Online guitar instruction site Jamorama boasts of having enrolled nearly a quarter of a million students. If that sounds like hype, consider that a survey counted 15 million guitar players in the United States and 50 million worldwide. Then consider that the survey was taken in 1997.
Between young people interested in being either the next Jimi Hendrix or the next "chick magnet," and older people learning or re-learning guitar as a form of continuing education, it's no wonder that the guitar instruction field has grown. As someone who took up the guitar in order to become the next Paul McCartney, I can't help but envy today's guitar students: They have access to everything from free YouTube videos to formal, structured online programs like Jamorama.
But before trying my hand at Jamorama, I decided to check out their six-part free course first -- does it get those who want to get started playing guitar off to the best possible start? I signed up to find out how eager I would be to enroll when I was done.
Lesson 1 is as basic as you can get – it shows you how to hold the guitar while both sitting and standing. I'd never heard of the "classical" guitar sitting position, where the larger part rests between your thighs, but it's the perfect solution if you don't have an armless chair. You'll also learn how to hold your pick, tune your strings and, with the help of a video, play your first chord.
Lesson 2 introduces you to guitar tablature – the coordination of your guitar strings, your guitar's frets, and your fingers by numbering them all. A very nice touch is that you're also introduced to an audio file to use as a check against what it asked you to play to see if you got it right. You also get started on strumming correctly.
Lesson 3 puts a third chord under your belt, and doubles your strumming rhythm. Listening to the metronome becomes vital – it may start getting under your skin at this point, but learning how to stay in synch with percussion is as important as learning the names of the strings. And there are pair of single-string warmup exercises for your fingers -- which may be starting to hurt.
Lesson 4 gives you your first real challenges – switching your three chords and strumming while skipping a beat. You'll be increasing your tempo, too. You'll have to spend a little extra time with this one, but it will all pay off, because you'll be ready to play an actual song!
Lesson 5 provides a warmup exercise on the bass strings, and the structure of a complete song – vocal, rhythm, and guitar tracks. The videos are in a split screen effect, with a closeup of the strumming and one of the fingering on the fretboard.
Lesson 6 ties it all together with a backing track of an entire band: drums, lead guitar, bass, vocals. And it's the most important lesson of all: even if your goal is to play by yourself, learning how to listen to and blend in with other musicians is a vital ingredient in playing your best beginner guitar.
if that is the kind of knowledge that Jamorama is willing to give away, it reflects well upon the quality of their paid instruction. You can get your six free lessons at http://bestbeginnerguitarist.com/jamoramaFreeLesson.
