R G.
A Surprisingly Good Guitar Educational Site
While I have played guitar for a number of years and have played in several bands you can never and should never stop learning. I felt like I was in a rut a few years back and started trying a few guitar lesson sites, actually quite a few sites now that I think about it, along with Youtube videos. While they all have good things to offer they also have some negatives. It might be cost, lack of guidance, overwhelming information, little feedback, wrong musical style, etc. I will say this, try to pick a program and stick with it. I made the mistake of jumping around to way too many sites. With that said, I saw an ad for Pickup Music on Facebook, it looked promising so I gave it a try. So far I have been pleasantly surprised. Since I'm not a beginner I was worried that the lessons would be too rudimentary for me, but I found there is ample information for intermediate and advanced players. This is not necessarily a site to learn note for note particular 'famous' songs, there are an abundance of sites and videos for that, this site is to learn the techniques and information to play and understand how those songs are structured. The lessons are well prepared and the information is presented in small bites so it's pretty easy to retain (with practice of course). There are numerous learning pathways to choose from and 'Grades' within each pathway to complete. I started with the CAGED pathway as a review of the fretboard. I have also started lessons on the lead style of David Gilmour and rhythm playing of Jimi Hendrix. The pathways are self paced so you take as much time as you need. When you complete a grade you have an opportunity to record yourself playing along with a live band. You can then upload the video and receive feedback on your playing. They also provide a quiz at the end of each grade so you can test your knowledge. There are forums, a chat interface, emails, online events, overall they do a great job of providing a sense of community. I have only been a member for about 2 months but I can see they are constantly striving to introduce new features and make improvements. Just recently they started providing guitar giveaway incentives for completing grades. I believe this site is as close to having a live teacher as possible at a fraction of the cost.
Response from Pickup MusicJan 22, 2024
Thanks so much! - Sam



