Electric Guitar Lessons

Who Else Wants To Play Electric Guitar Like A Pro?

(This page if for Electric Guitar Lessons in Edmonton. See here for Acoustic Guitar Lessons in Edmonton instead)

Or call direct 780 637 0513

• Did you get stuck learning your guitar and now you don’t seem to get better, no matter what you do?
• Do you want to shred on your guitar but every time you try to play faster your hands “freeze” or “tense up”? Are you frustrated with not being able to play guitar as fast and precisely as you would like?
• Do you struggle to sound “good” on the guitar and wonder how professional players can sound like a million dollar using only 1 or 2 notes?

Read below how you can get rid of these issues and finally play guitar the way you want to.

“Taking lessons with EGMS has been a great experience. I went from doodling random intro’s and riff’s in the basement to actually playing full songs and solo’s.”

Brad S

“I knew absolutely nothing when I went for my first lesson and they quickly built me up from brand new to better than I ever thought I would be!”

Dylan B

“I was skeptical at first thinking it would be very difficult to make progress as an adult student. After only 4 months I am blown away by my own progress. All I can say is I have re-found my passion.”

Chris H

The Roadblocks In Learning Electric Guitar.

We all know that playing fast is not the only important thing when playing electric guitar. Playing WELL is as important, if not more, than playing FAST. Here we address BOTH playing “well” and playing “fast”.

If you are reading this page, then I know (based on my experience as a teacher) that there are three problems that you are likely struggling with.

These problems are the cause of most or all your frustrations with playing guitar. They are not your fault, but if we don’t resolve them they will eventually cause you to stop playing guitar altogether.

If you think I’m being overly dramatic here, consider that many electric guitar players before you stumbled on the same problems, blamed them on “lack of talent”, and abandoned the instrument.

Before you decide prematurely that you are not cut out for playing electric guitar, let’s examine these problems together and see their causes and solutions:

1. The first big problem that guitar players experience is the lack of physical speed. A typical symptom of this problem is that whenever you try to play fast, your fingers “lock up”. Your hands are not relaxed, and the faster you try to play, the stronger your tension and the more difficult it is to play. (And no, this is NOT how it is supposed to be. Properly trained high-speed guitar technique feels relaxed and effortless )

2. The second big problem that most guitar player experience. Even if they can play exercises like scales or arpeggios very fast, they can not play REAL music. That is to say, they can’t play complete solos and/or they can’t improvise. There are many factors at play here, from a lack of knowledge of music theory to a lack of dexterity due to being self-taught.

3. The third big problem that electric guitar players experience is sounding “professional”. The signs of this problem are:

   • Even if you play a song correctly note by note, it does not “sound the same”. You feel like there is a mysterious ingredient or a secret that professional players use to sound good (in reality of course there are no secrets, see below).
   • You do not feel confident (or are downright scared) to play in front of others because you do not “sound good”, especially when you play only a few simple notes.
   • You try to play fast even when it’s not musically relevant, because you feel that if you played only few notes they would sound bad. It goes without saying that a properly trained electric guitar player will sound good whether he’s playing lots of fast notes or few slow ones!

(It ALSO goes without saying that if you are not properly trained this is not your fault. If you are self-taught then you simply did not have the occasion to be trained yet. If you are not self-taught then your teacher is responsible for not training you properly).

I Was Once Just Like You…

At this point you may be feeling frustrated or hopeless with your playing. I want you to know that I do understand how you are feeling right now. I experienced the very same feeling myself when I learned how to play, and I witness them every day in the guitarists that come to me for help.

Like you, I wanted to learn how to rock on my guitar. I wanted to play all the cool solos that my guitar heroes were playing. I also wanted to write my own music and be able to express myself freely on the instrument.

But I had no idea where to start and what to do.

I was reading every book I could get my hands on, fishing for free guitar lessons on the net, spending endless nights trying to learn my favorite riffs from tabs… but, try as I might, I was not progressing as much as I wanted to.

I felt stuck, and at one time I was so frustrated that I actually stopped playing altogether.

Physical technique was my number one problem when I was learning. In every band I was in, I was always the slower, sloppier guitar player. I practiced night and day (I practiced so much that I actually hurt my hands and had to stop playing for months…) but nothing seemed to work.

The fact that physical technique was my number one problem does not mean that everything else was fine either. I didn’t know how to write a song, music theory was a big scary thing, improvisation was a complete mystery, I could not transcribe music by ear…

… but guess what, I was not the only one. And many of the students I teach today start in the exact same condition I was in. You may recognize yourself in this too!

What Does Not Work…

Looking back now to my own experience, and to the experiences of all the students I taught since, it’s clear that there are ways to learn the electric guitar that will just frustrate you.

In fact, you may have tried one or more of these and came out of them more frustrated than when you started:

1. You may be trying to learn by yourself. After all lots of famous guitarists SAY that they are self-taught (whether it is true remains to be seen…). But if you are learning on your own, then how do you know what to focus on? Do you have a strategy that will make you play the way you want, or are you simply picking and choosing something different every day? How do you know in what order to learn things? How do you know how to improve?

   For instance, if you want to play faster there are specific strategies that can help even the slowest player to increase their physical speed… but most beginner players use just the inferior strategy of “pushing for speed”, i.e. trying to force their hands to move faster. This is a sure recipe for failure… and eventually will also cause injury.

2. If learning by yourself did not work, then you may be trying to learn from the Internet. There are a lot of online guitar courses out there, and there is YouTube too! The reality though is that anybody can improvise themselves a teacher on the net… and even people who look really credible on video may actually not be as competent as advertised.

   What about taking an online course? Sure, there are a few good online courses out there, but if you are not a master of the guitar yet, how can you recognize the good courses from the bad ones? And even in the best case situation - that you stumble completely by chance on a good course, or a good YouTube video - none of these can give you any real feedback on your progress, your challenges, your specific goals. You are on your own.

3. One very common cause of frustration is when you are studying with a teacher that is wrong for you. Typical symptoms of a student/teacher mismatch are:
   • Learning many songs or topics that you don’t care about. One of my best student, who has a high focus on Rock and Metal, was previously working with a teacher that insisted on teaching him Frank Sinatra’s songs. There is nothing wrong with Sinatra (I personally love his singing), but you will agree with me that if your goal is to shred and create great rock or metal music, then Frank Sinatra should definitely NOT be one of you priorities!
   • The teacher asks you “what do you want to learn today” at every lesson. This means that the teacher does not really know you, and is making you do the work of planning the lessons. Of course a the teacher should periodically revisits your goals and preferences… but it’s the job of the teacher to create a plan for their students and guide them through the plan. How would you, the student, know what you need to learn at this point in your development?
   • The teacher uses outdated lesson formats: if you have worked with a teacher and the only lesson format he offers are 30m private lessons, then you know that he is not a top-level teacher. This is because 30m private lessons are the WORST possible format to teach guitar (the second worst are 1h private lessons), and any teacher who only offers these formats does not have the best interests of his students at heart. (Yes, I know some teachers and even some students will not like hearing that - but this is how it is)
   • The teacher is actually not teaching you at all. There are a few “teachers” out there who specialize in just showing their students a couple simple songs, and putting them on stage. That can be fun - but in absence of a strategic plan for improvement, then the student’s music will just stagnate and they will stop playing. Do you need to learn some songs? YES, without question! But you ALSO need to learn the techniques that will make you a better guitar player and will make you sound better. Just learning songs will simply not cut it.
   • The teacher is not able to play the music that you want to learn and/or focuses on different styles than the one you want to play. For instance, most guitar teachers in Edmonton specialize in Jazz. And of course, there is nothing wrong with Jazz. These teachers are great if you want to learn Jazz. At the same time, there are many differences between a Jazz guitarists and a Blues/Rock/Metal guitarists. So, there are things that a Jazz player is simply not qualified to teach you if you want to play Blues, Rock or Metal. For instance:
     1. Vibrato and Rock/Blues phrasing. Jazz vibrato and Blues/Rock vibrato for instance are completely different. And let’s not even talk about Metal vibrato!
     2. Playing with distortion without string noise. Jazz players usually play clean or with little distortion. Blues/Rock/Metal players instead do use some (or a lot of) distortion. There is a big difference in the techniques used to ‘tame’ distortion.
     3. Playing ‘aggressively’. The difference in attitude between Rock and Jazz guitar players is huge. If you ask them to play the same note, a Rock and a Jazz guitar players will produce completely different sounds. Again, nothing wrong with either style, you just need to know which one is more YOUR style. If you do not know what is the difference, you can always take advantage of our Free Session offer (see at the bottom of this page). We’ll be happy to show you the difference.

“I have been playing guitar for over 10 years and Edmonton Guitar Music School has taught me more in the last 8 months than all of my years combined. Whether you are looking to build your theoretical, technical, or rhythmical skills, EGMS will definitely be able to help you accel your talent just like they have helped me.”

Levon V

“As a complete beginner and also someone who understands teaching methods, I really find this to be ideal instruction for me. My instructor is not only a talented musician but is able to explain theory associated with learning the guitar very well. I was nervous and a bit intimidated at the prospect of starting from scratch but my experience has been really positive.”

Daniel A

“I was self taught decades ago in mainly folk guitar, and decided to take lessons on electric and rock guitar due to a renewed interest in electronic music. Tommaso seems to know everything, and will adjust his advice to match the students developing skill level. No question it seems to be working for me.”

Richard MC

Just to make it clear again: many Jazz players out there are outstanding teachers, and I would totally recommend them… if you want to learn Jazz. But if you want to learn Blues, Rock or Metal then you are better served in finding teachers that specialize in these styles.

At the Edmonton Guitar Music School school we teach electric guitar for Classic Rock, Metal, Pop, Blues, Fusion, Funk, and Acoustic. We teach both rhythm and lead guitar. We do NOT specialize in Country or Jazz guitar even if some of our teachers are competent players in these styles and can show you the basics.

Why is this so? Because we take our specialization seriously. It is critically important to choose a teacher that specializes in the styles YOU want to play.

Any teacher that claims he can teach you “all styles” is simply not going to do a professional job at any of them. There is not enough time in a lifetime to specialize in both playing AND teaching every possible music style!

… And What DOES Work

We have seen what does not work. So what DOES work? What can help you get better at playing guitar?

Well, going back to when I was learning guitar myself… only my desire to create music made me stick to the guitar. So I kept trying and trying different things.

What changed everything was that I searched out (and found) a great guitar teacher. Following his instruction to the letter I became a better guitar player. I got rid of my bad learning habits and my frustration with them. And finally I learned the things I needed to learn.

Why having a teacher changed everything? What can a great teacher do for you differently than the other things we have seen before? There are a number of things that my teacher did for me. If you let me, I will do the same things for you:

• A great teacher will help you with YOUR goals. They will not just assume that they know what you want to play. They will interview you BEFORE giving you any instructions, they will understand what you want to learn, and then they will respect your preferences.
• To progress effectively you need to have a coherent, large scale PLAN. You need to know not only WHERE you want to go, but also and especially HOW to arrive there. A great teacher will design a plan for you, that will take you from where you are right now to where you want to be. And after that, the teacher will guide you through the plan, step by step. A great teacher will never ask “what do you want to learn tonight?”: they KNOW what is the next step that makes the most sense for you and your progress on the instrument.
• A great teacher know what is relevant to the style you have to play, and what is not relevant. As such a great teacher will save you YEARS of time that you could waste by learning the wrong skills for the job. Remember that a great teacher works from YOUR goals, and will still expose you to an healthy variety of influences… but at the same time a great teacher will make sure that you stay on the path to reach your objectives.
• As you progress in your guitar playing, you will necessarily hit some “roadblocks”. These could be exercises that are too hard for you, bad habits, technical problems. Hitting a roadblock is normal and even healthy for a learning guitarist… but of course they can be frustrating too.

  A great teacher knows how to help you overcome your roadblocks. They have not one, but MANY systems and exercises that you can practice right now and that will help you taking down any roadblock you will meet.

• A great teacher will not just give you the knowledge you need. A great teacher will also help you actually putting in practice what you are learning. In this sense, a great teacher is also your personal guitar coach. You need a balance of information and real-life training if you want to master your instrument, and a teacher can help you getting this right.

“I couldn’t be happier with my choice of taking lessons with Edmonton Guitar. The sheer volume of techniques in the curriculum is staggering, the inspirational lesson delivery, and the desire to teach people how to be guitarists shouldn’t be overlooked.”

Chris T

“I would highly recommend lessons with them if you are serious about becoming the guitar player you have always dreamed to be. I will say from experience that anyone who decides to take lessons at Edmonton Guitar Music School has absolutely nothing to lose but tons to gain :) …GREAT work guys.”

Michael J

“I have learned a lot of theory, but it is unlike all the textbook stuff I was always frustrated with. There is a really wonderful mix of practicality and theory. The lessons have helped me to become a much better player and every week I find more and more things I struggled with become easier and less confusing.”

Kevin M

Lesson Learned!

I learned all of the above the HARD way: you need somebody who can show you new things and at the same time be your guitar coach.

This is what a good guitar instructor can offer you! If it was only matter of knowing a couple of scale patterns and play them up and down everyone would be a guitar hero :)

The reality is that there is no such thing as a self-taught musician. All musicians take lessons at some point in their life. Don’t be fooled! Learning to play the guitar by yourself is not easy! Believe me, I’ve been there. I shared all the frustration you are experiencing now, and I found ways to overcome it and become the player I am today. I want to share my experience with you, and help YOU become the best guitar player you can be!

Imagine if I can help you practice the right way, and be with you every step of the way. Imagine if I can take every single bad habits you may have already, and identify them for you, and then not only show you how to eliminate them but also coach you, encourage you, and train you until the bad habits morphs into good ones.

Now you can increase your speed without limits and with little actual effort because you are doing only the right things without having to guess what you have to do. Now everything feels easier because your bad habits are not holding the brake down on your fingers, and so you can play faster and more relaxed… it feels much easier!

And while right now I am talking mostly about how fast you play… Imagine if I can do the same for your musicality, your knowledge of theory, your aural skills, your creativity when composing or improvising… there’s more to music than just speed and I want to help you become a complete electric guitar player.

When working with me, you aren’t receiving just mere INFORMATION. You can find all the information you want for free on the net! But this is useless if you don’t know how to STRUCTURE and APPLY this information. What you will get by working with me are RESULTS!! That’s all you care about, isn’t it?

Let me do all the legwork to decide HOW you will reach the results you want minimizing your frustration and maximizing your FUN.

Who Are We?

After reading all this, of course you want to know who I am to say all this. Well, glad you asked :)

My name is Tommaso Zillio, and I am a professional guitarist and the chief guitar instructor at the Edmonton Guitar Music School.

I have taught literally thousand of students, both in person and online. I write regularly for major guitar websites. I am a requested instructor and guest speaker at international guitar events.

I have published several successful guitar courses online. My YouTube channel on music theory has 80.000+ subscribers.

I have previous experience as a scientific researcher in the academic world, but I changed career to music because my greatest passion is teaching. I love to help people understand new things and make them grow.

My mission, together with my dynamic team of selected teachers, is to raise the bar for electric guitar instruction in Edmonton - from beginner to advanced to virtuoso. We want to help you play guitar the way YOU want. We teach electric guitar lesson in Edmonton and neighboring suburbs (St. Albert, Sherwood Park, Capilano, Stony Plain)

Frequently Asked Questions

• Q: How much time it will take for me to become really good?

  • A: Less than you think :-) Provided you practice all the exercises we give you, of course.

• Q: Do I need to practice hours and hours a day? I have a job and many responsibility, and I am not sure I can commit to many hours of practice per day.

  • A: No, you do not need to invest hours and hours each day. Yes, more practice time always helps. But the key pieces that will make you improve very rapidly (and that most players neglect) are consistency and efficiency, not quantity. Let me explain what I mean:
    • Consistency: the best way to create the right habits and eliminate the wrong ones is to practice every day (or at least as close as you can: a day lost here and there will not do much damage). Being consistent in your practice will allow your muscle memory to work properly, so that you will be able to install the correct movement directly into your hands.
    • Efficiency: if you practice with the correct focus, the correct schedule, and the correct exercise order, you can become a shredder with as little as 30m a day of practice. That’s is exactly how I built my own physical technique skills. It’s not even hard: you just need to know what to do and when to do it, and we can show it to you.

• Q: I like speed, but I don’t want to become a “mindless shredder”. I like melodies and “feel” too. A: And I like them too! My aim is to help you become the guitar player YOU want to be. If the music you want to play requires speed, we can teach you speed. If it requires finesse and expressiveness, then that’s what we are going to focus on. If you need endurance (necessary for those tight Metal rhythms) when we will work on that. You tell us what you want the final result to be, and we can help you get there. You will learn speed only if you want it and need it.

• Q: I really want to learn, but I have an irregular schedule and I can not come regularly to lesson

  • A: Then I have some great news for you! You do not have to commit to a strict regular lesson schedule. Let us know about your specific schedule and we will introduce you to your exclusive Flexible Lesson Format (TM) that will allow you to study with us even if you have an irregular schedule, work shift hours, or even work out of the city. You will never have to miss even a single lesson, regardless of your schedule.

We Want To Help You

My team of teachers and I have already helped many other students like you to:

• Get out of their rut,
• Eliminate inefficient and ineffective practice habits,
• Finally being able to play what they wanted to play.

This includes students that thought they did not have the talent, were too old to start, or not musically inclined or creative. We have even worked with students that have studied for years on their own and want some new direction with their playing.

The truth is that no matter what you think of your abilities, everybody has the potential to become a great musician.

“Natural Talent” is largely a myth. The results that you see in your guitar heroes are the result of smart practice habits and expert guidance. While there may be some people with some particular inclination in one or two specific aspects, every good musician gained their skills through practice.

And if they did it, you can do it too!

“Taking lessons with Tommaso actually helped improve the technical aspect of my playing, It helped me be more precise, more certain of what I am playing.

Alex Dudin

“I’m excited to show up, learning all of these new things. I can play songs that I wasn’t able to a year ago. Stuff I thought was impossible to play I can grasp now.”

Chris D

“I found that learning on my own, learning from the internet, I was hitting a plateau. Tom really opened up my eyes to a new way of playing, new techniques that drastically improved my playing.”

Wes Thomas

But Wait… There’s More!

• In addition to our “regular” lessons, we offer a variety of seminars and workshops. Some of the topics that we cover in these seminars are:
  • In-depth workouts on specific guitar techniques (tapping, pinch harmonics, phrasing… you name it)
  • How to get the best tone from your your gear (guitar, amps, pedals, etc.)
  • Guitar maintenance: how to change your string and do a basic setup on your guitar so that it will play better.
  • Songwriting and composition.
  • Preparing yourself for a performance/audition, and how to overcome stage fright.
• If you want to put in practice your new-acquired skill, we have several performance opportunities. From our low-pressure fun recitals to our high-level performances, you can find the best venue that you are comfortable with and that will help you improve your performance abilities.

Your Next Step

If you read this far, you have two possible choices in front of you now:

1. You can stay exactly as you are, practice your guitar exactly as you practiced it so far… and of course you are going to get the same results you got already. Or…

2. You decide to take the next step forward in your musical journey. If so, keep reading:

Here’s what I propose. Come to the Edmonton Guitar Music School for a free consultation (yes, completely free, no strings attached) on your specific musical situation and goals. We will talk about your musical aspirations and we will show you what we can do to help you reach your goals.

If you are tired of staying where you are and you are ready to move forward, just follow the instructions below… and we will take care of everything else.

Here Is What You Have To Do Right Now:

1. Click on the big orange button below that says “Continue”
2. On the next page you will find a contact form. Tell us everything you can about you, your situation, your musical goals and click on the “Submit” button. The more you tell use, the better we can help you.
3. We will review your submission and be back to you as soon as possible via email. From there we will set up for you a free 30m consultation with one of our teachers (we will pick the one most suited to you based on what you tell us in the contact form).

Or call direct 780 637 0513

• P.S. Remember… the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Come and see us for a free no-risk consultation and we will show you what we can do for you. What do you have to lose?
• P.P.S. Don’t wait. By far one of the most common things we hear from our students is: “I wish I decided to take lessons earlier” or “I wish I found you guys 5 years ago”. Do not let fear and indecision hold you back. Do not let your time pass without taking action. Contact us now and we will do our best to help you become the guitar player you want to be!

Disclaimer: Edmonton Guitar Music School, Inc. is not in any way affiliated with Facebook Inc.