Fender Presents: Getting Started on Electric Guitar -- A Guide for Beginners

If you are reading this, you're probably thinking about buying this DVD for someone (yourself or someone else) who is interested in learning basic guitar techniques. To sum up my otherwise lengthy essay here, if you are the person that I described in the first sentence, I highly recommend this DVD. Feel free to read the rest of this if you want my consumer opinion (or don't...whatever).Caveat Emptor: If you are a beginning guitar player:1. You will not conquer this DVD in a short period of time.2. You will not master the guitar just by watching this DVD. You must spend time practicing the things the DVD teaches you.3. You will not benefit from this DVD if you only watch the lessons one time. Be prepared to use it as a reference and watch the lessons several times. Also, use the practice tracks.4. You will not breeze through this DVD. Some lessons are harder than others and take more time to learn. Put the DVD away for a while (if necessary) and practice your technique, learn a few songs, and have fun. Then come back later when you are hungry again.5. You will get out what you put in.I've been playing bass off and on for the better part of 20 years, but I never felt comfortable with guitar. The different fingerings for the chords looked like spaghetti to me, and it was intimidating. Then there is also the lack of patience when I was younger, and lack of appreciation for different styles of music. Simply put, being a guitar player was well beyond my wildest dreams. One day I decided "enough is enough". I bought a cheap Washburn and ordered a used DVD to learn from.I got lucky! I read a lot of reviews for several different DVD's before selecting this one. I could not have picked a better DVD to start with. Before I get started, I would like to add that I have read the 1 star comments, and I simply do not agree with any of them. Despite my limited experience with "learn to play" DVD's, I cannot see how this DVD can be ineffective for anyone unless they simply do not use it.This DVD is divided up into two basic sections: "First Step" and "Play Electric"Keith Wyatt, the instructor, has a warm and friendly demeanor, and addresses the audience with courtesy and encouragement. While he does spend a little time showing you how he jams, he does not make it a habit to show-boat, and he teaches you step-by-step how to play everything he plays on the DVD. Mind you, some of the techniques he uses are advanced, and the beginning player must work up to a level to play these parts, but they are definitely attainable to the person who puts in the effort to learn.The DVD itself is well produced, and covers pretty much everything a beginning guitar player would like to know including tuning, strap length, how to properly hold a pick, and even a few tips on selecting a guitar if you do not already own one.The "First Step" section is where this DVD really shines, in my opinion. After a brief introduction, Keith teaches about tuning, and then it is on to the first chords. The DVD pretty much teaches you 2 or 3 chords at a time, and also suggests that you play along with the practice tracks to build your skills, finger strength, and callouses. Keith made learning chord fingerings easy for me to understand, as he pretty much uses a ladder-logic approach to teaching.Personally, after I learned the first 5 major triads and first 3 minor chords, I put the DVD away for a few months and played around with the multitude of available songs I could learn using just those chords. For example, pretty much every hair-band has a ballad that uses some sort of G, D, C progression. Seriously, it's sickening. Gun's and Roses, Skid Row, Whitesnake, etc...etc...all have hit songs based on just those three chords, but I digress.I came back to the DVD when I wanted to learn more about barre chords (moveable chords). The lessons about moveable chords were well explained and demonstrated, and accompanied with more practice tracks. Keith also teaches some basic scales that are used for different types of rhythm playing and soloing.I played with the "First Step" for the better part of a year before moving on, but I had other grown-up obligations like a job and graduate school that kept me from playing as often as I wanted.The "Play Electric" section is where you really start putting together many of the things that you have learned, and consequently, things get more complicated. I think this may be where people get frustrated. the lessons in this section cover rhythm and solo techniques, as well as some brief discussion about amps and effects.The three main parts to the "Play Electric" section are specific lessons in Rock, Blues, and Country. Each style has two parts; rhythm and solo. Each part has a demonstration where Keith jams for you, then a lesson where he teaches you how to play the demonstration song. After the lessons, there are more practice tracks for each lesson.The practice tracks in the "Play Electric" section are much more difficult than the ones in the "First Step" section, and I found that I could not keep up. I had to turn off the DVD and play with my metronome at about 65 BPM (that's really slow, for those who do not know) in order to get the fingerings correct, but as Keith asserts and reassures, "speed is a by-product of accuracy."The DVD also has some other extra bits like how to care for a guitar, more about the Fender guitar company, other things of that ilk.All in all, I think that anyone who really wants to learn guitar can benefit from this DVD so long as he or she is willing to put forth the effort and patience required.Thanks for reading. I hope this is helpful to someone.

This review is for "Fender Presents: Getting Started on Electric Guitar -- A Guide for Beginners." I also bought the Fender "Getting Started on Acoustic Guitar" DVD. Do not bother buying both DVD courses; they are essentially the same. In fact, one half of the content is exactly the same.This course is excellent. Obviously a great deal of thought went into the production of this DVD at-home guitar course. If you just got your guitar and do not even know how to tune it, this DVD is a great place to start. In fact, it will probably be best for you to start with this DVD (for about three months) before you start taking guitar lessons from a live instructor. This course probably works best with teenagers and adults. Children will probably need help from a parent (it should not matter whether or not the parent plays guitar).This course will teach you how to tune your guitar and how to play basic open-string chords. With this knowledge, you will be able to play rhythm guitar for simple songs fairly quickly. Song chords may be found in numerous places online, as well as in guitar "fake books" sold here on Amazon. Being able to quickly have fun playing one's guitar helps motive one to continue learning how to play. The Fender course also teaches barre chords, notes on the sixth and fifth strings (to enable you to locate the root notes and placement of barre chords), three-string power chords (for easy rock 'n' roll), and the A minor pentatonic scale (for simple lead guitar). Additionally, there is instruction on basic electric guitar techniques, such as hammer-ons, pull-offs, slides, vibrato, and palm muting. You could easily spend a year mastering barre chords and these guitar skills. The practice tracks are a great learning tool that helps master strumming patterns and rhythm.In short, the Fender course is an excellent resource for the new guitar player. It will not teach you how to read music, and it will not teach you any music theory, but it will teach you everything most new guitar players need to learn to play chord progressions. For example, with this course alone (and songs you get from the internet), you will be able to play rhythm guitar while you sing."Learn and Master Guitar" by Steve Krenz is (by far) a better and more comprehensive course. If you are serious about learning guitar (it is a 20 DVD course, so you better be serious), then try that course in addition to the Fender course. The "Learn and Master Guitar" course is equivalent to two years of guitar instruction (there is even a home-school version.). Another great DVD set for the new guitar player is the Rock House "Learn Electric Guitar" course. A good book on music theory is Hal Leonard's "Music Theory for Guitarists" (by Tom Kolb). If you wish to learn how to sight-read music, a good course is the Berklee "A Modern Method for Guitar - Volume 1: Book/DVD-ROM Pack." Most are available here on Amazon.

Are you searching for the best instructional DVD for electric guitar? This is it.I bought a slew of instructional guitar DVDs in the past month - and I'm writing this review so you don't have to! This one is clearly the best.It covers rock, blues, country music, each with a detailed breakdown of rhythm and solo. Keith Wyatt (a superb teacher) leads you through every step of the way. His relaxed, intelligent manner and clear presentation are head and shoulders above the other instructional guitar DVDs. This DVD was professionally planned, rehearsed, and performed... maybe because Fender put their name on it. A whole lot of thought and time went into making this a top-notch foundational guitar lesson.Many of the other DVDs were done by simply turning on a camera on in front of a great guitarist (who may not have the ability to articulate what he is thinking). This DVD could teach the others how to teach.Everyone who buys an electric guitar should also buy this DVD. This DVD and a chord book are all you need to get started.I am still in search of a good Jazz guitar DVD/book that will treat Jazz on the level that this DVD taught rock, blues, and country: a basic set of Jazz chords and a basic Jazz solo. After finding this DVD, I am hoping that Fender and Keith Wyatt will continue this series with a Jazz DVD.Bottom Line: Five Stars. Buy it. You won't be disappointed.P.S. If you are getting two DVDs, the second best Instructional Guitar DVD is "Learn To Play Rippin Lead Guitar with Paul Lidel."