Online Guitar Lessons That Will Take You From Total Beginner To A Real Guitar Player
Step-by-step online guitar lessons that show you what you need to do every day to reach your goals, whether it’s playing your favourite songs, jamming with your friends or just having fun.
I’ll show you the secrets to learning the guitar in a fun and relaxed way, backed-up by my years of teaching 1-to-1 private guitar lessons.
Darius
Guitar Couch Lessons
Guitar Couch Lessons Blueprint
- Pick Up The Guitar Every Day | Small Steps Will Give You Big Results
- Know What To Play | Step By Step System That Teaches You How To Play Real Music
- Ask Questions | Ask All Of Your Questions And Get Answers
Anytime - Share Your Journey | Connect With Me And Other Guitarists On Our Platform
Sign Up For Membership & See If You Like My Teaching Style
Foundation
Get the basics, set great foundations and get all of your questions answered so that you can stay motivated and get past those tough first weeks of your journey
Progress
Get clear on what you need to do each day so that you can get past that beginner phase, see progress and start enjoying playing real music
Going Further
Undertsand your strenghts and weaknesses, move past frustration and get the tools and support you need to raise your guitar playing to reach those new goals
MEMBERSHIP / $15 MONTH
STRUCTURED, STEP BY STEP ONLINE GUITAR LESSONS
All online guitar lessons are structured so you can progress naturally & in an organised way. I’ll guide you step by step, give you tips along the way and help you grow into a real guitarist. My goal is not to teach you a particular style. My aim is to shape you into a real guitarist who can play whatever you want!
MEMBERS ONLY LIVE SESSIONS
You can participate in regular live sessions which are like having a live one-to-one lesson with me. You'll get plenty of ideas, new concepts and inspiration. All of the live online guitar lessons are recorded and published in the members section so that you can watch them at your leisure.
MASTER SESSIONS
Master sessions are the most important part of the online guitar lessons. These are where you implement everything you have learned in a fun and exciting way. This is where you will see how far you've come.
BUILT-IN SOCIAL STREAM
The social stream is for you to share your journey, see what others are working on, make friends, have fun and connect with me. This is also where I share fun stuff, tips and get to know my students.
STUDENT VIDEO SUBMISSIONS & FEEDBACK
Alongside your online guitar lessons, forum and social stream, you can submit your videos for feedback. Whether you are working on a strumming technique, master session track, guitar lick or something else you can upload your videos and I will respond with a mini video guitar lesson as feedback, explaining what you need to improve and how to improve it by showing you some additional ideas and exercises.
This kind of interaction between us will get you better results and most importantly it will make your online lessons feel personalised.
FORUM
One of the benefits of this program is that you can ask your questions and get answers anytime. You can also see what others have asked and grw your knowledge.
Q & A
Online guitar lessons cost $15 (US) per month. Once you sign up, payments will be automatically taken on the same day every month.
Yes, you can easily unsubscribe from your account. No need to email or call. It’s very straightforward.
Yes, the payment gateway is secure and stored off of the website on the partner payment provider (such as Paypal or Stripe). We do not store any personal card details on our site.
The subscription gives you access to everything that Guitar Couch Lessons website has to offer, so there is no need to pay for anything extra.
You can expect high quality, professional lessons based on real knowledge from teaching private students across many years. I understand your frustrations and I know how to deal with them in a safe, patient and encouraging way.
Yes! I’m a real person who loves teaching the guitar and interacting with my students. I visit and work on the website on a daily basis.
Available Modules | Online Guitar Lessons
Main Guitar Courses
These are structured lessons that cover all aspects of guitar learning. It is a holistic approach to the guitar. In these lessons, I will teach you everything you need to know step by step - starting from the basics.
Foundation Guitar Course | Level 1
This foundation course is a perfect place to get familiar with the basics. We won’t be playing anything yet, but it is still an essential module in which we lay some solid foundations that will pay off in the future.
I want you to get into the habit of following the lessons thoroughly. The videos and the descriptions under them are here to build a broad knowledge of the guitar and musical concepts. Many times, the text under the videos expands on some knowledge beyond what was covered in the videos.
More Info
Please don't rush through the lessons! I would imagine that you take time and really study every single lesson in depth. It is not about marking the lessons done and progressing through the content quickly. It is about getting real benefits by becoming my student and following a specific path and that path is not about rushing through.
Some of the lessons will have more than one video. If that is the case, you will see a blue notification box telling you that. Sometimes you will be asked to take a quiz, so enjoy it and remember that you can take it as many times as you want – no pressure, enjoy it 🙂
By The End Of This Module, You Will Know:
- How the acoustic and electric guitar is built and the differences between them and which one to choose
- How to sit with the guitar and what to pay attention to
- How to hold a guitar pick and if you really need one
- How to name and number guitar strings and how to tune up the guitar
- You will also get familiar with the format of the lessons so it will be easy to follow future lessons
Foundation Guitar Course | Level 2
This module is the place where we start having fun and will finally start playing the guitar. Please make sure that you know all the basics – how to sit with the guitar, how to use a guitar pick, and most importantly, how to tune up the guitar. All of these are explained in the Foundation Guitar Course | Level 1, so please make sure you are familiar with that module.
This course is structured in a progressive way, meaning you need to start with lesson one and follow every single lesson. We will start with your fretting hand and how to position the fingers on the fretboard and slowly progress through the course where I will teach you a very cool melody, three open guitar chords and the strumming pattern.
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Alongside this step by step program, I will give you a lot of tips, trips and pointers so please make sure you study every single lesson from the beginning until the end.
By the end of this course, you will be introduced to your first master session. A master session is the core of the Guitar Couch system. This is where we will be able to integrate all of your knowledge with real music written and recorded especially for your level. These are like goal posts on your road to guitar mastery. It is fun and super exciting!
By The End Of This Module, You Will Know:
- How to place your fingers on the fretboard, so the chords sound clear and are not muted
- A super simple melody that just sounds fantastic
- How to read and use chord diagrams
- Three popular guitar chords A minor, C major and E minor including tips on learning more stretchy chords
- How to strum the chords and how to arrange them into musical concepts
- How to organise your practice session, so it is more effective
- You will also be introduced to two Master Sessions, where you will learn songs which have been specially written for you and this course. You will also practice them to the backing track
Foundation Guitar Course | Level 3
The last module in the Foundation section pushes things up to the next level. We will expand your knowledge and prepare you for some serious guitar playing! You will learn new chord shapes, new ways of strumming and some new technical approaches to the guitar.
We will update your practice routine and talk about practice efficiency and effectiveness. As you get better, you will notice that you are facing new challenges in your guitar playing so we will address this subject alongside the module.
More Info
To give you the best learning experience, I explain everything in details in the videos and lesson content, so as usual, please make sure you don't skip any material!
There will be two new master sessions which integrate all of the content of the lessons and will give you a chance to put your new knowledge into practice. One of these is a Blues Master Session where we will lay some blues foundations and practice them together with the backing track.
Please remember that this is not a sprint! Don’t aim to get through the lesson in the fastest way possible. Stay here, take a walk through the musical forest, maybe meander a little bit and enjoy the process.
By The End Of This Module, You Will Know
- The concept of chord voicing
- What is an alternate picking technique and how to work on it, so it supercharges your guitar playing
- How to spice up your chord progressions with the concept of arpeggios
- Four new guitar shapes G, D, A and E and why three of these are super important
- How to effectively expand your practice routine so it will give you the best results with the time you have
- Two new Master Session songs recorded especially for you
- What is the Blues ... and a funny story inside ... 🙂
Beginner Guitar Course | Level 1
The beginner module will bring a new level of guitar development to your playing. As we leave the Foundation Guitar Course level, we step into more serious guitar playing territory.
You will notice that the learning curve will be a bit steeper, but it will be still within your limits. All the content is well planned, and as usual, I will give you plenty of tips on how to integrate new knowledge with what you already know. If you struggle with specific parts of the module, don’t forget, you can ask for help on the forum.
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We will revisit certain concepts that we discussed in earlier modules too and apply them to the new chords that you will learn in this course. You will be surprised what you will be able to play!
This Beginner Guitar Course will start a new series of more, guitar technique-oriented lessons that will really help you get to the next level. You will learn new chords and strumming techniques, work on your picking technique and apply all of that to two new Master Sessions.
Alongside the content of the lessons, I will share some very useful tips with you, that I use with my students on my private one to one lessons.
By The End Of This Module, You Will Know
- What suspended chords are, and how to use them to create super cool melodic lines
- How to improve your picking technique with a very effective cross string exercise
- What the difference is between the major 7 and 7th chords - jazz vs a blues sound
- How to further develop your practice routine for maximum efficiency
- How to arrange the chords into little melodic motifs
- How to spice up your progressions with some chord arpeggios
- Another two new Master Sessions recorded, especially for this level
Beginner Guitar Course | Level 2
This second module of the Beginner Guitar Course starts the gentle push towards elevating your guitar skills to an upper beginner level. You will start noticing that you are getting more confident and creative on the guitar.
We have another two Master Sessions which have been written especially for this module and your level. In these Master Session songs, we apply new chords, strummings and more advanced arpeggio ideas. You will also have the opportunity to play a really nice guitar solo over one of these backing tracks.
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This module will help you to get ready to play more advanced guitar chords such as barre chords. These are essential for your future abilities but are also quite challenging for a lot of guitarists, so we will start looking at ways to prepare your hands to play these more difficult chords.
Finally, you will also get comfortable reading guitar tabulatures by following specially created audio-visual lessons where we analyse what’s going on in the notation.
By The End Of This Module, You Will Know
- How to prepare your hands to play barre chords
- An exercise that will force your hands to become more efficient and in sync
- How to add 'movement' to your chords so what you play sounds more catchy
- How to make your chords sound more interesting by arpeggiating them in more advanced ways
- How to practice rhythm to get excellent results
- What songwriters use to build tension and release in music
- How to practice chords for maximum efficiency
Beginner Guitar Course | Level 3
In the third module of the Beginner Guitar Course, we will focus intensely on the technical development of your guitar skills. At this stage, you are familiar with all of the basic chords and should be pretty confident with basic strumming patterns and arpeggios, so now, with this module, let’s push your guitar skills to the next level.
We will kick start this session with some extended chords, explaining what they are and how they work in the context of music. In between, I will show some exercises that will accelerate your technical development and make you feel more confident with the guitar neck.
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All these lessons create one logical, structured guitar development plan. As usual, I will share plenty of practical advice with you that will help you create a practising strategy that gives you consistent results and keeps you motivated to keep coming back to practise each day.
Another two Master Sessions will give you a chance to apply the knowledge from the module in a practical, musical way. I can’t wait to share all of this with you. This module is challenging, but it will be fun and super rewarding once you reach the final lesson!!
By The End Of This Module, You Will Know
- How to use unusual chords to create a 'dreamy' sounding chord progression
- How to play a cool sounding guitar solo to one of the Master Sessions
- What 'passing' chords are and how to use them, so your chord progressions sound more interesting
- How to work on your alternate picking technique with one of the WORKSHOPS
- How to work on the barre chords and three ways of implementing them into your practice routine
- What 'articulation' is and how to use it in the context of a simple guitar solo
- How to confidently read guitar tabs, including simple rhythm patterns
Strumming Secrets Series
This is additional content that can be studied alongside the Main Courses. The goal of this series is to work on and improve your strumming technique.
Strumming Secrets Series | Foundation
Welcome to the Strumming Secrets Series – a series dedicated specifically to your strumming technique. The aim of these modules is to demystify certain concepts when it comes to rhythm and strumming techniques and gives you the best tools to improve.
Strumming technique is so important, so I have decided to separate these from the Main Guitar Courses. You can think about these exercises as a series of workshops that will help you develop a great sounding strumming technique by focusing on one technical aspect of strumming at a time.
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You may want to use Strumming Secrets Series alongside the main lessons and Master Sessions to give your rhythm technique a little boost. It is also something that you may add to your practice schedule.
Please remember that applying all of the information from these lessons will take time, so don’t worry if something is not working straight away. Take baby steps, and you will develop a great strumming technique 🙂
By The End Of This Module, You Will Know
- How to work on your strumming technique
- How to hold your guitar pick to supercharge your strumming
- Downstrokes versus upstrokes and how to work on them
- How to position your hand while strumming the guitar and what to pay attention to
- The biggest reason why people give up while working on rhythm
Strumming Secrets Series | Workshop | Level 1
Once you learn some basic chords, strumming becomes the binding element. It is the X-factor that makes chords and chord progressions sound like a song. The first workshop module in the Strumming Secret Series will focus on the basic strumming motions that we will develop into a fully ‘grown-up’ strumming pattern.
These exercises are built in a progressive way. We will break down our strumming pattern into singular motions, focusing at first, on the basics and as we go through the lessons will add to them, bit by bit. It will be fun and rewarding!
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Each lesson features a workshop exercise where you will be able to apply freshly learned concepts and practise them. You can slow the exercises down or speed them up, so you can find your perfect comfortable practice spot.
Please remember to review these lessons, watch them a few times so that the knowledge can really sink in. Not everybody is born with a strong sense of rhythm, and for some of you, it can take a lot of time to develop a good strumming technique.
Alongside these exercises, I will give you plenty of tips and tricks that will skyrocket your strumming technique.
By The End Of This Module, You Will Know
- How to practice your rhythm so you can develop a good strumming technique
- How to develop a natural-sounding strumming
- Two very useful rhythm patterns that you can apply to most popular songs
- The one tool that will make you a strumming expert
- How to work on the chord transitions so you can change the chords easily and smoothly
Strumming Secrets Series | Workshop | Level 2
It is time to step up! In this course, we will learn how to strum a very similar concept to the one that you learned in the Strumming Series 1, but we will bring it to the next level.
Many people think that if they don’t grasp rhythm naturally that they aren’t capable of learning the rhythm at all. I hope I can show you that this theory is wrong by walking you through these exercises and tips that I have used for many years with my one-to-one students.
By simply doubling the speed of your strumming hand, we will create a completely different feel. This is a very useful strumming pattern that you can apply to songs like “Hotel California” by The Eagles, for example.
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Alongside this course, I will give you lots of tips on how to improve your rhythm, accuracy and how to stay motivated and not give up just before you have a major breakthrough. The exercises are built in a way that they build on to each other. We will start with basic movements and add to them progressively.
As usual, each lesson features a workshop exercise where you can work in isolation on a specific part of the strumming pattern before joining all the individual items together into the full intended exercise.
Strumming Secrets 2 is a great addition to the Beginner Course 1. This strumming pattern creates the basis of the first Master Session of that module.
By The End Of This Module, You Will Know
- A secret that can really accelerate learning new strumming patterns
- How to work on and improve your rhythm
- Why other guitarists give up whilst trying to learn rhythm
- How to apply this new strumming pattern to the chords that you already know and
- How by doubling the speed of your strumming hand, you can create a fresh new strumming feel
Strumming Secrets Series | Workshop | Level 3
In this session, we will add an extra twist to the strumming pattern we learned in the past. Also, since your skills are growing, we will once again ramp up the speed a little bit. It will be slightly more challenging but plenty of fun! The final result will be quite a complex rhythm pattern that you will be able to use with many popular tunes.
As usual, we will start easy, focusing on the basics. With every lesson, we will then add a new motion that eventually creates a full complex rhythm pattern.
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Each exercise is broken down into simple memorable chunks and presented as a lesson, complete with a workshop exercise video.
Alongside this Strumming Secrets module, I will give you lots of tips on how to work on your rhythm and general musicianship. It will be fun!
By The End Of This Module, You Will Know
- The key elements in developing a great rhythm technique
- A very versatile strumming pattern that you can apply to a lot of songs
- How to practise and use the new rhythm pattern with different chord progressions
- What to pay attention to while working on a rhythm technique
- How to work on 'feeling' the rhythm
Master Barre Chords
This series provides knowledge and exercises to help you gain confidence using barre chords.
Master Barre Chords | Foundation
If you have been playing the guitar for a while, you have probably heard about these devilish, difficult shapes called barre chords. Many guitarists try to avoid them by using capos (the device you clamp to the guitar neck). Others try to find alternative chord arrangements for the songs that eliminate the need for them to use the barre chords altogether.
I hope this series of lessons and exercises will demystify what barre chords are and how to use them. There are so many benefits of learning barre chords that you might not be aware of, like being apple to play pretty much any song, expanding your chord vocabulary tenfold or being able to navigate confidently around the guitar neck.
Mastering barre chords requires time, … but not necessarily a lot of time every day but rather a little bit every day. It is more about taking a small chunk of information and then working on it.
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You just have to remember that it might take months before you will be able to use barre chords comfortably whilst playing songs. So be patient and have fun learning them.
If you have been sceptical about whether you will ever be able to play barre chords, I hope that after studying this module, you will change your mind! This series is intended as a supplement to the main courses on this website and should be ‘consumed’ in little chunks 🙂
By The End Of This Module, You Will Know
- What barre chords are and why they will transform your guitar playing
- How to prepare your hands to be able to play complex guitar chords
- The secret of positioning the index finger
- Why your thumb is your best friend when it comes to learning barre chords
- Why you are probably already halfway to playing barre chords
Webinar Archive
STUDENT TESTIMONIALS
Online Guitar Lessons
Hello Darius, I took your advice from the live session in which you suggested we learn a new song on Sunday’s. It was tremendously fun and rewarding! I started learning “If it makes you happy” by Sheryl Crow and although it was a bit difficult for me, a beginner, it was not time wasted. In the past, I have never learned any songs.
I have been doing skill-building exercises for the past two weeks since becoming one of your online students.
After years of wishing I could play the guitar I’m finally doing it!!! I owe it all to Guitar Couch and specifically to you, Darius. Thank you!
Hi Darius, I have just finished the Beginners Course level 2. I would just like to thank you for the way you created these online guitar lessons. They are structured in a way that allows me to go back and visit each individual lesson as many times as I need to really understand and grasp them at my own pace! This is important as I have the most unstructured working week!
The very relaxed teaching style you have removes any pressure to keep up! I learn at my speed! You made me realise that learning can be fun and we all need time to enjoy learning and laughing at our mistakes! Thank You!
This website is perfect for anyone who wants to learn the guitar at their own pace. I dip in and out when I have time, the course is motivating, inspiring and is the most comprehensive beginner guitar course that I have seen online.
I have been a member right from the start and two years later am still here, growing and enjoying every second.
I have been looking around your website discovering new things to learn. Fantastic. Best value going imo!
I’m going to continue with the master course but also add barre chords and strumming secrets to my learning routine along with a different song choice each week.
Thank you so much for all of your hard efforts in producing a great site.
I am so impressed! For now, I think this is even better for me than private face to face lessons because in person I was uncomfortably self conscious.
But doing the lessons with Darius,…if I have to go over something 10 times…then I just go over it 10 times without feeling stupid. And this ‘system’ makes sense to me. I have an orderly mind and the step by step approach where I can take however much time I need is perfect! Thanks so much Darius!
Have just done a couple of modules of the beginner course online, i am genuinely very pleased with my own self paced progress, the lessons are incredibly well delivered and the content is inspiring and motivating!!
About Darius
I taught myself to play the guitar. I almost quit many times, but the reason I’m still playing today is because I pick up and play the guitar every day, no matter what… and here I am 30 years later working as a professional recording artist and guitar teacher.
Because I taught myself, I figured out ways to develop my guitar skills more intuitively than most teachers. For that reason, I understand the issue’s you’re facing and know how to get you through them.
Guitar Couch is my step-by-step online guitar lessons system that teaches you to play the guitar at your own pace, helping you to progress and fill in the gaps without being academic. You’ll know what to work on, what to do next and you’ll never feel alone on your journey.
