Online Guitar Course Thoughts??? | Popular Science by Dan Dresnok

[hamcha]

Happy New Year!
Anyone heard or have any opinions on "Popular Science shop" online guitar lessons?

For $24, I am considering purchasing. Might be worth trying.?

Thanks for thoughts, suggestions, recommendations.
Hamilton

Ultimate Beginner to Expert Guitar Lessons Bundle

Have you ever wanted to learn to play the guitar? Do you already play but want to get better. This is the bundle for you, which begins with the basics of strumming and advances to playing the blues, jazz or bluegrass. There’s 59 hours of instruction from teachers who know what they’re doing and the skill level of those they are teaching. Normally priced at $1,601, this bundle is available now for just $29. With coupon code HOLIDAY20, you’ll pay just $23.20.

https://shop.popsci.com/sales/the-ul...lessons-bundle

[srick]

Nope - never heard of them or the instructor. You might want to give us (AGFers) an idea of your interests, skill levels and goals. Many of us have already spent countless sums on lessons, dvds and sheet music. We may have some good recommendations for you!

best,

Rick

[hamcha]

Hi Rick.
Fair question regarding background. For the last four years, I've been an AGF lurker picked up guitar and noodle on a regular basis.

I enjoy finger picking, flat picking, and strumming but am a total beginner on all. I do pick up the guitar enough to have calluses and some technical strength, but not disciplined so I'm looking for a low cost entry into something more structured.

I am thinking about making some real progress and $25 commitment seemed reasonable and wondering if AGFer's had tried the PopSci offer out. I guess not.

I'll keep lurking the boards for info and suggestions as I'm kind of all over the place.

I appreciate this community and just wanted to say thanks for all the great discussion, sharing insight/experiences, and humor on this board.

Hamilton

[davidbeinct]

JustinGuitar is free and is a very well set up introduction to guitar.

[srick]

Hi Hamilton -

thanks for filling me in on the details. I have been through a number of the subscription courses and honestly, very few have held my attention including Activemelody, Jamplay, TrueFire and Banjo Ben (plus countless books, Homespun videos and Stefan Grossman videos) Presently I am subscribed to Toby Walkers lessons and have to say, they have never let me down... but sometimes, it takes a lot of energy to get into the routine and take advantage of what the instructor has to offer. All of the aforementioned series have been excellent, but if you’re not in the learning mindset, they won’t do any good.

Lately I have been hit by a bunch of Tony Polecastro’s ads. His concept is pretty fair - he wants you to set goals and gives you daily assignments for practice. He also admits that you have to have a backup plan for those days when you don’t want to practice, or life gets in the way. He has received many nice comments on the AGF and if I can get over his verbal issues (he talks A LOT), I might just pull the trigger.

Others mentioned frequently on AGF are Bryan Sutton, Justinguitar and Guitar Tricks.

The Popsci lessons are comparatively inexpensive, so in a way, you can’t go wrong, but perhaps the real secret to all this is persistence and motivation.

And, I’ll add, that some of my best motivation has come from in person lessons and workshops. A good teacher can pinpoint your issues in just a few minutes. Finding that teacher can be difficult though. Think of it all this way - as hobbies go, guitar is pretty inexpensive when you compare it with say, golf or boating or skiing, etc. So, set a budget and enjoy your time with your guitar... you can get hours of entertainment for mere pennies.

Best,

Rick

[rllink]

I bought a course from Great Courses because I've taken courses on bird watching and cooking from them and they are cheap if you can wait until they go on sale. It was interesting, informative, and it gave me a lot of questions to ask my one on one instructor to explain to me. As far as actually learning to play something, I didn't get a lot out of it. But for twenty five bucks it was something to do. It wasn't money wasted.

[robroy]

Before signing up for anything else I would suggest you check out countryguitaronline.com. Clearly presented lessons for all abilities and very modest cost, in fact you can get a good start for free. The focus is on country but much of it applies to blues and rock as well.