A wonderfully rewarding ability is to be able to play a musical instrument, especially one as smokin' as the guitar. The main problem, though, is that private tuition is really costly and not always readily available. Quite often, you have to reschedule your entire day (or even week) just to get a slot. And, you can't move ahead until you go to the next lesson, even if you've mastered your last batch of homework.

The good news is that you can learn to play guitar without going anywhere! There are so many resources available to you that it'd make your head spin! There are dozens (if not hundreds!) of quality DVD guitar courses and online video study programs to choose from. These are excellent options with three main benefits: You learn from experts, you move through the material at whatever pace you like (faster or slower), and you save a substantial amount of money. Paying for a private tutor will quickly run into the hundreds of dollars and over time, literally thousands of dollars. Teaching yourself is a budget-conscious and sensible way to get started today.

No one stops to add up the cost before rushing out to get a private tutor. A single lesson once a week for even just 6 months will cost you well over $500. There aren't many teachers who'd give you your money back after that time if you weren't happy, either, don't you think?

So how do you find the best home-study and online lessons which are both easy to follow and allow you to progress at your own pace? Beginner guitarists have never had so much choice with all the downloadable video lessons, online membership sites, and huge DVD home-study packages out there right now.

Review sites help you cut through the noise and pinpoint which course is best for you. They usually deal with: an overview of the lessons, the pros and cons, the price, what you get, and so on. They can help you compare courses in a simple and easy-to-understand format.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN HIGH-QUALITY ONLINE GUITAR LESSONS

Depending on what your own playing goals are and your expected rate of progress, the course you decide on should give you the ability to learn the basic skills needed to pick individual notes and strum chords.

Scales, arpeggios, riffs, chord progressions and turn-arounds, playing in different keys and so on will all come next. You'll also learn how to read tablature to begin with and then musical notation (if you can't already). This will enable you to start playing some of your favourite songs. This will aid in keeping your motivation up as you learn more and more theory.

Once you learn the basics, you should be able to play both electric and acoustic guitar well enough to play along with quite a few simple songs and in more than one style. Still, there will be techniques of a more advanced nature that you'll need to slow down and learn here. A lot of guitarists make the mistake of failing to make much progress once they can play a few tunes. That's where well-organised instructional programs help you to learn and master guitar one stage at a time.

Most, but not all, learn guitar courses are aimed at beginners and provide you with all that you need. Some provide a lot more than that, however, and these courses (despite being somewhat more expensive initially) work out to money well spent. Some courses require you to buy additional modules or units as you get better. Don't worry, though, because it will be money well spent, provided each set of lessons builds on what came before it, making it easy to learn to play. Being overwhelmed as a beginner is the last thing you need. That will only result in giving up too early!

IS THE QUALITY OF ONLINE GUITAR LESSONS UP-TO-SCRATCH?

Today, you have no shortage of options for online lessons that will take you one step at a time from rank beginner to whatever level you want to achieve! The majority of courses available start out right from the very beginning so as to cater to everyone, irrespective of prior knowledge and many such programs take you all the way through to really high-level stuff in much less time than you would probably consider possible.

Review sites are generally able to tell you if the course or DVD you're thinking about buying has lessons that are easy to understand. A good player is not necessarily a good guitar teacher. That's the purpose of review sites: To enable you to compare the vital aspects of different courses side-by-side and make the choice that's right for your needs.

If you're concerned about the month after month price of a private tutor and/or if going through the lessons at your own pace is particularly important to you, then online video guitar lessons or a downloadable course are probably the best choice for you. The best thing is that you can get started today. No finding and meeting a tutor and then getting to know him or her. No painful getting across town to his or her studio. Just immediately start learning with video lessons, jam-tracks, practice drills, and all kinds of other goodies. All without the need to leave your home.