How I Started Improving my Guitar Playing with Online Guitar Lessons a Review of JamPlay
Amongst a sea of online guitar lesson memberships, ebooks and dvd courses, JamPlay strives to be the best at what they know, teach guitar players how to be better.
Their website has left out all the hype about learning to play in a weekend or an hour and gets down to what’s important, learning to play the guitar.
There is a ton of competition in the learn to play guitar market, but JamPlay’s $19.95 a month membership fee with no minimum contract (quarterly & annual memberships available) is inexpensive enough that almost anyone can sign up for a single month to try it out.
NOTE: I’ve been able to get a special 25% off Jamplay coupon code for your first month. I’ve posted it at the end of this review.
Good for all Skill Levels
JamPlay has done an exceptional job at creating an environment that is good for any skill level. Many online guitar lessons are either strictly for beginners or they assume you’re already a more advanced player. JamPlay has done a solid job by providing a lot of instructors from different skill levels, genres and styles. I believe their commitment to all skill levels helps attract more members and keeps members around longer because they can continue to learn with JamPlay as they improve.
Lesson Phases – How You Learn with JamPlay
Complete beginners start at what is called Phase 1, beginner lessons. In the beginner phase you’ll find six series of beginner acoustic lessons and two series of beginner electric lessons. Each series is taught by a different instructor so you can pick and choose what teaching style you’d like to learn from.
After graduating from beginner lessons, which could take you anywhere from 1-3 months depending on your skill level, you can move onto Phase 2 which is Genre specific lessons. Here you can take your beginner knowledge and start applying it to particular playing styles such as: Blues, jazz, rock, finger style etc.
Phase 2 covers 11 different styles, and provides 6 additional skill building areas including: lead, speed and singing & playing.
Lesson Organization
The organization of JamPlays lesson series is something that stands it apart from the rest of the pack. Many online guitar courses provide you with a ton of content, but they aren’t very helpful explaining to you in what order you should learn each skill.
JamPlay solves this problem with their lesson series organization. By following a lesson series from beginning to end you’re sure to learn the right skills in the proper order.
Each lessons series is broken down into several different lesson videos. Each lesson video is then further sub divided into chapters. Because one lesson video could span 30-45 minutes, it makes sense to separate them into chapters. This way you can watch as many or as few chapters as you like. JamPlay has created a progress monitor you can use to mark the point in a lesson you’ve made it to if you don’t complete it in one sitting.
Your progress report then appears at the top of the members area each time you login to remind you of what lessons you’ve started but have not yet completed. This helps you stay on track.
Video Quality
JamPlay’s video quality is top notch. They bring in instructors from around the country regularly to record new lessons series at their in house studio. Each lesson is available in a Low, Medium or High quality version. This is important if you have a slower internet connection as a lower quality version will play faster then a higher quality version for you.
Community
Beyond basic lesson content JamPlay has built a solid online community of it’s members and instructors. After signing up you’ll gain access to the private members forum where you can talk about lessons, skills, songs and even your own recordings with other members. Instructors and JamPlay staff are active in the forums and there to answer your questions and provide feedback.
Daily Live Lesson Sessions
A feature I really like are the live sessions that occur through out each day. I’ve been a member of several online guitar lesson sites and have never seen anything quite like this.
Live sessions are held by one of JamPlays many instructors. There’s a schedule in the members area of when these sessions will occur, but just about anytime you login there will be a session going on. The session is held in a chat format via webcam. Most days the instructor has a skill, song or technique they’re going to teach during the session so it’s a great way to pick up new tips and skills. It’s also nice to have the direct interaction via chat with the instructor.
Playing & Practice Tools
Beyond online guitar lessons and the community JamPlay has put together a great group of playing & practicing tools. These tools are meant for quick reference and practicing.
I have found tools like their Chord library and lick & riff library to be great while I’m playing or practicing on my own or with a friend. The backing tracks section includes a list of songs recorded by a full band that you can play along with to practice your skills and technique. This is a great practice feature that I wish more guitar lesson products offered.
Getting Started is Easy
As a new member there is an excellent getting started section of videos & tutorials that walks you through how to make the most of your Jamplay membership. While you might not watch them all in the beginning you can refer to them as often as you like.
All in all JamPlay has put together a solid online guitar lesson membership that will improve the skills of any beginner or intermediate guitar player. Their site offers a ton of features and has made it as interactive as possible. Since there are no contracts to sign up for (fee is month-to-month) and the cost is only as much as a single private guitar lesson I think anyone serious about improving their guitar skills should try it.
I mentioned at the beginning of this review that I had arranged for a 25% off coupon for your first month. If you sign up today and use coupon code 275B25 you’ll only pay $14.95 for your first month.
Sign up for JamPlay now by clicking the Get Started button below, or if you’d like more information click the Learn More button. This will take you to my JamPlay review video where I walk through the members area of their website.
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