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Jamorama Lead Review

jamorama-leadA lead guitarist performs the melody lines, solos, and instrumental fill passages within a song. Many people will want to learn how to play the lead guitar so that they can jam with friends who can play rhythm or bass guitar. Others will want to learn so that they can be the lead guitarist in their own band, and be the one in the limelight!

Jamorama Lead Guitar is a great starting point for budding lead guitarists. It is similar to the original Jamorama and works as a great plug-in or upgrade for it. I would recommend that students start with the original Jamorama to learn the basics of guitar playing and then move on to Lead Guitar to add melodies, solos and fill passages to their skills.

The course provides you with 43 step-by-step video lessons which are very easy to follow. You’ll get detailed lessons on how to master impressive skills, such as hammer-ons, pull-offs, slides, whole bends, half bends, ghost bends, runs, motifs, vibrato, and legato.

There are also 29 recorded jam tracks which are  great fun, and a brilliant way to improve your skills. You can turn the guitar track off  and jam with just the drummer and bass guitarists, or play along with the lead guitar to see if you can keep up.

There are also thousands of lines of tablature from a vast collection of songs covering a wide range of genres.

You also get some impressive bonus gifts when you buy. You receive the Jayde Music Pro Game which teaches you to read music, the GuitEar It! game to improve your ear skills, and the Jamorama metronome.

Click here for more information.

Learning TAB

1062448_band_illustrationThere are two different types of notation that guitarists use to read and write music. One is standard notation, that can be used to play any instrument and consists of a five-line staff and notes which are placed on to the different lines, each line representing a different note.

Another is tablature, which can only be used to play the guitar.  Tablature provides a diagram of the guitar strings,with finger positions indicated so that the guitarist can see, at a glance, where to place his/her fingers to achieve a particular sound.

Most people who are formally trained to play the guitar will learn the standard notation. This notation is complicated for beginners and the student will have to learn how to read this kind of music before he or she learns to play a tune. Tablature is much easier to play as it tells you exactly where to put your fingers on the guitar. If you just want to play for fun, or learn to play a few of your favourite easy to learn guitar songs,  learning tablature is the fastest and easiest way to do so. Most guitar music books will have the music written in TAB form as well as in standard notation.

The easiest (and cheapest) way to learn TAB is to take an online course like Jamorama or Jamplay. This software will teach you how to read this kind of  music with the aid of video and audio guides as well as written worksheets. It also has a wealth of songs in TAB form that you can learn and download for free when you buy the package.

Learning to Play the Guitar : 3 Important Steps

1161658_guitaristAll budding guitarists should refer to the following points. Many ignore these important tips, but they make a huge difference to your sound:

1. Keeping it Simple:

As I have said before, start with simple and easy to learn guitar songs. They will help you to build confidence. Attempting difficult songs or trying to progress too quickly will be frustrating and will knock your confidence with the instrument. For some examples of easy songs see this previous blog entry.

2. Watch your Rhythm: Make sure you are sticking to the correct beat of the song. To ensure that the beat is consistent, use a metronome to set the pace. Beginner musicians will often see the irritating metronome as an enemy, but it is the very best way of monitoring the rhythm. When you sign up for the Jamorama online guitar course, you get a free metronome as a bonus gift.

3. Make sure the distance between the underside of the guitar strings and the fingerboard is right for you. A good music shop should be able to assess this, and help you to correct it.

The easiest and cheapest way to learn guitar is through online lessons. Click here for our previous post on online lessons. For more tips and tricks on learning to play the guitar quickly and easily, check out the Jamorama and Jamplay online guitar courses - both invaluable resources for any beginner guitarist.

Guitar Lesson: Under The Bridge

John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers can teach you how to play “Under the Bridge”  - a great easy to learn guitar song.  If you want to learn the basics of guitar playing and try a few other easy to learn guitar songs before moving on to this lesson, I suggest you check out Jamorama or Jamplay. Alternatively, you can check out our easy to learn guitar song suggestions.

Jamplay Review

After reviewing Jamorama last week, we thought we would put another online guitar course through its paces.

Jamplay is designed for beginners but will also help intermediate and advanced players to brush up on skills and techniques. The Jamplay course is constantly updated, so you are not buying a fixed number of lessons but a constantly expanding knowledge bank.

The course provides many user-friendly video lessons by a number of highly qualified tutors. All tutors are professional guitarists. Jamplay is great for teaching in-depth musical theory from beginner level right up to advanced. The tutors also give plenty of guidance on reading tablature.

Jamplay will help you to learn to play any genre you may be interested in from rock to blues to country and more. A great feature of Jamplay is that it provides lessons in singing along to your guitars songs. The course will teach you many easy to learn guitar songs as well as teaching you all the chords and theory.

There are 16 tutors to choose from so no matter what you want to learn, there is an expert lesson included in the Jamplay package for you. Singer-songwriter Steve Eulberg provides great introductory lessons for absolute beginners. He will teach you some great easy to learn guitar songs. Then, as you progress, you can benefit from the more technical knowledge of David Anthony. Jamplay is one of the most comprehensive courses available online, and is well worth the relatively small investment. Click here for more details on the course.

Rodrigo Y Gabriela Guitar Lesson

Watch this video and let Rodrigo Y Gabriela teach you to play one of their famous  songs! This is an intermediate to advanced lesson. If you want to master the basics and try some easy to learn guitar songs before advancing to this lesson, click here to check out a beginner online guitar course.

Easy Songs for Beginners to Learn

Beginners should try to choose simple and easy to learn guitar songs. Such songs will help the beginner to grasp the fundamentals of playing the guitar, and help to build confidence.

So how do you spot an easy song to learn? The simplest songs will consist of two or three chords. The slower love songs are generally the easiest to play. Some songs will only consist of the three basic chords - A major, C major, and D. When students have mastered the easier songs they can advance their skills by moving on to more difficult songs.

Learning easy songs will help you to learn the fundamentals of guitar playing faster than merely learning the individual chords in isolation. When choosing your easy to learn guitar songs, it is a good idea to listen to a recording of the song while reading the sheet music. This will give you a good idea of how the piece should sound, and will help with your ear skills. Online guitar courses such as Jamorama include videos of an instructor playing the song alongside the sheet music.This will help beginners so that they can listen to the song while watching how it is played and reading the sheet music.

When choosing an easy to learn guitar song there are two main criteria to consider: the number of chords, and familiarity with the song. As I have already highlighted, the easiest songs only require you to be familiar with two or three chords. It goes without saying that it is much easier to learn a song that you know well, as you know how it should sound when played correctly. It also helps if you like the song - if you choose one of your favourite songs this will motivate you to practice it until you get it right.  Click here to find a great resource for easy to learn guitar  songs. This website has many jam tracks and 1000s of lines of tablature for you to learn. It has the best selection of contemporary guitar music on the web.

Jamorama Review

jamoramaThe Jamorama guitar course is a great place to start for beginners. It is excellent value - you get a lot of material for less than $40. The Jamorama course consists of 2 ebooks, 148 video lessons, lots of jam tracks, video and audio guides to help you with individual tracks, and 1000s of lines of guitar tablature. You also get lots of bonus material including the Jamorama metronome, software games,guitar tuning software and two bonus ebooks.

The software provides a wealth of lessons - enough to keep budding guitarists happy for a year or more.

The collection of lessons is very well structured. It begins with the basics and progresses gradually, making it very easy to follow. The software is easy to use, even for those not very comfortable with computers due to the user-friendly interface.

The video and audio demonstrations are very professional and
indespensable for absolute beginners, as they make the lessons much
easier to follow. Jamorama will teach you how to read TAB, and will
also help you to develop your ear skills so that you can transcribe
your favourite songs. The bonus games provide a fun and easy way to
learn how to read music and develop those ear skills!

Jamorama will teach you to play songs quickly as it is not as theory and
technique heavy as formal lessons.

The course comes with a 60 day money back guarantee so there is no risk
in buying this exceptional software.

The package is also a great resource if you are looking for some easy to learn guitar songs. Jamorama has an extensive collection of contemporary guitar music.

The package has been created by Ben Edwards - lead guitarist for the Australian band, DegreesK. He is also a trained teacher and completed a Bachelor in Education before joining the band. He has taught over 35,000 students and you could be next!! Click here for more information on the course.

Getting Guitar Lessons

The ability play a musical instrument is a valuable skill not just for your own enjoyment but also for your friends and family - you can provide the entertainmentat parties or you can just jam with your friends who play other instruments. The guitar is great as it does not need the backing of other instruments to make it sound impressive. There is a wealth of easy to learn guitar songs out there that you can learn to play quickly and with little effort.

This begs the question - what is the best way to learn how to play the guitar? There are a number of options here ranging from group guitar lessons, private one-to-one tuition, to learning how to play online.

Group guitar lessons are great for people who are serious about learning to play the guitar the traditional way by learning all of the notes and chords first and then combining that knowledge to play individual songs. These classes may be available through your local school or community centre. However, the drawback of group guitar lessons is that you may not get the opportunity to learn all the songs that YOU love as the teacher may select the songs on the course, or the songs may be chosen by the class as a whole. Fees for group guitar lessons are normally charged per class, making it an expensive method of learning to play the guitar.

One-to-one tuition may be better than group guitar lessons as you get more focused classes - you can have any questions answered there and then, and the teacher is better able to correct any mistakes you may be making. You may progress more quickly as the classes are totally focused on you and not on a number of students. However, this method of learning may not suit students with busy lifestyles, who may not be available for the same time slot every week. Also, some private instructors do not offer time slots after 6pm or 7pm, making it difficult for those in full-time employment to secure classes. Private tuition is more expensive than group guitar lessons making it the most expensive way to learn how to play the guitar.

Learning to play online is a great alternative to private lessons. With online
lessons you can take classes wherever and whenever it suits you. You can repeat individual lessons as many times as you like with no extra cost. Online lessons are not timed. If you go for private tuition you are usually paying for one-hour lessons, but online you can spend as much time as you like mastering a particular technique or song. Online lessons would suit nervous musicians who want to learn how to play without someone watching over them. Online music lessons are also a lot cheaper than formal lessons. Websites such as Jamorama offer a great education for a small one-off fee as opposed to weekly fees paid to a tutor. Online lessons teach you to play easy to learn guitar songs to develop your understanding of the instrument. This way you can be playing some of your favourite songs in just a few days!

For more information on online lessons and general tips for beginner guitarists you can visit this website 

Easy to Learn Guitar Songs

Do you wish that you could play the guitar? Even just a few easy songs? Would you like to start your own band, or maybe just have a few songs in your arsenal to entertain your friends at parties?

The good news is that learning how to play the guitar is a lot easier than you might think. The better news is that the quickest way to learn the basics is to begin with a few easy to learn guitar  songs rather than the traditional way of learning the different notes and chords.

There are some great, well-known songs out there that are easy to play because they consist of only a few basic chords. Even though these songs are easy, they areincredibly entertaining, and no-one will know how easy they actually are.

Some examples of these easy songs are:

Green Day - most Green Day songs are simple and uncomplicated but also sound great. “Good Riddance - Time of Your Life” is one of the easiest Green Day songs and is recommended for beginners.

The Beatles - this is another good example of a band whose songs are generally easy to learn. However, some of their songs may be more suited to an intermediate guitar player. “Help” is a relatively simple Beatles song which would be a good starting point for any beginner.

Oasis - “Wonderwall” - This is an iconic song that everyone enjoys. It is also very uncomplicated - perfect for a beginner!

America - “Horse with No Name” is well-known and very easy to play as it consists of only two chords - E minor and D.

I would also recommend the following easy to learn guitar songs for any aspiring guitar player:

Bob Dylan - “Mr. Tambourine Man”

Pink Floyd - “Wish You Were Here”

Coldplay - “Viva La Vida”

Using some easy to learn guitar songs such as these will make learning how to play the guitar easier and a lot more fun!

If you would like to learn more about the fundamentals of playing the guitar, or would like to get some more ideas for songs to learn, you can check out the  Jamorama online guitar course.  Jamorama is a great resource for beginner guitar players and offers the best selection of recent and classic easy to learn guitar songs tailored for beginners.