We have over 150 free video lessons online, but it's no substitute for hiring an actual instructor. And what's better than hiring an actual instructor? Getting a free one. And that's exactly what Billy Farmer does as the Gig Harbor Farmer's Market every Saturday.

"Farmer was spurred on to give guitar lessons when he had a young student drop out of one of his classes because he couldn’t afford the lessons.

“That’s just the tip of the iceberg,” he said. “For every one that you see, there’s a whole bunch of other kids that would like to learn but can’t afford it.”

That’s a sad scenario, Farmer said, because a lot of the children who want to learn have talent.

“I am able to see it right away,” he said. “It’s like turning on a light switch. Then you see the whole self-esteem thing, and it just goes from there.”

Well that's just awesome. I immediately thought of parents having something to distract their kids while they shop. But helping kids in a situation that couldn't otherwise afford it is a great thing.

- Flatpicking Lesson on Tennessee Wagoner featuring tab and .mp3

- Six tips on buying guitars at garage sales or at pawn shops. Most pawn shops are internet savvy at this point, but garage sales can still be a good bargain.

- And the tale of someone who struck guitar gold at a garage sale. Crazy, crazy, crazy amount of guitar gold.

Jeff Beck has started posting blog entries on his site. He started April 1st and has posted three thus far. So 1-2 posts a month should be about what to expect. I haven't watched a ton of Jeff Beck interviews so I'm not familiar enough with his personality to figure out how to interpret some of the statements. I'm assuming they are jokes but you never know.

"In Cleveland we met up with a group of FBI people who showed us around. In return we invited them to the concert. They seemed to have a really good time but ended up putting my manager in handcuffs!!"

Below is Jody Worrell's free lesson on some Jeff Beck style bending techniques. Jody also has a lesson on learning a Jeff Beck style solo



(HT: Strat-O-Blogster)

Jazz fusion guitarist Scott Henderson may not be a widely known name but he certainly has a devout following. He first came to fame with his band Tribal Tech in the late 80's and early 90's. More recently he's recorded with bass virtuoso Victor Wooten and drummer Steve Smith. In this free lesson Guy Fenocchi takes a look at Scott's use of the melodic minor scale. In addition to Guy's video I've also included a lesson from Scott Henderson himself explaining the way he likes to break the guitar neck up into a series of 5ths to create chordal sounds.

We have new free and premium Mike Stern lessons and a premium lesson on ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons. Here's a video of Mike Stern taking a live solo. The video/sound quality aren't great, but it should give you an idea of his jazz/rock fusion sound



And some classic ZZ Top footage from 1980. This is Billy and the boys in their younger more energetic days performing in Europe

Just came across this old performance by John Lee Hooker on Youtube.




And as a result I found this lesson with some tips on getting a John Lee Hooker sound when you play blues on an acoustic guitar. Unfortunately, the submitter disabled embedding for the video so you'll have to follow that link and go to Youtube to watch it.

If you're not deeply entrenched in the blues and jazz community you may never have heard of Robben Ford before. Robben briefly played with Miles Davis in the 1980's and then later achieved success with Robben Ford and the Blue Line which was a more traditional blues band. Robben likes to bring a jazz edge to his blues playing and has developed his own distinct style. Jody Worrell teaches you that approach in his new Robben Ford Style Solo lesson. Below I've picked out a choice Robben Ford performance from Youtube.

If you are not already familiar with Albert Lee, he's a British born country guitarist. You can check out his wikipedia profile for a list of bands he's played with. Mainly, Albert Lee is regarded along with James Burton as the masters of chicken picking guitar. Below you can view a video of Albert Lee explaining his right hand technique for picking. He uses lots of open stings, which is a concept that Peter Vogl describes in our free Cross Stringing Scales video lesson. I've also included a youtube video of Albert Lee performing "Country Boy" on an old BBC Christmas Special (look for Eric Clapton in the audience). If any of this intrigues you... check out Jody Worrell's new lessons that will teach you an entire Albert Lee Style Solo.

I'm not sure who is responsible for this list of amp settings for popular songs and guitarists but it's a cool collection. Here are a couple of examples:

JIMI HENDRIX - PURPLE HAZE

drive at 8
treble at 7
mid at 9
bass at 6
reverb at 3
with overdrive

SULTANS OF SWING SETTINGS

presence at 4
treble at 5
nid at 5
bass at 5
reverb 2/3
master at 10

ERIC CLAPTON

gain at 7
treble at 5
mid at 7
bass at 7
presence at 8


We have our own series of lessons that will teach you how to play like the guitar greats. Check out our Mark Knopfler Style Lesson to get that Sultans of Swing sound or you can learn a few Eric Clapton Style Blues Turnarounds

One of the first stumbling blocks for a beginning guitarist trying to take guitar lessons may be trying to figure out what all of those lines and numbers in guitar tab mean. We've designed a series of free video lessons that will take the beginner through the basic concepts of guitar tab. Take a look...

How to Read Guitar Tabs

How to Read Chord Charts

How to Read Fingering Notation

Reading Double Stop Fingering Notation

Here is the youtube video of the How to Read Guitar Tab video

PJ:: Thanks for your lesson on guides and pivots. Can you provide any assistance on the G chord to C chord change (where all fingers are finding different homes on the fret board)? I am finding the C to G change pretty straightforward, but getting back to C has been a bit frustrating to say the least. Anything you can share would be appreciated.

Peter: This is actually a tough chord change. I promote working on changes like this with slow motion work. Practice doing the chord change (or any that is difficult for you) by moving your fingers in slow motion. As slow as you can possibly go. This will help you minimize motion and gain control of your fingers. Depending on the fingering you use you are probably having to lift all of your fingers for this chord change. Practice lifting and placing them all at the same time in slow motion using as small of motions. Don't feel bad if this takes a while to master. Once again this is a difficult change but the battle is well worth fighting and will help you with other difficult changes as you progress. Best of luck.

Take a look at our Christmas guitar tabs for O Christmas Tree and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.

We also have a new video of Jody Worrell performing Silent Night.

Jody Worrell has a new lesson out where you can learn some blues guitar licks in the style of Johnny Winter. The licks will focus on Johnny's note selection and trademark wide vibrato technique. Watch a preview of this lesson.

If you're unfamiliar with Johnny Winter check out this vintage performance and recent interview.

First of all, we're proud to annouce Peter Vogl's two new lessons on how to play the lead guitar solo from All Along the Watchtower. The first lesson will cover the Jimi Hendrix inspired opening to the song and the second lesson will cover some Jimi styled lead guitar from later in the song. Peter also has free lessons on a couple of the techniques covered in the solo. First learn how to play Minor Third Bends and Unison Bends, then move on and learn the guitar solo for Watchtower.

You can hear Jimi's version of the song on this Youtube video

It seems like Jimi has been popping up on guitar sites all over the net the last couple of weeks.

- Strat-o-blogster has the run down of the Fender Custom Shop's re-creation of the Strat Jimi played at the Monterey Pop Festival 40 years ago. Plus he's also got youtube clips of Jimi playing the original and John Mayer playing the new model.

- Electric Guitar Review has a post about the "IK Multimedia’s Amplitube Jimi Hendrix digital modeling software". You can also follow a link from there to hear an .mp3 of "Guitar Player Magazine’s Michael Ross has recorded a pretty impressively authentic Hendrix-style jam"