There are many hundreds of free guitar lessons here, most with video and audio, and as you can imagine it's taken quite a lot of work for me to put it together. It's important to me to help everyone that wants to learn to play the guitar, not just those with money to spend on tuition, so I run it on an "honour system". It relies on the honesty of it's users to make a donation if they can afford to. Donations allow me to keep it free, so if you like what I'm doing here then please support the site, don't leave it for "everyone else": make a donation or buy some products Thanks for your support! Wishing you love, peace and happiness (and many years of guitar fun!) Justin

Donations keep the site free for those that can't afford to donate!

Come from YouTube?? Find the Lesson ID (in YouTube video title!) then look it up in the Lesson Index to find the lesson notes. The Thursday Guitar Club - Live Webcast   RESTART IN FEB 2012 Join me for the weekly Ustream show and chat about the lessons on the site, practice, transcribing, songwriting and whatever else comes up! *now Thursdays* As well as the weekly show I often turn the camera on when I'm practicing, so join my crowd on Ustream to be notified, or check my Facebook page (where I usually annnounce stuff!) or Twitter.

What am I up to???

Latest 10 Lesson Updates

30-12-11 • Last the free Blues Rhythm Guitar series, Creating Blues Riffs
29-12-11 • Wonderful and fun classic Dylan song for beginners, Like A Rolling Stone
23-12-11 • More Blues Rhythm, this time we're checkin out Turnarounds!
21-12-11 • Beginners Stage 5 song, the awesome Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash
16-12-11 • Next Blues Rhythm Guitar module lesson on using Mini Blues Chord Grips.
15-12-11 • New Christmas tune, Driving Home For Christmas by Chris Rea :) yeah baby!
14-12-11 • A great Stage 4 Beginner Song, Oasis - Live Forever!
08-12-11 • Blues Rhythm Guitar course this week is a great trick called Gospel Slides.
06-12-11 • Beginners Song this week is The Beatles classic, Let It Be.
02-12-11 • More new chords this week in Blues Rhythm Guitar in Blues Chord Extensions

Steve Vai on justinguitar.com!

"I have checked out Justin's site and found it to be comprehensive and informative. I have always felt that learning about music and especially music theory applied to the guitar, is helpful in finding your own unique voice on the instrument and expanding your creative horizons. Along with his insight into teaching and his fantastic abilities on the instrument, Justin has created a powerful go-to-place for anyone interested in exploring the instrument to their potential. Just don't hurt yourself".

Steve Vai (www.vai.com) November 2010

Brian May on justinguitar.com!

"On a day when there's a temptation to go into a dark place, and only see all the bad stuff there is in the world ... greed, cruelty, exploitation, selfishness ... I get days like that pretty often .... it's great to find someone giving out, and giving out good, and operating on an honour basis ... There are so many people who can't afford Guitar lessons .... well, here's a wonderful guy who has set up a whole system of teaching guitar ... Blues, Jazz, Rock, even Songwriting, from the basics, tuning the guitar, etc ... upwards ... If you use his site, it's up to you to determine how much you can contribute ... but this is an amazing site .... he is also very aware of issues in the world which need attention ... a great channel .. Check him out. He's a giver."

Brian May (www.brianmay.com) May 2008, on his blog, Brian May's Soapbox.


Latest News - January 2012

Happy New Year Everyone!! :)

I spent Christmas and New Year and that strange void inbetween doing next to nothing, very lazy indeed, hardly played guitar either, just ate far too much, watched movies and slept more in that period than I had during previous year combined :) Had a wonderful new year dinner at the River Cottage, and now all packed and ready to fly to Australia.

Really looking forward to getting home to Tasmania, see my family (and a new nephew, omg I'm an uncle!!) and friends, but I'll really miss my girlfriend and my cats! I'm doing a summer school in Tasmania (pdf link) and be doing a meet up in Circular Quay, Sydney on Jan 25th (keep an eye on Facebook for exact location, still tbc).

Bit dissapointed that I got so little done in the lead up to Christmas, planned to do lots and then time just evaporated and left me with lots of plans but not much else :( well the good news is that I'll be hitting it big time when I get back to the UK in February - I've finally got an assistant (called Indigo) to help me out with my web stuff, so I think I'm going to be able to get a lot more done this year! Very exciting.

Hope you are starting the new year full of inspiration and you're getting lots of practice done, might be worth re-reading the lessons on Practice and Goal Setting to help keep you on it!

Well I better finish my packing, get my last few odd jobs done and do some practice and then catch that plane!

Wishing you a wonderful and inspired year! J.

Need more lessons than you find here? try JamPlay...

The guitar lesson web site JamPlay have been offering a 7 Day Free trial to my visitors for a couple of months now, with some very positive reviews. There really is a lot of information there if you need more than you get here, lots of teachers and many different subject areas. You don't have to give your credit card number or any of that, so go check it out and see if you can find some useful information to help you develop your playing. Of course I think my method is best, but different strokes for different folks and all that - you might find a teacher there that you really understand and connect with. Of course after the 7 days you have to pay a monthly subscription, but it is reasonably priced. You'd be crazy not to check it out! Just click this link to get your free 7 day voucher code...

Endorsements and stuff I dig..

I'm real fussy about stuff I endorse, I will NEVER say to y'all that I play something if I'm not using it and honestly dig it. I do not get paid to use anything, but I do get discounted or free stuff sometimes. I don't have any exclusive deals and often use other stuff too.

Maton Acoustic Guitars (all my acoustics are Maton), AER Acoustic Amplification (easily the best acoustic amplifiers), DR Strings (my choice for over 10 years), Strymon (awesome Blue sky reverb and Timeline delay effects pedals), Boomerang III (best sounding and easiest to use looper pedal around), Lehle (quiet, solid and pure switcher pedals), The G-Lab Wah Pad (pressure activated switch for wah-wah), RAT Stands (coolest looking stands ever), Kyser Capos, The Gig Rig (monster pedal true bypass switcher) and Cordial Road Line cables (great quality leads!).

Check them out, all seriously great tools for making happy sounds in your ears!

Global Issues

I'm just a guitar player, but I also care deeply about the state of the planet and maybe I can introduce you to some things you are not aware of, or just things that I care about. So take time to read the articles if you are interested, otherwise just turn the page and ignore...

Malaria - The quiet killer
I wonder how many of you ever thought that in the time it takes to watch one of my 10 minute videos that 20 children in Africa will die from malaria. Shocking isn't it. There are over 1 million deaths around the world from this killer, and it is preventable and curable. 90% of all malaria deaths are in Africa, and 70% of those are children under 5 years of age. The best way to prevent malaria is for children to sleep under treated mosquito nets. When I volunteered at the orphanage in Ghana in 2008, none of the kids had nets. They all do now, but there are many hundreds of thousands of kids with no nets and no protection from the little buggers while they are asleep. If they do catch it, they usually can't afford treatment, a simple case of taking a tablet for a few weeks. There are many organisations that are working on distributing nets and I would urge you to support them, financially and by talking about this problem. Please check out the following sites: Malaria No More UK, Malaria No More US, click on donate, and help save a child's life. Thanks for taking the time read this, and I hope it moves you to act.

Free Range Farming
When I was a kid there was this old woman who lived up the road and used to protest about "battery farming". We all thought it was a bit of joke, but that crazy old lady was right - battery chicken farming is disgusting and cruel and in my humble opinion it should be banned worldwide. These animals are kept in cages so small they can't even turn around. Imagine your family pet, dog or cat locked in cage so small it couldn't turn around for it's whole life? Nasty. It really is quite sick. And it's done to make more money, no other reason.

Interestingly the vast majority of people prefer and do buy free range eggs. But the problem is still huge - and the reason is mostly down to un-ethical processed food manufacturers, eggs are of course used in mayonnaise, cakes and many other foods. If it's not labeled "free range eggs" then the eggs most likely come from a battery farm. Why talk about it here? Well the only way it's going to change is if us as consumers demand free range eggs to be used everywhere. Many major supermarkets have changed.

If you care about the welfare of animals, then be the change you would like to see. Only buy free range eggs and avoid buying processed foods that use battery eggs.

Robin Hood Tax
Others know it as the Tobin Tax and the idea has been around a while, but only now that the global economics are all chaotic are people looking again at how money flows around the globe. From the research I have done it appears to be a fantastic idea that may help the world address (in a very small way) the massive divide between rich and poor. The idea is to tax banks on internal transactions - not ones that involve consumers - just the banks. The idea has a lot of support around the world and I believe it is worthy of your support. But read about it yourself and make judgment. www.robinhoodtax.com

Darfur
Nearly two years ago now I found myself nearly in tears reading an article about the situation in Darfur in the New Internationalist magazine. I mentioned it in my 100th YouTube video and I hoped that it would make the video out of date very quickly. But it hasn't. More than 300,000 people dead and 2.5 Million people displaced. It is just disgusting that nothing is being done by international governments. Guess there is no profit to be made there... no oil to plunder. Read more about it - The Darfur Genocide and write to your local senator / MP.

Ghana
I spent Christmas and New Year 2008 in Ghana working in an orphanage. I met some amazing people and it really changed my headspace. It is a year on now and I still think of them often, and help them financially from money I make on this site. I maintain a web site for them - if you are interested in volunteering somewhere, then I highly recommend it. Just get in touch with Venus, his details are on the web site. You can read about it and see some video of our adventure in my blog, here. I raised quite a lot of money through this site and it really helped the kids, we got them new cloths, a bed, painted their room, bought medicines, paid for schooling, bought them chicken, but their expenses are ongoing and I send money to them every few months (from the donations received from this site). If you would like to help please see their web site (Ryvanz-Mia Orphanage).

 

This site is free for peace loving people - let's make this world a happy and safe place!

Be who you are and say what you feel,
because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.
Dr. Seuss

If people are good only because they fear punishment and hope for reward,
then we are a sorry lot indeed.
Albert Einstein

Many people die with their music still in them.
Why is this so? Too often it is because they are always getting ready to live.
Before they know it, time runs out.
Oliver Wendell Holmes

Morality is doing right, no matter what you are told.
Religion is doing what you are told, no matter what is right.
H L Mencken

 

 

 

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