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Jamorama is what is known as an
“e-course.” Once you purchase it from their website, you can
download the course instantly. These e-courses are becoming
increasing popular, because they are inexpensive to produce and
distribute, but they are not always of the highest quality.
Jamorama, however, was a standout. As with all e-courses,
you will have to do all of your practice sessions
 in front of
your computer, which many of our testers found a bit
aggravating.
Quantity: There
are a lot of lessons here. They come in the form of two
e-books, the first for beginner guitar and the second for
advanced, complete with video clips, several jam tracks, and
more lines of tab than anyone wanted to try to count. With the
obvious exception of Learn & Master Guitar, no other course has
as much content. It takes students from the absolute basics all
the way through fairly advanced techniques.
Quality:
The quality of instruction in Jamorama is quite good as far as
technique is concerned, but it falls short from the standpoint
of music theory. It focuses more on reading tab than reading
music. If you are primarily interested in playing basic songs
without developing a real understanding of musicianship (or even
reading music), then this may not be a problem. However,
several of our music teachers felt that it was really selling
students short.
As is typical of e-courses, the
quality of the video and music production wasn’t great. Much of
it has the “shoe-string budget” feel that unfortunately has
become rather common for instructional courses – especially the
downloadable kind.
Service:
Jamorama is sold by a company based in New Zealand. Any service
requests have to be submitted through an online form, and the
response time is a bit poor. They will only answer questions
regarding ordering. We were also not able to find a phone
number.
Online Support:
There is no support offered for students who encounter
difficulties with the course.
Negatives:
The same issue came up with our
reviewers that did with all of the other e-courses we tested:
few of them enjoyed practicing in front of their computer every
day. The majority expressed a preference for real DVDs, CDs,
and books. There was also concern about the lack of basic
theory education.
Bottom Line:
If practicing with a computer doesn’t bother you, and you are
unable to afford Learn & Master Guitar, Jamorama is the best
alternative we’ve found. It is of higher quality than any of
the other downloadable e-courses and a real bargain.
Buyer’s Tip:
The Jamorama website always says that the price is
about to go up.
Learn more on the
Jamorama website.
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Review Summary
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