Your beginner guitar lessons should have covered besides the basics of how to hold, tune, and care for your guitar, basic fundamentals such as; first position or open chords in major, minor, 7th and minor 7th, playing in 4/4 and ¾ timing, counting 1/8, ¼, ½, and whole notes, reading music in first position, reading guitar tablature, alternate picking, and strumming techniques. What you could learn in intermediate guitar lessons are as follows; the major scale and it’s seven positions, minor and major pentatonic scales, basic music theory (12 tones), basic triads, chord construction, and more advanced picking and strumming techniques. There are more specific things that could be covered to a specific style or genre.

*Hard rock and heavy metal: Intermediate guitar lessons in these styles could cover playing in drop tunings, palm muting, triplets, and power chord variations, bending, and using hammer on/pull-offs. The Progressive styles of these genres could also include learning to play in odd meters and timing such as 5/4 and 7/8.

*Jazz: If you are into jazz, intermediate guitar lessons could include; 9th, minor 9th, and dominant 7th (major 7th) chords, major, Lydian, pentatonic, and bebop scales. Techniques like “comping” and hybrid picking, and learning to improvise referred to as “blowing”.

*Blues: If you are a student of the blues the next step could include; more advanced turn arounds and chord progressions, bending, slides, and hammer on/pull offs, improvising over 1-4-5 and 1-4-5 flat 6 chord progressions and shuffles.

*Country: Intermediate guitar lessons for country could include; hybrid picking (using a pick and fingers together), major scales, minor and major pentatonic scales, banjo rolls and “chicken picken”.

Intermediate guitar lessons can be taken online via webcam or from pre recorded videos on sites like YouTube. There are also many published books for the intermediate guitar student, as well as instructional videos. You may also be able to find intermediate group classes in your area for intermediate guitar lessons, but just like the beginner versions, this is not the most effective way to learn. Private intermediate guitar lessons are best because a good instructor will be able to evaluate the level you are at and be able to advise and get you to the next level the most effectively.

Jazz guitar lessons can be taken on a steel string acoustic guitar, but are mostly taken on an electric guitar. Jazz is usually played on an arched top, semi hollow body with magnetic pickups and F hole’s, such as the Gibson ES-335.

*Classic Jazz: Originated in New Orleans in the early 1900’s by African American’s and Creoles, sometimes referred to as “New Orleans Jazz”. Later on a resurgence of the style would be made by white Americans and called “Dixieland”. This style has roots in “Ragtime” and “Blues” and is played on brass instruments, drums, piano, bass, banjo, as well as guitar. Improvised solos are a big part of this style.

*Hot Jazz: Louis Armstrong was credited with starting this style when he first recorded it in 1925. Improvised melodic solos building up to a climatic end was the characteristic of this style done over a rhythm section of brass, drums, bass, and guitar.

*Chicago Jazz: This style was centered around technical player’s ability to improvise over complicated rhythms. This style helped to form greats like “Benny Goodman” and “Bud Freeman”.

*Swing: This style was all the rage in the 1930’s and performed by the greats from the “big band area”. Swing jazz is very dance oriented and the reason it was so popular at the time. The music had a connection to the people while still giving musicians place to improvise.

*Bebop: The style that changed it all. Bebop segregated it self from the dance friendly Swing by its use of extreme chord progressions and obscure improvised solos that didn’t follow the melody of the song. This style was made popular by Charlie Parker (saxophone) and Dizzy Gillespie (trumpet) in the 1940’s and would forever change the sound of jazz.

When taking jazz guitar lessons you could learn to play major, minor, 7th, minor 7th, minor 9th, and dominant 7th and 9th chords. Scales learned in jazz guitar lessons could include major, Lydian, pentatonic, and bebop. Techniques like “comping”, “hybrid picking” (using a guitar pick and fingers together), and “blowing” (improvising). “Walking bass rhythms”, playing in “odd time” and jazz chord progressions and jazz chord theory could also be learned in jazz guitar lessons.

Jazz guitar lessons are said to be some of the most difficult lessons to take and are highly regarded among guitarists.

Acoustic guitar lessons can be taken on a steel 6 string guitar, a steel 12 string guitar, a 6 string nylon (gut) string guitar, a steel guitar (Dobro), or a tenor guitar.

Acoustic guitar lessons can focus on playing with a guitar pick, finger picks, or just finger style (finger picking), and using a pick and fingers together in a technique called “hybrid picking”.

With acoustic guitar lessons you can learn to play in what is called an “open tuning”. This is where the strings on the guitar are tuned so that when they are strummed open, without fingering any frets, it’s the notes of a chord. Examples are open D, G, and A. Playing with an open tuning is used widely with blues guitar to make playing with a guitar slide easier. Many country guitar players will also use open tunings to be able to play the guitar like a banjo.

The following styles and genres could be covered in acoustic guitar lessons.

*Spanish guitar: Usually played on a nylon string (gut string) guitar, finger style.
*Classical guitar: Also generally played on a nylon (gut) string guitar with fingers.

The above styles could cover learning to read musical notation, but not necessarily, chords, arpeggios and major & minor scales.

*Country guitar: Usually played on a steel string guitar, but not always, Willie Nelson uses a nylon string guitar, with finger style or a guitar pick, or both (hybrid picking). Could cover open chords, bar chords, major & minor pentatonic scales. Country guitar can also be played on a tenor guitar which is a four string guitar that is tuned like a tenor banjo.

*Blues guitar: Usually played on a steel string guitar, with a pick, but sometimes finger style as well. Could cover open chords, bar chords, and major and minor pentatonic scales. Using a guitar slide and open tunings may also be covered.

*Folk guitar: Played on both steel string and nylon string (gut string) guitars, with finger style and/or guitar pick. Could cover using standard or open tunings, open chords, bar chords, major scales (seven tone), and major and minor pentatonic scales.

As you can see acoustic guitar lessons can cover a very broad spectrum of styles and techniques that could take a lifetime to learn.

You can find lead guitar instructors that teach via group lessons, webcam, and private. You can even find online videos and instructional DVD’s for it, but private one on one lessons are the best for learning lead guitar hands down. You can find lead guitar instructors that specialize in specific styles and genres or one’s that do multiple styles. There are certain aspects of lead guitar that are shared among all styles and others that are specific to a certain style. Group lessons for lead guitar usually don’t go beyond the beginner stage. There are video courses for the intermediate and advanced player, but it is difficult sometimes to get to the next level on your own. Private one on one lessons are best, especially for the advanced student. Advanced lead guitar instructors can work with you like a personal trainer. They can spot your problem areas and work on those specifically. Often there may be problems in your technique that you may not notice and could end up spending a lot of time practicing bad technique that can be very difficult to unlearn. Good lead guitar instructors can spot these problems and fix them before they become bad habits.

*Beginner: Lead guitar instructors for beginners could cover minor and major pentatonic scales, hammer on/pull offs, slides, bends, and alternate picking. These are techniques and things that would be shared among all styles.

*Intermediate: Lead guitar instructors for intermediate players could cover improvising with pentatonic scales, the 7 positions of the major scale, advanced bends, taping, and an introduction to hybrid picking. These are things that could be shared across different styles, although hybrid picking is not usually found in metal.

*Advanced: Lead guitar instructors for advanced guitarists could cover arpeggios, sweep picking and raking, the 7 major modes, exotic scales from around the world, string skipping arpeggios, following chord changes when improvising, exotic bends, 4 finger tapping, incorporating 5 tone and 7 tone scales together, and how to create your own licks.

So if you are in need of finding lead guitar instructors in your area, do an online search, read reviews from past and present students. A little homework can go a long way in finding good lead guitar instructors.

*Folk Guitar: Folk guitar is one of the most popular styles learned today. It can be learned on a steel string or a nylon string acoustic guitar. Things that acoustic guitar teachers may teach you are; major, minor, 7th and minor 7th chords in bar and open formats, using open tunings, playing with a guitar pick or finger style as well as pentatonic and major scales.

*Spanish and Classical Guitar: Almost exclusively played on nylon stringed guitars with wider necks and string spacing for finger picking, but can be learned on a steel stringed guitar as well. With this style acoustic guitar teachers could teach you; finger picking and right hand finger identification, 7 tone scales and exotic scales from around the world, arpeggios, finger picking techniques like the “rest stroke” and the “free stroke” and to read musical notation in all of the positions of the fret board.

*Blues Guitar: For this style steel string guitars are the most common, but you can still learn on a nylon stringed guitar. Acoustic guitar teachers for the blues may show you; 12 bar chord progressions like 1-4-5 and 1-4-5-flat 6, major, minor, 7th, and minor 7th open and bar chords, shuffle chord progressions, minor pentatonic scales, to play with a guitar pick, finger style or a combination of both (hybrid picking). You could learn techniques like slides, bends, and hammer on/pull offs.

*Country Guitar: This style too also is dominated by the steel stringed acoustic guitar, but there are some country players that use nylon string guitars as well. Country acoustic guitar teachers may teach you; major, minor, 7th, and minor 7th open and bar chords, to play with your fingers, a guitar pick or both with a technique called “hybrid picking” which is an intricate part of the country style called “chickin pickin”.

When seeking acoustic guitar teachers you can do an online search. Many professional acoustic guitar teachers have there own websites that contain a lot of information about them, such as; location, experience, rates, styles and genres that they teach, as well as student reviews that can be very helpful when trying to choose a teacher.

You can also check at your local music store, many of which offer lessons at the store or participate in local teacher referral programs or store employees may just familiar with the local community of acoustic guitar teachers and could point you in the right direction to get started on your acoustic guitar musical adventure.

*The Classroom setting: A very important aspect of learning to play guitar is having a good learning environment that is free from distractions. Weather you take lessons at a music store or at an instructors home, both have the potential for distractions.
If your private guitar instructors studio is at a music store you will want to investigate if it’s in a sound proof room or not. Music stores are noisy with people trying out instruments, a banging drum during your lesson would certainly be distracting. Sometimes instructors are also store employees, be sure they are not going to be called away to assist a customer during your lesson.

If your private guitar instructor’s studio is at his home you will want to see if it’s in a private secluded part of the house or if it’s in the living room. Kids chasing a dog across your lap will cause a disturbance in your lesson for sure.

*Child safety: If you are looking for private guitar instructors for your child there are special things to look for, especially if they are at the instructor’s home. What is the instructor’s policy on you or a family member sitting in on the lesson? Can the instructor pass a criminal background check? You can’t be too careful when it comes to the safety of your children.
*Guitar Detective: With a little of your own detective work via the internet you can find out a lot about potential private guitar instructors. Who could tell you more about there lessons and abilities than a student or former student? If you search for “private guitar instructors” (in your area), many of your potential candidates will have reviews left by students you can read. They may also have there own website that may also have testimonies from past and present students.
You may also want to ask at local guitar shops, many of them have teacher referral programs as do many local schools. Do a little digging and you will find information, if you don’t, maybe there was nothing to find because the person your researching just doesn’t have that much experience yet.

Last thing when considering private guitar instructors is that the bottom line is there ability to teach you how to play the guitar. Factors such as convenient parking, saving a couple of miles on the trip, or a few bucks cheaper should not be in the equation.

While there are many published books that you could use or free videos online that you could watch to learn some basics. That is sometimes the longest road to the results you may be looking for. If you are a total beginner there is no substitution for having basic guitar instructors sitting with you and showing you first hand what to do. When looking for basic guitar instructors there are 3 ways of getting the lessons; online via webcam, group lessons, and private lessons. Let’s break the 3 ways down.

*Online via webcam: This is a very convenient way to take lessons. You can do it during odd hours and from the privacy of your own home. There are even celebrity instructors from which you can take lessons from. One big draw back to this method is that you and the instructor are limited to what can be seen on the webcam.

*Group Lessons: There are many basic guitar instructors that do group lessons. A group of friends can often take there lessons together and it is also a great way to meet other like minded people. Since the whole class is beginners you start off the same, the only draw back is that people do not progress the same and some end up falling behind.

*Private Lessons: There are also many basic guitar instructors that do private, one on one, lessons. This is the most productive method of learning since you get the undivided attention of the instructor. Having this personal attention makes for the fastest progress and can avoid picking up bad habits that can be very difficult to unlearn.

The lessons that basic guitar instructors provide you could teach you; basic open or first position major and minor chords, how to use a guitar pick, strumming patterns, and simple songs that are fun to play and make learning easy.

If you do an online search for basic guitar instructors you will be able to find local group classes, private instructors in your area and online instructors that could be in another country, but since it is on the internet they can be just like they are at your house.