Online Guitar Lessons

Out with the old, in with the new; online guitar lessons are revolutionizing the way the world is learning to play. Streaming video has given people the ability to learn from the convenience of their own home, anytime they'd like. In this article, I will briefly touch upon the main advantages & disadvantages of this method.

Advantage: Convenience

It's hard to put a price on convenience. Imagine how nice your life would be if you could do everything from home: shop, work, learn, exercise, etc. With the increases in internet speeds, home education is no longer a wishful future. High quality videos are now able to be streamed to you at your own PC.

Traditional methods of guitar lessons require the students to commute to schools or studios for their lessons. With a 30 minute / 30 mile commute each way, you can plan on burning up an hour of your time & a bit of gas just to get to the lesson. Beyond that, you have to pack up your guitar, amplifier, pedals, and any other equipment you need. You are also required to get there for a set appointment. With online lessons, you are able to take the lessons whenever you want without having to go anywhere; there are no restrictions.

Advantage: Choose Your Instructor

With an online guitar lesson site such as JamPlay, you are presented with a variety of instructors. You can check out the biography of each one and watch some sample lessons to decide which person is the best fit for you. You can watch any lesson from any instructor anytime you'd like â€"œ there are no limitations.

Beyond the personality appeal of each instructor, you should consider their teaching style. You may like the way a person acts, but their style may not mesh well with the way you learn. Some teachers are visual while others are hands on. Instructors are also usually very genre-specific. It is rare to find a person that knows multiple styles in and out (such as metal, bluegrass, and blues). With a site like JamPlay, you can learn all of these styles by checking out other instructors.

Advantage: Flexible Lesson Sets

There's nothing more irritating than learning only what somebody else wants to teach you. Sometimes an instructor will be very stubborn & will teach the same curriculum regardless of what the student prefers. This makes for a rather dull lesson set & takes a lot of fun away from the learning experience. With the multi-instructor approach with online lessons, you are able to pick & choose exactly what you want to learn. Unlike other methods (books, DVDs, in-person), we allow you to decide what you learn; you decide, we teach.

Advantage: Very Affordable

One of the most important things to consider is value. Nobody wants to spend a ton of money to learn to play guitar. With in-person instruction, you are looking at anywhere from $20 to $60 per half hour lesson.

The business model for an online membership website allows the company to provide more content for less money. For example, let's say a website has 100 members paying $10 each. This means they would generate $1000 in revenue. They can then use that revenue to film even more lessons. It is impossible for one instructor to teach 100 different people a handful of lessons every month. This time saved with the use of computers allows the business to serve more customers with less overhead.

As the customer, you're getting an incredible value. You will receive dozens of hours of instruction for only $19.95. Compare that with a half hour of instruction for the same price (if you can find a cheap teacher) & the numbers speak for themselves.

Disadvantage: Less Extensive Interaction

If you are taking lessons with an in-person instructor, you are able to instantly ask questions about a lesson / technique & receive a response right away. This type of interaction is a valuable tool when learning to play.

To try to bridge this gap, JamPlay has initiated a new concept: Video Q&A. If you have a question about anything, you can submit it to us via email. We will then film the response from an instructor & post the answer / mini-lesson online for you to see. The response time isn't quite as good as if you were sitting next to the person, but it is still quite helpful.