Summary: An excellent interactive tutor. Must have CD-ROM in player to use.

Background: In the past I had about five group lessons and a lot of practice However, my progress was somewhat limited due to the lack of having someone available to consult with and the lesson books were not much help for me.

The tutorial comes in two levels. This review covers Method #1 only.There are six chapters including 60 lessons in the tutorial.

Chapter 1 was particularly interesting because it takes you from exposure to the three types of guitars (Classical Acoustic ­nylon string, Steel String Acoustic and Electric) through the tuning process. You will learn, the finger positions, how to read the cord chart. Playing your first guitar song (Brother John) using the G cord completes the first chapter. An impressive feature is the automatic tuner. You can play into the computer’s microphone and visually determine if you are tuned too high or too low. My first try at tuning proved that I could in fact tune my guitar. I had always had problems with this in the past.

Introduction to the Metronome is included in the first chapter. The Metronome will provide a beat to assist in timing the strumming at the desired rate. This important timing device can reside at the upper right hand corner of the screen. The metronome can be set to silent or audible.

There is a recording feather included at the lower left of the screen..It is excellent for monitoring how well you are progressing.

Chapters 2, 3 and 4 (lessons 11 through 40) introduce the following cords: simple C, simple G7, D, A7, full C, A. E. E7, AM, D7 EM full G Am7, DM, F, full G7, C7, and rock cords A5, D5, and E5. Songs learned in these chapters include Red River Valley, Silent Night, Oh Suzanne, Star Spangled Banner, Amazing Grace, La Bamba and many others.

Chapter 5 (lessons 41- 50) Introduces playing of melodies with a variety of folk, classical and blues tunes. Songs to mention are: Jingle Bells, Au Claire de la Lune, Alouette, Yankee Doodle, and Blues Shuffle.

Chapter 6 (lessons 51-60) Introduces the bass note strum, bass note double strum the alternate bass note strum and finger picking. Songs included here are: The Saints go Marching In, My Bonnie, Home on the Range, and Yellow Rose of Texas.

Needless to say because of tight time constraints, I did not complete the course before writing this review. However, I do see that I will be able to proceed and eventually learn to play the guitar. My best judgment is that with a constant effort one should aquire some reasonable playing skills in a six month period.