Multi-instrumentalist Rob Scallon, known for his heavy metal covers, usually played on non-metal instruments—banjo, sitar, harp, ukulele, and even a 3 string balalaika—has teamed with Guitareo to offer a personalized GuitarQuest course for people who want to learn how to play guitar, and fast.
Videos by American Songwriter
Featuring Scallon’s own version of “how to play guitar” without the heavier focus on theory, the course helps students play their first song within an hour by learning chords and eventually writing their own song by the end of the course, working through a step-by-step curriculum of repetition and practice, “video missions” and other exercises in between classes.
Scallon, who has gained more than 2.1 million YouTube followers since premiering his videos in 2007, sharing tutorials on various instruments, tips for working with effects, and his heavier covers, including a banjo-ridden “Psychosocial” by Slipknot, Metallica’s “Master of Puppets,” and various Slayer’s tracks like “Raining Blood,” along with “Piece By Piece” and “Payback,” which recently featured Scallon shredding on the ukulele with Sarah Longfield.
Guitareo offers over a hundred courses for beginners to more advanced players looking to work on technique, music theory, as well as classes focused on lead, rhythm, and blues guitar.
“Music is a language, and just like you didn’t start talking by understanding prepositions and nouns, you shouldn’t learn guitar by endlessly studying theory,” says Scallon in his GuitarQuest mission statement. “Instead, let’s just start playing. We’ll play a show, shoot a music video, make commercial jingles, rock out, make a bunch of noise and write a ton of your own music along the way.”
Learn more about GuitarQuest here.
