About Me - The "Guitar Lessons Critic"

Let's see...how did my guitar "journey" start? Well, I was 11 years old, and I got my first guitar for $10 at a garage sale in my neighborhood (Delta acoutic with nylon strings)! I had recently taken up Alto Saxophone in the school band, but I knew I wanted to play guitar. It's the one of the most versatile instruments of all time (right up there with Piano & Drums), it can be played quietly at home or at ridiculously-loud rock concerts with massive amps, and it sounds amazing.

My name is Kyle, and guitar is my favorite instrument by far! I play as often as I can, and I love it. After getting my Delta acoustic, I randomly picked it up and toyed around on it, but being being so young, I wasn't disciplined enough to really practice on a regular basis (since I didn't have any lessons or formail training, and it was just for fun at the time).

Man, I wish I would have known about these guitar lessons for beginners when I first started...there's no telling how well I could play at this point.

Anyway, my Dad played bass guitar, but he also had a killer electric '64 Gretsch, that I loved. I was really into rock & punk music at the time, so I wanted nothing more than to play in a band with that awesome guitar!

My first band

After practicing for a while on my acoustic, Dad finally let me play the electric. I LOVED it...In fact, my friends and I ended up starting a band together, and I played rhythm guitar. We rocked out for a few years, playing at a couple school event and stuff, but mostly just for fun at our houses.

You know, bugging the parents to no end...=)

But, even though it was a blast playing heavy music with loud amps, I found myself getting caught up in the "politics" of being in a band, and realzing that there was more to music.

The guitar that changed my life...

One day, my parents and I went to a local guitar shop, and I found a Takamine Acoustic/Electric, that I knew would make things more exciting for me than playing that old $10 acoustic.

So, they talked about it, and decided that if I could get straight A's that quarter, they would buy it for me!

Long story short, I worked really hard and got the grades, so I got the guitar. Ever since, I've loved being able to play quitely in my room, at parties with friends, for my family, for my girlfriend (now my fiancee), and even with bands on occasion.

So, in the end, I learned a ton from working hard to get that guitar, but I still found myself wanting to improve my guitar-playing skills. I never took lessons, because my Alto Sax lessons showed me that letting the bias of one instructor get in the way of what you want out of playing an instrument can be challenging...not to mention the fact that it's really expensive!

Why I made GuitarLessonsCritic.com

I've been playing for fun for over a decade now, but I still feel like there are tons of gaps to fill with my playing.

Over the years, I've primarily learned from guitar tabs, but the songs you choose determine what you learn, meaning I missed out on LOTS of skills from doing this. Plus, when I jam with people or try to write my own songs, I feel like I get stuck way too easily. This all comes down to having some formal training (chords, progressions, keys, scales, etc.). Without this foundation of knolwedge, it's very difficult to ever feel truly comfortable playing guitar.

So, I decided to look online for guitar courses I could learn the fundamentals from. There was a wide range of lessons available, but many of the ones I tried were too basic or practically a waste of time!

After scouring the Internet for months, I came across a few courses that cost money, and I ended up buying all of them (after reading plenty of reviews, of course). Well, some of them were helpful, and others...were not.

Fast-forward to today: I've been using just 2 guitar lesson products for quite some time now, and I'm very happy with both of them! I personally tried 4 products, then I started talking to people online about them, and leaving my reviews of them on websites. Before I knew it, I had sort of found a hobby...reviewing and learning from these guitar courses.

Now, I graduated from college in November, 2008, and my full-time job is to make websites. So, I figured it'd only make sense to have some fun with this, and make a nice little website to showcase my reviews. The rest, is history...

I hope you enjoy the site, and good luck learning guitar!
Kyle

P.S. - If you need anything (questions, comments, or course review requests), email me: kyle at guitarlessonscritic.com!