Chad Benefield’s Written So Many Songs But Couldn’t Pick Up Guitar — Until Fret Zealot

A few years ago, I was gifted a guitar for my birthday. At the time, I was writing music a lot. Because I didn't play an instrument, I would basically create the melody and lyrics for songs, then hum them to my friends DJ or Mat, who would chord them out on guitar for me.

Here's a prime example. This is a song I wrote called "It's Live."  I wrote it for a concert promoter friend of mine who was looking for a sort of theme song to brand his shows. My friend Jaclyn liked it a lot, so she ended up adding it to her set list.

This song's solid and is exactly what it was supposed to be- a concert anthem.

I have written and co-written a bunch of songs and I love that creative process. That said, I really wanted to learn how to play guitar so, when lyrics or a melody hit would hit me, I could just sit down and strum them out.

Well, here's what became of that beloved gifted guitar.

It has spent far more time on that stand than it ever did in my hands.  It basically became a decoration in the living room at my house. LOL!  I tried to teach myself how to play it. That didn't work. It was a disaster. So, my guitar essentially became a set piece and it only gets attention when I have to dust it every week.

Well, news flash!!

I'm back in the game, people!  As Shannon, the 80s pop diva sang, "Let The Music Play!"

I am now using Fret Zealot.  Have you heard of it? I love that it's being touted as "The Netflix of Music Education." Let's be frank. I love me some Netflix, so the idea of having hundreds of videos to watch speaks to me. And something else that speaks to me is the fact that there's an optional LED system that basically shows me where my fingers need to be placed on the guitar.

Fret Zealot promises that anyone can learn to play the guitar using their music lessons and hardware platform.  When I saw the word "anyone", I knew immediately that they were actually saying, "That means you too, Chad!"

Fret Zealot offers over 3,000 lessons, over 100 courses and a library of over 80,000 songs covering every genre you can think of.  And, look! My musical tastes are all over the place.

I work in country radio so, naturally, I love country music. I am a huge fan of Luke Combs, Eric Church, and Keith Urban and I love their songwriting just as much as I do their voices and artistry.  But I'm also a child of the 80s so I grew up on a healthy dose of hair bands, 80s dance hits and power ballads.

You know there are some songs, that when you hear them, you immediately want to run the karaoke bar to belt them out or grab your guitar, get on stage and let 'er rip. With Fret Zealot, you can make that Grammy moment a reality.  Well, at least in your head.

Fret Zealot makes getting everything set up exceptionally easy.

Once you're set up, they make learning easy too.  And fun!

I make no bones about this. I am most definitely a beginner. But, I am learning guitar and I am learning with light. You can do it too.  Check out FretZealot.com for more information and try it today!