Jamorama

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Taking guitar lessons online can be an easy, affordable, and effective way to learn an instrument. However, lots of new players find that they wish they knew what it was like to play with other people.

While Jamorama won’t magically send bandmates to your door, this online guitar course does provide something very useful — jam tracks are central to its beginner guitar method. These backing tracks let you get comfortable playing with others, and they also let you try out new skills as you learn them.

Things to Consider Before Signing Up for a Guitar Course

Whether you want to just learn a few strumming patterns or want to learn as much as possible from an online guitar course, it’s a good idea to ask yourself a few things before you start. Here are some things to keep in mind:

  • How much experience do you have? As we’ve found, many online lessons are designed with the beginner in mind. This isn’t a bad thing, but if you want to continue to challenge yourself, you may want to choose a more extensive site.
  • What are your goals? Maybe you want to master blues guitar or improve your speed picking. Either way, narrowing down your goals as a player will help you choose the right guitar course for you.
  • What type of instructor do you need? Some sites use different instructors for different lessons. You may prefer to have one instructor the whole time, especially in the beginner guitar method stage. Some online guitar sites even offer an opportunity to receive individual feedback from your instructor.
  • What about extras? Some sites offer more than just lessons — you’ll often find that a variety of learning tools like tuners, metronomes, and learning games are available to you.

Jamorama – Guitar Learning Program

PRO’s & CON’s Of Jamorama

In this review, we’ll take a closer look at this site to help you decide whether this is the right program for you. But first, let’s look at some pros and cons:

Pros

  • The head instructor is Mark McKenzie, a contributor to Guitar Player magazine and the creator of The Guitar Guy YouTube Channel
  • Players get access to step-by-step HD video lessons
  • It comes with a 120-day money-back guarantee
  • You can practice what you learn with included jam tracks

Cons

  • The site is geared toward beginning players, so if you’re more experienced, it may not be the best choice
  • The site’s video selection is somewhat limited compared to some other options

Features And Benefits

Now, let’s look a little closer at the site and what it has to offer you:

Course Design

When learning an instrument, the structure is almost always important. We like Jamorama’s 10-part course design, which will help you to develop your skills as a player. Here’s a brief breakdown of each step:

  1. Beginner Guitar Method – Stage 1 — This course teaches you guitar basics and helps you build a strong foundation.
  2. Beginner Guitar Method – Stage 2 — This option will take you through playing basic leads, 12 bar blues, strumming patterns, and even a few famous riffs.
  3. Beginner Guitar Chords — This section will teach you about chords that every guitarist should know.
  4. Blues Guitar Breakthrough — This section will help familiarize you with essential strumming and lead skills to play classic blues.
  5. Fingerstyle guitar — Whether you play electric or acoustic guitar, fingerstyle playing is a valuable skill to have.
  6. Guitar Theory Made Even Easier — This course breaks down music theory in a way that can help you learn quickly, write music, and play with other musicians.
  7. Speed Picking — This course will help you be able to play even the fastest solos with ease.
  8. Lead Guitar for Beginners — This course will teach you to play riffs in different keys, making it easy to play along with your favorite songs.
  9. The One-Hour Workout — This course will teach you valuable exercises to build speed and strength.
  10. Acoustic Guitar Maintenance — This video course will teach you the basics of setting up and caring for your guitar.

If this list leaves you asking questions, check out this video review for an inside look at the course.

Additional Features

In order to make sure you retain what you learn and that you really enjoy playing guitar, many sites include some material outside of the standard course. This course offers several exciting features that will help you develop your skills while having fun at the same time.

One of these is the inclusion of jam tracks. These tracks are essentially designed to help you re-create the experience of playing with a band. As you become more comfortable with improvisation and playing the lead, these tracks will likely become an invaluable tool. If you want to know a little more about jam tracks and how to use them, check out this helpful video.

The site also includes progress tracking, which appears on your dashboard when you log into the site. Setting goals is an important part of learning any instrument, and being able to easily track your progress will make it easier to hold yourself accountable.

Lastly, one of the features (which the site lists as being available for a limited time) allows you to download and print tablature for any lesson. This makes it easier to practice on the go.

It’s worth pointing out that while the site’s lessons are fairly extensive, it doesn’t offer nearly as many bonus materials as some lesson sites. This isn’t necessarily a problem — if you’re someone who prefers to stick to the core lessons anyway, this may not be a major issue.

Social Support

While it isn’t featured too prominently in most site descriptions we’ve found, one of the more interesting features of this site is its built-in social network. This network works a lot like Facebook — you make a wall, add friends, and like/comment on posts. For on-topic discussions, users can use the site forum to ask questions and connect with other players.

While we think these are great features to have, some users have said both the social network and the forum are relatively empty. This is a shame — it isn’t often that you find a guitar site with this many social features, and we like the idea of being able to connect with other learners.

If you want to learn more about the site’s interesting social network, check out this brief video.

Pricing

This site has one of the more unusual pricing structures we’ve found. While most courses offer a monthly payment option and an annual option, this one offers just a free basic membership and a lifetime membership.

With the free option, you get access to three courses — Beginner Guitar Method Stage 1, Beginner Guitar Chords, and Acoustic Guitar Maintenance. You also get a membership profile, access to the blog, and member support access.

The lifetime membership can be yours for a one-time payment of $99.95. This gives you access to all site features, including the following:

  • All 10 courses
  • Jam tracks and song lessons
  • Progress tracking and reports
  • Social network and forums
  • Learning games with badges and points

Still not sure if this is the right site for you? Check out one player’s experience as outlined in this video review.

Social Proof of the Course

Before you sign up for any guitar lesson site, you probably want to know what other players think of it. Here are some valuable review snapshots we’ve found:

Jamorama Review 01

This snapshot comes from a review by Liam F. at Music Grotto. It pretty clearly outlines some of the benefits and potential drawbacks of the site. With lessons starting with how to hold a guitar, the site is definitely geared toward the brand-new player. This is ideal if you’re new to guitar, but experienced players might get more out of a different site.

Jamorama Review 02

This review was included on the Trustpilot site for Jamorama. Like many people who use the site, this player found it to be a valuable and effective resource for learning guitar.

Jamorama Review 03

This review comes from the site Comparakeet, and it does a good job of pointing out many of the site’s strengths, including its built-in social networking site.

Alternatives To Jamorama

There seem to be endless online guitar lessons to choose from. Before you commit to this site, it’s a good idea to check out some of the other options available to you. Here are three good ones we’ve found:

Justin Guitar

How it Compares to Jamorama

  • It has an option to pay for a monthly membership
  • You get access to more lesson videos across many genres.
  • It offers more for intermediate guitarists.
  • It includes more tools for ear training, reading music, and more.

Review

Justin Guitar is one of the better-known online guitar lesson programs out there We like it because it has a lot to offer for beginner and intermediate guitarists. The program is highly structured, and it takes you through foundational topics before moving onto different modules.

Like this site, Justin Guitar lets you choose songs and other topics to focus on outside of the course. If you’re an intermediate guitarist or want a site that’s a little bigger, make sure you check this one out!

Guitargate

How it Compares to Jamorama

  • Members get unlimited feedback on their playing each month.
  • The incorporation of music theory into online lessons helps you understand how the guitar works.
  • There’s extra focus on improvisation and developing your own sound.
  • It’s one of the more value-packed options out there.

Review

If you want to get started on guitar but also want to get to work developing your own sound, Guitargate just might be right for you. The site is dedicated to helping you understand how the guitar works by incorporating music theory, and it also is designed to help you “sound like you.” Guitargate also offers personal feedback from your instructor and weekly live video lessons. You get this for $9.99 per month, which we think is a great deal.

If you’re a creative thinker who wants something a little different, make sure you check this one out!

Guitar Tricks

How it Compares to Jamorama

  • Clear learning paths help you make clear progress as you learn guitar.
  • Extra videos on songs and guitar playing skills help you keep things interesting.
  • Beginners have access to a few free lessons to see if the site is right for them.
  • It’s more extensive by a long shot, but it’s also more expensive.

Review

If you’ve been researching online guitar lessons at all, you’ve probably seen GuitarTricks come up. This is one of the most extensive groups of online lessons we’ve found, and it’s unique in that there are plenty of options even for advanced players. It’s a bit more expensive than most options, but you have hundreds of lessons in almost any genre to choose from. You also get access to skill videos, artist studies, and more.

If you want something that will challenge you even as an advanced player, make sure you check out this course by clicking banner below!

In Conclusion

While we realize that this site is more limited than its larger competitors, we still think this is a course worth looking into, especially if you’re new to guitar. This site has a well-planned beginner guitar method, and Mark McKenzie is a personable and effective teacher. Whether you choose this course or another, be sure to take into account what is right for you — the beginner guitar method stage is one of the most important for development, and the right foundation will serve you well as you continue your learning.

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