Introduction

This site attempts to teach anyone how to play guitar. The author has a decent grasp of fundamental music theory, can play well enough to occasionally make vaguely musical noises, and thoroughly enjoys teaching in general. But I’m not going to be signing any recording contracts any time soon.

So why bother publishing this content?

I’m convinced that beginners sometimes make better teachers than experts. Experts often forget what it was like to be completely lost. They sometimes assume context and skills that students simply don’t have.

Many expert players simply don’t know how to teach. I’ve heard fantastic players (but poor teachers) get frustrated and say things like: “Just freaking play, man!". Teacher and student both become frustrated.

That said, there are countless truly phenomenal guitar instruction sites already out there on the web (some free and some paid). There is so much amazing guitar content on the intertubes today that I feel a bit embarassed adding to the fray.

I can heartily recommend any of the following:

JustinGuitar

This is the gold standard in guitar instruction. If you’re an absolute beginner at guitar, I strongly, strongly, encourage you to start here first. The amount and quality of free instruction here is incredible.

FretboardOS

(Also known as GuitarOS — I’m not sure which is preferred.) “Josh Frets” was by far my most influential teacher so far. I consider his “Metronome Bootcamp” (FREE) to be essential content for any player, and the style and thoroughness of his remaining (paid) content was what allowed me to progress faster than ever before.

GypsyAndJazz

I have a real passion for the Gypsy Jazz style. Django really created something great back in the war years. I love listening to modern virtuosos like Joshco, Birelli, Stochello and the rest. Yaakov is a gifted instructor — I’m still confident I’ll eventually be able to play at least half as well as him!

AbsoluteBluesGuitar

I’m also passionate about the blues. It’s at the heart of so many different styles of music. Bobby Harrison is a gifted player and provides some great, reasonably priced content starting at an extremely basic level and continuing to an advanced level.

TrueFire

This site is a treasure trove with huge numbers of gifted instructors and amazing content in absolutely any style. The sheer quantity of quality material here is mind-blowing. Recommended.

Why this site?

So why am I publishing all this?

To be completely honest, it’s mostly for my own benefit.

“If you want to learn something, read about it. If you want to understand something, write about it. If you want to master something, teach it.”

– Yogi Bhajan

You will probably be better served by one of the sites I’ve listed above.

Here are a few reasons why you might want to stick around, though:

• This site is written by an engineer for engineers. Tech nerds represent! I know how we think, and how deeply we need to understand “why." I also know how easy it is for us to get distracted and miss the important stuff. Almost all of this content was written expressly for one of my closest friends (and currently the only user of the site!).

• It’s written by a beginner for beginners. Though I’ve been struggling with the instrument for decades, at best I’m an intermediate player. I still have epiphanies every few days. I try to get recent breakthroughs in understanding and tricks for practicing technique onto the site while they are still fresh in my mind. Experts often forget what triggered their own breakthroughs.

• It’s prescriptive about what to practice. Like many, my practice sessions were often a disorganized and inefficient mess. I had to think too hard about “what should I be practicing”. On this site, I provide a large number of proficiency tests to choose from. Eventually I hope to provide an automated mechanism for tracking which tests have been attempted (and when) and which have been mastered, but even tracking with pencil and paper is proving useful.

I’m particularly proud of that last item. Organizing my practice regimen with proficiency tests has helped me tremendously. I’m hopeful others will find it equally useful.