Learn and Master Guitar Review

Intro

Looking for a real, unbiased “Gibson’s Learn and Master Guitar” review? Awesome, because you actually found one! We’ve been playing guitar for a combined 24 years, and we bought this course to see if it lived up to the hype.

After thoroughly evaluating this popular home study course by Gibson, we rated it #3 overall and #1 in the DVD guitar lessons category.

In this in-depth Learn and Master Guitar review, we’ll take you through the Pros & Cons, whether we feel the price is worth it, who we would recommend it to, and our personal ratings of this popular DVD guitar course.

Disclosure: We spent hours testing and reviewing Learn and Master Guitar, 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!

Video

Our Learn & Master Guitar review would not feel truly complete without including the official video from Gibson about the course:

Features

Here’s what you can expect from Gibson’s Learn and Master Guitar (Price: $149 + S&H):

20 DVDs – High Definition quality (40 hours of instruction)
5 CDs – Play along with songs to improve your skills
1 Book – Over 100 pages of traditional lesson material
Online Forum – Ask questions and get answers from other students and Steve Krenz himself
Live lessons (usually one lesson/week)

While the lesson quality is high, the price per lesson is pretty high compared to some of the online guitar lessons we’ve reviewed (that also include features like online tuners, chord libraries, scale libraries, live webcam lessons, interactive learning games, etc.).

Instructors

Steve Krenz is the instructor for Learn and Master Guitar. He’s a very nice guy, and definitely knows his stuff.

He’s been playing guitar for over 20 years, and has a nice pace that beginners and intermediate players alike will benefit from.

As good a teacher as Steve is, no matter how good one teacher might be, we prefer to learn from multiple pros at the same time to diversify our skill-building across more genres, styles, and experience levels.

People used to shell out $25-$50/hour for private lessons (some still do), and that’s because it works. Having someone there to push you and answer questions is crucial.

FAQ

Q: How much does Learn and Master Guitar cost?

A: $149 + S&H

Q: How much is shipping?

A: Varies based on location and time to ship, ranging from $9.50 – $34.84, and most people choose the $13.50 UPS Ground option, which takes 2-5 business days.

Q: Do they have a money-back guarantee?

A: Yes. You can try out the lessons for 60 days, and as long as the materials are in “like new” condition, you can return them for a full refund.

Q: Is there a payment plan option?

A: Yes. Legacy Learning Systems offers a payment plan of 3 x $49/month, with a fee of $4/month.

Q: How is their customer support?

A: They offer support 8:30am – 4:30pm CST by email and telephone (615-515-3605). From what we’ve seen, their response time is good.

Q: Will I get 1-on-1 help from Steve Krenz?

A: While they don’t give Steve’s contact info out to students, you can ask a question on the forums he’s usually great about answering quickly.

Q: Most guitar lesson review sites rank Learn & Master Guitar #1. Why don’t you?

A: Like us, the other review sites out there make money by earning commissions when they refer new customers to guitar lessons. Unfortunately, 99% of these reviewers are biased toward Learn and Master Guitar because it pays the highest commission. We tried a ton of lessons and rated them all fairly with no bias toward our commissions to give you an honest comparison of your options.

Compare

Still not sure if Learn and Master Guitar is right for you? Compare it to other popular options side-by-side:

Compare the best DVD guitar lessons
Compare all beginner guitar lessons

If that’s not enough, here are a few more solid guitar courses you may like:

JamPlay – Rating: 98.2% – Price: $19.95/month – Type: Online Membership
Guitar Tricks - Rating: 95.8% – Price: $14.95/month – Type: Online Membership
Beginner Guitar System - Rating: 72.3% – Price: $97 + S&H – Type: DVDs & Book or Online

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: 82.1%
Price The current price of guitar lessons (not including any coupon codes, trials or discounts we find for you.)	$149 + S&H
Cost/Lesson Price divided by total lessons. Note: We assume 12 full months of membership for online lessons.	$4.06 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. :)	$100 off "Sale"
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.	60-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).	20 DVDs, 5 CDs, Book & Forum
Delivery Delivery refers to how you will receive your guitar lessons and how long it will take to get access and start learning guitar.	3-14 Days
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.	30-45 minutes Average: ~37 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.	40 Lessons 20-30 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: 97.6%
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: 94.8%
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: 95.6%
Support Support refers to how much help you will actually receive as a customer. Will the teacher(s) and students answer your questions?	Support: 96.2%
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: 72.8%
Entertainment We personally evaluate each lesson for many logical ratings, but it's also important that you'll be entertained while learning.	Entertainment: 93.7%
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 Learn and Master Guitar

Full Review

Summary:
Rating: 82.1/100. After trying quite a few courses, we found Learn and Master Guitar to be the best DVD guitar lessons, especially for beginner to intermediate players.

Pros:
- Talented professional guitar instructor
- Learning pace is perfect for beginners
- Nice packaging (DVDs, CDs and Book)
- Helpful and active forum for students
- Live lessons with Steve (about 1/week)

Cons:
- Only 1 teacher (Online communities have 45+ instructors)
- Moves a bit slowly for intermediate guitarists
- Not many lessons for the price (though the quality is high)
- Large upfront investment ($149 + S&H)
- No tools included (tuner, chord & scale library, metronome, learning games, etc.)

Introduction

When we first started playing guitar, about 12 years ago, there were no DVD lessons, so we learned by figuring out songs, jamming with friends, or paying $25-$30 for half-hour lessons from a private tutor.

For beginners today, there are far more options, including the most popular home study course, Learn and Master Guitar.

Every review site out there seems to love this course, so when we bought it to test it out we had high hopes.

It is definitely a great course with a lot to offer, but like most things, it doesn’t quite live up to all of the hype.

In our opinion, the monthly subscriptions for online communities are worth the investment for the value they provide, but a monthly membership might not be appealing.

If you want to pay for DVD lessons once (no subscriptions), Learm & Master Guitar is your best bet due to the quality of the lessons and the active support forum.

Unfortunately, not until long after we bought L&M did we realize that the people posting reviews were claiming it was the highest-rated because it pays the highest commission!

That’s not fair, so we’re hoping this unbiased Learn & Master Guitar review will help you decide if it’s right for you…

Lesson Format

The course is broken down in the following format:

- 20 DVDs
- 5 CDs
- Work Book

Here’s a complete breakdown of what Steve Krenz covers throughout the DVD portion of the course:

Session 1: “Starting off Right” - String Names, Technique, Tuning, Finger Exercises, C & G7 Chords

Session 2: ”Reading Music & Notes on the 1st & 2nd Strings” - Music Reading, 1st & 2nd String Notes & Exercises

Session 3: “Notes on the 3rd & 4th Strings” - Ties, Dots, Repeat Signs, Eighth Notes, 3rd & 4th String Notes & Exercises

Session 4: “Notes on the 5th & 6th Strings” - 5th & 6th String Notes & Exercises, Sharps, Flats, Natural Signs, Am & E Chords

Session 5: “Basic Open Chords” - Open Chords & Chord Exercises 1-3

Session 6: “Minor Seventh & Suspended Chords” - Minor Seventh & Suspended Chords & Strumming Patterns

Session 7: “Barre Chords on the 6th String” - Half-Steps & Whole Steps, 6th String Barre Chords & Exercises, Major Scales

Session 8: “Barre Chords on the 5th String” - 5th String Barre Chords & Exercises, Keys & Key Signatures, Relative Major & Minor

Session 9: “The Secret to Great Strumming” - Strumming Technique, Intervals & Worksheets

Session 10: “Fingerstyle Guitar” - Technique & Exercises, Merle Travis & Classical

Session 11: “Pentatonic Scales” - Pentatonic Scales, Forms & Pentatonic Patterns

Session 12: “Advanced Chords” - Two Chords, Major 7th Chords, Minor 11th Chords, Exercises & Chord Substitution

Session 13: “Playing the Blues” - Blues Scale, Minor Pentatonic with Blues Notes, Blues Chord Progression, Triads & Worksheets

Session 14: “Giving Your Playing Some Style” - Sliding, Bends, Hammer-ons, Pull-offs, Tapping & Harmonics

Session 15: “Electric Guitars-The Heart of Rock & Roll” - Power Chords, Chicken Pickin’, Country Bends, Arpeggios, Sliding 4ths, Harmonized Major Scale

Session 16: “Advanced Strumming” - 16th Notes, Strumming & Exercises

Session 17: “Going Beyond the First Position” - 3 Note on a String scales, Seventh Chords

Session 18: “Jazz Guitar” - Jazz Chords & Chord Progressions

Session 19: “Soloing” - Soloing Techniques & Ear Training

Session 20: “All the Chords You Need To Know” - Chord Formulas, Abbreviations & Inversions

Note: The work book follows this same format with supplemental reading, reference material and exercises that correspond to the DVD lessons.

Format Analysis

This format feels a little bit unorganized, but Steve does do a great job of covering a very wide array of skills and techniques in only 40 lessons.

The CDs are designed to play along with to build certain skills and expand your horizons into genres that will improve your overall playing ability. There are a decent number of jam tracks here, but the number (and quality) pales in comparison to the jam tracks you’ll find with online memberships.

All in all though, Learn and Master Guitar’s course structure is pretty good. A lot of material is covered in a short period of time, yet the pace is still easy to keep up with, which is awesome for beginner and intermediate guitarists.

The down side to covering topics as broad as “Soloing” in one short lesson is that while you’ll probably “learn” something about many aspects of playing guitar from this course, there’s just not enough time to “master” anything.

Beyond the initial offering, many guitarists also like the other courses provided by Legacy Learning Systems, specifically focused on Blues, Setup & Maintenance, and Hit Songs.

These are sold separately, but it’s common to master the first 40 lessons, then invest in these other programs (totally optional).

A free addition to purchasing any course from the company is the active community (support forum), which includes direct support from Steve Krenz himself.

It’s also cool that he offers free live lessons almost every week as an added bonus.