The Stellar Guitarist
2026-10-09T19:24:05.378Z
Like so many people, I bought a used guitar, tried to learn it, quit, put it in its case and there it sat for more than 20 years. In my defense, I was traveling for work at the time and just couldn’t get in enough practice. Plus, I was trying to learn the wrong way, which was to randomly find guitar tabs on the internet and try to bumble along. Maybe that works for some people, but it didn’t for me.Since then, I retired and a friend mentioned to me that they were going to learn to play guitar. I was instantly inspired myself to do the same, so I pulled out that old guitar of mine, changed the strings, and tuned it up. There are a few guitar teachers on YouTube so I picked one and diligently followed along. It wasn’t working for me, however, even after a year. I was not finding it to be satisfying, and was getting bored and was still “not that good”. It wasn’t that this other teacher was bad. He is quite accomplished and was probably showing all the right things, but it didn’t work for me.I then found Amber (aka The Stellar Guitarist) on YouTube. She posts a new teaching video every Sunday (for free!) and I really liked her patient, thoughtful, and thorough style. Plus she can sing (very well!) and always does a play-along at the end of every lesson. I am not a singer so I thought I would try her fingerpicking course, “Let’s Pick it Up”. I went through the modules and was quickly having fun again. I should mention that this course is really for people who already know all the basic chord shapes, so if you are an absolute beginner, you should likely do the basic course first. I started playing and practicing multiple times a day (that should tell you something!) not because I had to, but because I was having so much fun.I still have a lot to learn, so I also purchased Amber’s “Let’s Level Up” course to improve my barre chords and other techniques. I purchased both courses together in a bundle.Amber’s courses saved me from quitting guitar once again. Before I started the fingerpicking course, I was thinking that maybe I can’t do it; maybe guitar just isn’t for me. Now I know I can do it. I can call myself a guitarist. Not a good one yet, but definitely an advanced beginner and I am learning and improving every day. I highly recommend Amber as a guitar teacher.