Guitar How-To

It has been common knowledge for a while now that as far as value for money goes, learning how to play guitar from DVDs or on the internet beats sitting in front of your local guitar teacher. Some people feel that guitar software with fancy animated tablature is better than taking video lessons from a teacher sitting in front of a camera. Well, why not take advantage of the latest leaps in technology? If you dislike scrolling through a bunch of sales pitchy pages, this article will give you an idea of what guitar learning software is all about.

The guitar software approach certainly moves you along. If you are teaching yourself to play the guitar without any timetable or goals you will have a good time learning at your own pace but until you try the systematic approach to learning to play guitar you will not be aware of how you are holding yourself back. So if you decide to use software to learn how to play the guitar, here are the basic elements to look for: a tuner, a metronome and a chord dictionary. Technology to slow down audio and video without altering the pitch of the music is commonplace now so do not get any program that does not include this feature. High quality video lessons should be a given and audio should be real musicians playing real guitars, not midi files.

Starting at the top of the range, Guitar Method Version 4.0 is the best of the softwares available if that is the direction you want to go in. The program will take you from nowhere to guitar player as painlessly as possible by taking you through some basic well-known songs. You honestly do not need to know anything to get started, but it will take you step by step to show you everything you need to learn to play the guitar. The songs are fairly basic to begin with, but they teach you everything you need to move on to more interesting songs, like “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” or “Ode to Joy”. You need to have a guitar, but apart from that, everything you need is right there including an easy to use digital tuner, a chord dictionary, a metronome, and an animated fretboard that teaches you what to play. You get one hundred and sixty lessons. That is alot of guitar lessons.

Another popular piece of guitar teaching software is called Play Guitar Deluxe. This is a DVD-ROM software suite which features full sheet-music printout capability. It has a range of programs: First Lessons for Guitar, Guitar Improver, Guitar Songs and Styles, Solo Guitar Performance Pieces, and Master Rock Power Chords. You can arrange your own chord progressions for favorite songs with Chord Miner Professional, the comprehensive chord catalogue and interactive software tools for novices and working pros.

There is also the eMedia Rock Guitar Method which offers a suite of programs: the guitar method, the intermediate guitar method and the bass method. With these tutors you learn a chord, you can play the first song along with the backing. You learn another chord, and now you can play a few simple songs. The aim is to get you playing as fast as possible. It has over 160 lessons covering chord strumming, rock styles, playing melodies, and fingerpicking. Learn over 70 well-known songs. The program features easy-to-read screens, enhanced audio and video, and custom animated fretboard skins. You can watch more than 50 large-format videos featuring split-screens and close-ups of both hands. Songs and exercises can be heard as either live recorded audio or MIDI tracks you can slow down or speed up. Both guitar tablature and standard music notation are taught in a way that is easy to understand.

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