There is no shortage of websites claiming to be able to teach you how to play the guitar. It can be a daunting task to try and differentiate between the bonuses, guarantees, and fanciful promises made by the various companies. An important thing for any shopper to remember is that all of these programs will work, to a certain degree. Any book, video, teacher, program, or website will make it easier to learn than if you just tried to go it alone. My job as a reviewer of guitar tutorials is to help you determine which teaching programs will work the best, and which websites afford you the most value for your money. That is why I cannot with a clear conscience recommend the purchase of the Guitar Made Easy program.

Guitar Made Easy is an e-workbook with Louise Slavnic, a 20-year veteran of guitar playing, as the instructor. Louise is probably a fine teacher; the problem with Guitar Made Easy is that they went to such lengths to make it simple and easy that there is very little content compared to other guitar tutorials. It claims to be able to teach you “tips and tricks that will get you twice the results with half the practice.” It’s a promise that sounds a lot like hype to me. There is just no substitute for practice. End of story.

Lessons for Beginners:
I understand this product is geared towards neophyte guitarists but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t provide some information that would help more experienced players as well. This workbook has six lessons and various fingering charts that are only of use to beginners. Almost all other guitar teaching websites provide the same material as Guitar Made Easy but the others go above and beyond.

Moreover the content that is provided by this website is not of the highest quality. I found this course to be more tedious and less fun than other programs, mainly because the e-workbook format was not as interesting as courses with DVDs or other audio and video enhancements. It is very hard to become competent at anything just by reading about it online. That is doubly true of something that is as physical as playing the guitar. Being able to see someone else finger a chord or hear what it should sound like is twice as informative in my opinion. If you really want to read a book about guitar playing, you’d be much better off just going to a music store and buying an old-fashioned paper book for $15.

There are a couple of bonus products offered along with the basic workbook. One is an ebook called “The Ultimate Guide to Reading Guitar Tab.” The other is an ebook teaching you how to tune a guitar. These may be helpful, but once again, I think this information can be more easily learned when it is incorporated into some video and audio lessons. One nice thing about this program is the money-back guarantee. If you’re not satisfied you can return it within 90 days for a full refund. I would recommend you take full advantage of this feature if you have purchased this program anytime in the last three months.

Conclusions:
To reiterate, purchasing this course could be beneficial to a beginning guitar player, however there are far better alternates available online. This particular e-book briefly discourses about guitar basics and then promptly ends, leaving you to purchase another program or to teach yourself everything else you want to know. An endorsement on the Guitar Made Easy website says it all, “I went through all six lessons in a weekend…” do you really want to pay upwards of $37 for a program that you will be done with in a weekend? Maybe you do, and in that case Guitar Made Easy isn’t a bad option. However I would wager the majority of prospective guitar players would rather spend their hard earned money on a course that would see them through all the way from beginner to expert.

In that case, you would be much better off buying a program like Learn and Master Guitar taught by Steve Krenz. This course has material for every skill level and includes well-produced DVD’s and Jam Along CD’s to go along with the workbook. You can see, hear, and play along with a well-qualified instructor. It is a much easier and less frustrating way to learn. You can check it out HERE.

 

To your success,

Crazy Dave

 

...I'm off to the Guitar Licks!