HOUSTON, Texas — Houston Guitar Lessons has released a new streaming video lesson series for beginning and intermediate guitarists, available by monthly subscription. There are over 270 separate practice videos in the lesson series. Greg Varhaug, a professional guitar teacher and the creator of the series, says that the amount of time it takes to master beginner’s guitar is not a matter of weeks or months, but hours. Most people can complete the program with less than 25 hours of actual practice time.
“Most guitar lesson videos are ‘demonstration’ videos. The teacher demonstrates something, then the viewer tries to reproduce it. My lessons use play-along videos. You start the video, and play with it till the end. The videos are easy enough that beginners can play with them in real time.”
“Most people who learn songs from the net learn ‘how’ to play parts on guitar, but they can’t really play those parts up to performance level. I know how to play chess, but I’m not a very good chess player. Play-along videos help you to develop strength, endurance, good timing and overall competence on the guitar. They insure that you’re using your practice time in the most efficient way possible.”
The lesson videos take you through a wide range of techniques like open chords, strumming, power chords, and basic lead guitar. You don’t have to learn to read music. Simple guitar parts are shown in easy-to-understand guitar tablature, or users can just follow the videos.
The response from subscribers has been very positive. With the proliferation of online guitar instruction programs, people are used to the idea of guitar lessons on the net.
Varhaug says, “These are very easy play-alongs for beginners. My object isn’t to compete with other online methods. I’m giving beginners the abilities they need to use advanced lessons more effectively. My program is all about conditioning, and structured practice. It’s probably the most step-by-step you’ll find anywhere.”
“The things I cover are techniques used in real songs. All of my lessons are tested on my students before I make a video lesson. Because of that, I think this is one of the most thoroughly tested lesson programs around.”
Each video exercise uses ‘picture in picture’ to show both hands at once, and includes studio-quality sound.
Careful use of camera angles means users can see the movements of each hand. You can see the fingertips touch the strings. With many video lessons and lesson DVD’s it’s hard to see what the instructor is doing, even with the camera close up.
The videos show both hands playing repetitive parts in time with a drum track. They work the same way as any other exercise video. The object is to keep up with the action for the length of each video.
“The videos don’t just teach you how to play. You learn to play along with music in real time. You also get valuable ear-training because you’re playing with a rhythm track the entire time. That makes it easy to transition to playing with real music, whether it’s live or recorded.”
“I work a lot with people in church music groups. You may have someone who only wants to learn four or five songs, and they don’t have an hour each day to practice. These lessons can really help in situations like that.”
The lessons run straight from your Web browser. The videos use a Flash format, similar to YouTube. The cost for a subscription is $12.95 monthly. The minimum subscription is one month. Subscribers can cancel at any time. All payments are handled through PayPal.
HoustonGuitar.com (originally GregsGuitar.com) has been operating since 2000. Since then, HoustonGuitar has distributed thousands of lesson downloads, including many free downloads. The new steaming lesson series replaces the old series that was distributed on CD-ROM and as downloads.
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You don’t need an account to access the free content, including over an hour of free video lessons on a variety of beginner’s techniques.
Please visit www.HoustonGuitar.com, watch the video on the home page, and read the detailed lesson descriptions to decide whether a subscription to HoustonGuitar can help you to realize your dream of playing the guitar.
About Greg Varhaug:
Greg Varhaug is a musician, and private music instructor based in Houston, Texas. He has over 15 years of continuous teaching experience. He has operated commercial music instruction Web sites since 2000.
