You will find lots of useful guitar lessons and information here - it works on an "honour system". If you can afford to pay for the lessons then please donate for what you use - imagine it was a pay site. If you can't afford to donate it is no problem at all - the site is free for you :). Updates and new material is pretty much donation dependant. Donations give me more time away from paid work to develop this site and make new lessons and features. BIG THANKS in advance :)

Donations keep the site free for those that can't afford to donate!

Click here for details on how to donate or contribute to the site. Thanks. J

*NEW* I will be sending out some "subscriber only" lesson links in the newsletters to encourage you guys to sign up, and will also be picking out one email address at random each month to receive a free DVD! Make sure you don't miss out... Please register in the space on the left, I only send out newsletters once a month and the emails will come from me, I won't pass your email address on to anyone else - and you can unsubscribe automatically at the bottom of any email I send you.

Wishing you love, peace and happiness (and many years of guitar fun!)

Justin

Small Town Eyes - Justin's debut album My first proper solo album is out on January 11th 2010. It's not a "guitar" album, it is a collection of 13 songs, there are 2 solo acoustic guitar instrumentals, but the rest are vocal alternative pop folk. You can hear sample tracks on myspace. I am really hoping that you will support me and buy my album on release week, help me realise my dream and get my album into the charts. Watch this space for info on how and where to buy it! A limited edition CD/DVD is availble now. Click here to read more details and place your pre-order before they run out!

Come from YouTube??? If you have come here after seeing a YouTube video and want to find the accompanying notes then check out the Lesson Index and find the lesson code shown at the start of the video. Blog TV - Live Weekly Broadcast Click the image above and you will see a countdown until my next show - so it should be easy for you to find out when I am on where you are! Join me for a weekly live broadcast on Fridays: 6pm UK, GMT 1pm US, EST Ask questions or just hang out and have fun! MYSPACE I do read ALL my comments on myspace (I personally have to approve every one) so that is good way to say hi!!! Plus you can hear some of the tunes from my album "Small Town Eyes" due for release in Jan 2010 (Ltd Edition will be go on sale in Nov 2009).

What am I up to??? BLOG In my BLOG I am currently charting the creation of my record (recording, promoting, etc.).

Latest 10 Lesson Updates

16-10-09 • NEW LESSONS - Four new Jazz lessons, on altered chords and theory
15-10-09 • BIG UPDATE of Links area, worth a look :)
09-10-09 • NEW SONG - Needle And The Damage Done by Neil Young
08-10-09 • NEW SONG - Wonderwall by Oasis
28-09-09 • NEW LESSONS - Beginners Course v2 Stage 9 is live!!
24-09-09 • NEW LESSONS - Big update in Songwriting section. Lesson from Pete Cunnah too!
21-09-09 • NEW SONG - Sultans Of Swing by Dire Straights (4 vids, incl. all solos)
16-09-09 • NEW SONG - Patience by Guns 'n' Roses (3 vids incl. solos)
11-09-09 • NEW LESSONS - Beginners Course v2 Stage 8 is live!!
02-09-09 • Recording Techniques area is now public (was subscriber only)

Can you help with translations? I am trying to get all the videos on the site translated to pdf documents (hopefully you may have seen this!) and we need volunteers to translate (and check) the word docs. We have some people already, but particularly need Swedish, Romanian, Russian and Chinese translators to help check the files we have, and we still need help in other languages too. Please contact us at translate[at]justinguitar.com and my friend Brendan (who organises it for me) will be in touch. Thanks, J.

Brian May digs justinguitar.com!

It is a real honour for me when someone I have a huge amount of respect for likes what I do, and little while ago the legendary Queen guitarist, Brian May, mentions my site in his online blog, Brian May's Soapbox. It took me a while to add a link here, because I thought it might make me look a bit full of myself, but hey, I'm proud of this! Click here to go to his web site and see it (it was posted on 29th May 2008) or click the image on the left to see a pic of it!

Latest News - November 2009Another mega month... I always thought I was busy, but I have taken that to a new level this last month. I really need a holiday now, but not looking like I will get much time off until Christmas... but I'm not complaining, I love it.

The album is all done, mastered, artwork is nearly finished, and I am now the proud owner of my own record label, Ocean Reds Records Ltd. Been an admin nightmare, joining MCPS, PRS, PPL, BPI, GS1, sorting out business banking, registering a company, dealing with designers, promoters, PR people, lawyers, manufacturers, accountants, licensing songs, vat, royalty... it just never seems to end!!

BUT the exciting news is that it's on shcedule!! Limited edition of Small Town Eyes will be available very soon. There will be only 2009 copies made and it will come in a 6 panel digipack, and contain the album, a DVD and 12 page booklet, on fancy paper too. Still editing the video, but will contain a lot of the making of the album footage and some other extras (probably some song lessons). That will available first to newsletter subscribers, so if you want a copy then you better get on the newsletter mailing list, it will sell out (I hope!).

The main release date is January 11th 2010 - and I will be begging you all to buy it when it comes out! It's been my dream since I was a child to have an album in the charts, and if I get enough support from all you lovely people that could actually happen! That would make me the happiest man alive, and only YOU can let me realise that dream, I can't get it myself, it can only happen by all you good people showing me some love! Please put it in your diary now, I'll probably be reminding you though ;)

On top of all that I have done a load of work on the site, filmed some new lessons and done a lot of planning (that usually takesa lot longer than filming the lessons!), preparation for the new DVD Really Useful Strumming Techniques II is nearly finished (hoping to get that out early December), New next edition of RUGS, Understanding Rhythm Notation, should be ready by December too. The new Jam Major play along CD should also be ready by then too, so next month looks like a big one for new justinguitar releases!

I had a big day doing corrections too, trying to get all the spelling checked (there were some well funny mistakes) and getting the translation scripts working and adding loads of new translations. That has been a mamoth task, and I'm hoping by the middle of 2010 the whole site will be available in a few languages at least!

I have a whole load of lessons filmed but I have had big problems with my camera dropping frames when I try and import the footage, it's fixed now and I have to go pick up my camera tomorrow, so should be able to get them edited pronto and get them live... so lots more coming very soon

I better get back to it now, the to do list is still very long...

Hope your playing is progressing well and you have been enjoying the lessons

Take care, be safe and be kind my friends, J

Need more lessons than you find here? try JamPlay...

The guitar lesson web site JamPlay have been offering a 7 Day Free trial to my visitors for a couple of months now, with some very positive reviews. There really is a lot of information there if you need more than you get here, lots of teachers and many different subject areas. You don't have to give your credit card number or any of that, so go check it out and see if you can find some useful information to help you develop your playing. Of course I think my method is best, but different strokes for different folks and all that - you might find a teacher there that you really understand and connect with. Of course after the 7 days you have to pay a monthly subscription, but it is reasonably priced. You'd be crazy not to check it out! Just click this link to get your free 7 day voucher code.

Sounds I make with the help from...

Justin plays Maton Acoustic Guitars, TC Electronic Effects, The Gig Rig Pedal Switcher, Mesa Boogie Amplification, AER Acoustic Amplification, DR Strings, The G-Lab Wah Pad and Kyser Capos. Thanks. Check them out, all seriously great tools for making happy sounds in your ears!

Global Issues

I'm just a guitar player, but I also care deeply about the state of the planet and maybe I can introduce you to some things you are not aware of, or just things that I care about. So take time to read the articles if you are interested, otherwise just turn the page and ignore...

Malaria - The quiet killer
I wonder how many of you ever thought that in the time it takes to watch one of my 10 minute videos that 20 children in Africa will die from malaria. Shocking isn't it. There are over 1 million deaths around the world from this killer, and it is preventable and curable. 90% of all malaria deaths are in Africa, and 70% of those are children under 5 years of age. The best way to prevent malaria is for children to sleep under treated mosquito nets. When I volunteered at the orphanage in Ghana early last year, none of the kids had nets. They all do now, but there are many hundreds of thousands of kids with no nets and no protection from the little buggers while they are asleep. If they do catch it, they can't afford treatment, a simple case of taking a tablet for a few weeks. There are many organisations that are working on distributing nets and I would urge you to support them, financially and by talking about this problem. Please check out the following sites: Malaria No More UK, Malaria No More US, click on donate, and help save a child's life. Thanks for taking the time read this, and I hope it moves you to act.

Zeitgeist - The Movie
I am sure that this is not the whole truth, but it is certainly interesting, and if you have not seen it then you should certainly check it out. If 10% of the film is true then we live in a very scary world indeed. A very thought provoking movie. It talks about religion, 911 and the way that we a ripped off by governments: Take money from the poor (collecting tax) and spend it on war (give the money to corporations that make weapons). Be prepared to re-think some things... Watch it here!

Darfur
Nearly two years ago now I found myself nearly in tears reading an article about the situation in Darfur in the New Internationalist magazine. I mentioned it in my 100th YouTube video and I hoped that it would make the video out of date very quickly. But it hasn't. More than 300,000 people dead and 2.5 Million people displaced. It is just disgusting that nothing is being done by international governments. Guess there is no profit to be made there... no oil to plunder. Read more about it - The Darfur Genocide and write to your local senator / MP.

Taxi To The Dark Side
While training in Spain my mate Dave played me an amazing film called "Taxi To The Dark Side". It is the story of a taxi driver who was wrongly taken into custody in Iraq and tortured and killed in prison. It shows many interviews with politicians and some creepy dudes that did the torture that killed the taxi driver. The US can choose definitions of words for ANY international agreement that it signs. In this case they define "torture" in a most unusual way. Guantanamo Bay is also discussed, as well as the torture techniques they use. It is a really shocking film that I would urge everyone over 18 to watch. See the trailer HERE and wiki info HERE. Let's hope that Obama puts this right...

Ghana
I spent Christmas and New Year 2008 in Ghana working in an orphanage. I met some amazing people and it really changed my headspace. It is a year on now and I still think of them often, and help them financially from money I make on this site. I maintain a web site for them - if you are interested in volunteering somewhere, then I highly recommend it. Just get in touch with Venus, his details are on the web site. You can read about it and see some video of our adventure in my blog, here. I raised quite a lot of money through this site and it really helped the kids, we got them new cloths, a bed, painted their room, bought medicines, paid for schooling, bought them chicken, but their expenses are ongoing and I send money to them every few months (from the donations received from this site). If you would like to help please see their web site (Ryvanz-Mia Orphanage).

 

This site is free for peace loving people - let's make this world a happy and safe place!

 

Morality is doing right, no matter what you are told.
Religion is doing what you are told, no matter what is right.
H L Mencken

 

Everybody's worried about stopping terrorism.
Well, there's a really easy way: stop participating in it.
Noam Chomsky

 

You can find the REAL news (not the rubbish that the big media evils show us) by visiting:
The Information Clearing House

 

If people are good only because they fear punishment and hope for reward,
then we are a sorry lot indeed.
Albert Einstein

 

Many people die with their music still in them.
Why is this so? Too often it is because they are always getting ready to live.
Before they know it, time runs out.
Oliver Wendell Holmes