Gig at Nobles Bar, Leith with Sara & The Snakes

Hi everyone.

 I'm playing about half 9 tomorrow night (Fri 30th July 2010) at Nobles Bar on Constitution street. Come along, would be great to have you company. 

A Few Tips To Playing Solo Guitar Gigs

I just wrote a guest post for GuitarPlayerWorld.com about playing guitar gigs on your own when you can't (or don't want to) have a band playing with you. Here's the link:

Secrets to Performing Guitar On Your Own

The Best Online Guitar Lessons

I've had a few people ask me about guitar lessons and since I'm currently not offering lessons I've tried to point them in the right direction of get good quality lessons. These are almost all online examples since I'm afraid I have no experience of "offline" teachers that I can relate.

 But surprisingly, my research has shown that online guitar lesson are much better than I ever expected them to be. The best online guitar lessons have matured significantly in recent years, predictably utilising the power of online video and audio to deliver high quality lessons at low cost - especially when compared to a 'real live' teacher.

Some are 100% online whilst some are physical DVDs sent through the post. A few have the choice of either. 

Here's what I think of the ones I've looked at.

Learn and Master Guitar

This is the elephant in the room as far as popularity and quality goes. That's not to say the other lessons are not as good, but Learn and Master Guitar is a copmrehensive 25 DVD set that they send you through the post. It's serious guitar training including jam along cds and printed materials for all the lessons. The teacher is a Nashville session musician called Steve Krentz.

The cheapest version of it is $219 but they regularly have $100 discounts during most holiday seasons (like Christmas, Easter, Father's Day etc.) so I would hold out for one of them if you're going to buy.

Jamorama

This is one of the oldest courses on the internet and also one of the most popular along with Learn and Master. They've recently revamped their package and upgraded everything so it's looking very smart these days. It's a lot cheaper that Learn & Master at $49 for the basic package but there is a deluxe version available for serious guitarists. Jamorama is made by a bunch in New Zealand who also own SongPond so you get a free 3 month membership to that which is pretty useful.

Both Learn & Master and Jamorama are great all round courses. The advantage with Learn & Master is that you don't have to be at a computer to use it. Although you can now get a physical version of Jamorama which costs more than the online version.

Guitar Superstars

This is more of a rock orientated system and is 100% online. You can tell by the shape of their guitars. Guitar Superstars claims to have you learning 'insane' guitar overnight. That's a bit of exaggeration if you ask me. You have to practice of course. Unlike the other ones there is an 'army' of different teachers here so you might like some but not others. At $49 it's a pretty good bargain and you're sure to get something out of it. For that price you'd only get one hour of real live guitar teaching.

Jamplay

I really kind of like Jamplay. I think it's one of the better user interfaces out there and has a nice clean feel to the website. It's also only $20 for unlimited access to 411 hours of lessons from 38 teachers, including 148 song lessons. Not bad at all.

All guitar styles are covered and they have free lessons you can sign up for before buying to see if it's you're kind of thing. But again, for that price you can hardly go wrong. The videos are good quality.

Guitar Tricks

Again, like JamPlay and Guitar Superstars, there are multiple teachers with Guitar Tricks. This will either suit you or it won't. If you're happy to just drop in when you need to learn that's fine but you may prefer a system that has one teacher throughout. Guitar Tricks has a more complex pricing model and is subscription based at 14.95 a month. You can however try the basic version for free to see if you like it. I would highly recommend doing this before committing to a subscription.

Learn and Master Blues Guitar (Spotlight series)

This a special blues course from the same people that make Learn and Master Guitar. Obviously it's a blues course but it's weighted towards the electric BB King style rather than the sit down acoustic Mississippi John Hurt style. Learn and Master Blues Guitar comes with 6 DVDs of over 8 hours of practical instruction and all the printed lessons along with some jam along CDs. It does cost $99 though which might be a bit steep for just a blues course. 

Any of the above lessons are good quality and as long as you can put in the practice you won't be disappointed. Try to sign up for the free samples if there are any. Most of them do have free lessons to give you a taste. You'll want to choose the right course based on what style of guitar you want to play.

 

Bongo Club Tonight (17 May) with Eli 'Paperboy' Reed

Hi everyone. If you're in Edinburgh tonight I'll be playing at the Bongo Club supporting Eli Paperboy Reed. He's an awesome soul singer - with a quiff I am envious of. Would be great to see you there! Starts at 7:30pm

 

Gretsch 5120 Review

So has anyone tried out a Gretsch 5120 yet?

It looks like a pretty nice guitar for around $700. It comes in orange, sunburst and black. 

If I had spare $700 lying around I might consider investing in one. Or I could exchange my 1962 green 6118? Oooh now there's a thought.

Anyone had experience of the Gretsch G5120 ?

Would love to hear from you. Leave comments below.