Review of Jamorama Standard & Deluxe – Should You Buy Jamorama’s Online Guitar Lessons?

Jamorama is a highly ordinary course of online guitar lessons. There are many ‘reviews’ out there, but not all are genuine. This review is based on my own encounter of effective though the course, and clarifies who Jamorama is – and isn’t – suited to. I formerly wrote this in July 2009, but course has undergone some noteworthy updates in December 2009, so I’m updating the review accordingly.

I’m not a beginner guitarist (I’ve been playing for numerous years), but as Jamorama is among the most ordinary online guitar courses available, I wanted to check it out to see if it was worth recommending on my guitar site – and of course it never hurts to revisit the nitty-gritty too! My overall impression of the course is a positive one, but I don’t reckon that it’s the best choice for everyone, and this review clarifies why.

What Is Jamorama?

Jamorama is a course of downloadable guitar lessons which is available in two versions: Ordinary and Deluxe. The Ordinary translation teaches you to play rhythm guitar and acoustic guitar, as well as general musicianship – so you learn chords, progressions, conception tab and basic notation, basic music theory (including scales and chord construction), playing along with a band, innumerable rhythmic patterns and strumming techniques, ear schooling and more. The Deluxe translation includes all of the above equipment, as well as a course of lead guitar lessons, making it ideal for those who want to learn solo guitar playing too.

The equipment are delivered in text, video and audio format, and there are numerous software bonuses which complement the main course. Since it’s downloadable, you get second access to all of the equipment in the member’s area after making your payment – no need to wait for no matter what thing to arrive in the post! The Ordinary course features:

• Jamorama Books 1 & 2 - rhythm guitar instruction in PDF, with full colour photos and illustrations. Most of the music is notated in tab (basic habitual notation is introduced, but you don’t need it to play the material in the course). There are 15 lessons in Book 1, and 29 in Book 2
• Video lessons – video instruction for each new chord and implementation, screening the assess positions for both hands, the fretboard and other information
• Audio jam tracks – enable you to practice playing with others, in a diversity of musical styles
• Acoustic Focus Lessons - two more instruction books with an bonus 26 jam tracks, this time focusing exclusively on acoustic guitar techniques
• Chord Kit - instruction for playing chords, in the form of an ebook, videos and the Chordinator software game

Plus there are numerous bonuses too, available with both versions of the course:

• GuitEarIt! – ear schooling software to improve your aural skills – vital if you want to be able to play by ear or improvise
• Jamorama Metronome – makes it simple to practice playing in time
• Jayde Musica - a software game to help you learn to read music quickly and easily
• Guitar Tuner Pro – simple software that helps you to tune your guitar accurately to a diversity of tunings
• How To Tune Your Guitar – PDF guide to innumerable tuning methods

The Deluxe translation of the course features all of the above equipment, plus:

• Lead Guitar Course - ebook, videos and jam tracks with lead guitar instruction
• Lead Guitar Licks - jam tracks and videos to help you develop your solo skills even more
• Well ahead Learning Techniques For Guitar - PDF guide to learning more quickly and effectively
• Free access to SongPond – 30 days free membership to the SongPond website, which offers video tutorials screening you how to play a large range of ordinary songs on guitar or piano

There’s also a member’s only forum on the Jamorama site, and the course is fully guaranteed for eight weeks after buy – so you can try it with confidence.

Is This A Excellent Feature Course?

So you get a lot of learning material, but is it really any excellent? For the most part, I’m impressed with the feature of the Jamorama equipment. The software all runs smoothly, the books are well on paper and clearly open and illustrated, the audio is professionally recorded, and the videos are just brilliant. I also had no problems with downloading the course after making my payment, and the website is simple to steer. All of these equipment are organised into zip files, and are simple to download and access from your desktop. There’s also a ‘Read Me’ file in each section, which clarifies exactly what’s included, and where to start, so finding your way around the course is very straightforward.

It’s not perfect but; I didn’t really like conception off the screen (especially when a jam track was more than one page long), so I finished up printing the text out. Of course this is a limitation of digital documents generally, and isn’t unique to Jamorama. Also, I noticed a few typos in the course text, which are potentially misleading, and it’s a shame to see these in such an otherwise excellent product. Still, anyone who’s paying attention to what they’re learning should easily spot them.

Reasons To Buy (And Not To Buy) Jamorama

Generally, I reckon Jamorama is very excellent. It’s not right for everyone though – here’s why you should (or shouldn’t) buy Jamorama:

• Buy if you’re a beginner, or you already play a bit of guitar, but want to improve your skills. Don’t buy if you’re an well ahead guitarist who’s already mastered a wide diversity of chords, progressions, strumming techniques etc.

• Buy if you want to learn to play ordinary styles on electric or acoustic guitar. Don’t buy if you want to play classical, flamenco or other non-pop styles – Jamorama doesn’t cater for these.

• Buy if you’re self-motivated and want to learn at home, at your own pace. Don’t buy if you’d prefer one to one instruction with a private instructor.

• Buy if you want to play rhythm and/or lead guitar. If you already play rhythm guitar well, the first part of the course may not be so noteworthy to you, even if it never hurts to refresh your knowledge.

• Buy if you want to learn the skills that you’ll need to play ordinary songs in most styles. Don’t buy if you only want to learn specific well known songs – Jamorama doesn’t cover these (SongPond does, but, and you get 30 days free access as a bonus if you get Jamorama Deluxe).

• Buy if you have a decent computer and internet connection, and are ok with learning from digital equipment (or printing the material out). Don’t buy if you can’t download the course material, or you only want to learn from physical media (there is a physical translation of Jamorama, but in my attitude it’s a bit overpriced).

• Buy if you want a fantastic value complete course for the cost of a couple of lessons with a private instructor. Don’t buy if you need or prefer the private attention that one on one instruction provides.

Summary

I reckon that Jamorama is a very solid, professional course that does what it claims – so long as you commit yourself and practice diligently, you’ll go from beginner to intermediate level, and will be able to play some pretty impressive stuff by the end of it. The amount of time needed will obviously vary for uncommon people, but there’s roughly about a year’s worth of lessons here.

The course progresses in a very most likely manner, so you’re always construction on what you’ve learned already (one of the problems with the free guitar lessons available online is that they generally focus on just a few specialised areas, and don’t cover all of the de rigueur basic techniques, so you end up with a lot of gaps in your skill set – this isn’t an issue with Jamorama, which provides a very thorough grounding in the rudiments that highlight many musical styles).

Even if Jamorama isn’t ideal for everyone, the Ordinary translation is a fantastic choice for those who want a high feature, enjoyable course that provides the skills de rigueur for playing rhythm guitar in innumerable genres (and dredge up that rhythm skills are essential for would-be lead guitarists too), and the Deluxe translation is best for those who want lead skills too.

If you want to find out more about my encounter with these guitar lessons, and read a more in-depth account (including a blog that I kept as I worked through the course), check out the Jamorama review on my site. Or if you just want to get ongoing with playing the guitar honest away, visit http://learntheguitaronline.info for more information.

Author: Sam Marks
Condition Source: EzineArticles.com
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