Guitar Hot Shots Review | Guitar Hotshot

For a program that insists it can teach you to “Play like a pro,” Guitar Hot Shots has bought itself a mighty large pill to swallow.

We will discuss whether Guitar Hot Shots is able to make due on that promise, or whether it chokes in our Guitar Hot Shots review.

First off, materials; what does the Guitar Hot Shots program offer?

Thirty two guitar lessons in QuickTime format, a single PDF on music theory, a guitar tablature chart, three piano scales and chord diagrams, and twenty four piano and violin instructional videos.

So wait, this program isn’t all about guitar after all?

Nope. In fact, of the fifty plus lessons advertised, little more than half of them are actually guitar lessons.

But they advertised it as a guitar program?

Alright, so maybe it’s a mistake, let’s go over the positives before we make any judgment.

The site is extremely easy to use, and because all of the lessons (which actually equal two hours, not the advertised “four hours of intense video lessons”) are in QuickTime format, they are compatible with both a PC and a Mac computer. The downside to this (sorry, couldn’t stay positive for long) is that you have to pay an extra twenty dollars for video download privileges after you have already bought a membership.

As far as support, Guitar Hot Shots offers a single email address. Two weeks later, I still haven’t heard back from the mystery owner of that address.

The program does offer a free membership to beats365 which is Jamie Lewis’s other site, and that is a plus as it is full of backing tracks that you can jam to.

Although our positives were laced with negatives, we must still delve into the negative portion of our Guitar Hot Shots review.

First off, I don’t believe that Jamie Lewis actually understands half of the things that he has advertised. The demonstrational videos are sloppy at best, and from the looks and sounds of it, Jamie still hasn’t developed his own fundamentals.

Not to say that he needs to be a guitar god, but to advertise the ability to learn like a pro is insinuating that the instructor himself has the ability to teach you how, which would lead to the idea that the instructor himself is a pro. Unfortunately, Jamie offered a bit more than he understood.

The fact that a guitar site offers nearly sixty lessons, and nearly half of those don’t involve the guitar is a large pitfall.

The site also falls short on its promise of new lessons; the same lessons have been posted for over two years. Most of the lessons that divert from basic skill level are not only sloppy, but also, stylistically speaking, incorrect. Although imitation is the highest form of flattery, imitation has no place in the arsenal of an instructor. The fact that most of the lessons are in fact poor imitations of the contained styles speaks volumes in and of itself when viewed. 

Overall, for the first time in our reviews, a pass is granted. This site will do more harm than good for your playing, so steer clear.

We Recommed Jamorama Instead...

If you are looking for an affordable online guitar course, check out Jamorama instead. Jamorama is a highly recommended course that gives you quality for your money’s worth. If you want to find out what we think about this course, check out our review of Jamorama.