I Joined Guitar Tricks.com and Canceled the Same Day IV

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) August 13, 2010 -- If you read Parts 1 through 3 of my Review of Guitar Tricks.com, you learned that I too run a unique guitar lessons site at http://rnbacademy.com. You also learned that I thought that Lisa McCormick was a fantastic teacher for total beginners. Next, I checked out their Song Lessons and found them to be a major over hyped disappointment, with a few noted exceptions.

Today I am going to cover my examination of their Style Studies:

DOWNWARD SPIRAL

Too many “style studies” are simply ONE lick and an MP3 clip played at full speed (not slowed down for easy study). That's not a style study. I checked out the Rockabilly section for example, and their Travis picking explanation consisted of ONE lick played at tempo. The nuances were not remotely broken down, nor slowed for careful understanding, nor were the fingerings, all of which I know to be unique and worth the time and respective study.

CLASSICAL WITH CHRIS

I checked out a Classical Lesson, Jesu Joy of Mans Desiring, taught by Chris Schlegel. Chris frankly reminds me of many typical L.A. Teachers I ran across back in my early days: Confident, capable and yet my impression of his knowledge and abilities far exceeded something that I was likely to learn from him. Each lesson has this, “I know you want to learn to play so badly, but in truth you'll have to put in years of practice and study to really get it.” kind of vibe to it. Its honest, and yet at the time overwhelming. In this lesson, he follows a “Here's a few tips and parts but for the most part you're on your own. Tabs are below, by the way, work it out” format.

A DIAMOND – AT LAST

So, I went on to additional styles, looking at Jazz, as this is an area that can be considered Advanced, and I was pleased to find a nice breakdown of the great Joe Pass, by Chris Schlegal. His lessons presented Mr. Pass and his approach to melody and Chords by incorporating a Drop 2 Chord Approach. Now, here was some great and unique content you won't find every day. Well presented and well documented!

ROCK BOTTOM....

Then there was Instructor Kevin Taylor and his 7 Basic Jazz Positions. This consisted of a picture of 7 chords. Really? Thats a lesson? No explanations, just a list and a picture? I'd have fired this guy right off my site for junk like that.

Tomorrow I will cover someone else on that site, that I thought was great, and give you a summation of my final grade for this site.

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