The cyber-savvy world is embracing Riff Interactive's online lessons as well, and for good reason. Most importantly, the system works. Johnson, formerly the music editor for the Official Jimi Hendrix Magazine, has decorated his office with images of the guitar god. Each lesson offers a variety of ways to learn. Here, flashing colored dots light up a computer-generated fret board like a Christmas tree, showing students where to put their fingers as the sound of a real guitar lick plays in sync.
Students can highlight a segment of music and work on it over and over.
Beginners can slow the demonstrations down to a comfortable speed. And because the lessons are archived, students can repeat them as often as desired. So what if they don't know their F-sharp chord from a hole in the guitar. Johnson couldn't be happier to spread the guitar gospel in such a worldwide way. His dad played six-string in a country band, backing up the likes of Buck Owens and Merle Haggard.