Mastered Guitar Hero? These sites can teach you how to play for real
If you can play DragonForce’s “Through the Fire and Flames” in your sleep, you’re probably ready for this educational site. Guitar Instructor offers a diverse range of video tutorials, arranged by core lessons, master classes, instructor, genre or level. There are also tips from the pros: Dave Navarro gives advice on picking techniques, and Joe Walsh teaches alternate tunings. The site charges $1.99 for each video download, which can get pricey, but you can keep the legal content on your hard drive.
With thousands of artists in its library, this free user-generated site houses one of the most comprehensive collections of tablature, the common form of musical notation for guitar. Choose from favorites like the solo in Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb,” or something more obscure, such as “Ciao L.A.,” from the Nineties indie-rock band Chokebore. Since contributions are made by amateurs, the quality is mixed; to compensate, users’ star ratings tell you which tabs are best.
“Guitar Music Theory Lessons” podcast
For true geeks only: Music-theory expert Desi Serna offers a free podcast (available on iTunes) that leads you through techniques such as pentatonic and major-scale patterns, arpeggios and chord structures. Listening to a lecture with no visual help can be tricky, but Serna’s lessons are clear and accessible. In his latest podcast, he explains the theory of modal scales — a series of notes that can be used to improvise solos. Overwhelmed? That’s why the first lesson is called “What Is Guitar Theory?”
