Product Description

Guitar Method 4.0

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #375 in Software
• Brand: Avanquest Software
• Model: EG08063
• Released on: 2008-02-09
• ESRB Rating: Everyone 10+
• Platforms: Windows Vista, Windows NT, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows XP, Mac OS X
• Dimensions: .0" h x .0" w x .0" l, .15 pounds

Manufacturer's Description

The latest version of the world's best-selling beginning guitar CD-ROM! Over 160 comprehensive lessons cover everything from the basics to chord strumming, playing melodies, and fingerpicking. A modern rock chapter includes various strumming styles, movable power chords, and power chord riffs. Over 50 large-format videos from instructor Kevin Garry, Ph.D., include split-screens and close-ups of both hands.

Learning guitar is made fun with over 70 songs, including famous hits from artists such as Bob Dylan, the Grateful Dead, and Steve Miller. Many of the songs are recorded live with multi-track full band accompaniment. As the songs play, an animated fretboard guides you through the fingerings, and MIDI tracks allow you to slow down and loop parts of the music for practice. This new version includes larger easy-to-read screens, enhanced audio and video, and custom animated fretboard skins. eMedia Guitar Method is the ultimate way to learn how to play guitar!

Guitar Method features many hit songs, including:

Knockin' on Heaven's Door
Acoustic version - Bob Dylan
Rock version - in the style of Guns N' Roses
Little Red Rooster- made famous by the Rolling Stones
Rock N' Me - Steve Miller Band
Downtown Train - made famous by Rod Stewart
Uncle John's Band - the Grateful Dead
Scarborough Fair - made famous by Simon & Garfunkel
Ode to Joy - Ludwig van Beethoven
House of the Rising Sun - made famous by the Animals
La Bamba - made famous by Ritchie Valens and Los Lobos
Midnight Special - made famous by Creedence Clearwater Revival

What the Press Say

PC Magazine"One of the best programs we've seen in the music-teaching software category." Editor's Choice
Newsweek"Top 50 educational CD-ROM of the year!"
Peter Frampton"The ultimate way to learn how to play guitar!"
Jon Chappell, editor of Guitar One magazine"eMedia's Guitar Method is the best CD-ROM package I've seen for guitar instruction."
Nancy Wilson, guitarist/vocalist of HEART"Guitar Method is the greatest because it centers around playing songs. If it's not about playing songs, what's it about?"
Mac Addict"Freakin' Awesome!"

Customer Reviews

Very good - but not a substitute for a tutor!
eMedia Guitar Method 4 is a useful software package but does not fully replace a tutor for those starting out on the road to being a guitar hero. A few lessons with a professional will stop you picking up bad habits from the start, and make your playing a lot more enjoyable.

What this software will do is help you to improve your playing at home and help you master a good range of songs. It won't play the guitar for you and you need to put in the effort yourself to get the best out of the help it offers. You need to keep the CD-ROM in your computer to run a lot of the programme - you can't just put it all on your hard drive!

It is one of the better programmes of its type and runs on many platforms, including Macs. The illustrations provided by Amazon will give you an idea of the look of the interface, and the Product Description gives an idea of some of the songs featured and what reviews it has had. Good reports from the likes of Peter Frampton and Nancy Wilson can't be bad!

At around thirty quid it offers good value, probably the cost of a couple of lessons these days. It has some useful features Including automatic tuner, metronome, and 250-chord dictionary, amongst others, and I would recommend it as a learning aid - but not as a substitute for real lessons. Playing the guitar is a skill that can give you pleasure for life and this product can help - but won't give you the feedback and encouragement you may need in the early days.

Five stars for what it is at the price, and recommended for what it offers.

An interesting multi media tool to support your learning
I've been trying to teach myself Guitar through books and CD's for some time with varying levels of success, so was most interested to learn of this product.

This introduced Guitar in a very organised and structured way, building up from the bare essentials to what seems a reasonable level of skill in bite size chucks.

I particularly like the mixed media approach on offer here, combing Video and Audio Tutorial with Songs and Music that you can listen to and then play along with as you learn the pieces.

Being able to move along at my own pace is very appealing , as is being able to pick out lessons based ony my own need (if a full step by step guide is not required).

I'd say the approach on offer is well suited to a variety of learning styles and, as long as you have the desire to learn some Guitar, should get be of benefit.

A really good piece of software
I started to learn to play the guitar when I was about 18, I had a guitar for about 4 years but was never very good, I could strum a few songs and even play about 3 minutes of stairway to heaven.

I sold my guitars and didn't pick one up for more than 20 years and I am now really rubbish, I used to be able to play Tab but can't now.
I want my son who is 5 to have an interest in music he will start piano lessons when he is 6 but I purchased him a guitar hoping we could play and learn together, not one of my better ideas, however he likes my Laptop so I hoped this would enhance our lessons and help with his interest.

Installations is easy auto runs no problem.

Me and my son sat down with our guitars and the laptop and started our eMedia lesson.
The software is easy to navigate and shows you everything you need from an animated fretboard to the cord layout, you can have the sound of the cord or song played which is brilliant.
The software has an automatic Tuner (your need a microphone), a cord dictionary with over 250 cords, It also has a Digital recorder which will help you compare (again a microphone is required).

I love the software It is very easy to follow and I actually feel it will help me finally learn how to play the guitar, or at least impress my son, he was less impressed, he sees the laptop as a way of playing on Cbeebies rather than learning the guitar, I think his learning the guitar will have to wait, hopefully when he starts his piano he may want to learn the guitar as well.
This is a really good piece of software which I recommend to any budding guitar players like myself.