Learn and Master Guitar Review

Learn and Master Guitar is a home study course designed to replace private guitar lessons. While it's not as helpful for everyone as in-person instruction, it's a great way to save money in the long run, especially for anyone just getting started learning to play guitar.

While Learn & Master Guitar is a fantastic DVD course for beginners and intermediate guitarists, I would NOT recommend it for anyone who has had any formal guitar training, because it will most likely move too slowly. That said, I've been playing guitar since I was 11 years old, and while I found myself getting bored through some lessons, I was struggling & repeating others...It helped me strengthen my foundation, and fill in some gaps with my skills.

If you're serious about learning to play guitar, and you don't want to spend $1,000's every year for lessons ($16/lesson on average, 2x/week, comes to about $1,536/year), I would recommend investing in Learn and Master Guitar.

Not sure if Learn & Master Guitar is right for you? Compare it to the most popular guitar courses below...

JamPlay Learn and Master Guitar Guitar Tricks Jamorama Overall Rating 9.8/10 9.2/10 8.7/10 7.4/10 Lesson Quality Value for Price Support Teaching Style Lesson Variety Ease of Use Entertainment Learn More Read Review Read Review Read Review Read Review Product Online Community & 1,000+ Videos DVD's, Book, CD's & Forum Online Community & Videos PDF's, Videos & Software Delivery Instant (Online) 3-14 Days Instant (Online) Instant (Online) Guarantee 7-Day, 100% Money-Back 60-Day, 100% Money-Back 60-Day 100% Money-Back 60-Day, 100% Money-Back Instructors 38 1 45 1 Beginner Intermediate Advanced Song Lessons Lowest Price $19.95/month* $249 $149 $14.95/month $49.95 Check it out:

Learn and Master Guitar Review

OVERALL RATING: Lesson Quality: Value for Price: Support: Teaching Style: Lesson Variety: Ease of Use: Entertainment: Product DVD's, Book, CD's & Forum Price: $149 Delivery: 3-14 Days Guarantee: 60-Day, 100% Is Learn & Master Guitar right for you? Reviewed by Kyle, the Guitar Lessons Critic If you want to learn to play guitar from home, or simply avoid spending $100/month or more for private lessons, this could very well be the best option for you... It is a step-by-step DVD course that walks even a complete beginner through everything from tuning & holding the guitar properly, to chords, to advanced scales and soloing. Here's what Learn & Master Guitar comes with: High-quality lesson binder 107pg lesson book (Fundamental theory & lots of exercises) 10 DVD's (20 DVD's with Deluxe Edition) 5 "Jam-Along" CD's Online community support (Forum) Bottom Line: Though it costs $249 $149, Learn and Master Guitar will do a great job replacing $15-$20 half-hour lessons, so you could easily save over $1,500 compared to a year of lessons. I've been playing guitar since I was 11 years old, but I never took private lessons. I taught myself, picked up skills from friends, and figured out songs with guitar tabs for over 10 years, but I had trouble with far too many techniques and writing my own songs. Come to find out, formal guitar training is a great investment! If you're serious about becoming an awesome guitarist, but don't want to shell out $1,000's/year on lessons, I'd highly recommend Learn and Master Guitar:

Learn and Master Guitar Pros

Here are some of the highlights of the course:

• Much cheaper than private guitar lessons
• Lays a solid foundation of guitar basics
• High-quality DVD's are easy to watch & follow along with at home
• Allows for practice anytime, unlike scheduled lessons
• Jam-along CD's make learning to play with a band and solo a lot easier & less embarrassing
• Lesson book covers the fundamentals, but builds to intermediate exercises gradually
• You can talk to Steve (the instructor) and other guitarists on the forum
• It covers a wide variety of musical styles (acoustic/classical, rock, jazz, blues, country, R&B, funk, etc.)
• It's fun and comfortable to practice guitar at home

Learn and Master Guitar Cons

Though I liked it overall, there were flaws with this course. Here are the negatives, in my opinion:

• You have to wait for it to be shipped to your house
• If you've been playing for a while, some of the lessons will move a little slow
• While the videos are nice, there could be more variety in the lessons
• Steve is the only instructor, and though he's a pro, it'd be nice to have more teachers at hand
• The forum is fairly active, and the people are nice, but it could be a much more active guitarist community

Overall, Learn & Master Guitar is well-worth the investment. Some people feel that there's nothing that can replace a private instructor, but I believe that being able to re-watch the lessons and practice whenever you want, at your own pace, helps you to absorb the material better, which can be far more valuable than traditional lessons.

Screenshots of Learn and Master Guitar DVDs

Click the images below to see screenshots of some of the DVD lessons in Learn and Master Guitar:

Other User Reviews of Learn & Master Guitar

"This is an outstanding value and high quality guitar course"
By "Johnny Guitar" from Carmichael, CA USA on May 12, 2008. Found on Amazon.com.

"If you prefer to buy one curriculum of material that is well organized instead of a bookcase full of booklets that don't tie together very well, this is the course you have been looking for. This starts from zero and teaches you exactly what you need to know to really learn to play guitar. You will develop knowledge and skills in theory, music reading, technique, variety of styles, etc.

The course is appropriate for beginner and intermediate level guitar players. Many who think they are intermediate level will find they are beginners when they tackle this course...It is well organized, the instructional design is very good, you can see where you are going (unlike with lessons) and you can do it at your own pace, at your own time. I'm not knocking lessons, they have their place, but I think this is an excellent way to learn to play guitar if you are committed to learning."

Gibson - Lesson Review: Learn and Master Guitar
By Dave Hunter on June 10, 2009. Found on Gibson.com.

"Learn & Master Guitar: Expanded Edition...is one of the most thorough multi-media lesson sets available. Having occasionally browsed and sampled other systems that promise to be a one-stop shop for mastery of the instrument, and too often turned away with doubts about the veracity of such claims, a test run through Learn & Master Guitar: Expanded Edition leaves me confident that this package really is capable of taking the non-player all the way from the basic steps of tuning the instrument and fingering notes and chords, to executing advanced songs in a broad range of styles."

Experience with "Learn and Master Guitar with Steve Krenz"?
By "bbach" on November 18, 2008. Found on Harmony Central Forums.

"I've blown a lot of money on a lot of self learning programs. There are a couple things I find frustrating with most of the learning programs I've tried:

1. They really are for beginners. If you are a more advanced player and have a good working knowledge of theory and know the fretboard, the program will disappoint you.
2. Most of the learning programs including "Learn and Master Guitar" tend to feed you shortcuts that in my opinion really hurt you as you progress and you will end up going back and relearning. What I mean by that is they tend to really simplify songs. When you actually dig up the sheet music for the songs in the program, you will find what they taught you to be no where near enough. They also do not tell you "why" things work. That makes it tough to take their lessons and change keys and embellish on your own.

Keep in mind that they are trying to take a beginner and get them up and running, and for that, I think L & M Guitar is a good program. I can tell you this as a plus for LAMG: When I bought that program I felt stuck and did not know how to advance my playing or what direction to go, and trying "anything" can help get you off dead center and LAMG did help me in that respect. It got my engines going again and I moved on. For that, it was worth the price. I've certainly lost more on live lessons from disorganized instructors.

When you buy LAMG you get access to a forum filled with Steve's worshippers. It is kind of lame but there is a lot of help if you get stuck on any of the lessons. So, buy it if you are a beginner and want a place to start, or are very stuck trying to figure out where to go next."

Re: Learn and Master Guitar??
By Jason on January 3, 2009. Found on My Les Paul Forums.

"I got the package yesterday and it's pretty sweet. Has a very nice workbook that goes through each phase of the CD and also a link to download another 180 page workbook that goes a little more in-depth as well. I purchased the extended version of 20 DVD's, workbook (which has some written tests also) and is packaged in a glossy case that holds all of it.

I worked on the 1st DVD last night and it went really well. They have a large online community where you can post questions and such, which some get answered by Steve Krenz himself.

I'd say it's well worth the investment...Jason"

"It's working for me."
By "jrigwald" on December 30, 2008. Found on Harmony Central Forums.

"I bought the Learn & Master Guitar series and I love it. I would consider myself a noob even though I have been playing around with my guitars for a couple years. I am a firefighter and work a 24on/48off work schedule and taking lessons with a instructor on a regular basis is just not feasible. Generally what I have found is instructors want a regular client they can schedule at the same time every week. Well I am not able to do that. So what is the next best thing? Well you got it, DVD lessons that I can turn on at any time...

...I'm not trying to suggest that this course is the only thing you need to become a rock star, but for a noob it is a great cost effective start. As far as I'm concerned, I have already made my money back by not having to go to a instructor for the basics. I will definitely go to a guitar instructor when I feel I need more help. But for now, I'm doing just fine. My wallet thanks me for buying it. It was a small investment for a lot of personal enjoyment..."

$25 Rebate on Learn and Master Guitar Watch the video below to learn how you can get $25 back for reviewing Learn & Master Guitar! In a hurry? Here's how it works: Purchase Learn and Master Guitar (Current customers qualify too) Use the DVDs for at least 30 days to ensure accuracy Submit an honest review for others to read (At least 300 words) I'll verify and publish it on this page You'll receive $25 for your time (See video for details) Note: You can now choose between Paypal or an Amazon gift card Thank you for your support, and I'm looking forward to reading your Learn and Master Guitar review! Name: * E-mail: * Experience Beginner Intermediate Advanced Guitar Course: * Learn & Master Guitar Overall Rating: Picture (Optional) Payment * Paypal Amazon Review Details: *   Note: Your email address will NOT be published or used for anything other than sending your $25!

"Is Learn and Master Guitar right for me?"

In summary, this course is excellent for beginners, and is a good way for intermediate guitarists like myself to improve their playing, learn new skills, and master the basics.

They have a 60-day 100% money-back guarantee, so if you try it and find that it's not working for you, you can call them up, send it back, and get all of your money back. That always makes the decision easier for me...

Also, if you're specifically looking to get really good at ONE style of guitar, this might not be the best way for you to do it. Steve does a nice job of mixing up the genres throughout the course, and the exercises cover many styles as well. It's a great way to lay a foundation, and find out if you might like a specific style you might never have thought of (I didn't realize how much I liked to play Blues guitar until I started learning the scales, for example).

If you want to master the basics of playing guitar, learn a bunch of chords, progressions and scales, how to read sheet music & tabs, and improve your soloing and songwriting skills, all from home, for less than the cost of 10 half-hour lessons, then I'd recommend checking out Learn and Master Guitar:

About the Creator of Learn and Master Guitar, Steve Krenz:

Update: See & hear Steve Krenz talk about his course in this new video from Legacy Learning Systems:

Steve is a professional guitarist, living in Spring Hill, Tennessee. He plays with Grammy-winning artists, has recorded for large promotional campaigns & commercials, and regularly does studio recording with popular musicians and platinum-selling bands.

He has a degree in music, plays at Universities across the United States, and speaks and teaches at guitar workshops and churches around the World.

He's a down-to-Earth guy, and he does a fantastic job breaking things down and moving slow enough for his students to grasp the concepts.

He's passionate about learning guitar, and it shows.

How the course helped me...

I started playing guitar when I as 11 years old. I never took private guitar lessons, or bought any books to learn. I learned pretty much everything by gradually figuring out songs I liked to listen to.

As my abilities grew stronger, I kept running into problems like not understanding a key to solo within, missing notes in songs with a quicker tempo, and not being as creative as I'd hope to be when trying to write my own songs.

I eventually decided to invest in my guitar playing to fix these problems, because I knew I needed to fill in these gaps with some 'legit' formal training. Though I'm a big believer in action over theory, there is a reason the theory is typically taught first: it helps to lay a solid foundation so you can find your style, and build upon it.

When I got Learn and Master Guitar, it was $249 (though it's only $149 now). I was nervous about it at first, but when the high-quality binder came in the mail, I was impressed! I popped in the first DVD, and was happy right away, because it was so well-produced.

While some of the lessons in the beginning moved too slowly for me because of how long I had been playing, I just fast-forwarded through them (definitely an advantage over private lessons). That said, I found myself learning little things that I didn't expect, and couldn't believe that such basic skills were missing from all the years I had been playing!

Though I should practice more than I do, I seriously believe that the Learn & Master Guitar course has helped me become a better guitarist, and overall I would recommended it to anyone who's just starting to learn guitar, or for any intermediate guitarists like myself, who want to improve their skills.