If you’re someone that’s always wanted to learn to play the guitar or sing, but have absolutely no idea where to start, then Orange Learn online guitar lessons can help you. With Orange being very much an electric guitar-centric company, it is more geared towards the electric guitar and the techniques and methods used in rock music, so if you’re looking to learn something like jazz or country, then this might not be for you. This particular review will look more at the guitar course than the vocals. We were given full access to Orange Learn for the purposes of this review.
Price: $59/£45 approx per grade, exams cost extra (each one comes with a free original rock guitar course)
Features: Text, image and video content, accredited exams, real songs to learn
Visit: Orange Learn
Right at the start, you’re given the option of learning on your own, or with a tutor. Immediately, we liked this as it acknowledges that some people do still want to do face-to-face lessons with an experienced teacher. Your tutor can then go through each grade and book with you to prepare you for the exams.
It’s worth mentioning here that Orange Learn is an accredited course. This means it has been approved by the National and European Qualifications Framework. Passing these exams can help with getting into certain music schools and universities, or even help you get a job within the music industry.
The exams are taken at home online, in the comfort of your own home through a company called Online Music Exams. Within Orange Learn, there is a video that shows you what this experience will be like so that it’s a little more familiar when exam time comes around. This is then assessed by a specialist, and you get your results. Of course, if you don’t want to take any exams at all, then you don’t have to, you can simply work through the material at your own pace.
Making the grade
When you purchase a grade, you also get an additional rock guitar course. With grades Debut - 2, you get the foundation course; grades 3-5 get you the intermediate course and grades 6-8 come with the advanced course. These are actually invaluable and go into more detail as to how to actually play the guitar. For example, the first lot of videos provided in the foundation course tell you how to hold and tune the guitar etc - all the things you need to know when you’re just starting out.
We feel that this could be made more obvious when navigating around the website, as the actual grade courses just jump straight into scales and technical exercises (even the debut one). For each grade, there’s a set of videos that guide you through every part of the exam book. So there’s a person playing every scale and technical exercise that you’re expected to learn.
They go through everything slowly and clearly, and it’s a multi-camera setup so you can easily see what they’re doing on the fretboard. The grade videos are good, but there were one or two occasions where the option of enabling subtitles would have been nice. There’s no introduction or small talk to any of these – you’re just straight into the nitty-gritty. Some players might like this approach, but it does make it a little less personable.
Also, for the songs and solos sections, the player doesn’t go through the entire piece, instead choosing to run through some of the trickier parts. You can hear all of it in the backing tracks section (you’re given each track with and without the part you’re playing), but it would be nice to see the whole thing played. The same can be said for things being played at speed – it’s played for you slowly, which is great for being able to follow it, but sometimes it’s helpful to see it played at full speed so you know exactly what you’re aiming for.
The content mix
Throughout the grades and the original rock guitar courses, you’re provided with a mixture of videos, text and images. We feel that this is a really good mix of content. The videos essentially do the job of a teacher, but having some things written down, with images to illustrate, do make it super clear. For example, having images and text to explain what all the different symbols mean in TAB and music notation is more straightforward than a person trying to get the same message across.
All the graded course material relates to what’s in the grade books. You can watch and read how to execute the exercises properly and then you’ve got the book to refer to for the music. However, it would be more helpful if the online course told you what page of the grade book you’re supposed to be looking at – we found ourselves referring to the contents pages quite a bit. Or, perhaps the online courses could be ordered in the same way as the exam books.
Great for beginners
The original rock guitar courses are really good. If you’re starting out, then the foundation course will really help as it goes into a good amount of detail, covering all the things you need to know – how to read TAB, guitar anatomy, how to plug into your amp etc.
There are some cool videos from a few different people too. The main presenter explains things in a calm and gentle way, which really does aid the learning process. There are also some videos that help you get some cool licks under your belt, fairly early on – this kind of thing can really help you stick with learning as you feel like you’re progressing quickly. The only thing we might say is that some of the videos seem a bit dated – the actual content is fine, but just from an aesthetic point of view, it doesn’t look super fresh.
These courses also have quizzes, for every different section, so if you want to put your knowledge to the test, without any sort of formal exam structure, then you can do. These are actually a great way of monitoring your progress yourself.
Site navigation
Once you’re logged in to Orange Learn, the website is easy to navigate. Considering you’ve got a rock guitar course, nine grades’ worth of content, and all the books, it does a really good job of keeping it simple. There are clear boxes along the top that make it obvious where everything is to be found.
Verdict
Orange Learn is great if you want to follow a linear path for learning the guitar or maybe improving on your existing skills, and taking exams to showcase this. It’s very much geared towards rock music, though a lot of what you learn can be utilized in other styles of music.
There is some cross referencing you have to do with the videos and grade books, which is a little unclear at times, and some of the videos could do with being a bit longer, but once you get used to the layout and format, you’ll be well on your way to earning yourself some accredited exam grades.
