First, a bit of background. Jamorama is aimed at those who have no previous experience of playing the guitar, as well as those of an intermediate level who want to brush up their skills, or fill in some gaps in their knowledge. I’m not a beginner – I started playing the guitar aged 10, gave up a year or so later, then took it up again when I was about 20, and have been playing ever since. I also play other instruments, including the piano, and have a very strong background in music theory and composition. So I have quite a lot of experience, both with the guitar and in terms of my general musical skills (although there’s always more to learn of course, and I’m sure Jamorama will teach me a few things too), and I think that this experience will enable me to recognise the strong and weak points of the guitar courses that I review on this site.

I don’t have a huge amount of time to devote to Jamorama at the moment, as I’ll be fitting it in around my normal practice routine and other work, but I aim to spend about 15-30 minutes on it each day – so don’t assume that you’ll progress at exactly the same rate as me – you may be faster or slower, depending on your experience level, time spent practising, innate ability level and other factors. I’ll be starting properly next week, and will write each day (or I’ll try to – but at least a couple of times each week) to give details about the Jamorama course and my experience with it along the way.

UPDATE – 14/12/09
Since I originally wrote this blog, Jamorama have updated their course to include more materials. Two versions are now available; Jamorama Standard, which focuses on rhythm guitar skills, and Jamorama Deluxe, which covers lead techniques as well. The two Jamorama books reviewed in this blog are those that make up the Jamorama Standard course – I’ll also be adding a similar in-depth review of the lead guitar lessons in Jamorama Deluxe (which I also have access to, as an existing customer) when I have time. Read more about Jamorama Standard and Jamorama Deluxe.