Don't get bullied into guitar lessons

The first thing you need to do is ignore the fear mongers. Fear mongers are those people that want to scare you into believing that their guitar lessons DVD or CD or whatever is the only good one, because all the other guitar lessons are rubbish. They'll tell you that they've tried them, and strongly imply that unless you buy their particular product, or group of products, that you'll be getting ripped off. Sure, their guitar lessons may be good, in fact they may even be excellent, but I personally have a problem with buying from someone who wants to scare me into a purchase.

While it may be true that some guitar lessons products will not be as good as others, I think that if you stick to a few guidelines, your chances of getting some decent quality guitar lessons should improve drastically.

Things to look for in guitar lessons.

Some of these pointers may seem obvious, but very often it's so obvious we don't even take note when it's not there. I am a strong believer in video as an important tool to learn how to play guitar, be it guitar lessons on DVD or an online guitar course. Anyway, here goes.

1. The person giving the course should have good experience at teaching students one on one. This isn't something you can actually go and verify, so if they say they did, mostly you'll just have to take their word for it. If they neglect to tell you this, then maybe be a little suspicious.
2. The person or company offering the guitar course should at least give some sample lessons so you can check the quality of the product. Learning to play the guitar is not something that everyone will be great at, so it's a good idea to get something to start with and see if you're going to make a success of it.
3. Good contact information is always a plus, especially if they're willing to discuss the actual lesson you might have a problem understanding. Better still is if they have online chat so you can get your questions answered in real time. The better access they offer, the more you know they're serious about giving you the best guitar lessons they can.
4. Extra tools and songs to practice to often indicate a better guitar lessons course. Some of the biggest advances for myself as a guitarist, have come from playing cover versions in a band. Admittedly, on a DVD or CD there's no real band, but practice songs with good backing tracks can help a lot with getting the timing and feel of a lesson right.
5. The money back guarantee. This is common practice amongst vendors selling digital products on the Internet. At least a 30 day money back guarantee should be expected.
6. There should be a good deal of music theory involved with the guitar lessons, although most people are more interested in playing the guitar than worrying about the theory behind what they're learning to play. Getting a good understanding of why things work the way they do, will make you a better musician.
7. Learning to read music should be part of the course. Although not everyone who learns to play guitar necessarily wants to learn how to read music, it's always a good thing to have the resources there for those who do, and because sooner or later you're going to want to know a little about it.
8. A lesson on Tablature, or Tab, as it's often called. Learning how to read Tab will open up a whole new doorway to songs and guitar pieces available for free on the internet. Tab is a simplified way of reading music that is geared specifically towards the guitar.

By the way, the fretboard is not locked. You might have seen that advert that says, unlock the fretboard in one weekend. Learning to play the guitar is a bit more than one weekends worth. The guy might have a good product, and sure, there are ways to speed up the learning curve, which is what I think he actually means. I can't say for sure because I haven't bought the product, but most people struggle at first because their hands take time to get accustomed to the guitar, and our delicate little fingertips get blisters from pressing the strings.

If you're going to learn to play guitar, I would advise buying a fairly decent guitar to start with, as this alleviates a lot of unnecessary pain and frustration. You may become one of the worlds greatest guitarists someday, if you don't give up.

Andrew Webber is a full time guitarist and recording musician. Make your guitar lessons decision simpler, visit his recommended guitar lessons page.

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