Guitar Method

• Home
• Guitar Method
• Private Instruction
• Voiceovers
• Solo Entertainer
• Think Twice Duo
• Sojourn Trio
• About The Author
• Tip Of The Day
• Contact
• Links

Why another guitar method? "When I started teaching in 1985, I was living in Los Angeles and did what most private teachers do- I had students buy a guitar method at the music store and started teaching them to read notes on the staff." Riley points out that he has just graduated from Hollywood's famed "Guitar Institute of Technology" and felt beginners would benefit from learning to read music. "This wasn't the way I learned, but I was exposed to so many great players who could read that I felt it imperative for newbies to start learning that way." Problems began when many students became frustrated at the pace and material in existing books on the market. " I began supplementing the books with my own chord charts, fingering drills and basic tunes once I moved back to North Carolina. Eventually, I stopped demanding beginners learn to sight read and instead showed them how to actually make music on the guitar quickly. Speed was important because I have a family with four children and if I didn't get results, people would quit and we didn't get paid!" After almost two decades of looking for compatible material, he organized and published these same concepts in "Guitar Made Simpler." Reaction has been terrific. "This is one of the most expensive books ever created, since we codified what worked and what didn't during two decades worth of private lessons with over 50 private lessons each week. If a person can read English at a fifth grade level or better, they can understand and learn the guitar using "Guitar Made Simpler." Best of all, it's fun and entertaining. "We tell little jokes and anecdotes in the book because that's how I teach guitar in person. Just because a book is educational, shouldn't mean it can't be fun. I insist on it."

How's your guitar playing today? Are you making real progress and achieving your musical goals?


Did you try to learn guitar from a book, video or friend but became frustrated and quit trying?


Do you wish you could make music by yourself or jam along with friends?


Would you like to play songs like you hear on a radio or CD?


Are you ready to stop wishing and start learning?

You're closer than you think to realizing those goals!

Don't just play "Guitar Hero" - become one!

With "Guitar Made Simpler", anyone, regardless of their background, can learn to play the guitar correctly. This revolutionary new book/CD program makes other learning methods obsolete! Written by a professional guitar teacher, performer and writer with decades of experience, this fresh, exciting method finally makes learning the guitar easy for anyone ages 9-99.
Here are comments from people already enjoying success with this revolutionary new guitar method:

"I have never seen a guitar method for beginers that is so complete. It touches all the bases, and creates a solid foundation to build upon. The sky's the limit!" Michael Quagliano, Joan Frank Productions, Inc.

"I am very pleased with your product, and think it makes an excellent tutorial for someone starting from scratch to learn to play in time, while building their skills slowly and learning to equate tabs with musical notes - something I have never had any clue about. Thanks"
Chris

"After spinning my wheels for years, I am finally making progress. Guitar Made Simpler is a great book and I wish I had it when I first began lessons."
Rick

"I've played piano for years and have tried learning the guitar several different times. Each time I would abandon the process in frustration, figuring I just didn' t have what it takes to play guitar. Wrong! This book makes complete sense to me and I now understand the guitar and how to learn music on it. I just wish I had it when I first began. It would have saved me plenty of time and money!" Janice

"Guitar Made Simpler - An Intelligent Approach" teaches you everything you need to master guitar immediately, without moving too fast or boring you to tears. Unlike traditional books which can seem discouraging, this exciting book explains even tough concepts so anyone, even a child in grade school, can understand them.

If you have just 20-30 minutes a day, you can start conquering the guitar right away! Thousands of students from California and Texas to North Carolina have already learned to play guitar using this exact material! Now it's available for you, too! His decades of experience as a career teacher, writer and performer means he makes difficult concepts seem easy!

This is the guitar method you simply must own- it makes learning the guitar logical and organized so you won't waste your time learning meaningless material.

Specific explanations and encouragement in plain English immediately distinguish "Guitar Made Simpler" from any other text. The combination of formal notation and tablature along with audio examples on CD recorded at learnable tempos make this guitar method totally unique. "Guitar Made Simpler" is An Intelligent Approach that will have you playing songs immediately and teaches the important information most traditional methods won’t touch! In it, you’ll learn concepts like:

- Correct fret and pick hand positions with detailed instructions as well as clear photos to ensure you're playing properly without wasted motion

- What is Note Duplicity and why is notation or tab by themselves are useless to most guitarists!

- Understanding time signatures and how to play and understand 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 5/4, 6/4, 6/8 and 12/8 rhythmic feels

- Note rhythms and how to count them, including whole, half, quarter, eighth and sixteenth notes as well as triplets

- Abundant chord drills using two, three four, five and even six string chord forms

- Practice tips to help you sound great every time, including how to use and benefit from a metronome/drum machine

- Picking drills that guarantee accurate left and right hand technique, including alternate and sweep picking

- The Roman Numeral System used by working pros for learning any chord progression, like I-IV-V; I-vi-ii-V7, etc.

- The all important Blues Progression in 4, 8 and 12 bar forms

- Basic lead guitar scales, patterns, phrases, string bending, vibrato, slides, etc.

- Fingerstyle guitar basics, open and moveable power chord forms and much more!

This is the guitar method that makes all other books obsolete!

Have you tried learning guitar in the past from a book, video, online lesson or even a teacher without success? Don't give up- get "Guitar Made Simpler!"

Need more proof? Here's an example from Lesson One.

Developing pick hand coordination is crucial to laying a solid foundation for your playing.
Track 4 is a picking exercise designed to help you learn to move the flat pick evenly in down stroke rhythm. Move the pick down toward the floor, playing quarter notes on all six open strings. Start slowly, counting aloud as you do so. This example is in 3/4 time- this means there are three counts or beats per measure instead of four. Make a very small motion with the pick -only move the diameter of the string when picking a single note. Make your pick tip rub slightly against the string- don’t strike it too hard! Once you’re comfortable playing this, add the metronome, starting at 40 bpm and gradually increasing tempo up to 120 bpm. After a few days, practice this without watching the pick hand. This is best accomplished by resting the picking hand lightly against the bridge.



Here is the audio file for this example. It should play back on any computer, but works best with Quick Time.

Track 4

What makes Guitar Made Simpler different and better than any other method?

Look around at any music store, online site or bookstore. The market is flooded with mediocre, beginning guitar methods. Virtually no books are written by successful private teachers. Just like in many other fields, guitar instruction books are often "ghost written" by pianists or musicians who aren't even decent guitarists! Traditional guitar texts usually force beginning guitarists to read formal notation, an advanced skill that's unnecessary for learning and playing many styles of popular music. Tablature by itself is useless, since it doesn't address the all important element of time in music. Recorded examples of the music aren't included with many books; if they are, the songs and drills are played so fast no beginner could follow it or play along! Video or DVD lessons generally move too quickly and many people find themselves fighting to slow down, rewind or fast forward the section of music that's difficult. This is a short term solution. If you ever want to join a band, the songs you must learn won't be available on a video or DVD. There are dozens of guitar magazines and thousands of guitar transcriptions available to anyone who can learn to read at an intermediate level. But how do you get to this level? Is it possible to learn this information without nodding off in boredom or quitting in frustration? The answer is YES!

The solution is a combination of formal notation and tab, accompanied by an audio CD. This way, guitar can be learned visually with tab while rhythms are best understood with traditional notation. It's critical that musical examples be included and played at a pace suited for beginners. Material should be fun and resemble popular music everyone is familiar with. New material should be introduced slowly and gradually, building on what's already been learned. Instead of cramming a text with more notes, carefully worded explanations in plain English are critical in order to demonstrate what to do as well as how and why to do it.

The lack of an intelligent, organized guitar method available to everyone is the major reason there are more guitar owners than players.

What is necessary is a fresh start from a seasoned professional- a full time music teacher who has real world experience in what is and what isn’t necessary to know and play. Once you’ve learned the material contained in "Guitar Made Simpler," you'll be on solid ground, musically. You'll be able to successfully decipher a guitar magazine chart, song folio, lead sheet or anything else written for the instrument.
Riley Wilson is a name you know and trust. He authored "Vintage Guitar" magazine's popular Gigmeister column, a staple of the popular international publication from 1993-2006. You've seen his writing in "Guitar World, " Guitar School," "Gig," "Electronic Musician" and "Reel To Real." He's a veteran guitar teacher, averaging over 50 private students each week since 1986! Best of all, the same information Riley's taught working professionals like George Bond (Lakewood Rats), Michael Moore (www.mirrorimageshow.com), Alan Tyler (Tarnished), Tad Walters (Bob Margolin, Dave Andrews, solo), Johnny Wooten (www.widowusa.com), Mark Keith & Michael Wooten (www.blackwatch.com) is finally available for everyone's benefit. With the publication of "Guitar Made Simpler," he's made learning the guitar easy and accessible for everyone.

Think about it- if you're willing to invest 20-30 minutes of your day to develop a new skill you can enjoy for the rest of your life, Guitar Made Simpler will do the rest!

Imagine being able to pick up the guitar and make music that you enjoy listening to. How cool is that?

Think about how much joy it would be to play in a band with friends. Notice how many rock stars continue playing music into their 50's, 60's and beyond? There's a reason they keep playing- it's too much fun to stop! Unlike playing sports or other strenuous physical activity, guitar is an endeavor you can enjoy all your life.

Can you envision listening to a song and being able to figure it out by yourself? How great would it be to learn brand new songs each month from the many guitar magazines on the newsstands right now?

How much longer are you going to watch other people have all the fun? If you have eight fingers and two thumbs, you can learn the guitar, too!

Wouldn't it be great to learn from an established guitar teacher who can show you in plain language what to do and what to avoid as you learn?

Don't wait another day- order "Guitar Made Simpler" today and join the ranks of thousands of other students who have already learned the guitar from Riley Wilson!


HOW TO ORDER



"Guitar Made Simple- An Intelligent Approach" is $20 (U.S. funds only) plus $4 shipping in the continental US. We also accept PayPal orders- the cost of $24 includes shipping.

To order, send cashiers check or money order for $24 to:

Guitar Made Simpler

P.O. Box 250395

Plano, TX 75025-0395



Personal checks must be held until they clear our bank. Wal Mart as well as many other retailers offer money orders for less than $1 and we can ship immediately. Or if you prefer, we accept PayPal.