Magix Guitar Workshop Reviews

Editor's Star Ratings:

Teaching Effectiveness:
Styles Covered:
Formats of Supplied Materials:
Overall Quality:
Support:
Ease of Use:
Value for Money:
Overall Star Rating:

Costs:

• Magix Guitar Workshop is currently priced at $19.99 + $5.00 shipping and handling, but can be found even cheaper at retail outlets like amazon.com.
• Magix does not offer a money back guarantee on this product.

 

Features:

Magix Guitar Workshop is a budget software package for guitar instruction with lots of great features, but some flaws that hold it back from being a great product.

• The pros:
  • The package is well designed, with smooth navigation and great visual accompaniments.
  • Videos are of a high quality, with split screen close ups on each hand.
  • Lessons cover a wide range of musical topics with classical, country and rock/pop styles all being given equal consideration.
  • Lessons feature many useful exercises to develop strong technique and melodic fluency.
  • The course contains many chord progressions to quickly get you feeling your way around rock and pop standards.
  • The package includes a handy chord book illustrating correct finger positioning.
  • The course helps you become familiar with both guitar tablature and sheet music.
  • There is an excellent virtual band feature which lets you create your own backing tracks by dragging audio loops onto the interface.
  • There's a good tutorial on composing songs.
    
• The cons:
  • Pacing does not always follow a smooth learning curve, sometimes moving on to new topics too quickly.
  • The course doesn't spend enough time developing familiarity with the guitar for complete beginners.
  • Some lessons seem too short, not giving particular subjects the attention they deserve.
    

 

Editor's Verdict:

Magix Guitar Workshop is a nice little package that covers all the basics for playing classical, country and rock and pop style guitar. The software is very nicely presented and professionally designed for this price range. All the videos feature split screen close ups on each hand and the navigation is smooth and intuitive.

There's plenty of material here to engage with, chord progressions are designed to get you quickly playing rock and pop standards with no trouble and there are lots of finger and melodic exercises to help get that all important fluency in your playing. The best and most unique feature of the product is the virtual band room, which ingeniously allows you to create your own backing tracks quickly and easily by dragging loops on to the interface. This adds a great interactive element when you're practicing your jams and might even give you a bit of inspiration to start writing your own music. If you're interested in composing your own songs, Guitar Workshop also features a great tutorial to get you started on how to realize your own musical ideas.

There's a lot to recommend Magix Guitar Workshop, but there are a couple of irritating drawbacks that prevent it from being a great product. Firstly, while the package does cover a lot of musical ground, it often feels as if important topics are being skimmed over. Many of the lessons feel too short; when you're just getting the hang of a new idea, the lesson ends and the next one starts on a new topic altogether, leaving you feeling a bit stranded. This will be more of an issue for new learners and beginners, as the pacing towards the start of the course especially seems a bit fierce. There isn't enough time spent developing familiarity with the instrument, which is a very important step when tackling the basics of guitar playing. While this product is advertised as a "step by step" lesson guide, it often feels as though this principle has been overlooked.

Despite these flaws, the course is still very good value for money and a cheaper price is often available.. The package also includes a chord book which illustrates correct finger positioning and the jamming feature is enough to recommend it on its own.

Click the button below to select from a list of sites that sell Magix Guitar Workshop...