Learn and Master Guitar

Learn and Master Guitar appears to be a very thorough course. It gives several tips and teaches you how to play guitar in an easy-to-follow, step-by-step progression. This is not a course just for beginners, it claims to have several benefits for intermediate players as well, such as the development of a real understanding on how music works, a simple and logical approach to learn Major and Minor scales, practical tools for soloing, basic chord progression, chord voicings, incorporation of tricks for substituting simple chords for more memorable ones, development of ear-training skills in a systematic, practical way so that you can listen to a song and play it immediately, playing different genres of guitar music, instructions and following practice of what notes are in a chord, etc. The course also affirms that it works very well for both left-handed and right-handed players, and that everything you need is in the package, so that you do not have to go searching for supporting material.

This course was produced by Steve Krenz and consists of 20 DVDs, Jam along CDs, and a lesson workbook with more than a hundred pages. The DVDs were produced in a way to help you step-by-step through each lesson, which has an instructional portion with Steve Krenz followed by a workshop part when you practice with the aid of on-screen graphics. Here the concepts are explained and tips are demonstrated. The lessons have camera close-ups on both Steve’s right and left hands. The 20 DVDs have approximately 40 hours and present easy-to-use menus, professional instruction, progressive assignments, on-screen music and tablatures, clear demonstration, all to give you the feeling of a one-on-one teacher/student class.

The Jam along CDs are supposed to add some fun to the course since you can practice your songs with an actual band, turning down the guitar track when you are ready to play along on your own. The artists that are part of the band are Steve Krenz on the guitar, Dino Pastin on the keyboard, Javier Solis on drums and percussion, and Abel Orta on the bass. Some of the things the CDs offer are recordings made by professionals in a studio, almost a hundred tracks, in the early stage of the course the student can choose the speed of the track (Slow, medium, and fast), and help on quickly sounding like a professional.

The topics covered by this course are: Foundational Techniques, Basic Chords, Advanced Chords (barre chord, two chords, major seventh and minor eleventh chords, etc.), Advanced Electric Techniques, Mastering the entire instrument, Strumming Techniques, Reading Music and Tabs, Ear Training, Techniques for Masterful Soloing, Major, Minor and Pentatonic Scales, Alternate Chords, and Chords creation, etc... The styles covered are the most popular ones. The course has lessons on Acoustic guitar, Rock guitar (power chords, power riffs, pedal effects, distortion, etc.), Classical and Fingerstyle guitar, Blues guitar (blues chord progression, blues solos), Jazz guitar, Country guitar & Chicken Picken’ (country bends and secrets of Chicken Picken’), and R&B and Funk guitar (muting techniques).

Last, it offers a free on-line support community which is a members-only website. In this website, you can post questions that will be answered by Steve Krenz himself according to Legacy Learning Systems. The community is meant to be a place where the players can discuss successes, setbacks, and challenges. It offers interaction with other students, and you can get feedback on your progress and help if you get stuck.