Guitar Lab Reviews 12

Sam is always extremely attentive, patient, and helpful. This extends beyond the standard times that are pre-established. He's active in the community he's established here and ALWAYS encouraging. It's been a great experience all around.

As a long-time self-taught guitarist, I've always wanted to learn classical guitar and have often been disappointed by the lessons I've tried. When I had the chance to chat with Sam before joining this adventure, I was genuinely pleasantly surprised by his availability, patience, and attentiveness. While I was primarily looking to improve my technique, I didn't expect to discover so many fun things and to enjoy learning his arranging method so much (A musically illeterate like me can almost write music now!) . Besides being one of the nicest guys I've ever met, Sam is also an excellent teacher. From the ear training app to the arranging tutorials and exercises, and the practice companion app, everything is designed to be fun, like a video game. I'm having a blast with the tools provided, and Sam is always available to share his experience,to answer questions, as are all the friendly people in the community. A major strength is this fantastic community, which is truly amazing. After years of playing alone, it feels great to share my passion, to be able to discuss, motivate, and inspire each other, to meet up for technical calls, and to play together during stage time. To sum it up, as a One Piece fan, I feel like I've boarded the pirate ship of my dreams, captained by Sam D. Griffin! ^^

As a long time guitarist and composer, I am very selective when it comes to joining courses/programs out there. After 6 months of being in Sam's self-guided arranging course, I can honestly say it's great. It's thoughtfully laid out, there are great tools that support the process, and it's a solid/repeatable system that will take you from a blank piece of paper to a fully developed arrangement of any song you choose. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to get better at developing their own arrangements for songs they enjoy. Sam has done a nice job of covering everything from the ear training to the software to the process itself. You can ease into it at your own pace and progress as fast as you want. It's very well done.

Prior to joining Guitar Lab, I had already been working on my own arrangements. The reason I joined was because I thought Sam's arrangements were phenomenal, and I wanted to learn what he had to teach so that I could improve my own skills. I also wanted to be in a community of guitarists who were experienced in uploading videos of their own guitar arrangements to YouTube, because that has slowly become a goal of mine.

From using custom mouse bindings down to his particular arranging method on Guitar Pro, Sam is truly a super user of the software, and he passes on that knowledge in his course. His method of arranging on Guitar Pro is very streamlined, and I've been able to arrange something playable much more quickly and efficiently thanks to it.

His approach does not require knowledge of music theory, and instead encourages you to rely on your ears. The course has tools provided to help you train your ear.

I've enjoyed attending and participating in the weekly calls. There are three types of them: arranging, technique, and open mic. I've gotten to meet the community over these calls, and they've been very friendly and encouraging. It makes me feel more motivated to work towards my guitar goals.

I would highly recommend this program if you're looking to get started arranging, or if you've been arranging for a while and want to level up your skills.

Very satisfied!!!
I've never done arranging before, and I'm amazed by the fact, that I've created my first arranging after only a month! I really recommend this course for anyone that wants to improve their guitar's skills, learn how to do arranging or to get better at it! Thank you Sam!

For years, I composed music and memorized each section through muscle memory. This bottlenecked how complex I could make a song. When I started making arrangements, this was also the case. In my experience, memorizing an arrangement is more frustrating than memorizing something I composed. I didn't have the motivation to make music when something became too difficult to memorize, this was a huge bottleneck for me.

I booked a call with Sam, we talked about my struggles, and he said I was a good fit for the course; yeah I definitely was. In a few weeks, I saw a tremendous improvement in my arranging capability, and I feel like I avoided years of struggle and instantly leveled up. I wanted to arrange like Sam, and I basically got 90% of the way there. Now I have the tools and knowledge to confidently tackle an arrangement of whatever song I want, and a better pitch recognition that I feel has even helped me when composing and singing.

This community has been so meaningful to me, providing support, motivation, and a sense of belonging. It's been one of the best decisions to join this course and community!

In the past, I had attempted to write several of my own arrangements after being unable to find one on the internet, but I was never successful. Contrary to what my naive past self thought, it was much more than just opening a piano Synesthesia video and copying over the notes one-to-one, and I quickly realized I was in over my head.

I was one of the early adopters of Sam's course, and I'm extremely glad I decided to try it out. Sam has been extremely passionate and helpful since the onset, and it's clear how much he cares about this course. After the initial lessons, he started out with a weekly office hours call to answer any questions we had, and that has slowly branched out into weekly technique calls and periodic Stage Time sessions to give students a chance to perform in front of others to help with stage fright.

The particular date I picked for this post was when I had a one-on-one pulse check with Sam. We had a heart-to-heart about staying motivated and learning to embrace challenges rather than avoid them and even directly tackled some of the hurdles I was stuck on. The call was only scheduled for like 45 minutes, but we ended up going for about twice as long. It really meant a lot to me, and I've since incorporated his nuggets of wisdom into my regular practice.

All in all, if you're someone looking to create your own arrangements and become an overall better guitar player around other like-minded people, look no further than Sam's Guitar Lab!

As a full-time musician specializing in solo acoustic guitar arrangements for weddings and private events, creating custom arrangements is a huge part of my business. I often get requests from brides who want a meaningful song arranged specifically for their walk down the aisle, and in the past, my process for handling those requests was... clunky at best.

Before discovering Sam's arranging course, I’d usually start by scouring YouTube to find an arrangement of the song. Then I'd purchase the sheet music or tab, only to end up disappointed because it never felt like my voice. I’d waste money and time, then eventually try to patch together my own version just to get something memorized in time for the performance. The end result was fine, but after the gig, that arrangement would vanish from memory—nothing to reuse or improve upon. It always felt like starting from scratch.

Sam’s system changed everything.

He’s developed an incredibly smart, streamlined approach that helps you actually document your arrangement from the start. You’re not just fumbling through—you’re using tech tools and transcription methods that result in a finished asset. You end up with real, usable sheet music that you can return to again and again. For me, that alone was a game-changer.

But what really makes the course brilliant is how it trains you to become a better musician as you go. You're using your ears more, engaging with the music on a deeper level, and that starts to compound. The more you do it, the easier it gets—and your musicianship grows. The process of listening so intently means that by the time your arrangement is finished, you know the song inside and out. That deep familiarity boosts retention and makes the learning stick long-term.

Oh—and don’t let me forget about the mouse. I won’t spoil the surprise, but Sam has built a mind-blowing shortcut into the workflow using programmable mouse buttons. It’s the kind of simple-yet-genius idea that makes you wonder how you ever worked without it.

In short, if arranging is any part of your musical journey—whether professionally or as a hobby—this course is an absolute must. It saves time, builds skills, and leaves you with work you're actually proud of.

— Jeff Taylor
Solo Guitarist, Jeff Taylor Guitar

I had previously attempted arrangements, but the process was frustrating, exhausting, difficult to manage, and more often than not I cut corners, or abandoned the project entirely. In Sam's course, literally from Lesson 1 I was empowered to make active, productive steps that exponentially improved the entire process. Sam developed more than just a method with this course, he created a resource that evolves as you do. The more I have improved throughout the last 2 months, the more I have uncovered a deeper element to Sam's teaching. Each lesson builds upon the previous one, but once completed they continue to contribute valuable insights as you progress as an arranger. I now feel completely capable to tackle (almost) any song imaginable! Even if I can't play it now, I can arrange it - and that challenges me to become a better player, which gets me excited for more songs that I can arrange, and the positive cycle only continues from there. I have been in the course for over a year and it continues to enrich my playing journey - I cannot recommend it enough!

You can really feel the passion and experience Sam has for arranging. The course materials are thoughtful, thorough, and very well constructed. If you are struggling to create your own arrangements I would highly recommend this course. Sam also gives a lot of his time to help students through office hours, it's such a great opportunity to work directly with him. Thanks Sam!

Prior to this course, I had been playing electric guitar for 20 years but wanted to switch to classical. I wanted to make arrangements for YouTube but my ear was limited, I'm not classically trained and I didn't have a good way to go about it. After doing this course, I now have a way to effectively arrange guitar music in the fastest possible way, as well as a community to share my work with and always receive feedback. Doing this course is the best possible thing I could have done for my guitar playing!

This course was the missing piece in my musical journey. Been playing for about 20 years now and had never been able to arrange the music I love and since being enrolled for about 6 months now, I have arranged about 8 pieces and I’ve been able to achieve a lifelong goal which is to create a music album and publish it out to the world. Thanks Sam.