Dan Anderson www.guitar-dan.com
Ultimate-guitar.com, used with Power Tab software (get it free at Downloads.com), offers tons of free TAB (along with sleazy ads and pop-ups). I generally refer students to books, instead. Books are legal, accurate, more legible, and can include a CD.
For learning by DVD, LGM is a top-rated learning package. It includes 10 DVDs and 5 CDs, and a 100+ page book: $249.00 (sometimes on sale for $200). But I prefer using Hal Leonard’s Signature Licks . Each book has about 15 songs, instruction by industry leaders, a CD, and runs about 90 pages, costing $20 each. Compare: Buy 10 HL books (10 CDs, ~900 pages) or buying LMG on sale, instead, gets you about 800 fewer pages, 5 fewer CDs, but 10 DVDs.
YouTube is great for watching players. Check out less know players on video, at http://www.myspace.com/andersondan But I don’t recommend them for instructional videos. Students learn quicker by reading tab and hearing a CD track than by watching someone telling them where to place their fingers. And book publishers carefully choose the author, run his work through numerous edits, and often write the book in committee. Who knows who the person is that just uploaded a file from his home computer. Also, staring at a T.V. screen or computer monitor wears on my eyes; a book is easier to look at and to reference. More importantly, the instructor can’t observe YOU through the screen; no personal understanding or interaction is possible. I wouldn’t practice as much if I always had to do it at my computer or T.V. Finally, learning to play should involve the ear more than the eye. A book’s photos suffice for showing hand position and technique. It’s too easy to lounge in front of videos. For what you learn best watching videos, watch performance videos.
A powerful software learning tool is The Amazing Slow Downer. Use it to slow down a digital audio file without changing the pitch. It comes free, to use with Hal Leonard’s Guitar Play-Along book/CDs, or purchase for $45. (Guitar Play-Along also comes on DVD, if you’d rather learn in front of your T.V. or computer screen.) The Slow Downer also can be used with songs downloaded from a music subscription service, like Urge ($15 monthly, for unlimited downloads to several computers and players). Use the Guitar Recorded Versions series, or The Greatest Rock Guitar Fake Book, with Urge and the Slow Downer.
The best way to learn gutiar: my YMCA group guitar-lab lessons are inexpensive ($5 or $10 per one hour lessons, depending on membership), offer free use of Hal Leonard’s Essential Elements, limit class size to 12 students, and provide individualized instruction through mic/headphones. You don’t even need to bring your guitar. Learning in a group setting is more fun; and you can exercise after! Modern technology, one-on-one customized instruction, and fun social interaction—your screen can’t do all that!