A good example is Playing through the Blues. It's a digital product that isn't intended to be a complete, end-all, never need another, guitar learning course. It's (obviously) intended to be educational material to teach the blues, and it does that well. Don't let me mislead you though, it does do a good job of teaching lead guitar well, but it mostly concentrates on the Blues genre.

Here's a quote from the author's site. I believe it sums up the course very accurately.

Playing Through The Blues - A Guide for the Lead Guitar Player is the most comprehensive, easiest method to learn blues lead guitar. You don't have to mess with driving back and forth to private lessons, you don't have to alter your schedule around your teacher, and you don't have to devote hours out of every day to a tedious practice schedule.

You will learn every amazing lick, scale, technique, and cool trick that you'll ever need to know ... and that's just the beginning. You'll learn what guys like Eric Clapton, BB King, Buddy Guy, SRV, Angus Young, Jimi Hendrix, Freddie King, Robert Cray, and so many more have amazed audiences around the world with.

I've also recommended, and still highly do recommend, the Musicnotes.com Guitar Guru method of learning.

Again, it's not meant to be a complete learning course. It's very specific in what it helps you accomplish. If you haven't checked it out yet, you really need to if you're just wanting to learn some specific songs very quickly. For just learning songs without going through the extremely painful, mind-numbing process of record (guess it's CD now) copying, Guitar Guru can't be beat.

I've got some programs that slow down the songs (while keeping them in key), but that's not the same. Guitar Guru will allow you to slow down the tune, but it has a graphic keyboard that also shows you EXACTLY which notes to play. Additionally, every song has printable music (and TAB) that shows the guitar parts. You couldn't ask for more if you're looking for the quickest way just to learn specific songs.

Musicnotes also has a great library of some classic songs for Guitar Guru, and it's growing more nearly every day. It's a great, huge library, plus they show an info. box at the bottom of the GG page shwoing what tunes will be released soon, and actually allow the customers to suggest which songs that they would like GG sessions for. The cool thing about this option is...THEY ACTUALLY LISTEN!! I can't say enough good things about Musicnotes and their incredibile Guitar Guru software, but read below.

You want to hear what is quite possibly the best testimonial for a company ever ? A while back I had made a very sizable (financially) purchase on some Guitar Guru sessions. I was printing some of the sessions and had a problem (mine, not Musicnote's). I wasn't sure exactly what to do so I called the toll-free number and actually talked to the CEO directly!! She was extremely nice, very helpful, and told me to call back if I had another problem.

You think I don't place this company in high regard ? 

Now, back to Learn and Master Guitar. This program is released by Legacy Learning Systems. If you're not familiar with them, do a little research. Most likely what you find out about Legacy Learning Systems will be enough to sell you on Learn and Master Guitar. What ? That didn't quite do it ? Ok, in case you haven't heard of Steve Krenz, then have a look at his bio.

This guy is the real deal and is the author and instructor of the course. He's worked with the best of the best in the music industry...people like Eric Clapton for example, and is a fantastic communicator and a pleasure to learn from.

I'm not going just reproduce everything here that you're going to see on the Learn and Master Guitar site, there's no reason to. However, I will say, for a program that now (new for 2008) includes 20 DVDs, plus the additional play-along CDs, printed material, student support site, as well as the community site (with over 6,000 active members!), you must have a look at this course if you're serious about wanting to play the guitar.

Look at it this way...for just the price of several weeks of private lessons, you can actually own this complete course. The videos are always there to review anytime that you want.

You could take lessons from a music shop 'instructor' that probably doesn't really even have the credentials to justify the costly lessons, for several years, spend thousands of dollars, and never learn a fraction of what Steve and his outstanding course will provide.

Which way would you rather spend your money ? The more you use the course, the less the lessons cost...think about it.

Just go have a look, view the demonstration and you will be hooked.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention...this course actually won two Telly Awards for excellence in the categories of Education and Use of Music. That's very impressive recognition.

Hi, my name is John and I wanted to comment on how I learned to play the guitar. I was given a six string acoustic guitar as a gift some time ago. It set in the closet and collected dust for a while. Then one night, at a party a friend started playing

his guitar. Everyone was singing along and it was great. Later he showed me a few chords and I was hooked.

I decided I was going to learn to play the guitar. My problem is I do not have time to do much more than eat and sleep. Personal local lessons were also so expensive I would never be able to afford it. I began to research alternative methods to learn to play. Some of the ways I found were:

• Computer Software: There is a wide variety of packages available to teach you to play the guitar. You can learn to play acoustic or electric guitar this way. It is recommended you learn acoustic before trying to play an electric guitar.

• Local Lessons: For me this was too expensive and too time consuming. Lessons would take over an hour. It would also take an hour to get there and back. I just did not have this kind of time or money.

• A friend to teach you: If you are lucky enough you can get your friend to teach you. This is how I started to learn. My friend is not a professional but he has been able to teach me a few things.

I left out the way I learned; video training. I learned through a web site that had teachers who taught through video clips. My friend also sat in on some of the lessons and helped me a little on the cost. This web site had a wide variety of teachers. You could learn beginning guitar, jazz guitar, rock guitar, blues, acoustic and even classical. The amazing part was the cost. It was amazingly affordable. I could take the lessons when I wanted to, and learn at my own pace.

There are many web sites that offer video training. The other cool thing is that you can try before you buy. That saved me some money. I tried classical and found that it was too hard for me. It saved me the money of having to pay for a lesson that was too advanced, and really not my style.

The other great thing about the site I learned from, was all the free tools available. Some of them were:

• Metronome: you will need the shockwave browser plug-in to use this tool. It is great to help you keep time and stay in rhythm. A must have tool, as any instructor will tell you.

• Chord Dictionary: You will need the flash plug-in to use this tool also. This tool is awesome. It has sixty three basic chords and allows you to both see, and hear them. You could probably learn to play with just this tool.

• Fretboard Tuner: A Simple tool that helps you visualize the chords and can be used to tune your guitar.

• The Fretboard Note Chart: Great tool. It requires flash. It is great for the beginner because you can use your mouse to see all the chords available on the fretboard. It is very cool and extremely helpful.

• Minituner: A simple graphical tool that allows you to record and play back a chord or music. It's a very useful way to tune your guitar.

I believe if you search you will find these tools all over the Internet. It was nice that they were right there on the site I chose to learn from.

I learned to play the guitar over the Internet through video lessons and would recommend learning this way to anyone. It was fun, easy and very affordable. I hope my journey of learning to play the guitar via the Internet has been helpful for at least some of you.