Internet vs. Guitarist

We might not be aware of influence internet exuded on guitarist's world in the past couple decades.  Surely, the globalized access to information and like-minded people is one of the benefits of info super-highway, as it applies to guitar players everywhere.  You can get so much information on your favourite guitar player, view or download many pictures and/or videos, and effectively communicate with your fellow guitar players worldwide - if you have the access to internet.
Ability to watch or stream videos opened another door in the school of guitar music:  The good ol', ever reliable,one on one instruction.  Even though many digital miles might separate instructor and the student, it still is same old music class with a guitar teacher.
Other teaching resources are wide-spread in the digital realm, and they all work on some level, and on some  people.  Question arises: Would you know how to pick the best guitar method suited for you?  What is the best way to learn to play the guitar, and in what order should you stack up your skills towards that ultimate goal of mastering the instrument and becoming musically literate?
Guitar video lessons can go a long way in any guitarist's development, but on the other hand it is vitally important to have a black-on-white references, notes, and yes, why not?, a diary of your progress.


It is safe to say that some middle ground must be established in order to implement the best possible path to expert levels.  As a recommendation then it is prudent to seek a guitar course that is a blend of visual, audio and written methods seamlessly incorporated into one rounded approach to learning how to play the guitar. 
I catch myself leafing through one of those instructional books from time to time, just to see how well it covered guitar fundamentals.  Majority of them can teach me nothing new, but sometimes I still find some interesting facts and guitar techniques and tips.  As a result, I possess half a dozen instructional books featuring different guitar method, and quite a few video guitar lessons.  It saves me a hustle of teaching someone every little detail personally.  Instead, one of the books will cover it for me, and then I can teach them other advanced guitar tips and guitar exercises on top of the basic material they went through.  I am also often asked to recommend "good quality guitar instruction book or DVD".

Another exceptional feature for guitarist of digital age is the ease of access to sheet music and guitar tablatures of popular songs; the holy grail of intermediately skilled players sought for the sheer desire to break through the limitations of current skills, and learn a song that requires more than they can handle by themselves.  I don't mean to belittle anyone; we have all done it:  it was that one part in the tune that we couldn't get just right, or one strange chord that baffled us for a long time, and we  had nobody to ask about it... The next best thing is internet's databases of guitar tabs.

How about all the resources on guitar scales?  That is one popular search on the net's search engines, lemme tell ya.  It just shows how haphazard learning process is for many a beginner players.

It is just about that time that we can find the answer to almost every questions we might have concerning our quest for mastering guitar, and that is solely thanks to the connectedness through wondrous power of the net.

Stay well and in tune

Your brother in arms


Shredd