These 24 engaging lessons offer a fun and customizable learning system, refined by Dr. McAllister over decades, which will teach you to play the guitar in a surprisingly short time. Starting with the basics, and building one element on another, Dr. McAllister gives you a spectrum of core principles and musical material, building a solid base for playing the guitar and for further exploration in any style. Each lesson is a complete unit, where you’ll work through five learning modules: - Technique: Learn all of the fundamental skills of guitar playing, from left hand fingering and shifting to right hand strumming, finger picking, and pick playing; - Musicianship and Note Reading: Learn how to read music, grasp the fundamentals of music theory, and develop the ability to play by ear; - Chords: Practice a wide range of basic chords - the musical foundation under a melody - and study chord theory; - Scales and Melodic Patterns: Learn all the essential scales for guitar, as well as melodic patterns or “licks”, tools that equip you to play lead guitar lines and melodies, and to improvise; - Putting it All Together: From the very first lesson, put together what you’ve learned in real guitar songs and tunes, covering a range of musical styles. The program also takes you on an odyssey into the history of the guitar, its greatest players, and the styles they created and embodied, from guitar legends such as Andrés Segovia, Doc Watson, and Paco de Lucia to many pivotal but lesser known figures. Learning to Play Guitar: Chords, Scales, and Solos offers you an engaging and highly effective way to master the fundamentals of this universal instrument. With these brilliantly designed lessons, the world of the guitar and the joy of playing it are yours.