This article will explain what virtual guitar lessons are, where to find them, what to look for, point you in the right direction to find good learning material and help you create your own program to improve your playing using what's available on the Internet.

What are virtual guitar lessons?

Thanks to the Internet more and more people are able to satisfy their music education needs on-line. Whereas in the past you would have had to pay to have guitar lessons with a guitar teacher, now you can learn everything you want to through articles, videos, pod-casts and guitar tablature (a method of music notation specific to the guitar).

In a sense all of those media count as virtual guitar lessons because you are learning without having a real teacher present. However these various media are missing a vital ingredient to really be considered a virtual lesson.

In order for something to truly be a lesson and not just a resource it needs to be a part of curriculum, a long term path that guides you from where you are now as a guitar player, to where you want to be. There are thousands of instructional videos and articles on the Internet, yet many guitarists find they are not improving even with all this free material at their disposal.

This is because they are not told what to practice and in what order. They don't have guidance that tells them what the learning path is that they need to follow in order to become a great guitar player. I know many people that even with all the material available are still stuck playing the same couple of songs they learned years ago. I'll explain how to set up your own curriculum next.

How to create your own curriculum

To start with you can find series of articles that teach various aspects of playing guitar, or videos that show you how to play a particular song. You could start searching on the various free video sharing websites or looking on websites dedicated to playing guitar. If you get stuck with something you could ask people on guitar player forums to help you with any issues you have. Note that this mix and match approach is good for some people but others find the haphazard approach frustrating. If you have perseverance and are disciplined then you can certainly improve using resources in this way.

A good thing to do is set up a plan for how you will get better.

1.Decide what your goal is. Is it playing faster? To learn a particular song? Do you want to learn improvisation?

2.Find resources that will help you. Make a list of videos and articles that will help you.

3.Practice only those exercises from your list. Don't get distracted by the latest song or technique until you've mastered what you set out to before moving on to the next goal.

How to choose good virtual guitar lessons?

If you want to guarantee improving then you need to find some kind of structured program that leads you through all the steps you need, whether that's from a beginner level or someone who is already been playing for a while. Key points to look out for are:

1.It uses a combination of video, audio and text to teach you.

2.It has lots of variation to keep you motivated.

3.Opportunity to get feedback from those that are better guitarists.

A good example of such a program are these virtual guitar lessons.

However you decide to continue learning guitar make sure it always stays fun, don't ever let practicing become a chore. After all there a time for practicing guitar and a time for just playing.