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I have had this program for about 4 months and still find myself trying to master some of the most basic songs. Instead we move from song to song with a new chord thrown in. It would have been nice if there was a little bit more tutorial and a few sections that described things to watch out for when playing. The longer I have used the more it seems that it focuses on "campfire songs". There are a few licensed tracks like Knockin on Heavens Door by Dylan, but when you get to that point with the software it feels awfully difficult. No practice routines or finer exercises are present from what I have found.
After trying to learn guitar on my own off and on over the last twenty years, this product is actually teaching me how to play. Rather than starting with scales or other theory the program begins with a few simple chords and then shows you how to put those together for some basic songs. This actually had me sounding musical on the first day -- way cool.
There are many finger exercises, warm up exercises, scales, fretboard memorization techniques, etc. It'll get your feet wet if nothing else.Bad pointsLots of holes in the information that you will probably still seek through Google or other search engine to connect some of the dots when you realize the holes. that never get mentioned in this program. When I'm ready to get back on some more structured path, I continue with the lessons in the program.
I've purchased many books and viewed many online resources; none of them have been all inclusive with information (maybe it wasn't very wise to expect such, but the packaging on these programs make some pretty grandiose claims). Learning guitar is a long process, don't expect miracles. This is by no means a one-stop solution to learning guitar. So, I'm grabbing hold of as many avenues of learning that I can pursue.
If I don't have what I'm looking for, I hit the internet. Conclusion:I'm fairly immersed in learning guitar, having gotten a rather late start in music (by about a couple of decades). Of course you can play the chords and execute the chord transitions at a slower pace without the play along, but I ended up going to a music/book store and finding some good books with limited chord ranges per song and songs that interested me (motivation).If you want to skip to skill sections that you want to learn, you will be at the disadvantage of having not learned chords presented in previous lessons, which every lesson builds upon. Also, the pace of most of the songs are not for the beginner in my opinion (to play along at least). Good PointsAnimated fretboard, chord dictionary, electronic metronome, electronic tuner, recording/playback capability. 75% of the program is the introduction of new chords in each successive lesson, working up to a song at the end of each lesson.
I would still recommend to absolute beginners with this one qualifier: be prepared to supplement your learning through other sources. The chord transition is a difficult skill to master, and there weren't enough confidence boosters in the songs used.
True story: when I started getting the music books and actually applying learned chords to familiar tunes, my family would come into my office one at a time and say "how did you get so good all of a sudden." So, I guess everything played a role in my progress, including this program. I was like, "gee I didn't know this was in here." I had already gotten those tricks off of the web.
I need them all, and I know where the information is between them. I found these topics in other places and they seemed like essential tools to have as soon as possible.
When I finally got to power chords and reading notation for instance, it was months after purchase in my case. But, I guess maybe that is what they sell in volume 2 of this program.General commentsMostly covered above.
But, if you can spare the cash though, it ranks as the best software available from any side-by-side feature comparison reviews that I've read.
Apple iTunes uses the most recent version of Quicktime. eMedia's Guitar Method uses an older version of Quicktime. You will have to uninstall iTunes and the most recent version of Quicktime in order for this software to run properly.
it is helping me get where I want to with learning to play a guitar
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