Blues Guitar Instruction

It is really hard to answer that question and only you can make that decision. There are benefits to each and every type of course that is available, be it individual tutoring, group practice with a tutor, DVDs, books, tapes, or online courses. For example, if you do not have enough self-discipline, then a private tutor can be a good choice for you. However, if you need loads of flexibility in regard to when you practice, than a private tutor is not the best choice. When you have the luxury of your own home where you can practice anytime (day and night), then tutor could be good, but additional material could be used for learning. Of course, you can have a tutor to give you something to practice and then do it on your own whenever you have time. Still, for some people it might be difficult to find a flexible tutor if that is what they require due to their busy job schedule, for instance. Another disadvantage of the tutor is usually price. Unless you have fairly nice income or loads of savings, a tutor might prove to be too expensive for you. The price for a guitar lesson these days can range from $35 (from a music student) to couple hundred dollars or more from a professional music teacher. If you are not aiming high, than I would say, you could find a decent music tutor for $60-100/hour. Finding a tutor for a blues guitar instruction though could be a very challenging task.

Books are fine and there is loads of material in them that is very useful when learning about music. For example, you can find information on and pictures of tablatures, drawings and pictures of chords, drawigns of scales, etc. Of course, the books are the best when you want to learn about music in general, its history, main protagonists, styles, and other details. The main disadvantage of books is that they lack the sound and guidance. Although the majority of people in the Western society use primarily visual input for processing information, many people do not do well with visual materials, especially if their primar sense is auditory. They need to hear what they suppose to play and it doesn't really matter what you show them in a book and how well you describe it. They just won't get it anyway. I am one of those people, and although I spent 5 years in a music school when I was a kid, I still don't do well with notes, tablatures, etc. I need to hear the sound, rhythm, in other words all of it, to be able to duplicate it.

Tapes have the sound, but they lack the picture. So, for most people, this would be the most difficult way to learn, in my opinion. As I said already, most people are primarily visual and you can tell them 10 times what to do, without seeing it, it would be a real challenge if not an imposibility to learn this way.

DVDs seem to be the best option, as they carry sound, picture, and you can have a tutor on the screen who is guiding you. You can have still pictures of tablatures and chords on DVD as well. The disadvantage of DVDs, books, tapes, and even online blues guitar instruction courses, is that you won't get any feedback as you would with a private tutor. Although DVDs are usually more expensive than books and tapes (this is slowly changing), it is a very good choice for learning blues guitar or any other instrument. If the finances is what matters to you, then DVD definitely wins over a private tutor.

Online courses provide you with both sound and picture, as well as still pictures. So, in that way they are similar to DVDs. The biggest difference is, of course, that you have to have a computer and usually the Internet connection, as well (at least for the initial period before you download the whole course). To some this might look as a disadvantage, however, there are benefits to it. If you are connected to the Internet, you can use special features that many online courses offer, such as access to SongPond - a software that teaches you how to play particular famous songs (you can choose from 30 thousand, I believe). Online blues guitar instruction course is also the cheapest option (or should be based on my research). You can usually purchase a fairly good course for less than $50 or around that sum. Another advantage of online course is that it is stored in your computer and you usually have some access code to an online version. So, in case something happens to your computer, you can still download your lessons to another one (often you have to notify the customer service, if the company selling the product has some). To me, this is one of the best thing about the online course. DVD could get damaged easily - we all know what an unattended kid can do. The same can happen to a book or tape. When having a private tutor, you usually cannot save any of the information you are getting (I mean the actual learning process. You can of course keep personal notes). Moreover, you can always stop, revind, or move forward with a simple click of the mouse. Finally, some online guitar courses offer a recording software, so you can even hear yourself playing later on.

Which type of course provides the best blues guitar instruction for me?