Follow your desire to play guitar with Online Guitar Lessons

You have a burning desire to play guitar and you want to get started as soon as possible. What do I do first, should I buy a book, what book and should I take lessons and where do I do that? All of these are good questions that need to be answered. Most people start with their local music stores to find the answers and that is a good place to start but most stores are not concerned with your desire to play the guitar. They are mostly interested in selling you an instrument, books and signing you up for lessons with one of their teachers.
This can be an expensive start for your guitar playing and often times it can be hard to find a teacher that can give you a well rounded start to your guitar lessons with the basic knowledge you need to begin you adventure into guitar playing. The one thing I have discovered over the years is that learning to play the guitar is not a short term project. Not only is there a great deal information to learn but your hands need to develop strength and agility to take on the task of playing the guitar. For all of these reasons I have developed a series of online guitar lessons at www.gtrteacher.com called Music Ala Carte.
At Music Ala Carte there are free lessons to give you an idea of how the video online guitar lessons work, on the home page there is a bargain box to help you with buying your first guitar and with the lessons there are printable lesson resources that come with the lessons so there is no need to buy extra books. I have been teaching guitar for 25 years; children of all ages, young adults and adults up to age 76. I have designed the video guitar lessons to be similar to my one-on-one studio lessons, there is even an ask the teacher button so you can have personal contact with your teacher any time you want. It's just an email away. In addition Music Ala Carte also offers Song Lessons where you can learn to use chords and strum along the the songs as I play and sing them. There are free MP3's to listen to and play along with.
There are many features that go along with Music Ala Carte;  Easy to follow videos, great printable resources, beginning guitar lessons, song lessons, unlimited access and our go back format; at any time during a lesson or song you feel you would like to repeat or review part of a lesson or segment, you can go back to the practice tab, previous segment or video and repeat as needed.

I invite you to visit Music Ala Carte at www.gtrteacher.com and take a look around, I think you'll like what you see.

Bob Swinton

Lesson Samples on You Tube

Here at Music Ala Carte we have started some thing new; we are going to put samples of all the video online guitar lessons on You Tube. They will appear on our channel GtrTeacher where you can listen and watch and then you can go to the web site www.gtrteacher.com and browse through to see what there is to offer. I'm sure you will like what you see. Here is the sample of the video lesson Notes on the 2nd String. Once you are there you can take a listen to any of the videos there; Try one of the 2 minute song lessons like "Have You Ever Seen the Rain".
Remember; Six String Music is Good for the Soul

Video Online Guitar Lessons

If you have a passion to learn to play the guitar or are just thinking about it but many of the usual restrictions stand in your way; expense, finding time for the lesson, going to the studio or music store or remembering what was said in the lesson  considering your busy schedule. This is why Video Online Guitar Lessons have become the way to go for many people and I know just the place for you, Music Ala Carte, http://www.gtrteacher.com/. The online lessons are affordable, you have 24 hr access, you take all the lessons at home and you can GoBack and review every lesson to make sure you understand the material.

Summer Guitar Camp

Hi everyone,
We had a great time at the June guitar camp here at Music Ala Carte, the kids learned 10 songs in 4 days and rehearsed them for an excellant show at the end of the second week. The camp is geared for beginner and intermediate guitar students from the ages of 7 to 15 years. We welcome acoustic, bass and electric guitars and the main focus will be on learning to play together in groups. We will have music put together and place the student with the part they will do best at so the perfoming experience will be fun and rewarding. We have one session left for this summer; July 11th through July 22nd, there will be a recording session in both sessions and a performance at the end of each. The first camp was a lot of fun and the second camp promises to be a very good time also so please check your schedules for the Music Ala Carte summer guitar camp.
You can register online at Summer Music Camp Registration or you can contact me gtrteacher@robertswinton.com and I can email you the registration form.

Hope to see you at the
Summer Guitar Camp.

Hi,
This is Robert Swinton and I wanted to invite you to listen in on my interview on Celebrity Internet Radio. My relative and good friend, Sonya Swinton, is the host and we had a great time with the interview. We talked about many of my adventures over the years and she plays lots of my music throughout the show. The show starts in a minute after the recording starts.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/internet-celebrity_magazine-tv/2011/04/05/robert-swinton-musician-and-recording-artist?&utm_source=remail&utm_medium=listener
I hope you enjoy the show  and I also would like to invite you to go to my video online guitar teaching studio at www.gtrteacher.com and take a look around I think you'll enjoy this also.

Thanks,
Bob Swinton

The Very Best of the Season to You

I wanted to wish everyone

Happy Holidays!

I hope the season is going well for you.

This year I wanted to give you some thing

that I thought would fit with the times.

More Free Lessons

I have added several more items

to the Free Lessons tab on

Music Ala Carte.

It starts with the introduction lesson followed

by lesson 1 notes on the 1st string

and then lesson 2 notes on the second string.

Then comes our NEW Video 2 Minute Song lessons.

With these you can get the chords, basic strum pattern

and a practice session all in 2 minutes.

You will also get the printable chord and lyric sheet

and the mp3 to play along with me.

Right after that are the Christmas songs for the season.

You can play and sing these favorites along with your friends

and help raise the holiday spirit.

And to finish up we have 4 more songs to learn. As alwys you get the

chord and lyric sheet and the mp3 to play along with.

I hope you take advatage of my holiday gift and stop by

Music Ala Carte and take a look at the Free Lessons.

Remember, Video Online Guitar Lessons at

Music Ala Carte

make a great holiday gift.

Have a Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year!!

Bob Swinton

Six String Music is Good for the Soul

Improve your chord and strumming performance

I've worked for many years helping students learn to play the guitar.Each student is different and learns at their own pace. It seems one the most challenging methods to master is the ability to play and change chords and strum along to a song. Learning to play a single chord can be difficult, the student must place multiple fingers on the fret board and press down firmly so all the the notes will ring when they strum the chord. This takes practice not only to perfect the chord but also to strengthen your hand. Then the student will learn several chords and begin to master the art of changing one chord to another. The final accomplishment in playing rhythm guitar is to strum and change the chords to the beat of the song you are playing along to.

All of this can seem a mighty task not only if your just learning chords or have already learned a few chord and have tried your hand at rhythm guitar. I have developed a method to help you with your chord and strumming performance.  At http://www.gtrteacher.com/ I have put into action a method I also use in my private studio to help the student improve their rhythm guitar playing.

In the Learn Songs section of Music Ala Carte each song has a video to help you with; chords, strum pattern, practice session and then an uptempo video for the finish. Once the student has learned the song there is an mp3 and a song library so they can play the whole song along with me. Also there are down loadable chord and lyric sheets along with strum patterns you can print out for each song.

Chords
This video will show you the chord formation and how to finger the chord properly. Be sure to go over this video until you are fully familiar with chords and how to play them.
Strum Pattern
This video will show the student the right hand strum pattern and help them keep the rhythm as they play along to the song. Be sure to go back, use the practice tabs in the table of contents, until you are comfortable with the strum and chord patterns.
Practice Session
In this video I play sections of the song at a slower pace so the student can practice what they have learned at a tempo that will be easier to achieve. In my private I have used this method of playing along  with my students to help them learn the rhythm parts to a song. This has proven to help the student accomplish the chord and strum patterns. Using the Practice Session of the video as another guitar player the student is able to play along and master the chord and strum patterns of the song.
Up-Tempo
In this video we use the same procedure as the Practice Session only at a faster tempo. The idea of using the video as another guitar player is still the same. Just as before, go back over this section until you are very comfortable with the chord and strumming patterns of the song and feel ready to play it on your own.
As with all new musical information mastering the song depends on your practice time.
MP3
When the student feels they have accomplished the song there is an mp3 to play the entire song right along with me. You will find the mp3 for each song right under the videos and in the Song Library under Lesson Resources.

I would like to invite you to give this song learning method a try. Just go to http://www.gtrteacher.com/ and under the Free Lessons tab you find several songs to try. The Song Library under the Lesson Resources is also free so what have you got to lose.

Six String Music is Good for the Soul

Robert Swinton