Beginner Guitar System Review

Intro

The Beginner Guitar System is a DVD & Book course created by Nate Savage (update: it’s also available as a digital course online now).

If you’re like us, and the 1,000′s of other people who have gone to BeginnerGuitarSystem.com and wondered if it was worth the money, you are probably searching for a real, unbiased Beginner Guitar System review.

We have reviewed and compared all of the most popular guitar lessons online, and with our custom rating algorithm we ranked Beginner Guitar System #4 overall. Check out our full review below to learn more…

Disclosure: We have spent hours testing and reviewing the Beginner Guitar System, and our website is 100% ad-free, so we would really appreciate your support in purchasing guitar lessons through a link on our site. It won’t change the price, but we’ll receive a commission from the instructor for our time. Thanks for your support!

Features

The Beginner Guitar System is a course you can either get as a physical set of DVDs and CDs, or access online. Here’s what it consists of:

6 DVDs (Complete course breakdown in “Lesson Format” section below)
4 CDs to play along with
177 page workbook
All of the songs & exercises are fully-notated

Instructor

Nate Savage is a knowledgable instructor, and it’s great to have someone who knows enough to teach, but isn’t so obsessed with theory that it’s impossible to clearly convey the information to beginners.

Have you ever had a teacher that talked right over your head? This form of instruction is terrible for complete beginners, because confusion and frustration are the bane of steady practice and dedication to learning guitar.

This is the primary reason Nate Savage focuses his attention on taking a slow and steady approach throughout the course: to help beginners feel motivated and happy while they’re taking lessons.

He might not be the most experienced of all the instructors we have evaluated, but he makes up for it with passion and the ability to break things down so anyone can understand them, which is crucial for beginners.

FAQ

Q: How much does the Beginner Guitar System cost?

A: $97.00 + $15 Shipping & Handling for the physical (DVD) course. If you get the online version, there’s no shipping charge.

Q: Do they have a money back guarantee?

A: Yes. Their policy allows you to try the course for 90 days, and return it unharmed in that time if you want your money back.

Q: I am an Intermediate guitarist. Will BGS be good for me?

A: Nope. Don’t take the name “Beginner” Guitar System lightly. It’s great for beginners, but will very likely move too slowly and cover things you already know if you’ve been playing for a year or more.

Q: Should I spend the extra $15 to get the course delivered to my house?

A: We personally prefer taking guitar lessons online, but if you want DVDs, CDs and a workbook, the $15 will be worth it.

Compare

Compare the Beginner Guitar System to other popular options side-by-side:

Compare the top DVD guitar lessons
Compare all beginner guitar lessons

Here are the Top 3 guitar courses we have reviewed:

JamPlay - Rating: 98.2% – Price: $14.95/month – Type: Online Membership
Guitar Tricks - Rating: 95.8% – Price: $14.95/month – Type: Online Membership
Learn and Master Guitar - Rating: 74.2% – Price: $149 + S&H – Type: DVD & Books

Properties

Guitar Lessons
Overall Rating Our custom rating considers all of the guitar lessons' features, tools, quality, support, and personal & user reviews to save you time!	Rating: 72.3%
Price The current price of guitar lessons (not including any coupon codes, trials or discounts we find for you.)	$97 + S&H
Cost/Lesson Price divided by total lessons. Note: We assume 12 full months of membership for online lessons.	$2.31 per lesson
Coupons We are constantly on the lookout for the best deals on guitar lessons, and this is where we share them with you. :)	Best Price
Guarantee The guarantee tells you how long you can try these guitar lessons and get a full refund of your money if it doesn't work out.	90-Day, 100% Money Back
Lesson Format Since guitar lessons are offered in many different formats, we classify each one we review to distinguish between them quickly (online lessons are our favorite).	DVDs & Book or Online
Delivery Delivery refers to how you will receive your guitar lessons and how long it will take to get access and start learning guitar.	5-7 Days or Instant
Visit Site This button takes you to the official website to check out their guitar lessons and get started.
Beginner Does this product/service offer beginner guitar lessons? This is the most common level, crucial for getting started at any age.
Intermediate Do they also have lessons beyond the beginner level? Once you've mastered the basics, you'll want intermediate lessons.
Advanced Some teachers even have lessons designed for advanced players that have moved through beginner and intermediate lessons.
Song Lessons Want to learn popular songs on the guitar? Some instructors work hard to get license deals to teach you specific songs step-by-step.
Video Quality If these lessons offer video instruction (and we hope they do), this gives an idea of how well-filmed the videos are.	Very High
Lesson Length Most private guitar teachers do 30 minute blocks, but some topics don't require that much time. This shows the range and average.	15-60 minutes
Total Lessons Some courses out there have less than 50 lessons, which isn't much to build on. Look for at least 100 lessons, preferably over 1,000.	42 Lessons 20+ Hours
Instructors One benefit of Online and DVD lessons is the ability to learn from multiple instructors with different backgrounds, genres and skills.	1 Teacher
Lesson Quality Our personal rating for how well-made, organized and helpful these guitar lessons are overall.	Lesson Quality: 86.1%
Value for Price Value for price is our way of comparing lesson quality, features, tools and support with the cost of these guitar lessons.	Value for Price: 90.6%
Ease of Use How easy does the creator make their guitar lessons to use? Are the videos easy to follow? Are the tools helpful or too complex?	Ease of Use: 87.6%
Support Support refers to how much help you will actually receive as a customer. Will the teacher(s) and students answer your questions?	Support: 93.2%
Lesson Variety Variety is the spice of life. Don't get dragged into boring lessons that all follow the same formula. More lesson variety = more fun.	Lesson Variety: 71.7%
Entertainment We personally evaluate each lesson for many logical ratings, but it's also important that you'll be entertained while learning.	Entertainment: 83.8%
Tuner Will buying these lessons give you access to a free guitar tuner?
Chord Library Chords are the building blocks of all guitar playing. Having a chord library where you can easily look up specific chords is essential.
Scale Library Scales are great exercises and can expand your soloing horizons. Scale libraries organize them by key and style to save you time.
Guitar Tabs Tabs are a great way to learn to play songs with notation that's easy to understand. Tabs + Video song lessons is your best bet.
Jam Tracks Jamming is the one of the coolest things to do when you learn guitar, and jam tracks are the perfect way to practice first.
Live Lessons The most efficient way to learn guitar is in-person live lessons. Some premium services offer live lessons through webcam & chat.
Forum Forums are a great resource to get answers to your questions from instructors and other students quickly and easily.
Private Q&A Though getting public answers on a forum can be really helpful, sometimes asking a question privately is more helpful.
Printable Every once in a while, it can be great to have print-friendly lessons when you need some material on a page in front of you.
Downloadable Online lessons will sometimes give the option to download supplemental material for later.
Best Deal We do not sell guitar lessons; we are a free guitar lessons review service. This link goes to Beginner Guitar System

Full Review

Summary
Rating: 72.3/100. Ranked #4 of all the guitar lessons we have reviewed, the Beginner Guitar System is a good deal for complete beginners wanting to lay a solid foundation for learning guitar, for the cost of about 4 private lessons.

Pros:
- Good price for value
- Nice pace for beginners
- Likable instructor

Cons:
- Lower production quality than higher-rated lessons
- No tools included (tuner, chord library, learning games, etc.)

Introduction

Nate Savage of GuitarLessons.com has found a nice gap in the market, focusing on beginners that want a slow-paced, easy-to-follow course that covers the basics, without spending too much money.

The course is appropriately priced at $97, about as much as you’d pay for 4 half-hour lessons with a private tutor, and comes with over 20 hours of DVD lessons.

Read on to see the complete lesson breakdown below…

Lesson Format

Because the full course format is not listed online, we decided to type out a breakdown of the entire 6-DVD set here for you so you can see if it has what you’re looking for.

DVD 1: “Getting Started“

The Basics:

1. What Gear You Will Need
2. Holding the Guitar
3. Changing Your Strings
4. Tuning Your Guitar
5. Working Your Electric Guitar
6. Working Your Amp
7. Working Your Pedals

Playing Your First Notes:

1. Finger Numbers & String Names
2. A2 Chord
3. D2 Chord
4. A2 D2 Progression & Exercises
5. A2 D2 Groove
6. Simple Melodies Over a Groove

DVD 2: “Single Notes and Chords“

1. How to Read Guitar Tabs
2. Reading Chord Diagrams
3. Playing Single Notes
4. Playing Chords
5. Essential Chords
6. Right Hand Techniques

DVD 3: “Scales & Lead Techniques“

1. Minor Pentatonic Scale
2. Blues Scale
3. Major Scale
4. Major Pentatonic Scale
5. Scale Movability
6. Bending
7. Legato
8. Vibrato

DVD 3: “Chart Reading & Theory“

1. Reading Rhythms
2. Reading Notation
3. Chord Charts
4. Theory – Major Scales
5. Theory – Chords

DVD 3: “Guitar Play-Alongs #1“

1. Blues
2. Pop
3. Slow Rock
4. Fast Rock
5. Country

DVD 3: “Guitar Play-Alongs #2“

1. Metal
2. Reggae
3. Funk
4. Amazing Grace
5. Punk Rock

There is a good amount of content included here for sure. We felt that it jumped around a bit at times (Lead Techniques before Chord Charts?), but overall we liked the format and style.

Is Beginner Guitar System for You?

If you are in the following group of guitarists, Beginner Guitar System is a good choice:

Complete beginner
Looking to learn the fundamentals
Would rather spend $97 once, rather than $15-$20/month
Prefer DVDs, CDs and a Workbook to online lessons
Like slow-paced teaching that’s easy to follow
Don’t mind getting a small taste of many topics (instead of learning a lot about a few)

If that description doesn’t fit your situation, we recommend checking out our side-by-side comparison of the top 5 lessons.

We hope you enjoyed our Beginner Guitar System review. Please feel free to ask questions in the comments below, and have fun learning guitar!