eMedia Guitar Method, Vol.1 (Ver. 2)

After setting aside just a couple of minutes for installation and setup, you're ready to go. Upon launching the software, you're given a complete table of contents, making it easy to access whichever lesson you want to start on. If you've never picked up a guitar, the first few lessons are handy, guiding you through different types of guitars, how to string a guitar, tuning, holding, and finger position. All the language is simple and easy to understand, and before long you're playing your first song.

Two of the nicest features are the animated fretboard and full-motion videos. The video demonstrations are perfect for people who may need to hear things more than once or twice. Want to see just how your fingers should be positioned for that full G chord? Just click and watch as many times as you want. And for learning to play songs, the animated fretboard is great, showing you just which fingers go where and when. And the more than 70 songs included are good, too, ranging among such artists as Bob Dylan, the Grateful Dead, Heart, and the Steve Miller Band.

Teaching yourself to play guitar can be frustrating and boring. Fortunately, eMedia has made learning guitar interesting, uncomplicated, and just plain fun. --Joshua Goldman

Amazon.com Product Description
eMedia Guitar Method, Vol. 1 features 150 comprehensive lessons covering everything from the basics through strumming chords, playing melodies, and fingerpicking. It includes more than 30 videos and three hours of audio from guitar instructor Kevin Garry. Learning guitar is made fun through familiar hit songs by artists like Bob Dylan, the Grateful Dead, and Steve Miller. This new version includes additional lessons, including chapters on instrument care, chord progressions, and blues songs.

eMedia Guitar Method, Vol. 1 also features an animated fretboard, which displays the fingering for each song and exercise in real time and is adjustable to four separate viewing angles. Multitrack audio gives full band accompaniment on many of the hit songs. New to this version is a multispeed MIDI track option that allows students to practice any song or exercise at whatever tempo they want. The software also offers the option to learn using either tablature or standard music notation. Additional features include a built-in automatic tuner, digital metronome, recorder, and 250-chord dictionary.