Recommended Guitar Products

One of the reasons I started this website was to research recommended guitar products so I could pass that information on to you. As I travel around the World Wide Web, I've gotten to know all sorts of guitar websites, guitar lesson courses and tools you can use to improve your playing.

I've checked out and purchased both beginner level and advanced guitar courses and subscriptions, mainly so I can get better at guitar, but also so I can give you the heads up on where to find good guitar instruction.

And there's a lot of good instruction available. I don't like to discount anyone who is trying to help out a fellow brother (or sister) in arms - or axes, as the case may be! If you can wade through all the videos, YouTube can be a great source of free snippets, but to get good, solid instruction, you're going to need to shell out some cash.

While I'm a big advocate of lessons with a local guitar guru, you don't always have one available. Sometimes the corner music store has a professional music educator, sometimes not. And that doesn't guarantee you a guitar teacher. They may have a music degree and can teach you music theory, chords and scales, but they probably don't know the ins-and-outs of rock guitar.

Plus, you're shelling out $20 or more a week for a half-hour lesson, without access to your teacher until the next lesson. Again, I'm not putting it down, but you may need something more. That's where online courses, DVDs and other tools come in handy.

What I typically find with guitar products is they tend to cover the same material, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. How's the saying go? "Repetition is the mother of skill." (Anthony Robbins) But everyone has tricks and styles unique to them, and you can benefit from that.

Fretted guitar chord

The key to choosing recommended guitar products is finding the courses and tools that fit into your learning style. You have to go and review what course content is being offered up and whether there's samples of the material. Maybe even a free trial, if you're lucky.

What I'm offering up here is the courses and tools I've either purchased or demo 'd that I recommend because I've found them to be good learning resources. These are the ones that pass the test and get the Davy "Seal of Approval". Of course, getting back to what I said before, you need to take a look and make sure it works for you.

The way these recommended guitar products are listed is pretty self explanatory. However, just because a course is classified as a beginner or intermediate level, don't think that it can't benefit you based on your level. For example, you might be a beginning guitarist, but Pro Speed Picking can help you develop hand and finger coordination because you're practicing different picking techniques along with scale exercises. You're also getting a good workout for timing with the metronome.

I'll add to the list as I come across premium products. Here's the stuff I recommend:

Beginner
  • Jamorama - An excellent beginner level course. This was the first course I purchased to reacquaint myself with guitar fundamentals.
  • Guitar Tricks - Gives you full access to a complete step by step course to teach you how to play the guitar. 45 instructors and over 3000 online video guitar lessons create a giant library of guitar knowledge. Every week new song and technique lessons are added for every style of guitar play.
Intermediate to Advanced
  • Pro Speed Picking - Technique and exercises to improve your speed, timing and coordination. Beginners can get a real jump-start to lead guitar by working on these exercises.
Tools
  • Song Surgeon - Slow your MP3s down to a manageable speed so you can learn that tasty lick or wicked riff. Use the software the professionals use to learn new material.
  • Video Surgeon - This software allows you to record web video and much more. Can't quite follow that YouTube video lesson? Just run Video Surgeon to copy the video - now you can slow it down to a manageable speed. Grab Your Free Trial Version!
  • Planet of Rock - The Lead Guitar Resource - Jam to over 100 Top Rock Bands with Professional Guitar Backing Tracks.

Do you have any rock guitar courses you've invested in that the rest of the world needs to know about? Tell us what your recommended guitar products are. Maybe they'll end up here!