Online Guitar Lessons or Traditional Lessons – Are Online Guitar Lessons a Rip-Off?
Are Online Guitar Lessons a Rip-Off?
Due to the world-wide popularity of music, (rock, heavy-metal, classical and country just to name but a few) learning how to play guitar is no longer a dream of many people. Have you always wanted to play the guitar, wishing that you sound like a Jimi Hendrix or Eric Clapton? If you are willing to put in the time, then what is keeping you from pursuing your dream? Are you confused between taking traditional lessons down at the local music studio, versus guitar lessons online? Do you feel that you will not get your money’s worth if you invest into a program on the Internet?
It is an unfortunate fact of life that a certain percentage of people look to take advantage of others. This is especially true when it comes to the Internet nowadays, as its popularity has literally gone through the roof. People look to rip-off innocent individuals through schemes which are anything but honest. It is now just a sad fact of life; but you have to thoroughly research everyone before you can place your trust in them. Through my own experiences, I have learned this principle the hard way.
In regards to guitar lessons online, just as with anything else on the Internet there are quality programs in which you can learn how to play the instrument well. Compared to traditional guitar lessons, there are stark advantages in getting involved in an interactive, online program. Here are some of the differences between the two methods:
With traditional lessons, you can learn how to play the guitar with a teacher, one-on-one. Eventually, and through time you have the opportunity in building a trust with this individual; you being the student, he/she the teacher. If you are taught a new playing technique in a lesson and have difficulty understanding the concept, you can always stop, asking questions of the teacher. Hopefully, the instructor would be sensitive to your needs and make the full effort to address your question. Admittedly, this opportunity would be difficult to replicate in an online program where the tutorials are on a DVD or downloaded to your computer.
There are, however many disadvantages to the traditional lessons which need to be discussed. What if you live in a very small town? Because you live in a remote area, the nearest music studio is some 25 miles by car, one-way. What if the guitar instructor only has a few open time slots to teach you on his/her schedule? How would lessons on Saturdays at 9 in the morning sound; and especially after that long commute just to arrive at the studio? As you already have a 50 hour work-week, (and by Friday evening you’re tired) just how long would this dedication last with regards to taking guitar lessons? You would have to get up awfully early on a Saturday morning to take these lessons.
What if the one guitar teacher at this studio was only into heavy metal music? However, you really want to learn classical guitar. Do you truly believe that you will learn anything from this teacher regarding classical music on the instrument? What if you do happen to find a teacher who “dabbles” in classical guitar, but he/she is not all that proficient in actually playing the guitar in this style. Do you think that he/she would really be a good teacher?
A lesson for a half-hour’s worth of instruction nowadays generally costs about $20. Again, that is for 30 minutes of instruction, (subtract the 5-6 minutes of “chit-chat” that occurs during that time period). So, for what you’re paying, and having a teacher who really is not all that good in playing classical guitar him/herself; do you truly believe that you would become proficient on the guitar in this genre? You know, perhaps the traditional methods of guitar lessons are not as good as they may sound.
As long as you do your due diligence and complete research on the Internet, online guitar lessons present distinct advantages compared to traditional lessons. As I mentioned above, a reputable, quality online site will allow you to download the tutorials right to your computer. And, with some sites an alternative option would be that you can purchase DVD copies of the tutorials and have them shipped to your home. Guess what? You can learn the guitar, going through the tutorials at a time convenient to you!
Regarding that problem of not understanding the instructions the first time you go through a tutorial? True, you cannot stop and verbally ask a question of the instructor on the tutorial, (like you could with a traditional lesson). But you do know, however, that you could replay the tutorial as many times as necessary until you fully understand the methods being taught! A quality online program generally charges you about $35 per month for the lessons. Compare that price to your taking 4 lessons per month, (30 minutes each) at your, perhaps not-so-local music studio, times four equals at a minimum sixty dollars per month for lessons. I also didn’t factor in the cost of gas involved in a commute. Now, which method sounds better with regards to your wallet, online or traditional lessons?
Quality interactive programs have professional instructors certified to teach the guitar in many different styles. If you like heavy metal guitar, do the research in finding a program that has teachers who are masters in that style of playing. Go through the testimonials on the site’s homepage, which display the comments and reviews of students who have been successfully taught how to play the instrument.
Written by jdweber_10
Learn How to Play Guitar Online
Learn How to Play Guitar Online!
Learn how to play the guitar before you are too old…it can be difficult, especially when trying to learn how on your own. That’s why many people are turning to online guitar lessons to help them learn this wonderful instrument. Using online guitar lessons is a fast and simple way to learn the guitar without ever leaving your house. It’s cheaper than traditional classes, and works just as well, if not better. This is why so many people are now choosing to download guitar lessons and learn in the comfort of their home.
The guitar is easily one of the most popular instruments, and millions of people are trying to learn. It’s a great conversation piece, it’s great for parties, and it’s a lot of fun. Plus it’s really not that difficult to learn if you have the right resources. In fact many people can learn to play basic songs in a matter of days. Plus, online guitar lessons use a variety of software, video, and other media which can help you learn quicker and easier than ever.
Going to traditional guitar lessons is expensive and forces you to learn on someone else’s schedule. It also forces you to learn at the pace of others. Learning the guitar online is the new way to learn, and there’s no question why. Many programs offer lessons both written and in video, and include games and software programs to help make it fun and easy. This is something you can’t get with traditional lessons.
Besides that, it’s much more cost effective to download guitar lessons and learn them on your own than it is to get a tutor. Many online guitar lessons cost less than 0 or even less than dollars for a complete program. That’s less than dollars to learn the guitar front to back. That wouldn’t last you a week with a private tutor. Besides that, many popular programs will teach you other important things like how to read music, how to tune a guitar, or how to play a song just by listening to it.
The advantages are clear. Stop wasting your time and money with traditional guitar lessons and simply download guitar lessons straight to your computer.
Written by hyperlite
Guitar Mastery, Online Guitar Lessons
Guitar mastery is a lifetime commitment, and online guitar lessons can be part of that program.
For a guitarist, the challenge is considerable. The hands need to be perfectly coordinated so that the notes can be sounded as intended. The role of the brain is a whole other ball game.
In directing the hands to play in time and in tonal context, the brain needs to be both driver and passenger. It needs to act decisively in pre-emptive fashion but it also needs to be an alert listener, ready to respond to the surrounding harmonies and rhythms.
Failure to achieve this amazing synchronicity will result in musical or non-musical accidents, some of them train-wrecks.
Don’t let this scenario put the fear into you. It’s not rocket science. The human brain is more than capable. And, as the heading promises, there are tricks to keep up your sleeves.
First and foremost, you should aim to gain a better than nodding acquaintance with the fingerboard. Either learn your scales and modes (never a bad thing) or use the CAGED system to reduce the fingerboard to easily retained grid patterns.
Watching your hands in a mirror as you practise, helps engage visual memory.
You’ll know when fingerboard mastery is within reach because you’ll be able to see the patterns in your mind’s eye and you’ll be more comfortable reaching for the next note or two without having to look at your strings.
Ideally, you’ll be able to readily name the note under your finger and/or quickly determine that note’s relationship to the root note of the key you’re in. Is it a fifth or a flatted-third?
That knowledge will set you free. You’ll be able to express yourself in all musical situations.
But wait. We’re getting ahead of ourselves. What if the tempo is fast? The only way we can play the right notes at the right times is to not get fazed. And yes, there’s a trick to this.
There are two options in order to play fast – playing physically or playing holistically. By playing physically, I mean learning a movement pattern that allows your muscles to do your thinking. Your brain can decide when to start and stop the physical expression. Beyond that the muscles take over.
The holistic choice, by comparison, would probably not be as impressive in terms of sheer speed. But it will likely be musically more adventurous, more inspired, and more rewarding.
The trick to playing well at speed? Believe it or not, to go faster you need to slow down.
Sure, we’ve all heard “play the passage slowly and correctly, over and over without mistake… then, and not before, increase the tempo”. Well, I’m not disagreeing. But there is another approach.
When we first hear a fast passage, what we’re impressed by is the explosion of notes. The more we hear it (or if we use technology to slow down the piece), the better we can grasp what is actually being played.
An alternative approach is to listen less excitedly… listen more passively. And listen to a variety of cleanly articulated fast passages. (Distorted guitar will often confuse you as notes blur into others.)
In your own playing, quite often the real trick is to do what you do with less effort.
Trying too hard makes your playing technique tense. Being relaxed offers better muscle performance, less muscle and tendon problems, and better focus with your musical choices.
Using, as an example, picking technique – the more you focus your mind on the small action necessary to move the pick up and down, the better controlled that action will be.
The result: less wasted motion, more accuracy and increased speed.
Likewise, when you are relaxed, your brain will recognise the underlying harmonies.
Written by petercee
I’m a writer but not a fighter
www.guitartricks.com This week Neal shows you the fundamentals of good tap harmonics. This technique has been used extensively by Eddie Van Halen but can also be found in jazz and bass guitar techniques. Tap Harmonics create a very cool, almost synthesizer sound out of your guitar.
Related Guitar Tricks Articles
Acoustic Fingerpicking Lessons
Free Video Guitar Lesson
Free Video Guitar Lesson
Acoustic Fingerpicking for Beginners Lesson 1a
by Lisa McCormick of GuitarTricks.com
Instructor: Lisa McCormick Speciality: Acoustic Fingerpicking Website: GuitarTricks.com This four-step fingerpicking pattern is a powerful building block for fingerstyle guitar. For this pattern, play the sixth string (Low E) with a downward pluck of your thumb. Next, pluck upwards on the first string (high E string) with your middle finger. Next, pluck downwards on the third string (G string) with your thumb. Lastly, pluck upwards on the second string (B string) with your index finger. This pattern of four steps constitutes one half measure of music in 4/4 time. The count is: One And Two And. To complete a full measure, simply play the pattern again, with this count: Three And Four And. Repeat this pattern over and over, trying to maintain a consistent rhythm, and gradually building up your speed. COMMONLY ASKED FINGERPICKING QUESTIONS: Q: I see you are using only your thumb, index, and middle fingers? I’ve seen some players use three fingers, plus the thumb. Which is correct? A: There is no absolute right or wrong to this. You’ll hear opinions on both sides of the aisle. My personal preference is based on the tradition called “Travis Picking” named for guitarist Merle Travis. I personally feel this pattern of finger moves, which uses the thumb twice within the pattern, opens up more rhythmic possibilities as you get into more advanced techniques. Q: What is “TRAVIS PICKING?“ A: The signature “Travis” move is that alternating thumb beat – the fact that your thumb does double-duty, alternating between the bass note, and the third string (or a variation of that) of the guitar. That provides a steady rhythm against which you can then add ornamentations, syncopation, melody, etc. Some students ask why they can’t do these same patterns using three fingers, and the thumb on the bass note only. Technically you may be able to, but in so doing you compromise that steady “thump thump” of the Travis-style thumb beats. Q: Is it necessary to have long fingernails to play fingerstyle guitar? A: No. My personal preference is to have long-ish nails on the thumb, index, and middle fingers of my right hand. However, many players prefer to play with short nails. There is a difference in tone when using nails vs. not using nails. With nails, the tone is a bit crisper, without nails, it is a bit more muted. It’s a matter of personal preference. A NOTE ABOUT THE LESSONS IN THIS SERIES: This lesson is part of a tutorial called Acoustic Fingerpicking for Beginners, Level 1. These lessons were designed to be followed sequentially, with new skills and practice exercises building one upon the next. The Acoustic Fingerpicking tutorial series also builds sequentially, from Level 1 to Level 2, and so on. If you are new to fingerpicking, this series will take you from the fundamental basics, and all the way through to a solid foundation of fingerpicking skills useful in playing folk and popular music. You should feel free to proceed at your own pace, and to jump around within the tutorials, as you wish. You may want to return to various lessons from time to time to make sure you are on the right track before moving to more advanced skills.
For over 3000 lessons on every guitar style and technique visit Guitar Tricks.
Free Video Guitar Lessons Online
Free video guitar lessons can teach you how to play the guitar a lot better than one-on-one guitar lessons, and they are free, so why would you pay for guitar lessons from an ordinary guitar teacher.
One problem with free video guitar lessons online, is that they can sometimes go at a faster rate than the guitar student can learn at, which sometimes means they don’t learn anything on the guitar.
But if you choose a series of free video guitar lessons that are tailored to beginner guitar students, you can’t go wrong.
I made these free video guitar lessons, and they start at the basics for beginners, and move on to other free video guitar lessons that cover some complicated guitar techniques like tapping.
They cover the Flamenco scale, and some of the other alternatives to the classical scales. I will teach you how to play all of the classical chords, and then show you how to construct your own songs using basic formulas.
There is a video guitar lesson on the blues scale, and how to play the blues, and I also goes into how to play metal, rock and roll, and even jazz music. Keep practicing, and make sure you check out my free video guitar lessons.
You can see a list of all of them on my facebook page: Guitar lessons online.
Written by rowanman28
Article writer, and internet marketer.
RICH’S REVIEW….
The writer made this comment; “One problem with free video guitar lessons online, is that they can sometimes go at a faster rate than the guitar student can learn at, which sometimes means they don’t learn anything on the guitar.” All I can say is…the lessons are on video…if you want you can play them over and over, and/or stop them during the lesson. YOU ARE IN CONTROL! Just make sure that you get good content from your instructor! (which by the way…this guy is pretty good)
