We’ve already established that the basics of a country guitar lesson are the same as those for any other style of playing. So if you are a complete beginner the most important things for you to consider are the quality of the lessons, their cost, how much time you have and how deep into musical theory you want to go. I personally found that I need more than one set of lessons, because I did want to learn to really master the guitar, but at the same time I also wanted to get into playing country as quickly as possible.
The program I chose to really learn and understand guitar was Learn and Master Guitar from Legacy – and that’s the one I’ll be talking about in this lesson. So if you are not really interest in studying guitar this section is not going to be of much interest to you and you may want to move on to the next lesson.
Learn and Master Guitar is a complete course that can take up to two years or more to complete, depending on your aptitude and how much time you can set aside for practice. It aims to bring you to the point where you can play guitar in any style or genre, read music fluently and even write and arrange songs, if that’s what you want to do. The success rate is very high and there is a short video on this page where you can meet Steve Krenz, who would be your teacher, and a number of students who have reached a high proficiency. Just scroll down the page a bit when you get there. I can vouch for the authenticity of their contributions; I ‘know’ each of them personally through the very active forum L&M runs from its website.
One thing you may notice is that all the contributors are in the upper age bracket. It does seem to be a fact that this course, for whatever reason, appears to be largely populated by folks aged 40 and over, with a fair number in their sixties and even seventies. This may be a reflection of their patience in learning, or simply the time available to them, but certainly L&M does seem to appeal to the more mature student.
It’s not hard to see why. Steve Krenz is a disarmingly gentle man who has an appealing way of teaching his many skills. The course itself is made up of 20 DVDs featuring Steve, a further five Cds with jamming tracks, a comprehensive workbook plus a supplemental work book, all wrapped up in a very handy carrying case. Bu what is available to you doesn’t stop there. Various people on the forum have made transcripts of the featured songs so that they can be played through free software. This allows you to have a virtual playing partner who you can slow down and speed up at will.
The initial lessons, which most people get through quite quickly, deal with parts of the guitar, how to read tablature and how to read chord blocks. The first session also teaches you your first two chords, C and G7.
Session 2 deals with some simple theory and you begin learning notes on the first and second strings. You also learn your first simple songs. After that each lesson builds on the last until by the end of session 7 you will already be playing sixth string barre chords and will have learned such songs as Scarborough Fair, Morning Has Broken, America The Beautiful, Fur Elise, The Entertainer, Aura Lee and a host of others. That’s followed by several sessions of musical theory and practice, and then comes the speciality sections where you can either concentrate on one style, or learn them all for greater versatility.
Personally I cannot praise the quality and content of this course enough. It does require work, but so do any other guitar lessons that you might take. As long as you can set aside at least fifteen minutes a day for practice you will derive a huge benefit from what is on offer. And of course it can all be done in the relaxed comfort of your home. You don’t even need a computer. The DVDs can be played through your television set.
One last word of advice. The course may seem a little pricey, but they do have special offers that pop up on a fairly regular basis, so try to catch one of those. They also have an extremely generous money back guarantee – you can return the course for a full refund at any time within 60 days. I doubt you will actually do that though. Take a look at the video below and then have a look at the rest of the website. I’ll be interested to hear what you think.
Once again, to see the introductory video, click here
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