Online Lessons For an Older Beginner

[29er]

So my recently retired little brother wants to take up the guitar at age 60 and I'm happy to help him. I'll get him started with a loaner guitar and showing him the basics. Although I have enough knowledge to keep him busy for a long time, I'd like to point him towards good online instruction.

He's got a great singing voice with the ability to pick out harmony parts on the fly so I know he has the ear to learn an instrument. There are no doubt endless Youtube videos geared towards beginning pickers but my own learning has been focused on more advanced fingerstyle playing and I don't know where to find good instruction for beginners. TIA for any tips!

[emtsteve]

Justinguitar.com all the way. His lessons are consistently excellent and his songs books are a great complement (and a way to get some $ to him).

[Jamolay]

Second on JustinGuitar.com. Make sure he goes to the website, not just YouTube.
He will be in great company with a lot of similarly vintage learners.

[Rev Roy]

Originally Posted by emtsteve

Justinguitar.com all the way. His lessons are consistently excellent and his songs books are a great complement (and a way to get some $ to him).

Yep…I started playing when I retired at 63. Found Justin’s beginner course pretty quickly (thanks to AGF). A good foundation for sure. (And, yes, I bought some books to support his free lessons.)

[29er]

It's unanimous. Looks like I need to steer him to Justin. I'm thinking I should try him out as well, this old dog could stand to learn some new tricks. Thanks for the help!

As a much better alternative, I would like to recommend Steve Stine. I have been going through a lot of his tutorials on You Tube. He is just so good, explains things so clearly. No filler or fluff/fat in his videos. All relevant content.

This one is for the absolute beginner:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...-WAnue0NHBleSD

This one is the Acoustic Guitar Workshop:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...wHf6F8yWpp8Fq4

You could probably learn all that you need to know from Steve Stine's free content on YT and the internet, but he also has tons of paid courses and they are not that expensive:

https://guitarzoom.com/

There a lot of different paid plans/courses/paths you can try out there.

Good luck to your brother.

[rstaight]

This topic pops up from time to time. Online lessons are a good tool if you already play and want to learn something specific.

But just starting out there is a lot to be said about private lessons. Suggestions to technique can be made in the moment. Your questions can be answered, and the personal contact can be invaluable.

My suggestion is to take private lessons at least through the first book of the system your teacher uses.

Then if you want to do the online thing Justin is a very good source.

[TBman]

59 years ago I started my guitar journey. 9 years old with a book of Beatles songs with the chord diagrams over the notation. We sang and tried our darnest to make the chord changes in time with our singing. I don’t think anything beats learning to change chords in time. Get a couple of song books with chord diagrams, give it to your brother and say "sink or swim."

[ljguitar]

Hi all…
As a former teacher (taught fingerstyle for 40 years for $$), I agree with Justin S. People of all ages relate to him and learn basics easily.

[leew3]

but with online lessons do you still get that classic picture of Mel Bay's hand?

[Songbook19]

Originally Posted by TBman

59 years ago I started my guitar journey. 9 years old with a book of Beatles songs with the chord diagrams over the notation. We sang and tried our darnest to make the chord changes in time with our singing. I don’t think anything beats learning to change chords in time. Get a couple of song books with chord diagrams, give it to your brother and say "sink or swim."

Now imagine you recreated all those old songbooks and added to them over the years.

Here's a free "play along" beginners's book with over a thousand songs:

https://songbook19.my-free.website/

[Blueser100]

I’d check out Relax and Learn Guitar over Justin any day. I’m a member of RLG and couldn’t be happier. Kevin Depew runs RLG and is a member here on AGF. He posts numerous You Tube videos here.

[Riverwolf]

Originally Posted by Blueser100

I’d check out Relax and Learn Guitar over Justin any day. I’m a member of RLG and couldn’t be happier. Kevin Depew runs RLG and is a member here on AGF. He posts numerous You Tube videos here.

I don't feel it is a contest.
I think most everyone would benefit by COMPLETING Justin's beginner course.
From there the road forks and just keeps forking.
Lately the one I use the most is David Potts at songnotes.

[Blueser100]

Originally Posted by Riverwolf

I don't feel it is a contest.
I think most everyone would benefit by COMPLETING Justin's beginner course.
From there the road forks and just keeps forking.
Lately the one I use the most is David Potts at songnotes.

I didn’t make it a contest. Just expressing my opinion. I support David Potts and indeed he is very good.

[tbirdman]

Originally Posted by Riverwolf

I don't feel it is a contest.
I think most everyone would benefit by COMPLETING Justin's beginner course.
From there the road forks and just keeps forking.
Lately the one I use the most is David Potts at songnotes.

I started with Justin Guitar and I think it's the best one to start off. I thought his structured practices are great for a beginner just starting off. He also has an inexpensive app. This app will provide a bunch of song backing tracks which are invaluable to start off with when you are just learning the chords and switching between them. Then add the strum patterns to learn. I loved the app so much I had to wean myself off of it. I started to play at open mics with Justin's app for backing just 5 months after starting. The app was invaluable for learning Travis picking with the ability to slow down the tempo of the practice songs. Most songs I started around 40 bpm when learning fingerpicking and then slowly increase the tempo!

I think that all three of David Pots, Relax and Learn Guitar and Justin Guitar courses/lessons are great once you get a solid foundation from Justin Guitars beginner structured practices.