Fender Presents: Getting Started on Acoustic Guitar -- A Guide for Beginners

Like headline says. The material on this video is good as stand alone. But this video is the same Getting Started on Electric Guitar with a few small scenes featuring acoustic guitar illustration. But is the same Electric guitar video. I find it disconcerting trying to learn the acoustic instrument wile the instructor use an electric one. Plus I already own the electric guitar one, so now I have it twice. That is why I knocked 2 stars out of the video.

This review is for "Fender Presents: Getting Started on Acoustic Guitar -- A Guide for Beginners." I also bought the Fender "Getting Started on Electric Guitar" DVD. Do not bother buying both DVD courses; they are essentially the same. In fact, one half of the content is exactly the same.This course is excellent. Obviously a great deal of thought went into the production of this DVD at-home guitar course. If you just got your guitar and do not even know how to tune it, this DVD is a great place to start. In fact, it will probably be best for you to start with this DVD (for about three months) before you start taking guitar lessons from a live instructor. This course probably works best with teenagers and adults. Children will probably need help from a parent (it should not matter whether or not the parent plays guitar).This course will teach you how to tune your guitar and how to play basic open-string chords. With this knowledge, you will be able to play rhythm guitar for simple songs fairly quickly. Song chords may be found in numerous places online, as well as in guitar fake books sold here on Amazon. Being able to quickly have fun playing one's guitar helps motive one to continue learning how to play. The Fender course also teaches barre chords, notes on the sixth and fifth strings (to enable you to locate the root notes and placement of barre chords), three-string power chords (for easy rock 'n' roll), and the A minor pentatonic scale (so you can play simple leads).In short, the Fender course is an excellent resource for the new guitar player. It will not teach you how to read music, and it will not teach you any music theory, but it will teach you everything most new guitar players need to learn to play chord progressions. For example, with this course alone (and songs you get from the internet), you will be able to play rhythm guitar while you sing."Learn and Master Guitar" by Steve Krenz is (by far) a better and more comprehensive course. If you are serious about learning guitar (it is a 20 DVD course, so you better be serious), then try that course in addition to the Fender course. That course is equivalent to two years of guitar instruction (there is even a home-school version.). Another great DVD set for the new guitar player is the Rock House "Learn Electric Guitar" course. A good book on music theory is Hal Leonard's "Music Theory for Guitarists" (by Tom Kolb). If you wish to learn how to sight-read music, a good course is the Berklee "A Modern Method for Guitar - Volume 1: Book/DVD-ROM Pack." Most are available here on Amazon.

I have never been a musician and prior to buying this DVD I had no musical education. That said, Fender did a bang up job. The DVD is broken up into logical chapters and does a very good job explaining the basics to a person with no background in music. I do not have any other instructional DVDs for beginners to compare this too, nor will I need any. This DVD is the only one I needed to get started, and that's the best endoresment I can think of.

This DVD is fantastic! It's worth the price just for the looped backing tracks for practice. I like how I can practice major, minor, power or seventh chords over the backing tracks. It makes practicing chord transitions fun---like actually playing something---instead of a grind.The teacher is first-rate. Yes, as previously noted, he's playing an electric guitar. IT MAKES NO DIFFERENCE TO THE LESSON. He injects just enough music theory quickly and concisely while showing the viewer where to put his/her fingers. Though I already knew most of the chords, I learned some preferable finger positioning for faster transitions. I've only done half of the lessons so far, but it has already been worth my money.Some background might be helpful in your decision to purchase this DVD: I'm a beginning player, and I've only had my guitar for a month. I have a musical background, so I feel like I'm picking it up pretty quickly. I know about 50 chords and can play quite a few songs . . . rhythm, for the most part! I feel like this DVD would have helped me from day one, but I couldn't have breezed through the first several lessons as an absolute beginner.I hope this review helps you decide if this DVD is right for you. Happy practicing!

I first bought Fender's Getting Started on Accoustic Guitar 3 yrs ago. Keith Wyatt's teaching style is unsurpassed - you cannot find a better instructional DVD for guitar. I ended up giving that DVD to my daughter's boyfriend along with my guitar! Recently, I got another guitar and searched for the same DVD by Fender and Keith Wyatt but since I could not remember it's title, cover or Keith Wyatt's name, I was unable to find it. I bought several guitar lesson DVDs at a variety of websites, hoping to find one that I could learn from. None of them compared to the lessons by Keith Wyatt. Disappointed, I searched one more time just trying to find a good, useful, instuctional DVD. At Amazon I selected the Fender DVD without even knowing it was the one I had been looking for all along. The description alone caused me to buy it again and when the DVD arrived, I was pleasantly surprised when I popped it in and found Keith Wyatt there again! Keith teaches everything from how to hold the guitar and even the pick, to tuning to first chords and the lessons build from there. The DVD contains practice tracks that Keither directs the student to work with after each lesson. It's great! You can tune the guitar to the DVD and you can practice chords and techniques to live music. With Keith Wyatt, the student is making and learning music from day one! If you are a beginning accoustic guitar player - look no further. This is the DVD for you. If you are more advanced or playing electric guitar, use Keith Wyatt as the key words in your searches - he has a number of DVD's on the market to help players at all levels.

As another reviewer wrote - you need an extra pair of hands to stop and rewind. I personally found it difficult to find on the dvd the start of the lessons and go back and start again. I also found that he moved from showing where the fingers were placed - quickly to playing a note and then quickly to playing the notes up the neck of the guitar. This was going on while i was still trying to place my fingers on the strings. Too fast - insufficient repetition. Often i could not see which fingers were playing the notes as you are looking directly down on all fingers.i am disappointed but perhaps i need a more basic dvd before tackling this one again. i wish there was a British Artist - Learn to Play a Guitar - DVD

Brilliant , covers everything . A must for any beginner , it helped me so much . Easy to use and a real confidence booster. Tales you from best way to sit for you , tuning , being patient and lots of positive praise on your progress and confidence . I would not be without it . Worth every penny for total beginners . This and a guitar for a present is money well spent .😁👌

I've had this DVD for about two weeks and have come on leaps and bounds from initially buying a book that I got stuck on with lot's of theory to this that you can actually watch and pause/rewind etc. I feel that I have really developed. This DVD has helped me understand the parts of the book I got stuck on. The practice tracks are excellent in helping you with chord changes and to developed a sense of rhythm. Guitar Go here I come!

Well, I last had a guitar when I was 12, now at almost 49 I purchased a Fender acoustic guitar (people my age normally buy Harley Davidsons!!) and got a taster dvd with the pack. I decided to buy the full dvd version and can really rate it as it has taught me things I never really understood out of a book in my younger days. I think it gives a fairly, although basic, good understanding of the guitar and would certainly encourage any beginner to buy it. Keith Wyatt has a good approach with the subject. My only gripe? An extra pair of hands to rewind/pause when watching so I can still keep both hands on my guitar!!!

A Very Good Beginner DVD