Guitar Lesson Scams?

If you've ever done a search online for guitar lessons, you've no doubt come across so-called "review sites" that provide glowing reviews of two or three guitar lesson systems, praising them to the skies.  But what you'll notice is that the reviews are a mile wide and an inch deep.  The only thing they review is the particular products they're promoting.  There's no follow up, no how-to articles, no reviews of other products, no contact information, no names, etc.  And the funny thing is you can find site after site with the same products reviewed with different names and headlines like "Smart Guy reviews," "Musicians Info," "Review nest," or with headlines like "Suck at guitar?"   But you'll never see any news about these products anywhere else.  (And unfortunately, sometimes these bogus reviews end up on this site since the ads are served up by Google.)

Doug Marks, who has been providing classic rock guitar lessons for more than 25 years under the Metal Method name believes these other companies are scamming guitar players and has written a brief article to exposes their techniques.   In effect, the review sites are just bogus advertisements linking back to the same old products over and over again.

I don't know if these competing products are any good or not, but I'm certainly wary of trying out a product that resorts to this sort of tactic.  Meanwhile, you can view samples of Doug Marks' courses on YouTube and read the online forum  to see what people say.  And he's recently updated his courses with all new content. 

Caveat emptor!

Update:

I was tired of some of the scam sites showing up on my google ads, so I'm now filtering them. And yes, I have bought Doug's courses and I'm an affiliate with his program.  I don't make much money from the program, but it pays for the hosting of this site and an occasional trip to GuitarCenter. 

You can get free shipping in the US on MetalMethod or related videos from the link below. (Normal shipping costs apply for International orders.) 

• Metal Method: Main site, Complete Basic Course, Metal Riffology,Speed Kills, Forum
• GuitarVibe: Guitar Mastery, Doug Marks Interview

Comments

[alvin acosta]

My dad says that I need to learn how to play electric guitar,so I saw one of your videos on youtube by:DavidMeShow it was cool and funny too!I need your help. -Alvin

[ZUrlocker]

If your dad wants you to to learn electric guitar that's great! Hopefully he will pay for your gear and lessons. The Metal Method DVDs are good, but you may also want to get some in-person help.

On the other hand, at some stage you may need to rebel against your parents and do something radical, like learn accordion! ;-)

--Zack

[Scott]

I happen to come across this blog piece in a google search and I have to say that the fact your affliate link to Mark's site is in this post might put some people off even though I'm sure you firmly believe in the product.

Does anyone really need to pay for online instruction. Even though I have only a beginners site , when I was playing seriously I had no problem finding all kinds of advanced instructions online for free.

[ZUrlocker]

That's a fair point. I think Metal Method is a good course and I am using it. I've maintained this site for several years and it's not pretending to be some kind of objective review site that in fact is just a thinly disguised anonymous link farm. But all content on the web should be taken with a grain of salt --this site included.

I think there are some good sources of free lessons also, and I may write up a posting on those later on. If you have suggestions, let me know!

--Zack