Fender Presents: Getting Started on Acoustic Guitar -- A Guide for Beginners

 Best DVD for Beginners
This DVD has clear instruction, starts with the basics, gets a beginner launched correctly. No other DVD I've seen has looped backing tracks. The professional drums and bass (not midi imitations) allow you to play with a "band," and they loop, so you can work on a chord progression or solo technique over and over until you get it. I have tried the other DVDs - I unfortunately own them - and I can tell you that this one (and it's electric counterpart) are the most professional, effective, well-presented beginning guitar lessons available on DVD.

 Definitely Gets You Started!
I am a guitar lover, and I play a little bit for fun. Before I bought this DVD, I knew about 25 chords, and I played rhythm guitar by ear. Not only was I looking for something to help me hone my skills, but I needed a beginning instructional DVD for my children. I play an Ibanez PF Acoustic-Electric, and my kids share a 3/4 Fender Acoustic. My 3 oldest children, were 14, 12, and 9 when they started using this DVD. They all play piano, and want to be able to keep up with me on the guitar.

This DVD got them off to a very good start. Keith Wyatt is an excellent teacher. His style is well-paced and clear. He covers a lot of little details without talking too much or overwhelming the student. He makes it look very easy, which can be frustrating, but anyone can apply his techniques with practice. He actually demonstrates most of the lessons on electric guitar, but it's all good. The first menu has a lesson on tuning, and gives the pitches for you to match.

He teaches basic chords and chord patterns in the easier keys. He also covers scales, strumming and rhythms, along with the simple use of power chords. There are practice tracks to play along with, and with the random access of DVD you can skip around to any lessons you like. There are also lessons in picking, fretting, and soloing. And he reviews all of these things in 3 genres - rock, blues, and country.

I have learned a lot new things from this DVD, and my children have a solid foundation of guitar basics and even a little music theory. I've gone about as far as this DVD can take me, and I'll be ready for something new before long. but my kids have only scratched the surface. As their hands grow and their coordination improves, they are getting great instruction and exploring avenues that were unavailable to me as a young guitarist.

I recommend "Getting Started..." to anyone looking to hone their guitar skills and fill in the gaps. I feel like I can play on a whole different level since I started using this DVD and practicing the techniques taught by Keith. Beginners won't need a level two DVD for at least a year if they really take this one seriously. It's a good investment, and while it won't turn you into John Mayer or B.B. King, it will really get you started!

 Excellent beginner guitar instructional DVD
Complete and well done. The teacher is a good communicator. The DVD is structured well with all of the information and resources you need to get the basics down. I played guitar 20 years ago and am just picking it up again. I purchased this DVD to get back up to speed. I already knew what I was going to be taught which allowed me to judge the quality of the information delivery as it unfolded. I feel that the video did an excellent job. I learned some stuff I didn't know as well. I don't think you'll find better. Get the Blues instructional with the same guy. Its got beginner level stuff on it as well and will get you having fun and jamming with others fast.

 Excellent for the beginning guitarist
I haven't seen any other guitar instruction DVDs so I can't make any comparisons, but this video is very well done. Keith Wyatt is a clear and restrained teacher. His ego is completely absent. He is there to teach beginners what they need to know to get started playing guitar, and he's structured the lessons so that they flow into one another logically. He speaks to the point and he doesn't confuse the issue with unneeded commentary. The camera stays close so you can always see his fingers. The play along sections (simple chord progressions) are well designed visually and they sound good too.

This is an excellent video for the beginning guitarist. Once you've mastered the techniques taught here you will have learned quite a lot. This video lays a good foundation. It is time (and money) well spent.

 Grandmother and Grandson Learn to Play guitar together
My 10 year old grandson and I (54 years young), are learning to play guitar through this wonderful instructional video.
It's clear, concise and any age group will benefit from Keith Wyatt's terrific presentation. We are raw beginner's and I highly recommend this instructional video to anyone who wants to learn in a very easy to understand and orderly manner. You won't regret this purchase. Thank You, Keith!

 GREAT! except.....
This DVD is great! I play electric guitar and I use this DVD, it doesn't make much of a differnece really, its still a guitar. Anyways, this DVD covers a lot of stuff and the practice tracks really make it so much more fun to work on what you're learning, especially during the bar chord lessons when it gets so painful to just play the chord and hold it, but with the music it just makes it worth it.
However, one down side of this DVD is the lack of theory, Keith Wyatt tends to just say stuff like "This is C7" or "that's the minor pentatonic scale".... and I'm left with an empty space going "wait, what's with the names? they sound differennt I know but whats the difference between major, minor, 7th, etc.?!" I guess I'll have to look elsewhere for music theory :\....would have been great if it was included. However, I still think this is a really good DVD for beginners, I'm a beginner, i started off with the "LEarning Guitar for Dummies DVD" and moved on to this and I must say I prefer this, its more progressive in its teaching..

 New player
The fender gettiing started on acoustic guitar is easy to follow the lessons allow the student to practice at your own pace the graphics are easy to play along with.

 Nicely done and worth buying
This DVD, as well as the electric guitar version, are among the most well-produced and pleasant to watch videos on the subject (A lot of the other instructional videos I have seen are poorly produced and photographed). There is over three hours of material, much more than most videos. Keith Wyatt is an excellent instructor and communicator and I enjoy his presentations. While I agree with a previous reviewer that this video is no substitute for guitar method instruction, it is an excellent tool for getting new players started playing songs, and is much more fun than using typical guitar method books which include a lot of playing scales and the other not very enjoyable exercises. This DVD is well worth the price!

 Not what I expected
I would consider myself an intermediate guitarist so I should say that I think if I were more of a beginner the rating for this would be more like 3 stars. I bought the video thinking I would review the basics and maybe learn some things I either missed or especially I wanted to work on different styles of music.

I was impressed by the vast amount of material covered by this video and in the beginning he covers it very slowly and in depth. My qualms with it are simple: 1. Doesn't cover the major scale (this is a minor one but I feel that since it's the foundation of music theory it should have been covered) 2. Lack of theory (Most guitarists I know wouldn't care about this one but I do, he tends to say "just play whatever sounds good" more than I'd like), 3. Towards the end of the video he stops explaining things (Ex. there is a bass run in one lesson and those nifty 3d fretboards are nowhere to be found. Since he doesn't say what he's doing very clearly I ended having to just figure it out myself. Not very instructional.) Finally I just felt that the examples weren't exactly anything I would be interested in practicing (Especially the rock example...that is NOT rock!)

 THE BEST
IVE OWNED,OR RENTED MANY OF THESE INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEOS.THIS ONE,ALONG WITH ITS COUNTERPART FOR ELECTRIC, ARE BAR NONE THE BEST .THESE TWO ARE ACTUALLY AN ENTIRE COURSE EACH , SET UP IN EASY TO GET TO CHAPTERS. THE INSTRUCTOR IS EASY TO UNDERSTAND AND LIKABLE. THESE DVDs ARE WORTH MUCH MORE.I HOPE FENDER CONTINUES WITH THIS AND PUTS OUT AN ADVANCED SERIES