Master the Modes strives to close that gap by giving you some intro material to each of the modes. It includes an ebook, as well as some jam tracks, so you can play around and explore the characteristic sounds of each mode.

The approach is simple. After some introductory material on the mode in the ebook, you are encouraged to listen to an intro track – which is a slower track featuring a guitar solo in the selected mode. You can then listen to another version of that track without the guitar solo, so you can experiment yourself. There are also two versions – with and without guitar – of a more sophisticated track, so you can further explore on your own. Lastly, there’s an audio track called “Master Class with Rob” which goes through some more concepts related to modes and intervals.

I’d like this product a lot more if it was called, “Introduction to the Modes,” because while the material it contains is quite good, it is still very basic. The notion that you can “master” a mode with a couple of pages of information and two jam tracks is absurd on its face, particularly when some of the information included in the ebook is somewhat simplistic. For example, they trivialize the various modes as being light or dark primarily as a function of the number of sharps or flats in each mode – more flats equals darker, more sharps equals brighter.

But the differences between modes are far more subtle and sophisticated than that – to call Lydian a brighter version of the major scale is an oversimplification, and not a very useful one at that, since many find Lydian to be less saccharine than the major scale.

The authors make a big deal out of the idea of teaching all the modes with the same root (eg, C Lydian, C Dorian, C Ionian etc) instead of teaching them all from the same notes (eg C Dorian, D Ionian, E Phrygian) and there’s certainly nothing wrong with this approach, although I wish they wouldn’t act as if it was such a revolutionary idea – this is how many people learn modes.

One of the big questions is, for $20 is this is a very reasonable way to start learning about modes? In my opinion, the answer to that question is a qualified yes. While I do think this is a good introduction to modes, and the jam-track based approach will make it accessible to many players, there is far more information available in other, similarly-priced products (for example, Don Latarski’s “Practical Theory for Guitar,” which covers the modes, and much much more, for under $30). By the time you’ve played the jam tracks, and maybe listened to the other songs they mention in each mode (which you have to find recordings of on your own), you will have the slight taste of what each mode is. Not a lot more.

The traditional advice about modes has been to learn a little bit about them all, and then pick two, and really try to master those two. I think that advice would be well served here. Use this booklet to learn a bit about modes, to get oriented, and to discover what you really want to dig into. But when you’ve decided what modes you want to master, just know that you’re going to have to go much, much deeper than this product can take you if you really want to Master the Modes.

Click Here To Try Master the Modes

I recently got a chance to try out JamPlay, and I am thoroughly impressed by the site. For those who haven’t heard of it yet, JamPlay is a guitar membership site that offers high quality video guitar lessons with a variety of instructors.

The site hosts a wide variety of content (more than 20,000 minutes worth) and you’ll find all the lessons you need to learn and master the guitar. Let me go into some of the pros and cons of the site in this JamPlay review.

JamPlay Lessons

JamPlay divides its lessons into three phases. Phase 1 is for beginners while intermediate and advanced guitar learners may want to jump in at Phase 2 and 3. Phase 2 focuses more on specific genres and styles of guitar while Phase 3 is centered around learning to play actual songs.

In Phase 1 you will the guitar basics and fundamentals. The lessons start of assuming that you have no previous experience, so absolute beginners can start off here. After the first couple of lessons, you will understand how the guitar works, and how to play your guitar properly.

Once you’ve advanced past the very basics, you’ll then start learning other beginning guitar essentials including proper posture, basic chords, strumming techniques, scales and much more. All in all, the beginner lessons do an excellent job of setting you up for the future phases.

JamPlay Videos

Each of the video lessons are filmed in HD, so I never had any issues with the video quality. The camera work is top-notch, and I like how it they often use a split screen mode to zoom in on the instructor’s finger positions. This makes following along much easier.

Most lessons are around 40 minutes in length and are divided into chapters for easy navigation. If you ever want to repeat any part of a lesson, it is quite simple to move back and forth. The lessons also include useful supplementary material that you can review after each lesson, and there is even a place for you keep your own notes to refer to at a future time.

You can also manually track your own progress on each lesson. This integrates with the Progress Report feature of the site which tells you at a glance which lessons you’ve started, mastered, and still need to work on. This is a nice way to make sure you stay disciplined with your guitar learning.

JamPlay Instructors

One unique aspect of the JamPlay site is that the instructors have filmed their own sets of lessons independently. Since everyone’s learning style is different, it is great to have to choice to find a teacher who’s teaching style is compatible with your way of learning.

I recommend before start out, to browse through the first couple of lessons from each teacher and find the instructor that appeals to you the most. It is also possible to mix and match and if that works well for you. JamPlay has an impressive stable of 30 experienced guitar instructors. A few of them have over 30 years of guitar teaching experience so they definitely know how to teach you properly.

Guitar Playing Made Fun

The other part of what makes JamPlay unique are its social networking features. You can make your own profile, share your interests like favorite bands and make new friends on the site.

By participating in the JamPlay community, you will feel a lot more involved and will help your motivation for learning. The site also includes a very active forum, where you can get answers to your questions or just plain hang out.

There’s also a daily webcam sessions with a particular JamPlay teacher which allows you to interact with the instructor over streaming video in a group chat environment. This is a really fun feature that is unique to JamPlay.

Final Thoughts

Compared to a similar guitar membership site like Guitar Tricks, JamPlay does cost a little more per month ($19.95 to $14.95) although there are some JamPlay coupon codes (see below) that will save you some money. However, the monthly fee is still quite modest, compared to what you would pay for private guitar lessons.

The only real downside with JamPlay is that you have the be online with a good broadband connection to enjoy the best possible experience. As far as I can tell, there’s no way to download the videos to your computer for offline viewing.

If you are serious about learning to play the guitar and enjoy the idea of being part of a guitar learning community, you should definitely give JamPlay a serious look. At least check out the free lessons they offer on the site to see if you like it. JamPlay suitable for guitar learners of all levels, and it’s definitely a fun and enjoyable way to learn the guitar.

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JamPlay Coupon Codes

1DE67D – Save 25% on your first month’s membership.
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Click here to redeem one of these JamPlay coupons.

Disclosure: We receive compensation from the companies whose guitar courses we review. However all reviews are based on our own, actual experiences with the guitar course.

If you are trying to learn guitar online, Guitar Tricks is one of those sites you need to check out. Guitar Tricks has been producing video guitar lessons for more than 10 years and was one of the first guitar membership sites to offer online video. The site hosts more than three thousand online guitar lessons taught by 45 different expert guitar instructors. Whether you are a beginner or expert, Guitar Tricks has lessons suitable for you.

Guitar Tricks – What’s Inside

For beginning guitar learners, Guitar Tricks has a program called the Core Learning System which will teach you the guitar fundamentals you need to get started playing the guitar.

The course is split into two parts and when you have completed this self paced course, you will be able to read music, play chords and understand basic song structure.

You will then be ready to tackle the Intermediate lessons where you will learn how to play different styles of guitar, like blues country and rock. Each of the video guitar lessons will demonstrate a different guitar technique, and you will learn the specific tips and tricks to master each lesson.

Once you have reached a more advanced level you then have the ability and the freedom to learn any of the guitar styles and techniques that you are interested in.

Guitar Tricks – Video Guitar Lessons

Guitar Tricks offers several different lesson formats. They have short licks, multi-part tutorials and full blown courses. All the videos are in beautiful HD format and the quality is quite amazing. Guitar Tricks does an excellent with the camera angles which makes it very easy to follow along with what the instructor is doing.

With so many lessons, you might think it would be hard to find what you want. However, Guitar Tricks allows you to search lessons by topic or even by artist style. If you want to play like Jimi Hendrix then go look him up!

Also, if you have a favorite Guitar Tricks instructor, you can search by their name as well and bring up all the lessons they teach. Although all the content is available online, each of the video guitar lessons can be also be downloaded right to your computer. The provided video player allows you to loop through specific sections of a video which is great for practice.

In addition to the diverse selection of lessons, there are a couple of other important parts of the Guitar Tricks site as well. First the Guitar Tricks community is really excellent and the forums are a great place to get your questions answered. There are thousands of members, and the content that is archived there is amazing.

The other thing I really liked was the Guitar Tricks Jam Station. The Jam Station allows you to simulate playing along with a real band. It is a really useful learning tool and with more than 150 tracks and counting, you will always have something new to practice to.

Final Thoughts

All in all, Guitar Tricks is an excellent membership site suitable for guitar players of all levels. If you are curious to see what the lessons are like, check out the video guitar lessons that Guitar Tricks has let me post on the site.

Plus, if you sign up for their free membership, you will get access to 24 more free lessons to get you started. Once you have sampled all the content, a Guitar Tricks membership will cost you just $14.95 a month. If you have seen the price of private guitar lessons, you know this price is a steal. If you are truly serious about teaching yourself the guitar, then do yourself a favor and check out Guitar Tricks today.

Guitar Tricks Pros

• Enormous library of video guitar lessons
• Wide variety of instructors to pick from
• Free trial video guitar lessons let you test before you join

Guitar Tricks Cons

• Some of the older lessons aren’t in HD

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The Learn and Master Guitar course is one of the better known guitar learning courses on the market today, and has been for the past several years. In this Learn and Master Guitar review, I will share my personal experiences with this course.

Learn And Master Guitar Creator Steve Krenz

Learn and Master Guitar is taught by Steve Krenz, who is a trained musician with an advanced degree in music and many years of professional playing experience. The entire course consists of 20 high quality DVDs, 5 Jam Along CDS, a 108 page workbook and a wide variety of supplementary material.

The entire Learn and Master Guitar package is very well put together and thought out. The DVD video lessons are very watchable and the step by step instruction is very easy to understand and follow. Steve does a decent job explaining and demonstrating the relevant topics that he is going over. Learn and Master Guitar is suited for guitar players of any level, as it starts from the very basics and ends with some very advanced techniques. Along the way, you’ll learn the necessary guitar fundamentals, basic chords, various strumming methods, how to read music, master guitar scales, and much more.

When you aren’t in a convenient place to watch the video lessons, you still have access to all of the Learn and Master Guitar printed materials. The included workbook gives you access to all the songs and lessons that you see on the videos. It’s another way to practice and is a good change of pace to the video lessons.

Learn and Master Guitar vs Guitar Tricks (and JamPlay)

While Learn and Master Guitar is a good guitar course, how does it compare with our two favorite guitar courses, Guitar Tricks and JamPlay?

It really depends on your learning style and how you want to learn guitar. Some people need specific direction and learning guitar from a guided DVD course is just what the doctor ordered.

Contrast this to the other two online guitar courses where there is more freedom to pick what to do. However, if you don’t have experience playing the guitar yet, that freedom might not be what you need, and the structure and pace of Learn and Master Guitar might be better suited for you.

Finally there’s the price. At $149, Learn and Master Guitar is not cheap. However, it is a one time payment unlike Guitar Tricks or JamPlay. Legacy also offers different sales throughout the year, so you may be able to pick the course up for cheaper too. So if you know you’re going to be playing guitar for a long time, then you might find that the one-off payment to be a better value.

• Visit Learn and Master Guitar (official site)
• Visit Guitar Tricks (official site)
• Visit JamPlay (official site)

Jamorama is a great choice for teaching you how to play guitar effectively. It is a very comprehensive course that contains everything you need to learn to play the guitar. Jamorama is ideal for beginners as it starts teaching you the very basics, but by the end of the course you’ll be playing at a near advanced level. The creator of the Jamorama course is Ben Edwards and for those who may not know, Ben actually played in a successful band in Australia called “Degreesk” which toured internationally. Ben is a great guitar teacher and you will be learning the guitar using his step by step method. His style of teaching is very easy to follow and you won’t get frustrated by the pacing.

Jamorama Creator Ben Edwards

I like the fact that Jamorama lets you download the lessons as you go, or all at once if you like. This lets you practice with Jamorama whenever and wherever you want. The included video lessons are high quality and they were really helpful to me to hear and see exactly what I needed to be doing. Unlike other guitar courses, the guitar playing drills aren’t boring and repetive and Ben does a good job of making them fun to play.

My favorite aspect of Jamorama are probably the Jam Tracks. You get 26 different Jam Tracks and they are ideal for helping you practice your strumming, chord changes, and develop good rhythm habits. The included software games are also pretty good. They teach you how to read music, recognize chords, and transcribe songs from the radio. Plus, they are quite fun as well.

What you will get in the Jamorama package:

• 2 Ebooks, Jamorama Beginners and Jamorama Advanced.
• 12 months worth of lessons
• 148 video lessons and exercies
• 26 Jamorama Jam tracks
• Bonus GuitEarIt – Ear training Game (value $49)
• Bonus Jayde Musica Pro
• Bonus Guitar Tuner Pro
• Bonus Jamorama Metronome

Jamorama is the perfect guitar learning course for the beginner guitar player. It contains everything you need to start learning the guitar right away. Once you’ve completed the Jamorama course, you will be able to play all the popular songs of any music genre like a professional using proper guitar playing techniques. At only $39.95, Jamorama is a great price for anyone on a budget. Ben is also so confident in Jamorama that he even offers a 60 day, 100% money back guarantee. So if you are really serious about learning the guitar, you really have no reason not to check Jamorama out.

Buy Jamorama And Learn Guitar Like A Pro