I still remember the day I made the choice that I was going to play guitar for the rest of my life. I was 11, flipping through the TV stations, and came across the Stevie Ray Vaughn PBS unique.

When I heard Voodoo Child Slight return for the first time, I locked for myself in my room for the next year, armed with nothing more than an $8 acoustic I got at a garage sale.

I learned the hard way. Hours a day, with my cassette player; listening, stopping, figuring out a note, hit play again, stop, rewind, figure out the next note, and so on.

I grew up dirt poor and couldn’t afford guitar lessons. At that time, $80 a month (the average for guitar lessons) was not even an option.

I justified my position by saying that I don’t need a guitar teacher showing me how to play like him, I’ll play the way I want to play!

And I was an idiot.

There was nothing I loved more than the guitar. Blues, Rock, Jazz, anything that I could listen to and get some emotion, and one thing that I know is right, if you like something you need to invest everything you have into it.

I used to say with pride that I was self taught, and that I could play by ear. But,  after nearly two decades of playing, if I could give people just one piece of advice it would be TAKE FREAKIN’ LESSONS!

I used to spend 8 hours a day, 7 days a week trying to figure material out, and it wasn’t in anticipation of a year and a half later when I started to play in bands that everything clicked.

You’ll learn more in one hour jamming then you will in a year and a half of isolated practice, and that’s a fact. Why should you spend hours a day trying to “figure material out”, when you could have someone that knows how to play show you the rigorous same thing in 5 minutes?

Also, the 2nd largest piece of advice I would give is to always, always, always invest into jam tracks. Like I said, you can learn more in an hour jamming, then years of  ‘in succession scales’.

I by no means could afford lessons, and now with the internet that’s not even an issue anymore. You can get world class training from some of the industries best teachers for less than the cost of ONE conventional lesson. That’s crazy!

So if you wanna be a fantastic guitar player quick, then I would highly suggest checking out Jamorama. You can download a free lesson, but the thing I like is that you have world class teaching, and some of the best jam tracks I’ve ever heard in one place.

If you want a complete handbook to playing guitar quick, then you will not be disappointed!