Most guitarists don’t need too much advice about buying a new axe. There’s that visceral thing you feel when you pick it up, does it look sexy, does it feel right in your hands?

Amps, on the other hand, are more complicated. A lot of less experienced players don’t put as much thought into an amp as they do into the guitar, but it has just as big a role in your sound. Think about the following questions before you walk into the guitar store to help narrow your choices.

The first question is simple: how much power do you need?  Remember that more isn’t necessarily better! Especially with tube amps, you get a much better sound when they are running at close to full power. So if you’re only going to be playing at bedroom volumes, you’re never going to hit the sweet spot of a powerful amp. Yes, a 100-watt Marshall head and a 4×12 cab looks sexy … but if you never turn it up past “two” you’re wasting your money and not getting that great Marshall tone.

Generally, you can divide amp use into four categories: playing at home, jamming with other guitarists, jamming with a full band, and gigging. For just playing around at home, 5 watts is likely to be all you need. Jamming with others or a full band, you’re probably good with 15-25 – although a five-watter like the Marshall Class 5 might be enough if you don’t care much about clean tones.  Only once you get to gigging do you really need more power, but be aware of the possibilities: a 25-watt tube amp will be big enough for most smaller venues, and most bigger venues will require you to mike your amp anyway.

(By the way, if you’re looking at solid state amps, up those numbers a little bit. Solid state amps are rated by the amount of power they use. Tube amps are rated by the amount of power they use when they begin to distort. And not all amps of the same wattage are equally loud, so these all ballpark estimates).

Next up, do you want a combo or a head/cabinet set? The head/cab set requires more setup, more gear to schlep around, but it also gives you more flexibility and you can play through different speakers – and yes, you will hear a difference. Combos are generally more mobile (although not always – I’m looking at you, 2×12 Vox AC30.) Gigging musicians should consider the possibility of combo amps which allow you to add an extra cab – the difference in your stage presence from a second speaker can be substantial, even without changing your power level.

The next important question is if you are looking for an amp to give you a specific sound, or if you want something that’s highly versatile. If you’re really looking for a signature tone, you probably want a tube amp. More versatility may come with a solid state or modeling amp, however.

Do you use a lot of pedals? In that case, you probably want an amp with an effects loop – but you probably don’t need a two-channel amp. If you don’t want to have a big pedalboard, a two-channel amp is more important. Ask yourself how important are built-in effects like reverb or a tremolo?

When you go to a guitar store to check out the possibilities, bring your guitar, or, at least, play with one of theirs that’s the same make and model as yours. Guitar and pickup type, of course, makes a huge difference, and you want to know how it’s going to sound with your rig.

You will help the salesman help you if you can succinctly define the styles you’re likely to be playing, as well as naming one or two guitarists who inspire you, who you’d like to emulate. The salesman will steer you differently if you say Slash compared to Stevie Ray Vaughn or Kirk Hammett.

Don’t be rushed. You don’t have to buy the first time you go into the store. This is especially true if you want to check out some guitar amps that they don’t sell. Go ahead and tell the salesman you want to go check out some other models, and that you’ll be back.

(By the way – I strongly encourage you to buy local – there are lots of advantages. But that doesn’t mean you can’t go to MusiciansFriend.com or another online retailer and check out the online price. There’s a good chance your local dealer will match it, and he might even cover the sales tax.)

Today we’re going to talk about one of the steps on the road from beginner to expert: learning how to use the whole guitar fretboard. Once you master this, you will be well on your way to play the guitar like a pro.

A lot of guitarists never do this. They learn a pattern for each scale – but each pattern is four or five frets wide, so they only cover a part of the neck. By expanding your scale knowledge so you have multiple patterns covering the neck, you unlock new sonic possibilities and new relationships between the notes which you can exploit in your licks

There are lots of ways to do this. One very popular choice is the so-called CAGED system, based on various chord shapes. While I think that system has merit, I actually learned on a slightly simpler system, which requires only two scale shapes (although it works better if you have three).

I’m going to use the key of C in this example, remember that you can use any key simply by moving these patterns up or down the fretboard such that the root notes are on the key you want to be in.

So most of us first learned the major scale with this pattern, low to high.

• x8x10
• 78×10
• 7×910
• 7×910
• x8x10
• 78×10

That’s a C major scale, pretty straightforward, right? Take special notice of the C notes: 6th (low) string, 8th fret. Fourth string, 10th fret. And first string, 8th fret. Those are your roots.  Let’s call this scale shape the major shape.

Since C-major is also A-minor, just with a different tonic, we have these same notes in a minor-scale shape. This is also the notes of a C-major scale:

• 5×78
• 5×78
• 5x7x
• 45x7x
• 56×8
• 5×78

Again, your roots (for c-major) are the 8th fret on both e-strings, as well as the fifth fret on the g-string.

Before we continue, notice how both of these scales fit together. The high-end of the minor shape scale are the same frets as the low notes of the major shape scale.

All we really need is one more shape to cover the lowest part of the neck, and we’re golden. I’m going to call this the C-shape:

• 01×3
• 0×23
• 0×23
• 0x2x
• 01×3
• 01×3

Note that the roots here are third fret of the a-string and second fret of the b-string. Do you see how this shape contains your standard c major chord? That can help you remember it. Find a note on the a-string, build out a c-shape chord, and viola.

Three shapes. The whole guitar fretboard. It’s that simple. But if that’s too much, you’ll notice that you can connect your minor shape with your c-shape, not by using the whole major-shape, but rather by just using these additional frets on the three high strings:

• G  9
• B  10
• e  10

This is useful to know because many musicians find the C-shape and minor shape scales easier to solo in than the major-scale shape – using those three notes to transition, you can bounce up and down the fretboard, staying in key. (Note, of course, that the cycle just repeats after the 12th fret).

So start today by soloing using the minor shape, and transitioning, using those three extra frets, to the C-shape further up the neck. As you get more comfortable with those two shapes, start to fill in the rest of the major shape. Before you know it, you’ll have command of your whole guitar fretboard!

Rock guitarists have a certain reputation among musicians. We might have great dexterity, but we’re the cavemen of musicians. We don’t know much about guitar theory – we can’t tell our subdominants from our phrygians, and surely you’ve heard the joke about how to make a lead guitarist play quieter?

“Put sheet music in front of him.”

And the simple truth is that you don’t necessarily have to know theory to learn guitar. Whereas a keyboard player needs to understand each different key, we just have to be able to find the tonic on the E or A string, because we learns scales by their shape.

There are lot of very successful guitarists who don’t know much theory at all. Jeff Beck, for example, is notorious for a relative lack of musical knowledge, and it hasn’t held his career back.

To be fair, however, lots of guitarists know a ton of theory. Jimmy Page and Joe Satriani, among others. I find it fascinating that Page knows a ton of theory, and Beck knows very little – and yet there is substantial overlap in their styles and influences – they even briefly played together in the Yardbirds!

But at the same time, there are real benefits to learning guitar theory, particularly if you want to move your solos beyond aimless “noodling” or you want to write some cool guitar songs. Here’s a simple example:

Playing in G Major, you might know that your major chords are your 1-4-5, which is to say, G, C, and D. That feels kind of limiting, doesn’t it? But if you knew a little more theory you might know that the Mixolydian scale includes the 1, 4, and flat 7 major chords – that the F major chord if you’re in G Mixolydian.

If you just know your major scale, you might not even think to play that F major. After all, no F-chord exists in the G-major scale (in G Major, all Fs are sharp, so G-major contains the F# Diminished chord – don’t worry about that for now). And while moving from F major to D major can be interesting (to put it nicely) you can use G and C to transition between them, and viola – a tiny bit of theory has moved you beyond your basic 3-chord rock.

Of course, I suspect about half of you are scratching your heads and saying,

“Huh?”

If that’s you, play G-C-D, and listen to how it sounds. Now play G-C-F.  Notice how the D and F feel very different against the G-C combination.

Another quarter of my readers saw the word “theory” in the title and skipped this post. And one thing I really believe about music is that you’ll improve the fastest if practice doesn’t feel like homework. After all, we all have plenty of homework as is. Music is supposed to be fun!

If you’re still learning scales by their shapes then maybe you haven’t mastered the whole fretboard yet and that’s just fine. There’s no need to rush to learn theory just yet if you don’t want to.

But when you start to feel limited by what you can do, don’t be shy about picking up a theory book. (I’ll be reviewing a few in a future post). You may be surprised at how it broadens your musical horizons … and makes trying learn guitar even more fun.

Today I’m going to talk about one something a lot of guitarists don’t think much about, but which is really one of the hallmarks of being a great musician. Heck, I’d go so far as to say that it’s the key difference between being a musician and being a guy who just messes around a bit on guitar.

And that’s ear training.

Ear training isn’t just about being able to listen to a piece of music and figure out how to play it. It is the vital connection between your mind and your instrument. When you “hear” a sound in your head, do you know how to get your guitar to make it?

If not, how can you really create? Sure, you can put your fingers where some tab tells you to, but you’re just imitating someone else’s performance, not creating your own.

For the longest time, I thought “a good ear” was something you either had or didn’t. Maybe it came with years and years of practice, but even as I practiced, I felt like my ear wasn’t improving. My fingers got faster and stronger, my playing subtler – but I was still lost as a newborn kitten trying to play something by ear. It was a lot of trial and error – maybe this note, maybe that one.

The internet wasn’t much help. You’ll can google ear training and get some sites which will help you drill various intervals, and that’s a good thing. But there’s no discussion of the process – if you don’t already have the chops, a lot of those drills feel like guesswork.

I did some more research, however, and discovered some tricks and drills that can help build your foundation. I’ll discuss more of these in later blog entries, but now I just want to get you started on some of the basics.

The secret to ear training is singing.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t want to be a singer. It doesn’t matter if you sound like a strangled eel. You’re not going to have to sing for anyone other than yourself.

But something about the process of singing internalizes the music. You get your mind and body on the same note, and it all starts to click.  I was skeptical, but I gave it a try and I’ve become a believer.

So start by playing a major scale from any comfortable tonic in the lower part of your register. The easiest way to remember the major scale is the following pattern on the lowest three strings on your guitar:

E    x2x3

A    12×4

D    1×34

That sonic pattern should be pretty familiar to you. So play the scale, and sing along with it, matching every note. You can sing numbers or do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do, if that’s easier for you.

Now use the guitar to set your tonic on the low-e string, and sing the scale without your instrument. Then check, when you reach the octave, to see if you got it right. Repeat this exercise checking other notes in the scale to see if you got them right. If you struggle, sing along with the instrument, moving the tonic around.

Now do the same thing, descending – starting from the octave, sing the scale down. Again, check to see that you’re getting the notes right. If not, sing the scale with your instrument. As you get good at this, start singing different riffs around the scale, and checking your accuracy against your instrument.

Add 5-10 minutes of this to your daily practice, and you’ll start to see some real improvement in your ear. And in future entries we’ll talk about more ways to improve your ears.

I’m not a big fan of my amp. I’ve been playing my strat through an early-90’s Peavey Bandit 112. That amp has gorgeous cleans, and a great reverb, but honestly the distortion is terrible. This was before Peavey introduced the new “transtube” technology, and really this was is a workhorse aimed at metal-heads. The dirty channel is clippy and  almost useless for the styles of play that interest me.

So I’ve been contemplating picking up a Blues Driver because I don’t have $1500 to drop on a Zinky Blue Velvet or a Mesa Transatlantic 30 but the other day my bassist brought in an amp his neighbor had given him – it was rotting away in his garage, why not give it a shot?

So we plugged it in, and its a Fender G-Dec 30. I’ve never more than messed around for a few minutes with a modeling amp, so I figured, why not give it a whirl.

This is an interesting little amp. At 30 solid-state watts, I’m not sure I could gig with it (that’s a lot quieter than 30 tube watts) but it’s certainly loud enough to stand up to drums and a bass playing hard in a small room (in fact, in practice I don’t think I’ve turned it up past “4”).   What’s really interesting about it is the modeling technology.

You see, this amp is designed to imitate the sounds of a lot of classic tube amps, like the old Fender Blackfaces. Now this isn’t the place for a full review of this amp but I’m pleasantly surprised by how dynamic it the distortion is in response to how hard I play (and it definitely overdrives harder playing my Les Paul than it does my Strat).

The biggest problem with it is that, despite being extremely flexible, it’s hard to tweak on the fly. If I dial in my favorite modeling settings – “Rhino Pop” is my current fave, which has a nice bit of overdrive and a lovely touch of tremolo – if I suddenly decide I need a little less crunch to balance with my keyboard player, I can’t just knock down the gain on the fly, I actually have to dive into some menus. There’s no dedicated gain dial, and that’s a lousy choice on Fender’s part.

But what the broad tonal palette of this amp has made me realize is how much my playing and songwriting choices are influenced by the sounds my amp makes. I’ve been composing and playing stuff on this little hunk-o-junk that I never would have written on my crystal-cleans-only Peavey. Tweaking the settings around makes me feel like a different musician.

It’s helped me understand intuitively why guitarists always have stacks and stacks of different amps. Of course, this has a downside (now I want both the Zinky and the Mesa, and probably something from 65 Amps, too!) but it really makes me recognize that I’m a more accomplished guitarist that I thought I was – I’m actually better at more styles of play than I thought I was, I just wasn’t choosing to play them because my gear wasn’t up to the task.

I feel a synergy with that “Rhino Pop” setting – limited as it is – that I don’t feel with my Peavey, and it’s pushing me to play in new and challenging ways.  One way I’ve put this into practice when I don’t have access to my bassist’s amp is to use the amp emulators built into Apple’s Garageband. It’s expanding my playing … and, oh yeah, a lot of fun.

So what are you playing?  How does it push you … and how do you wish it pushed you?

Welcome to our new blog here on LearnGuitar.org. This is going to be the new location for lots of informal discussion about all things guitar related. We’ll have lessons, gear tips, and discussions about my own journey with this lovely instrument.

So before we dive in, I figure I ought to tell you a little bit about my experience with guitar. If you’re going to take someone’s advice, you ought to know who you’re taking advice from.

I have over 15 years of playing both acoustic and electric. My tastes run from Dominoes-era Clapton to Hendrix to Nick Drake. After playing mostly electric, I spent four or five years playing acoustic, and have recently hooked up with a new band and am diving back into electric playing. I’m sure you’ll hear more about the band later, as I share my experiences jamming, writing, and performing.

One of the first things you need to decide, when it’s time to take a step forward with your music skills, is what your goals are. What motivates you to pick up the instrument every day? Obviously, this is going to dictate how you approach learning and improving – or even if you care about learning and improving at all.

Let me invite you to share your goals. What do you want to get out of playing guitar? Maybe you want to write and perform songs at open mic nights. Maybe you want to learn to rock out, and perform in front of cheering crowds. Maybe your goal is to nail the solo to Stairway or to play a note-perfect Cliffs of Dover. Maybe you just want to push yourself to see what you can learn, or make music that makes yourself happy.  Heck, maybe you just want to learn enough to impress girls.

There is no wrong answer to this question – but asking it honestly can help guide your practice and make you excited about picking up your instrument every day, and those are the keys to rapid improvement. It’s fine if your goals are ambitious – just be aware that it’s going to take some time before you can accomplish them.

I’ll start the ball rolling by talking about my goals. In the short term, my goal is simply to keep up with my bassist (that guy can play just about anything – he’s a music encyclopedia!). But in the next year I’d like to write more songs that I believe in (so far, I’ve written one which I think is pretty good, and a few more which no one will ever hear), and perform them in front of an audience that isn’t just my friends hanging around at a party. I’d like to perform both solo with my acoustic, and with my new band.

And I’d like it if the audience seemed to genuinely like what I was playing.

So those are my goals.  What are yours?

So you’ve just bought a new guitar, and you want it to last you a lifetime. A good-quality guitar can easily last you 10, 15 years or longer with good care. In this article you will learn the best way to care for your guitar.

The first thing to remember is that the safest place for your guitar is in a good hard-shell case. In its case, your guitar is safe from bumps and bruises, and won’t get accidentally knocked over. If you aren’t going to be playing your guitar for a long time, you should loosen your strings, to reduce the pressure you put on the neck.

The neck is the most structurally important part of the guitar. It’s already under a lot of pressure from the string tension. Therefore, on a day-to-day basis, make sure that you store your guitar in a way such that no weight is pressing on the headstock or neck. Do not just lean your guitar against the wall. Rather, put it in its case or on a guitar stand. Hanging the guitar from a hook around the headstock is also a good choice, as guitars can make nice wall decorations.

Protect the wood of your guitar by wiping off any loose sweat or dirt with a clean cotton rag after you play. When you change strings (once a month, if you play every day. The difference in sound will shock you) wipe down the fretboard, and a couple of times a year oil your rosewood or ebony fretboards with lemon oil or “guitar honey” – an oil available just for this purpose at most music stores.

Rapid changes in temperature and humidity are your guitar’s enemies, as they can make the wood warp and bend. If you live in a warm-weather city, you won’t have to worry too much about this, but otherwise, keep it in its case while you travel, and then let it warm up slowly once you get where you’re going before taking it out of its case.

During the winter, storing your guitar in a room with a humidifier can help. Some guitarists also keep a small damp sponge in the case with their guitar. This can help reduce “fret sprout” where the edges of the frets begin to poke out of sides of the neck, caused by repeated shrinking and expansion of the fretboard in reaction to humidity changes.

Once a year, take off your strings and give the fretboard a more thorough cleaning. Scrape off any tough dirt with your fingernail. If your fretboard is really messy, you might consider getting some ultrafine synthetic steel wool and lightly rubbing the guitar neck with it.

Keep your eye on the action. Over time, your guitar’s neck may bend, and it may need a slight truss rod adjustment. This is a simple task for any guitar tech, but make sure you know what you’re doing before trying it yourself, as you can permanently damage your guitar if you do it wrong. Take care of this promptly to prevent it from compounding to the point where you need a major next adjustment.

Avoid storing your guitar for very long partially strung. If you’re missing a few strings, the neck will be under an uneven tension, and may slowly begin to twist. There’s an easy way to avoid this, however: replace broken strings promptly.

Eventually (after years and years of heavy play) you may need to have your frets leveled. Again, this is easy work for a guitar tech, and shouldn’t cost very much.

By taking the time to care for your guitar properly, your guitar will give you decades of happy playing.

So you’ve decided its time to get a new axe, and you’re ready to plunk down your hard-earned cash. A guitar can be a big investment, but if you buy the right one it’ll give you years and years of happiness. How can you make sure you’re getting the right guitar for you? Follow these simple guitar buying tips for a better guitar-buying experience.


Play Before You Buy

No two guitars sound – or play – exactly the same, even if they came off the same assembly line minutes apart. One often finds a less expensive guitar that sounds and plays better that a more expensive one, but the only way you’re going to know is to pick it up and play it.

You want a guitar that just feels right in your hands. Nothing will lead to faster improvement than owning a guitar that calls your name and demands that you pick it up every day, so don’t buy a guitar you can’t pick up and play first.

When in Doubt, Ask

Every guitar store has an employee who’s job it is to keep all the guitars in tune and in shape, ready to sell. This guy knows which ones are bargains and which ones are lemons. It never hurts to ask, “If you were buying, which one would you pick, and why?”

When I was bought my first acoustic, I was torn between two models and terrified of making a mistake. I asked the salesman why the more expensive guitar was worth more money, and he said it wasn’t. I bought the cheaper one, still own it, and play it every week, happy with the decision I made.

Get a Set-Up Included

Most guitars don’t come from the factory with the intonation and action adjusted the way you want it, so buy from a store which employs a qualified guitar tech, and includes a set-up (which will cost you around $70 otherwise) in the price of the guitar.

Avoid the M.A.P.

These days, we’re used to finding things cheaper online. This is true with books and DVDs, but not with guitars. The major guitar manufacturers dictate the cheapest price that sellers can advertise, but that price includes a healthy markup. Do your research online and learn what the M.A.P. (minimum advertised price) is, and then when you find a guitar you like in a local store, ask them to beat that price. With an instrument costing over $500, they often will. Often they’ll cover tax, too.

Don’t Go Too Cheap

A cheap guitar isn’t saving you any money if you play it less because you don’t love it, and spending an extra $100 is a bargain if you get a guitar that you’ll own, love, and play for 15 years. Buy a guitar you love to play, even if it costs a little bit more, and you won’t regret it.

A lot of people tend to get really bored with their guitar lessons initially, because they are not getting right into the good stuff. However, it is really important to learn to walk before you run, and this also holds true with learning the guitar. You first need to start with the basics, including theory, notes and scales. As a beginner you will start to learn guitar notes and then figure how to combine them and develop the ability to start learning beginner guitar chords. Once you’ve reached that point, you can start playing some easy guitar songs.

What is a Chord?

If you have never played the guitar, or taken a lesson, you may be wondering what a chord is. The word chord is actually a shortened version of the Middle English word for accord (cord), which meant to be in tune with one another. The word chord is used today to describe a group of three musical notes that are played in combination. Chords get their names from their root note, such as the C chord having C as a root note. There are seven notes, which translate into seven chords: A,B,C,D,E,F, and G. These chords can be played four ways: major, minor, augmented and diminished. Look at this guitar chords chart to see all the different chords.

What Will I Learn First?

In the beginning, you will probably only be learning the most basic of chords, at least until you get a little bit better. Your early guitar chord lessons will teach you the basic chords, as well as switching back and for the between them, you will begin learning more complicated guitar chords. There are millions of songs out there to learn, and not all of them are written with just basic chords.

Once you have mastered the basic chords, you may start learning guitar chords for specific styles of music. For example, if you are interested in learning how to play hard rock and heavy metal, you will want to learn all about power chords, which utilize the root and fifth notes of chords. Also frequently used in hard rock, as well as many other styles, are the more difficult barre chords, which are actually the root of all power chords.

Another thing you will be learning about is chord progressions, but you probably won’t be getting into this until you have actually mastered some chords, and switching between chords. All songs are made up of chord progressions, and without them, there wouldn’t be any songs… or at least songs that sound half way decent.

The Best Way For Learning Guitar Chords

If you want to learn how to play chords on the guitar, you can buy all kinds of chord books. But, you may find them confusing, and end up playing the chords completely wrong. The best way I’ve found for learning guitar chords is to find a guitar player who also teaches. A qualified guitar instructor will have the knowledge and experience to be able to show you how to play all kinds of chords, and then help you advance until you are a really good guitar player.

If you are not able to find a good guitar instructor, why not try looking for one online? There are many websites that offer really cool guitar lessons on videos, that are taught by real people. These lessons are great, because you can stop and rewind any time you want, so you will be able to go over things again and again until you have them down. Two of the best websites to find great guitar instruction are Guitar Tricks and Jam Play. Check them both out, as they both do a great job of teaching you how to play guitar chords with good technique.

One of the most fun and rewarding things anyone can do is learn how to play a musical instrument, and the guitar is a really great instrument to learn how to play. But, learning to play guitar can be a real challenge, especially if you do not have access to a guitar instructor who can teach you what you need to know to be able to play well. Of course, there are books, which are really great, but, they can be quite confusing to beginners who have absolutely no idea what they are doing. This is probably because most people are visual, and really benefit from being able to see someone actually playing the guitar.

So, what other options do you have? Well, you can take advantage of the many excellent websites that offer beginner guitar lessons online. These lessons are taught by excellent musicians, and the lessons are in video and written format. Having the videos is almost like having an instructor right in the room with you. What is great is that you can rewind the lessons as many times as you like until you are confident you have learned that lesson. Most of these websites also have chat rooms, where you can actually talk with your instructors, and get answers to questions that may not be covered in the lessons, or clear up any confusion you may have about the lessons.

Which Guitar Course Should I Choose?

As we mentioned above, there are all kinds of websites that offer guitar lessons. So, you may be confused as to which ones are the best. When you search for online guitar lessons, be sure to avoid those the promise that you will be playing like a pro in hours. This rarely ever happens, except in cases where the student is exceptionally gifted and can just learn the guitar naturally.

If you are really serious about learning how to play the guitar, you need to visit the serious guitar lessons websites. Two of the best that you will find are JamPlay, and Guitar Tricks, where you will find awesome lessons that are really easy to follow, from some of the finest guitar players in the world.

JamPlay

At JamPlay, you will find lessons for every style of guitar you may be interested in learning, from heavy metal to classical to jazz to blues. They have many beginner guitar lessons on the site which you should take advantage of. If you are still learning guitar chords, I would suggest trying their guitar chords lessons to get a feel of the Jamplay instructors. You will also find lessons to help you learn how to play some awesome songs, including Blackbird by The Beatles and SIC by Slipknot.

JamPlay has a ton of great social features that make learning to play guitar fun. Plus with over 430 hours of lessons, taught by 40 different guitar instructors, you will never run out of things to play on the site. One unique feature of JamPlay are the live web cam sessions where you can interact as a group with a different instructor each day. It really is a lot of fun!

Guitar Tricks

Guitar Tricks is another place to find all of the guitar lessons you could ever want, for everyone from beginners to experts. It’s one of the old online guitar lesson sites around and it has a huge library of video guitar lessons. In addition to the great lessons, you will also have access to some really cool tools, including an online Reference Tuner, the Ultimate Metronome, the Ultimate Chord Finder and the Jam Station.

What’s nice about Guitar Tricks is that you can sign up for their free basic membership and get access to 24 free video guitar lessons on the site. It’s a great way to test it out and see if Guitar Tricks suits your learning style. Definitely an online guitar course to try out.

So, instead of using books that you will probably end up throwing out, try out the lessons at JamPlay or Guitar Tricks. All of the lessons are available to you in video and printed form, so you can refer to either one as you are learning. And because you can review the lessons as much as you want, you get even more benefits than you would get from one-hour lessons from a local instructor. It’s a great way to learn guitar, so try one of these sites out today.