Learn and Master Guitar, Expanded Edition, Steve Krenz, 20 DVDs, 5 Jam-Along CDs & Lecture Book, from Legacy Learning Review

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(More customer reviews)Let me first say that I had tried, unsuccessfully, to learn how to play the guitar for 7 years. And without Learn & Master Guitar, I would probably still be trying to learn how to play today.
I have seen some concerns on other reviews, so as someone who has owned this for just over a year, I will address those, and at the end I will give you my pros and cons of the course.
First, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of video of examples out there for you to decide whether or not to buy this. I don't know if that is a "Learn & Master" thing, or a Steve Krenz thing. Learn & Master offers other courses such as ballroom dancing, painting, drums, and piano...presumably taught by an expert in each field. So maybe they are the ones who don't allow sample video to be shown.
Anyway, this was a concern of mine since I didn't know if Krenz's style of teaching would jive with my style of learning. The reason I took a chance was the 60-day, no questions asked guarantee. I don't know how easy it is to return the product because I have no desire to do that. It turns out Krenz wasn't the ogre, shyster, or taskmaster I thought he'd be. In fact, he couldn't be a nicer, laid-back, easy-going guy.
I also see some people are concerned that there are fake websites out there offering to review various guitar lessons, which are in fact just shills for Learn & Master Guitar. I honestly don't know why they do this. This program is good enough to sell on its own merit without having to trick anyone into buying it.
When you get the series, you get a book of lessons, and a bunch of DVDs. Krenz starts out with the basics, showing you how to hold the pick and where your hands should go. He even differentiates where your hand should be when strumming versus picking notes, which may be basic for some, but I found it quite helpful. You can tell this guy has taught quite a bit.
He then goes on to show you the different notes in the first four frets, and progresses to different chords. After each lesson, the DVD goes to an exercise section where he plays the exercises with you. If you feel like practicing more, you can go back and do it with him again or you can just use the book and do it on your own.
One thing I really like about this program is I am a busy person with a lot of demands on me. I have two dogs, a girlfriend, family in the area, two jobs, etc. And just because you buy lessons doesn't make you better, you have to practice. The amount of time people have to practice will vary, so what might take you two days to get your fingers used to might take me two weeks. In between sessions, I can practice as long as I'd like before moving on.
I tried Hal Leonard books and a couple other programs, but Learn & Master guitar was the only thing I tried that really built a solid foundation for me to expand from. I also took lessons from a guy who charged $30 per half hour session and seemed to care about the money way more than he cared about me. Plus I had to fit into his schedule at odd hours. I was going to try another place where I liked the teacher better, but they close right when I'm getting off work. This series is cheaper and more convenient for me.
I see another reviewer called this an amateur video production. I have worked in the video production industry for nearly 15 years and I have to disagree. It is not "Avatar in 3D Teaches Guitar", but who needs that? What you need is clarity of content, and ease of use. For my purposes, Learn & Master guitar fits the bill. And you'd be surprised how hard it is to make an easy to follow video that teaches guitar. Just check out YouTube for all the bad examples...see if you can follow along.
And as far as people who already know how to use the guitar and think this series sucks or you want to "jam along with something else", return it and get your money back. If you can't play songs by the time you know all the chords, all the notes, and various strumming/picking/plucking patterns and techniques, I don't know what it's going to take to make you happy.
Pros:
*Steve takes his time to make sure you understand the concepts and what you are doing
*If you are having trouble, you can just watch that section over again
*At the end of each thing he teaches you, he takes some of the exercises in the practice book and practices with you at a very comfortable pace
* You can easily see what fingerings you are supposed to use, as well as what strings you are supposed to strum
*Workbook allows you to practice at your own pace without the DVD in
*Way cheaper than in-person guitar lessons, at least in my area
*You can work at your schedule. I might take a month off because I'm busy at work, but I can pick right back up where I left off. It's a personal guitar teacher who goes at MY pace.
*He uses different types of guitars in his lessons, so you can see these principals work on electric just as well as acoustic
Cons:
*There are some places where the copy of the tablature they use on the DVDs is a little faded, so if you don't look at the book at the same time, or it is your first time on that lesson, you might try to play an F when it is really an A
*It does seem to be a little expensive, but when you price guitar lessons I think you'll find this is much cheaper. Plus I read there are a few times a year they offer a discount. For example, I just looked and right now the 10-dvd series is going for $119 instead of $219, and the 20-dvd series is going for $149 instead of $249. Maybe these are always the prices, and they just use this as a special "if you buy now" offer to put pressure on you. But if money is a concern, you might wait until you see one of these sales or buy it used.
*If you already know guitar, I might not be the one to judge how much you will get out of this. Since I take this at my own pace, I don't know what the advanced lessons teach yet. I might as well have been a complete beginner, so this worked really well for me who didn't know exactly what to do.
Overall, none of these cons detract from the fact that I literally spent years, on and off, trying to learn to play the guitar. And since this was the only course that I personally experienced that worked for me, I don't see how I have any choice but to give this thing 5 stars.

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Winner of the 2008 Acoustic Guitar Magazine Players' Choice Awards, two Telly Awards and an AEGIS Award for Excellence in Education, Learn & Master Guitar is widely recognized as the best home instruction course for learning guitar available anywhere. It consists of 20 professionally produced DVDs, 5 Jam-Along CDs, a 100+ page lesson book, and a free online student support site. It is the only instructional package you'll ever need on your journey toward mastery of the guitar.

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