This post appeared first at Guitar Learning Courses on TheGuitarLesson.com, thanks for reading.

Learning to play guitar via guitar learning courses is a viable alternative to getting personal lessons nowadays for a number of reasons. Not only is it much cheaper, but the multimedia elements found in the best online and DVD guitar courses make learning music more accessible than ever. If you're searching for a way to learn guitar from home, read on!

There are several types of Guitar Learning packages available on the net and in stores, some of them are good, some of them are not. I've decided to split the courses up into 3 sections, depending on your needs, budget and general type of course:

• Online guitar courses
• DVD guitar courses
• Downloadable guitar courses

Online Guitar Learning Courses

The Internet has revolutionized education, including musical education. The better online guitar lessons I've seen, that have the largest value added, are video lesson websites. The great thing about video guitar lessons is that you can actually see and hear the instructor playing, which makes it a near perfect alternative to personal lessons. The only negative they would have compared to a personal teacher is the lack of feedback, but the best online guitar lesson websites have active feedback available as well. Here is a list of the better guitar learning websites with their main features and pricing:

TheGuitarLesson.com

TheGuitarLesson.com (this website)

• Free basic lessons for beginners
• Bunch of lessons on popular, yet easy beginner guitar songs, which give you the opportunity to practice the techniques you need to improve.
• Animated tabs on every video
• Loads of info on guitar theory, guitar techniques, etc.
• Huge and free Guitar Pro tabs database
• Online guitar tools (guitar tuner chord charts, jam tracks)
• Personal support from me, Tom Fontana
• $9 / month
• Click here for more details on how you can teach yourself guitar at TheGuitarLesson.com

GuitarTricks.com

GuitarTricks.com

• The biggest and oldest online video lesson website with thousands of videos, all of which are downloadable
• Lessons categorized by genre, which is perfect for learning specific styles once you reach an intermediate level
• Large online community
• Online guitar tools (metronome, guitar tuner chord charts, jam tracks)
• $14.95 / month
• Click the link for a  detailed review of GuitarTricks.com

DVD Guitar Courses

There aren't many thorough DVD guitar courses available for beginners. There are a lot of DVD providers who produce single DVDs on specific subjects (for example lick library), but I am only familiar with 1 who provides a detailed course to follow for beginners. If you know of any other, please leave it in a comment and I will check it out.

Learn & Master Guitar

Learn and Master Guitar

• The oldest, most established DVD course available
• 20 DVD + 5 jam CDs + 2 workbooks in the course
• High quality, well structured lessons to get a beginner to an intermediate level
• Loads of theory included in the course
• The only negatives are that there aren't too many songs to play and practice
• $149 for the entire course, which comes out to $7.45 / DVD
• Read a detailed review of Learn and Master Guitar

Downloadable Guitar Courses

I place the ebook and software type courses into this category. By software, I mean specifically the type of guitar software which offers a set guitar learning course for beginners to follow, and which is actually effective.

eMedia Guitar Method

eMedia Guitar Method

• Interactice guitar learning software
• Teaches the very basics of playing a guitar, perfect for complete beginners
• Includes music and guitar theory basics
• Animations show you different techniques
• Touches on the basics of several styles
• Lots of exercises
• $51.60
• Click here for more details on eMedia Guitar Method v5

Jamorama

Jamorama

• Popular ebook based course, with some video and audio supplements
• Best for someone who doesn't have that much access to the Internet, or DVD player
• Detailed, well structured course (but all the reading is a bit boring in my opinion)
• $39.95 for the downloadable version
• Click here for a detailed review of Jamorama

I have purchased or have had a chance to review all of the above Guitar Learning Courses, and have found them to be the best home based guitar learning method. You'll find many more out on the Internet, some will be better, some will be scams, but the above are legit and top-notch.

TheGuitarLesson.com is your source for beginner guitar lessons.