Learning to Play Guitar with Fender Play

Lili tried learning to play guitar for about a month. Through Fender Play, she was able to learn the basics of guitar, including proper technique and finger placement.

To get started with Fender Play, you follow a Path. Their paths are Rock, Blues, Folk, Country, and Pop. Each path has the option for Acoustic and Electric. Lili tried the Rock path. The first lesson was how guitars work, how to use an amp correctly, how to tune your guitar.

She enjoyed the visual aspect of lessons, but felt some lessons (especially the beginner, beginner ones) were hard to follow at times. Having had no experience with guitar before, she felt some of the initial lessons (on how to actually play the guitar) were rushed.

After the first few basic lessons, the program went quickly into how to play songs.  For those who have a basic knowledge of how the guitar works, Fender Play has tutorials for many popular songs. Genres include rock, blues, pop, folk, and country. From Coldplay and Meghan Trainor to Johnny Cash, songs are rated on a difficulty level of 1-3. This is where Fender Play really shines, especially for those with a basic knowledge of guitar, since each tutorial walks you through the chords and riffs for each song.

Additionally, each song has Skills. For example, for the song “Viva La Vida” by Coldplay, we learn the four chords used are C, D, G, and Em. The skills learned through the song are chord anticipation, palm muting, and syncopated strumming.

Being a complete beginner at all things musical, Lili felt some of the song portions were rushed, as they would often just say the chord name, without expanding. Of course, I guess this could easily be solved with steady repetition of notes and lessons, and this wouldn’t be a problem for those with a working knowledge of guitar.

Fender Play is definitely a high quality program for learning to play guitar. Each lesson includes clear voices and picture. Its digital format is especially helpful for busy families and homeschoolers, and its self-led pace is convenient and focuses more on skills mastered than trying to fulfill a schedule. Those completely new to guitar will need some supplements, but those who know the basics and who want to begin learning how to play songs will love Fender Play! Sign up for a 30 Day FREE trial today!

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of CLEVER and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

The post Learning to Play Guitar with Fender Play first appeared on True Aim.

I started teaching my oldest daughter Audrey (now age 5) how to play a year ago, but my skills are very limited.  Then I was introduced to HoffmanAcademy.com.  It filled in the musical knowledge that I lacked and gave my children a fun new way to learn how to play.  Even if you don’t know how to play piano yourself, you can give your children Piano Lessons right at home!  Here are my favorite things about the program.

Free Piano Lessons for Kids

No Experience Needed
If you have no musical abilities, these lessons are the perfect fit.  Your children simply watch their piano teacher Mr. Hoffman on video, and then you help them practice the lesson.  Lessons are very short, allowing lots of time for practice after the video.  I love it because I have control over the pace of the lesson.  I can stop the video to make sure my children understand what is going on and I can have them watch it more than once if they are having trouble.

Covers All the Basics and More
Your children will learn all the basics including proper technique, music theory, rhythm, notation, and more.  Best of all, the lessons cover advanced concepts in a simple way to aid children in composing and improvising their own songs!

Makes Learning Fun
Lessons are interactive and include hands-on activities.  My daughters’ favorite activity is the Heartbeat Mat.  In this activity, they hit each heart from left to right on the mat for each beat in the song.  This has greatly improved my 5-year-old’s ability to keep the beat!  You’ll find more activites just like this one throughout the lessons.

Additional Materials Available
For more enrichment activities, lesson materials and accompaniment tracks go to FreePianoLessons4Kids.com Store.  Compared to the cost of traditional piano lessons that range from $30-45 per lesson, this is an amazing value!

Here is Emma (age 3) playing her first song after her first lesson!

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Start piano lessons now at HoffmanAcademy.com and save 50% on all piano materials until Oct. 31st 2013!

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The post Free Piano Lessons For Kids Review and Giveaway! first appeared on True Aim.