Discover the legendary playing styles of Eric Clapton, Eddie Van Halen, Django Reinhardt, and more in this course for both musicians and fans.
Playing Guitar like a Pro: Lead, Solo, and Group Performance
Take your guitar skills on the road with a look at what it takes to play professionally like the greats-greats with groupies, that is.
Rated 5 out of
5
by
CHIQAGOLIL from
THE TRAUMA OF EXCELLENCE
Start, stop, try, fail, determined to succeed, Made it! The hardest course I have ever taken, It took forever, at least, it seemed that way because I could not get online or video (homeless-lost in storage) for a year. Learning with Colin is nearly impossible, I learnwd to respect the power of Colin when he was gone. I got back to him and I'm happy, saving tons on sheet music. Next Level -show me complex solos without giving me trauma.
Date published: 2023-11-26
Rated 5 out of
5
by
paul erick from
Great! Brilliant! Entertaining!!!
Colin is a total professional—a virtuoso teaching many musical forms from Joni Mitchell to Rush and Van Halen. This course, for me, is the best how-to guitar course I've ever worked on and perhaps the best how-to anything course I've seen. Superb for intermediate through advanced players. Make sure you get the book that comes with it. Did I mention to get the guidebook?
Date published: 2022-08-15
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Pamalamba from
play chess, playing guitar
bought about month ago. format is great. so glad I can repeat sessions over over.
Date published: 2022-04-18
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Anonymous from
Terrific instructor and material
This a top notch guitar class. The teacher really delivers the material in a substantial, but "student friendly" manner.
Date published: 2022-02-04
Rated 4 out of
5
by
HAS NO NICKNAME from
Okay so far
This was purchased as a gift. He is starting to use it.
Date published: 2022-02-03
Rated 2 out of
5
by
Cajunsmoke from
Not what I expected-or wanted!
I was looking for a course that would teach fingering and fingering techniques. Having a music background for 64 years (piano and sax) this, so far, has not been what I wanted
Date published: 2022-02-01
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Canadian from
Delivers As Advertised
Dr, Colin McAllister is an accomplished and versatile guitarist, as well as a systematic and encouraging teacher. His formal knowledge of music, his practical advice, and his love of his art are all impressive. In the present course, he demonstrates his own compositions, using multiple different guitars to illustrate the styles and techniques of many famous musicians. There is clear modelling here for guitar students variously interested in nylon-stringed classical, steel-stringed acoustic, electric, or flamenco instruments, with frequent references to which compositions might work well using more than one type. Personally, I am probably not going to learn all of the pieces presented, but I still found every one of the lessons fascinating. I have a much better idea now of how and why guitarists I’ve heard in concert and on recordings do what they do, plus a greater appreciation of whose accomplishments have been most innovative and influential. I feel this course has upgraded my listening, as well as my performance, skills.
Dr. McAllister’s earlier Great Course (“Learning to Play Guitar”) was on the Beginner Level, and the one I’m reviewing here is Advanced Level. Those who studied the first course should expect to complete much diligent practice on their own before moving on to the present one. In my opinion, there are two praise-worthy format improvements between the two courses. One is that the newer “Playing Guitar Like a Pro” course comes with a spiral-bound course workbook measuring 8.5x11 inches, much easier to use (as on a music stand) than the beginner course’s perfect-bound guide book measuring just 5.25x7.5 inches. Another advantage of the newer course is that anecdotal and narrative material, here called the Artist Spotlight, is delivered by Dr. McAllister at the very end of each lesson, not interspersed within the direct guitar instruction, which seems less interruptive and does not interfere with finding quickly the parts of a lesson one wishes to review.
There are, though, two minor faults I will cite with “Playing Guitar Like a Pro.” Firstly, it isn’t immediately obvious in every case when some accompaniment sounds are coming from background recordings or off-camera musicians. I would have liked all such instances to have been announced or clearly shown. Secondly, Dr. McAllister occasionally uses terms not readily familiar, and, with no glossary provided, I had to assume they were musicians’ jargon. Neither of these faults keep me from rating this course as excellent and recommending it highly.
Date published: 2021-11-27
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Thixs from
Very informative
I bought this because I volunteered for this program called Guitar for Vets and wanted to make sure I knew enough. This video has given me the confidence
Date published: 2021-10-30
Overview
About
Colin McAllister is the Music Program Director at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. He earned his master's and doctorate degrees in Musical Arts at the University of California, San Diego, where he studied guitar with Celin and Pepe Romero, interpretation with Bertram Turetzky, and conducting with Harvey Sollberger and Rand Steiger.
Dr. McAllister has taught the guitar and performed professionally as a guitarist for more than 25 years. He has made more than 1,000 appearances with organizations including the San Diego Opera, the San Diego Symphony, and the Colorado Symphony. Dr. McAllister is also a member of the jazz ensemble Hennessy 6. In 2016, he entered an artist partnership with Taylor Guitars.
Dr. McAllister has recorded on several record labels, including Albany Records, Tzadik Records, and Naxos. He also pursues research interests in 3rd and 4th century religious beliefs related to apocalypticism and early medieval commentary on the Book of Revelation.
Dr. McAllister lives in Manitou Springs, Colorado, with his wife Barbara and their children. In addition to his academic studies in music and the apocalypse, he has climbed more than 35 of Colorado's 14,000-foot peaks, along with Mount Whitney in California and three high volcanoes in Mexico.
Trailer
01: Hot Lava: Van Halen’s Two-Handed Tapping
Dr. Colin McAllister begins his second guitar course with one of lead guitar’s most extravagant techniques: two-handed tapping. Using an original composition inspired by the legendary Eddie Van Halen, Dr. McAllister teaches this elaborate performance tool hands-on and step by step, in an accessible and easy-to-follow lesson.
39 min
02: Hot Lava Backing Track - Lead
Practice playing along with this backing track.
1 min
03: Hot Lava Backing Track - Rhythm
Practice playing along with this backing track.
1 min
04: Luna Negra: Soloing like David Gilmour
Here, Dr. McAllister dissects the unique, blues-influenced soloing style of Pink Floyd’s lead guitarist, David Gilmour. Along the way, he’ll introduce you to some of the band’s fascinating history before outlining two playing techniques: vibrato and string bending. As with the other lessons, it includes backing tracks at the end.
37 min
05: Luna Negra Backing Track
Practice playing along with this backing track.
1 min
06: Barnhill’s Blues: Going Acoustic like Clapton
Eric Clapton’s concert for the MTV Unplugged series is one of the most famous ever played. In this lesson, you’re invited to unplug and play bluesy swing rhythms and learn the Hendrix-inspired playing style that balances both lead and rhythm guitar with just one guitarist in order to help fill out the sound of any single-player performance.
43 min
07: Grant Green Street: Funk Rhythm and Licks
Take a trip to 1970s Detroit and master the sound of Grant Green, a funk and blues guitarist for Blue Note Records whose personal life was as colorful as his talent on the six-string. Learn—and learn about—funk-style chord strumming as well as crosspicking, a melodic picking style partly owing its fame to bluegrass.
37 min
08: Grant Green Street Backing Track
Practice playing along with this backing track.
2 min
09: Fantasía Ibérica: Celin Romero’s Rasgueado
Dramatically switching genres, Dr. McAllister approachably demonstrates staples of classical acoustic guitar, including rasgueado, or playing with the fingernails; right-hand arpeggios, planting the right hand’s fingers on strings to nimbly traverse the guitar; pizzicato, or playing with the thumb while palm-muting with the hand’s outer edge; and tremolo, sustaining a note by finger-picking rapidly and repeatedly.
44 min
10: Sunday Drive: Leo Brouwer–Style Classical
Cuban composer Leo Brouwer’s one-of-a-kind Afro-Cuban classical guitar style provides the basis for this remarkable lesson. Interweaving slow playing with rapid hammer-ons and open-string licks, Brouwer’s trademark sound effortlessly switches from easy performance to challenging and back quickly and deftly—and it may have just the flair your next composition is missing.
36 min
11: Manitou Swing: Django’s Gypsy Jazz
Dr. McAllister leads a masterful study of one of the greatest jazz guitarists in history—Django Reinhardt. Perfect the arts of staccato chords, fast vibrato, sliding, and other “Gypsy jazz” elements, and bring Reinhardt’s 1930s and 40s to life on your own six-string.
35 min
12: Manitou Swing Backing Track
Practice playing along with this backing track.
1 min
13: Anselm’s Caper: Bebopping like Tal Farlow
Start with George Gershwin’s “I Got Rhythm” or the theme song from The Flintstones, then increase the tempo and add the frenzied playing of Charlie Parker or Tal Farlow. This is the structure for “rhythm changes” jazz. Don’t worry, Dr. McAllister comes through again with examples, theory, and practical use for the aspiring guitarist.
39 min
14: Anselm’s Caper Backing Track
Practice playing along with this backing track.
2 min
15: Blue 13: Wes Montgomery’s Octave Melodies
Journey back to the meat and potatoes of improvisational music—the 12-bar blues structure—and spice it up with additional chord progressions and octave-based melodies popularized by jazz legend Wes Montgomery. Fine-tune your thumb strumming and master the style of this legend.
39 min
16: Blue 13 Backing Track
Practice playing along with this backing track.
4 min
17: Moto Perpetuo: Andy McKee–Style Workout
Andy McKee’s percussive use of the body of the steel-string guitar, coupled with his right-hand tapping and slapping harmonics, defies categorization. The first guitar sensation on YouTube, boasting 100 million views, Andy’s lovely and unconventional playing led him to open for Prince. Learn several of his innovative techniques today and how to “play outside the box.”
42 min
18: Way Beyond: Intervallic John McLaughlin
Broaden your musical horizons with this lesson inspired by John McLaughlin, a prominent jazz fusion guitarist who featured on Miles Davis’s Bitches Brew. Dr. McAllister uses McLaughlin as evidence to enlighten the viewer about cross-rhythms, interval-based music, and changing time signatures.
46 min
19: Way Beyond Backing Track
Practice playing along with this backing track.
1 min
20: Sketch for Barbara: Pat Metheny’s Influence
This lesson focuses on the modern jazz waltz, utilizing arpeggiated improvisation and cross-rhythms in the vein of Pat Metheny. Metheny is known for his blend of highly technical yet swinging play style in jazz and blues, adding a distinct flavor to each genre—especially during the changing musical scene of the 1970s and ‘80s.
39 min
21: Sketch for Barbara Backing Track
Practice playing along with this backing track.
2 min
22: Cinq de Blanc: The Police’s Quintal Harmony
Thanks to guitarist Andy Summers, most songs by The Police are instantly recognizable. His focus on fifth intervals and reggae-style playing gave the band their signature sound, and hits like “Message in a Bottle” and “Every Breath You Take” give excellent context to this study and insight into your own songwriting.
38 min
23: Cinq de Blanc Backing Track
Practice playing along with this backing track.
1 min
24: Tarsus: Power Arpeggios of Alex Lifeson
Unleash your inner progressive-rock beast with this Rush-inspired exercise of shifting time signatures, power chords, and crosspicking. The intrinsic and dynamic qualities of the prog-rock subgenre are laid bare here in an easy-paced, digestible format for you to ramp up your technical game.
42 min
25: Tarsus Backing Track - Lead
Practice playing along with this backing track.
1 min
26: Tarsus Backing Track - Rhythm
Practice playing along with this backing track.
1 min
27: Samba Sonrisa: Playing Brazilian Style
This lesson covers the lovely subgenre of Brazilian-style bossa nova. Bossa nova, which includes “The Girl from Ipanema,” surged in the early 1960s thanks to guitarist João Gilberto and pianist/composer Antonio Carlos Jobim. They developed its smooth acoustic plucking and syncopation into a cool, slowed samba irresistible to master guitarists.
42 min
28: Cumulus: A Tribute to Joni Mitchell
Dr. McAllister teaches the viewer how to make use of open D tuning and switch between strumming and playing slur-based melodies, enabling him or her to emulate Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. “Cumulus” gives you the opportunity to adapt the full, rich sounds of the legendary artist and the 1960s-70s folk movement.
40 min
29: Gog Magog: Bluegrass and Flatpicking
It’s quicker than a fighter jet and more intricate than an Agatha Christie murder mystery, but you’ve got this! Apply everything you’ve learned so far from this course about hammer-ons and pull-offs (or “slurs”), open notes, speed, and precision to tackle a lightning-fast—and seemingly intimidating—American musical creation: bluegrass.
47 min
30: Gog Magog Backing Track
Practice playing along with this backing track.
2 min
31: Whisper Creek: American Folk Music
Ballads of America’s downtrodden. Post-Dustbowl hardships. Empty bottles. It may not seem flashy or glamorous at first glance, but the viewer crosses the finish line with this snapshot of a nation, a people, a time. Complete your journey of guitar edification with folk music—that most humble, somber, and sincere of American working-class genres.
38 min
32: Echo Park
American Surf Guitar. Revisit the early 1960s sound of surf rock by freshening up on the rapid picking and steady 16th-note rhythms that dominated the beach. Dr. McAllister shows you how to play like Dick Dale and The Beach Boys, while enlightening you about everything from the Rendezvous Ballroom fire to Brian Wilson’s nervous breakdown.
17 min
33: Echo Park Backing Track
Practice playing along with this backing track.
2 min
