Disclosure: Cyberfret.com is paid a commission if you purchase Learn & Master Guitar through one of the links found in this review. With that said, this review is my own honest opinion of the product and based on my 25+ years of teaching guitar privately. All information is verified as accurate at the time of the review.
What is Gibson’s Learn & Master Guitar?
Gibson's Learn & Master Guitar
Learn & Master Guitar is a course that contains 20 professionally produced DVD’s, 5 jam-along CDs, a 100+ page printed instruction book and over 190 pages of additional lesson material in pdf ebook format.
The course was developed by the Gibson Guitar Corporation in conjunction with Legacy Learning Systems…publisher of high quality learning courses in many different topic areas.
Learn and Master guitar starts you from the very beginning, but is not only for those just starting to play guitar. Often as players reach a certain level, they find they are missing key pieces of the puzzle that hinder further progress. So I would say this course is specifically designed for the beginner, and the intermediate player who is missing those pieces.
There are many advanced techniques discussed as well, but more advanced players would probably do better to seek out a course that targets just their level.
There are a large number of topics covered in this course; chords, reading music & tablature, strumming, fingering picking, soloing, theory, ear training, techniques like bending, slides and tapping…and the list goes on. Learn and Master Guitar also gives a great overview of how to play many styles of music such as Blues, Rock, Jazz, Country, Funk and Classical.
Your Guitar Teacher
One thing that stands out about this coarse is the instructor Steve Krenz. As I watched the DVD’s I was struck by the clear explanations of the material. You can tell he has spent many years teaching guitar.
Playing guitar, and having the ability to teach it are 2 different skills, and Steve Krenz can do both extremely well. Steve has a wide range of experience as a performer and teacher. He also has a degree in music. While there are a ton of great players without music degrees…this is just a little extra insurance that you are learning the correct terms for everything. A big problem I see from a lot of the completely self taught teachers out there trying to teach you.
The DVD’s
The heart of the course is about 20 hours of video guitar instruction on 10 DVD’s This is professionally shot, high quality video. There are close-ups of Steve’s hands, and at times a split screen shots so that you can get a closer view of both hands simultaneously.
All of the exercises that are being demonstrated are up on the screen. This material is also in the book, so you have the option of following along on screen or in the book.
Gibson’s Learn & Master Guitar is broken down into 20 sessions. This is a progressive course that takes your from the basics, though to some more advanced concepts. The sessions are broken down into sections.
Instruction – This is the main lesson part of each session. The concepts are explained and demonstrated.
Guitar Tips – This section covers extra material that is important to your progress. Some of the topics include taking care of your guitar, working with a metronome, practicing tips and more.
How Music Works – This is where you learn about Music Theory, and how it applies to the guitar.
Assignment – Here Steve gives you your homework assignment for the session. Here he goes over the key points that you should practice before going on to the next session.
Workshop – In this section you get to practice the Assignment material along with Steve. So you can see and hear the exercises that you are practicing.
10 Bonus Workshop DVD’s
In addition to the 10 core guitar lesson DVD’s, this course comes with 10 bonus workshop DVD’s These DVD’s add more material to the 20 sessions on the other 10 disks. These disks really add a lot to this course in giving you more practice material to help you master the concepts.
The Book
This course comes with a 100+ page printed book that has all of the exercises from the DVD’s and more. It’s divided into sessions that correspond to the DVD’s. It has a clear layout and design that makes it extremely easy to read and follow.
This course also has a 190 page pdf ebook that covers the material from the 10 bonus workshop DVD’s This ebook is equal in quality to the printed book, and you can easily print out the lesson material that you want to practice.
The CDs
There are 5 Jam Along CD’s that you can use to help with your practice. Exercises from the book are played at a slow, medium, and fast speed. Steve and other professional studio musicians recorded the tracks on the CDs. So you get to practice with some real pros.
Is this guitar course a good fit for you?
This is a top notch course, and it’s hard to say much negative about the product itself. But I do want to make a few points here to make sure this course will be a good fit for you.
1. This course teaches some of the fundamentals of playing guitar through learning to read standard music notation. I think that can be a little frightening to some people, but the way Steve teaches the material anyone can learn to read music easily.
But just to let you know …if you “really” don’t want to learn how to read music, don’t purchase the course. But it would do you good to learn 🙂
If you have played another instrument sometime in the past, like trumpet or saxophone in high school…then having a course that speaks the language of music like this will really help you connect the dots. The “by ear” methods of a lot of other guitar courses can be confusing in this situation.
2. While this course covers a lot of ground, I want you to think of it as a great overview of the big picture of learning to play guitar. There is no one course that will teach you everything there is to know about playing guitar.
It covers different music styles like Jazz, and Classical. But it’s definitely not a comprehensive guide to the different styles it covers. More of a crash course to give you a taste of a lot of styles.
3. The 10 bonus workshops are just an extension of and extra practice on the material you learn in the main 10 DVD’s and book. So if you need extra work on the material from the main part, these give you some great extra practice and insight. If you have the material under control, the bonus workshops might be overkill on some topics.
The Bottom Line
This is an excellent product for learning how to play the guitar that I highly recommend. I think it’s an essential part of any learning guitar player’s library. It covers all levels of playing, but is recommended for beginners and intermediate players who need to fill in some missing pieces.
This is not a budget guitar learning product, but for the scope of the material covered and the quality of instruction, it’s very reasonably priced. About what a month of private guitar lessons would cost you.
Keep and eye out, because it’s often on sale. There is also an option to break up payment over 4 months.
There is also a No Risk Guarantee. So you can give it a try, and if for any reason you decide the course is not for you, return it within 60 days and receive a full refund of the purchase price.
Check out the Learn & Master Guitar website for more details about the course. I would also suggest checking out some free video guitar lessons that they have on the site from the course as well. That’s the best way to check out Steve’s teaching style.
Gibson’s Learn & Master Guitar
20 DVDs
5 Play Along CDs
100 Page Printed Book
195 additional PDF Manual
Disclosure: Cyberfret.com is paid a commission if you purchase Learn & Master Guitar through one of the links found in this review. With that said, this review is my own honest opinion of the product and based on my 25+ years of teaching guitar privately. All information is verified as accurate at the time of the review.
