I had learned that day to play the songs that I enjoyed. In fact the correct lessons actually allowed me to play along with my favorite artist with jam tracks within a few days.

I learned very quickly that the lessons you choose will not only dictate how quickly you will be playing advanced songs with the guitar, but many times if you will even continue, or become frustrated due to the lack of tools.

There are several factors to consider when choosing the correct guitar lessons:

* What experience does the instructor have?
* Are the lessons nothing more than a PDF?
* Are there videos available?
* Are there pictures?
* Are there Audios?
* Are there Jam Tracks to record your progress and play along with your favorite artist

For myself and others who have the desire to quickly advance their level of guitar playing, the lessons you choose will dictate how quickly you will reach the level you desire.

By looking at the different online guitar lessons, the experience of the instructor and exactly what is offered through their lessons, you can quickly advance with the guitar and be playing at a level that can give you a tremendous feeling of accomplishment.

Jim Farlow started an online guitar review panel in 2003 after purchasing several ineffective online guitar lessons. The goal of his review blog is to guide those seeking professional guitar lessons towards the proper instructors and tools. This will allow for very fast advancement with the guitar and the tremendous satisfaction that comes with playing the songs you enjoy.

Click here to visit Jim’s Review blog at:

http://www.guitarlessonsdvdreview.org

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jim_Farlow

Many of us do the very same thing. Whether it is because we don’t have enough time or because we don’t have the vigilance to seek out a local instructor, or we can’t find time in our schedules to get to guitar lessons or to practice, each one of us has a reason why the guitar remains collecting dust in the corner.  We go through our lives with a little nagging feeling that we failed ourselves in music lessons and the guitar that lives in our closet serves to remind us of things we once wanted but couldn’t achieve.

Fortunately, there is a glowing light at the end of the tunnel. With the advent of the Internet, there is now another choice for the folks who have the desire to play guitar – easy guitar lessons online. There are many sites which you may find on the net which will offer beginning guitar lessons and locating these is pretty easy. All that you actually need to do is perform a fast Google query and you’ll discover everything that you need. You’ll discover sites that have things like guitar lesson dvds, guitar lesson videos, guitar lesson software, tips, and even forums so that you can talk with those who are either just learning the craft of guitar playing, or have become well versed in it, and would like to assist you on the journey.  Whether it’s electric guitar lessons or folk guitar lessons you are looking for, there are plenty of venues to choose from that will have comprehensive starter material.

What if you could learn to play the guitar online by completing your lessons at any time your schedule permits? Would you find  learning guitar easier? Indeed, you would!  Don’t worry that you won’t find a site that gives quality lessons.

Luckily, most guitar teaching sites online feature free guitar lessons. If the lesson format of one site doesn’t suit your needs, then you have other sites to try. Take a look around and find the best online guitar lessons for you. There is no best way to learn guitar, but there is a site that offers exactly what you need. Just compare a few sites to decide what features you like best. Have a look at other sites which provide similar facilities and see what other clients say about them. Some online sites offer good services that are worth paying for.

Usually when signing up you’ll gain access to several different things like luthier services, lessons, tips, help, and naturally the coaching videos. Learning to play guitar online isn’t difficult, as a matter of fact, it can be quite enjoyable. Not only does this type of learning solve time constraints, but you can learn at your own pace and avoid having to travel for lesson appointments. If you tend to be a shy person, you might find that you like learning on the Internet better than you do at a local music shop where you often have to play with other guitarists before you are ready.

If completing beginners guitar lessons online, or using some guitar lesson software seems like something which might help you finally get that old guitar out of the closet for good, then check on the Internet and see what you can find for courses. For some easy guitar lessons out of the box, see: Instructional Guitar Reviews . You’ll find some good beginner guitar lesson software that you can try in the privacy of your home. Once you get started, you should be playing a few songs in just a few weeks!

Don’t wait another day to start to learn to play the guitar when there are many online courses and software programs that can make learning guitar simple and convenient for you. Start enjoying the guitar that is collecting dust in your closet!

see Instructional Guitar Reviews at http://guitarlessonmarketplace.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Claudia_Austin

Online guitar lessons are only available by logging in to a system with a per session charge or by maintaining a subscription fee. This means that you never always have unlimited access to your lessons once paid for. Either the one time fee needs to be paid again to retake a lesson, or you only have access as long as you maintain the subscription. Years later how much to you have to pay to retake certain lessons; Are they always still going to be available? Your internet service must be working properly and the particular service that you are accessing needs to be functioning properly. With many companies disappearing in today’s business world, you have no guarantees that you can have access to all of the content.

Guitar software on the other hand, that you load onto your computer and run on your computer, is always accessible without any internet access, and you have it on your computer to use the lessons for years, as opposed to being on a server elsewhere. You only pay one time, and can restudy the material as often as necessary. Retaking a lesson over, and over again, and referring back to the same lesson content at much later times, is essential to mastering the material.

Online guitar lessons also are often a smorgasbord of various ideas and concepts from various teachers. This provides no continuity of learning and leaves the guitar student with lots of neat ideas that are independent and various. This reflects in the students limited playing ability as it become obvious the student has no real understanding of the instrument other than in a fragmented way. High quality guitar software on the other hand offers a fully cohesive instruction system. This is important to your consistency of practice and learning and is necessary to ever to reach any higher level of guitar knowledge and playing skill.Online guitar lessons also do not have the technology of training and teaching tools that a high end guitar software program offers. It simply isn’t available.

Increasing your guitar playing ability in a manner where you gain results in this lifetime, in a shorter period of time, than in many, many years is important to many guitar students. Any tool or idea available can be helpful. But you don’t want helpful, you want progress. You don’t need a few more ideas, your need real skills and understanding. So as you evaluate various learning systems such as guitar lessons software versus online guitar lessons, you can make more productive decisions for your personal learning choices as you are flooded with a tremendous amount of options for guitar learning.

To Learn More About Guitar Software check out http://www.springofknowledge.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tom_Hayward_Allen

Learn Guitar DVD:

Like learning to play guitar online, learn guitar DVDs use videos as the instructional tool. Each lesson has supplement with a printed workbook and practice sessions. Learn guitar DVD is one of the most effective ways of learning and it gives you a more in depth foundation of theory and reading music.

But if you are not a beginner then you may not need all of the course content that comes with the package. For this, online lesson is a better alternative for you. But if you are a beginner then learning to play from DVD lessons is the most suitable alternative available. It lays the foundation for you to become a master guitar player.

Advantage of learn guitar DVDs

* There is no monthly fees
* Large amount of content spread across multiple videos
* You don’t need an Internet connection or computer to watch or practice lessons

If you like going through lesson plans, taking it one step at a time, and having an exact road map to learning something then learn guitar DVD method is likely best for you.

Online guitar lessons

Whether you are a beginner guitar player, or been playing for several years. Online guitar lessons may be the best for you. The Internet makes easier for you to learn guitar on your own. To learn to play guitar online the only thing you need is:

1. An Internet connection
2. A computer connected to it and
3. Your guitar – acoustic, or electric.

Most of the online guitar lessons websites are generally month-by-month memberships. You need to pay/register to become a member and gain access to their lessons database. You can cancel your membership after learning everything and never be billed again. Generally, the Lessons inside membership sites would include:

* basic musical theory
* introduction lessons to acoustic and/or electric guitar
* learn to play guitar chords
* learn to play guitar tabs
* Advanced lessons for scales, and lead guitar

Online membership sites are often best suited for people who already have some basic knowledge about playing guitar. This way they can go in, find the lessons they want to learn more about watch them and move on. Even beginner can benefit from online learn guitar sites as well. The lessons are usually short and concise. They focus on teaching you to play more so then theory and this is what the majority of beginners want. Learn to play songs now, and you pick up the theory later.

Advantage of online guitar lessons:

1. They can supply you a ton of content for cheap. It doesn’t cost anything to add a new lesson each week.
2. You don’t have to wait for anything to be shipped to you everything is available on a companies website right away.
3. You can learn from literally anywhere there is an Internet connection.

Therefore, the Internet, DVDs, and streaming video, all are easier then ever to learn to play guitar. It’s up to you to choose the most suitable options depending on what learning goals do you have, what you do aim to achieve, and how long do you expect it to take? Do you want to be professional, semi-pro or strictly an amateur guitarist? Also have you thought about what style of playing will best serve you best?

Rob Taylor’s
Learn Guitar DVD blog.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rob_A_Taylor

The most important reason is that online guitar lessons are more cost-effective and affordable. It’s a known fact that a local instructor can typically charge you at least $ 20 per lesson. Let’s say you enrol a guitar class for a year, your cost would be at least $ 1040 (excluding the printed materials). The worse thing is that you may not even start to learn the intermediate or advanced techniques within one year. On the contrary, some of the top online guitar courses would only cost you a one time price anywhere from $ 20 to $ 200 which is obviously a lot cheaper.

Online guitar courses could also save you a lot of time and hassle. The traditional guitar class has this one downside that may not be so obvious to some people. Imagine that you have to set a rigid schedule and travel back and forth the class every week. It’s wasting time and gas and if you don’t think so, try to do your math and add up all the time and money you spent on travelling in, let’s say, a year.

We all have our own study or job, friends and family so sometimes it’s very hard to sit down and practice the skills you have learned. Now imagine that you are not prepared for the next week’s lesson because you haven’t had the spare time to practice. So even if you attend the class, you won’t be able to follow or catch up the lesson and you’re just wasting value. By taking online guitar courses, you can learn to play and practice your guitar anytime and anywhere you want. It’s definitely better for someone who has a busy lifestyle. You’ll never worry about missing a lesson.

Some people prefer to study on their own so that they can learn how to play guitar at their own pace. Learning through online video courses is no doubt the best way for them to do so. They are like some intensive programs that allow you to skip those parts you are not keen to learn and focus on those of interest to you. If you miss something in the video lesson, you can always watch it over and over again as many times as you want. Whereas if you’re in a guitar class, you can’t possibly do so. Besides, verbal instructions from a guitar teacher may soon be forgotten if you’re an absent-minded person.

Most of the top quality online guitar lessons are very creative and innovative. Their lesson materials not only have texts, diagrams and graphics, but also include videos, audios, jam along tracks, interactive guitar-related softwares and games. Some of those stuffs like tuning softwares, ear training games etc. are even free of charge. Besides, you can also learn the beginner guitar lessons for free from some of these online courses. You really can’t find these free stuffs in most of the offline private guitar lessons out there.

So try out the online guitar course and see if it really works for you. As far as risk is concerned, most of the guitar courses offer 60-day or even up to one-year money back guarantee so your risk of losing is minimized to zero.

Read our review from http://www.coolest-guitar-lessons-review.com/ and find out which online guitar course is the best.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Justin_Tan

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.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Mackinnon

It is always great to learn guitar with a teacher because guitar teachers usually become your friends because the teachers and the students share the same passion… the guitar.

Here are the pros and cons of learning with a guitar teacher.

Pros:

* With normal lessons you will practice guitar with other people, share experience and make new friends and that is great!
* If you have any question you can ask the teacher and have a real time answer.
* If you feel stuck with something in particular like Tapping or Sweep Picking your teacher can tell you how he get through it and prepare special exercises for your needs.

Having a guitar teacher is great, but there are some possible cons too.

Cons:

* Guitar lessons with a teacher use to be expensive, for something like 3 hours of guitar lessons with a teacher you can have like a whole year of online guitar lessons.
* Maybe you don’t have the time to take guitar lessons in a music school, it is really hard to take guitar lessons with a teacher if you have a full time job or if you want to spend more time with your girlfriend or boyfriend, children and family.
* If you have bad luck, like i had many times, you can get a bad teacher and pay a lot of money for nothing. I tried several guitar teachers until i found a good one, having a bad guitar teacher can discourage you if you are just beginning with the guitar.

Now lets see the pros and cons of online guitar lessons. If your budget is limited and you don’t have enough money for guitar lessons with a teacher you can go with online guitar lessons, there are great online guitar courses in today’s market.

Pros:

* Online guitar lessons are really cheap and you can have lessons for a whole years for the same price that just a few hours with a guitar teacher.
* You can practice and study guitar at any time, they are ideal if you have a full time job or if you are very busy with school or college.
* Some of them are really great learning systems that make all the guitar learning process something fun, they give you cool exercises like classic and modern rock songs. You need to have fun while you practice because learning how to play guitar is a long process and you have to enjoy it if you want to become a good guitar player.

Now lets see the cons of online guitar lessons.

Cons:

* If you learn guitar just in your home you won’t be in contact with other musicians, this is not a real problem if you already have friends that are guitarists, drummers, bassists or any other kind of musician.
* You can’t ask anybody for more info, but then again this is fixed if you have friends that are musicians or if you ask in online forums

Remember that it doesn’t really matters if you go with online guitar lessons or if you take lessons with a guitar teacher, there is something more important than that… and that is you. You are the only one who will play and learn guitar for you, your guitar teacher can’t play guitar for you. You need to be committed with your guitar to learn fast, if you are really committed with you learning process you will learn how to play guitar in a fly.

Playing guitar is an awesome thing and it feels great, if you want to learn how to play guitar just do it!

If you want to learn more about online guitar lessons check this article: Online Guitar Lessons. And visit Riff Church to get daily guitar lessons, learn how to play power chords, major chords, arpeggios and more.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Guillermo_Pareja

There can be many reasons why people quit guitar lessons. Sometimes it is because the teacher failed to inspire you, or because the lessons weren’t focused enough on your specific musical goals, or because the teacher was only mediocre and didn’t know how to help you achieve a specific result. However, another (often misunderstood) reason might be that your own approach to guitar lessons wasn’t as effective as it needed to be in order for you to make real progress.

After teaching tens of thousands of music lessons to all types of guitarists and also mentoring guitar teachers around the world on how to teach more effectively, I began to notice similar and consistent patterns used by most students for learning to play guitar.

I also noticed that the specific approach the students applied to studying with a teacher had a direct influence on their progress. Very often 2 different people can get very different results by studying with the same guitar teacher, because the ways in which the students approached the learning process in general are very different. For example, one student believed that he knew better than the teacher did about how to reach his musical goals and resisted some of the instruction his teacher was giving him. It later became very clear to him that he did not know better. The other student soaked up everything his teacher was instructing him to do and quickly became a world class guitar virtuoso.

I have found there are 3 types of students who become easily frustrated with their guitar lessons. As you read the rest of this article, be honest and ask yourself if any of these 3 descriptions sound like you. I’ll be the first to admit that at one point I had the characteristics of each of the “ineffective student behaviors” presented below. Looking back many years later, I now understand that one of the reasons why it took me as long as it did to master the guitar (more than 20 years), was due to my own inefficient approaches to learning when I began the journey.

The “Teach me something new today” student type.

You may think it is common sense that guitar lessons should consist mainly of presenting new content, and expect that the guitar teacher’s primary job is to show you things that are “new” to you. However, if we examine this approach a bit deeper, you will see that focusing “only” on seeking out new information will not bring big results long term.

First of all, too much new content quickly leads to overwhelm and burn out (and does not allow enough time to apply the information you are learning). This feeling of overwhelm is what causes you to become frustrated and quit lessons (or worse yet, quit guitar). Second, simply “learning new things” does not lead to mastery. I have had many students come to me being able to do some cool things on guitar. For example, they may have good technique, or a good understanding of how music works, or have good ears. But more often than not, their ability to APPLY and INTEGRATE what they “know” to playing music was very poor. At this point, “learning more new things” is not going to help these students to significantly advance their guitar playing. Simply being “aware” of a concept is not enough. You don’t truly “know” something until you can apply and integrate it with your other musical skills fluently.

This type of training in applying and integrating what you know is probably the single most valuable thing you get out of music lessons and is one area of musical development that is almost universally lacking in many guitarists. This results in massive frustration and disappointment that many guitar players often experience (but often do not realize WHY they are frustrated).

When you take lessons for the first time, you may think that it is great that your teacher shows you something new in each lesson. But if your teacher does nothing else than “show you things”, then as more lessons go by, you will start to notice that you are not really making any significant progress (because no application and integration is taking place). Most people will quit lessons at this point, and will continue to perpetuate the myth that guitar lessons are ineffective, without really understanding the real reasons for their lack of progress.

The type of student who is only interested in learning new things, typically does not stick with guitar lessons for very long. If a guitar teacher begins to talk about a concept the student may already be familiar with, the lesson is perceived to be a waste of time. Because these students may have heard about this concept from somewhere else, they believe that they “already know it”.

Of course, receiving new information is a part of any comprehensive lesson plan (and certainly you will learn a lot of new things by taking lessons), but it is the order in which this information is presented, and the way you are trained to USE, APPLY and INTEGRATE that information that makes guitar lessons with a good teacher so valuable. If learning “raw data” in a linear fashion (and practicing) was all it took to become a great musician, then anyone could buy some books and after studying them for a few years and practicing on his/her own become a highly advanced guitarist. Of course most of the time, this doesn’t happen.

The moral of the story here is to remember that you came to your teacher to learn and grow as a guitar player. In order for this to actually happen you will need to have some patience through the process and realize that sometimes when you ‘think you know something’, you in fact may not really know it yet to the point that you can apply it and integrate it with your other musical skills.

“The Perfectionist”

The next type of student wants to master every little thing their teacher presents in a lesson (or that they discover on their own) before working on anything else. While on the surface this seems like a good idea, it is far from the most efficient approach to becoming a great musician. Learning music is best done in a non-linear approach, meaning that multiple things should be worked on simultaneously without stressing out about totally mastering everything in a linear order.

I like to compare learning music to baking a cake. You don’t make a cake by cooking one ingredient at a time and then finally putting them together when each one is ready. If you baked your cake in this way, it would take you a long time to finish and more importantly the cake would not taste as good as when the ingredients are cooked together!

The same goes for musical skills. If you waited until you became a great virtuoso master of technique before beginning to work on (mastering) music theory, then turning to songwriting, and then switching to improvising, it could take you many decades to finally become really good and your skills would not likely be integrated together. What I recommend to you is to follow a non-linear approach (as described in the video above). When learning a new skill, don’t wait until you completely master it; only make sure that you have the fundamentals down and begin immediately to look for contexts to apply it. Then work on integrating this new skill with everything else that you know how to do/play. Application and integration are unique skills that must be practiced separately. This key link will enable you to go from being “the student” who is able to “do lots of things” on the guitar, to becoming a great player who can use all of his musical skills to achieve complete musical expression.

This (non-linear) approach will also prevent you from getting out of balance with your skills and at any level of your musical development, you will be able to apply and integrate everything you know. It is important to note that a ‘non-linear approach’ is not an ‘illogical’ approach. So if you are looking for a systematic and logical approach to learning guitar, you should understand that this systematic, geometric (non-linear) strategy IS in fact the most effective, most efficient and most logical path possible.

The challenger

This personality type often comes out in a player who has been playing for a while and has studied with other guitar teachers in the past. This student may come into their first lesson full of preconceived ideas about what lessons should be like, and dictating to the teacher what and how to teach. I should clarify here that I am not talking about asking questions when you don’t understand something or telling your teacher about your goals. There is a big difference between doing that, and trying to dictate to the teacher what and how to teach. If the student knew that much more about teaching than the teacher, then the student would BE the teacher, right? If you know how to successfully learn guitar on your own and you are TRULY happy with your progress without a teacher, then maybe you don’t need guitar lessons. But if you seek help from a qualified guitar teacher, this means you realized that whatever you were doing on your own wasn’t working as well as you wanted it to. Therefore, you should accept the fact (or at least the high probability) that your guitar teacher knows many times more about guitar playing and teaching guitar than you do and can successfully teach you to play well. (Otherwise, why would you give the teacher your money?) Of course not all guitar teachers are the same, and some are much more qualified to teach than others. If you follow the advice I give in the guide for choosing a guitar teacher, you will be sure to find the best teacher for you.

I always tell my students that in order for them to receive the most benefit from working with me, it is their job to articulate to me their specific musical goals and list their musical challenges. Then it is MY job to come up with the most effective strategy possible to solve their problems and get them to their stated goals as quickly as possible. But in order for that to happen, they need to have faith in me as a teacher, and commit themselves to moving forward together through the learning and training process. My most satisfied and advanced students all followed this advice.

If your guitar teacher has already created many great musicians, chances are, he knows what he is doing and will be able to help you as well. But his ability to help you will be limited (and the process will take much longer), if you constantly challenge everything he tells you to do. Again, asking questions about something you don’t understand is normal, and is part of the learning process. But creating the overall lesson plan is your teacher’s primary responsibility, not yours.

If you recognize yourself as one of the student types described above, think about your current approach to learning guitar and change your mindset. On the surface it may seem like a small action to take, but the difference this can make to your guitar playing may be greater than you have ever even imagined before!

T. Hess teaches guitar players around the world via online guitar lessons. Visit http://www.tomhess.net to get free guitar tips, assessments, surveys, mini courses and more.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=T._Hess