Archive for September, 2010

Guitar Lesson Lounge – Rest Easy, Come Back Often

Friday, September 24th, 2010

Guitar Lesson Lounge

The vast abundance of guitar material on the Web is both exciting and daunting. Exciting, because you have all this information at your disposal. Daunting, because with so much information you will find yourself asking the question — Where do I start?

Guitar Lesson Lounge is as good of a place as any you’ll find on the World Wide Web. It’s not necessarily the greatest (if you can even define the “greatest guitar site”) or even the most prestigious, but what it may lack it makes up for with real, genuine content.

Let us explain further. The mission, as stated on their About page is ”to maintain a fusion of high quality and casual content” via a collection of college students who love music and the guitar as much as you do. This site literally contains no BS. If you continue to read their mission statement you will find that the creators of Guitar Lesson Lounge are not here for money, not here for fame, but rather to share their intense passion for the guitar.

Our goal here is to get you to feel what it’s like to just rock out and let go as you play an epic rock solo, or play that signature song. Because it’s the coolest feeling on earth. We want to inspire you to write songs, play in a band, make a career of it, just chill out and play for friends, impress that special person, who knows?!

If that does not give you goose bumps I’m not sure what will.

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Guitar Lesson Lounge was created by Guillaume Devinat, who states on the site that having learned to play the guitar on the net, he too is looking to share that wonderful experience with others. Similar to GLC, Devinat has discovered the potential the Web could have on learning the guitar and he too is trying to educate, enlighten and inform through the future of the music learning process.

The site is still relatively new, less than a year old, and like previously mentioned — composed of mostly college students from around the world. Since it’s a “new generation” organized forum, the team wisely uses many of 21st centuries greatest educational resources such as video lessons, striking visuals and even a few extra daily tidbits via Twitter.

In fact, their strongest feature is the videos, some of which are offered free on YouTube. The videos are very crisp, clean and incredibly effective. It’s easy to follow along and just like any video, you can always pause or replay at a later date.

The only “catch” with Guitar Lesson Lounge is nothing valuable in this world is free and the site is no exception. They do reward registered members with four free lessons, including how to play “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” by Guns N’ Roses, “Reggae Nation Army” by The White Stripes and our personal favorite…”Superstition” by Stevie Wonder.

The rest of the lessons on the site, which range from Nirvana to Coldplay, Bob Marley to The Beatles, go for $8.97 a piece and include a difficulty rating prior to purchase. The price is very reasonable considering you’ll essentially know how to play some of the most popular songs in the world upon review and practice. Guitar Lesson Lounge even admirably pays royalties to the original artist and 5% of all profits go to the Playing For Change Foundation.

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Check it out!

If you register with Guitar Lesson Lounge, the creators of the site are kind enough to give you four FREE lessons.

Blues Guitar – The Essential Questions for Beginners

Tuesday, September 14th, 2010

Guitar Lessons Critic has always been drawn to the blues guitar. Do not ask us why. When you truly love an art, or a form of art (in this case blues music), sometimes you cannot truly describe why you love it. You can only feel it.

We always try to encourage a similar type of behavior when it comes to learning the guitar. Why? Like anything, you can over-think or over-analyze a new practice. Sure, you have to think when you learn the guitar. But you also have to let it come natural and sometimes just let your instincts take over.

The blues are quite possibly the greatest raw expression of emotions emulated through music. The blues have even expanded so far as to largely influence jazz as well as rock and roll. Consequently, it’s natural to want to learn an art that has been so influential on others.

…BUT the blues guitar is not for every beginner.

You must ask yourself three central questions. However, before we get into the specifics, let’s start with a very brief introduction of the blues and the crucial guitar elements to the genre.

Introduction

Blues is a name representative of both a musical form and music genre that originated in African-American communities. The blues are characterized by the twelve-bar blues chord progressions and the blue notes. While based on a particular form, the blues genre also possesses other characteristics such as specific and often depressing lyrics, bass lines and instruments.

The guitar has generally played a very critical role to the blues…

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Question #1: Can YOU Play Chords?

Which brings us to the first question. Can you play guitar chords? If you cannot even play the most basic open chords, then blues guitar lessons are definitely not your most ideal starter lesson. Why? The basics of the blues revolve around the 12 bar blues pattern which requires you to understand the basic chords (A, B, C, D, E, F and G).

Chords are actually easier to learn than beginner guitarists might think at first glance. Several online videos and tutorials will present the basic knowledge and techniques needed to pick up these major and minor chords.

Question #2: Do YOU Understand the Guitar Neck?

We’re not talking about being able to locate the guitar neck on the instrument. We are, rather, talking about the knowledge or expertise that allows you to know the different places you can form chords on the neck. Yes, more than one location exists.

Do you understand the fret spacing between each note? If you have no idea what fret spacing is then, again, you’re probably not well suited for blues guitar lessons just yet. Fret spacing is a central element to blues because you essentially must memorize these in order to easily play blues chord progressions and scales in different keys.

You’ll probably note that most blues songs generally follow a very similar (and sometimes simple) pattern, but the trademark of the genre is how the guitarist often moves around the neck depending on the current key. If you are unsure of whether or not you’re playing in Key of A or Key of D then you should avoid blues lessons for now.

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Questions #3: Have YOU Ever Taken Lessons Before?

The term “beginner” is often tossed around loosely on GLC. When we talk about blues guitar for beginners we are assuming that you have some previous knowledge or instruction on the guitar. If you have never taken private lessons and/or learned from a self-taught course, then we would definitely advise you to spend at least two months to learn the sheer basics of the guitar before diving into blues guitar.

Terms to look up: string names, notes, chords, strumming techniques

Rest easy. You’ll be surprised by how fast you can pick up the basics of the guitar and how fast you can progress into blues guitar. However it would be a misconception to suggest that you can learn blues guitar from day one. Take the time to gain an understanding and appreciation for the guitar, and then transcend into the musical genre you desire to master.

…Until next time, best of luck strumming…