ALIEN GUITAR SECRETS
Stop Feeling Lost on the Fretboard
Private Guitar Lessons in Sydney & the Northern Beaches • Live Online Guitar Coaching
Understand how notes, intervals, scales, chords, technique and musical ideas connect across the fretboard — then learn how to actually use that knowledge when you play.
From complete beginners to experienced players, AGS provides a structured pathway designed to develop understanding, confidence, creativity and your own musical voice.
CONNECT • CREATE • TRANSCEND
Connect the instrument. Create with understanding. Transcend the patterns.
Face-to-face tuition on Sydney's Northern Beaches • Zoom lessons available across Australia and internationally
THE AGS APPROACH
The Fretboard Isn't a Collection of Shapes
It's one connected musical system
A lot of guitarists learn the instrument as separate pieces — a scale shape here, a chord there, a riff somewhere else. You can become quite capable and still feel uncertain about where you are or why something works.
Alien Guitar Secrets teaches the relationships underneath those shapes. Notes lead to intervals. Intervals build scales and chords. Those sounds become the raw material for riffs, melodies, solos, harmony and improvisation.
Once those relationships begin to connect, the neck stops looking like six strings full of unrelated patterns and starts behaving like one instrument.
We don't want you permanently dependent on shapes.
Shapes are useful tools. The goal is to understand what they represent so you can eventually move, adapt and create without feeling trapped inside them.
See the AGS idea in action
Start seeing the fretboard as connected musical information rather than a collection of isolated positions.
YOUR AGS PATH
Choose the Way You Want to Learn
One philosophy. Different pathways.
Whether you want regular one-to-one coaching, structured tuition for your child, live online lessons or a self-paced course, the same AGS principles run through everything we teach.
ONE-TO-ONE
Private Guitar Lessons
Personalised face-to-face coaching for players who want structured progress, individual attention and a lesson pathway built around their goals.
EXPLORE PRIVATE LESSONSYOUNG GUITARISTS
AGS Junior Academy
A structured pathway for younger players that develops technique, rhythm, musical understanding, creativity and confidence through progressive stages.
EXPLORE JUNIOR ACADEMYLIVE ONLINE
Zoom Guitar Lessons
Live personalised AGS coaching for students across Australia and internationally, without needing to travel to the studio.
EXPLORE ZOOM LESSONSLEARN AT YOUR OWN PACE
Fretboard Mastery
Work through the AGS fretboard system independently and learn how notes, intervals, scales, chords and improvisation connect across the neck.
EXPLORE FRETBOARD MASTERYNot Sure Which Path Is Right for You?
Send through an enquiry and tell us where you're at, what you're trying to achieve and how you'd prefer to learn. We'll help you identify the most suitable starting point.
FIND YOUR STARTING POINTINSIDE THE AGS METHOD
The 7 Keys to Fretboard Mastery
Seven areas of awareness that turn fretboard knowledge into musicianship
AGS doesn't treat fretboard knowledge as a single exercise or scale system. These seven elements develop together, giving you a framework for understanding what you see, hear and play.
01 — Notes
Know where the notes live so the neck becomes familiar territory rather than guesswork.
02 — Intervals
Understand the relationships between notes — the language behind melody, harmony and fretboard movement.
03 — Scales
See scales as connected interval structures rather than isolated boxes.
04 — Chords
Recognise how chords and arpeggios grow from the same interval relationships found in scales.
05 — Rhythm & Time
Develop the timing and rhythmic awareness that turns fretboard knowledge into music.
06 — Improvisation
Turn understanding into real-time musical choices, phrasing and expression.
07 — Awareness
Develop an internal sense of the instrument so you increasingly hear and anticipate where the music can move next.
When the 7 Keys Connect
The fretboard stops feeling like a maze and starts behaving like a map.
Instead of searching for a memorised shape, you begin recognising relationships, hearing possibilities and making increasingly intentional musical choices.
CONNECT • CREATE • TRANSCEND
Understanding creates the conditions for freedom — but the goal is always music.
Want to Start Applying the 7 Keys?
Start with the free AGS Fretboard Mini Course, or explore the complete Fretboard Mastery program for a deeper structured pathway through the system.
GETTING STARTED
Your First Lesson at Alien Guitar Secrets
Start with a lesson built around where you are — not where a syllabus says you should be
Every new AGS student begins with an assessment as part of their first lesson. It gives us time to understand your current playing, experience, goals and musical interests while also giving you the opportunity to experience the AGS approach for yourself.
Your Assessment Is Lesson 1
There is no separate assessment fee. Your first session is a real lesson that allows us to identify the most useful starting point and begin working immediately.
Tell Us About You
We'll talk about your experience, what you enjoy playing, where you've struggled and what you'd like to achieve.
Start Playing
We'll explore your current playing and begin working on something useful straight away — without turning the session into a test.
Leave With Direction
You'll leave knowing what to focus on next and what lesson pathway would best support your development.
No Pressure to Commit on the Spot
After the lesson, take the time to consider the recommended direction and whether you'd like to continue. If ongoing tuition is right for you, we can then look at available weekly, fortnightly or flexible lesson options.
Complete beginner? You don't need to prepare anything before you arrive.
Already playing? Bring the questions, songs, techniques or musical problems you want help understanding.
CONNECT • CREATE • TRANSCEND
EXPLORE THE FRETBOARD
Enter the AGS Fretboard Universe
Explore guitar theory as a connected world rather than a collection of disconnected diagrams
Fretboard Universe takes the same ideas behind Alien Guitar Secrets and turns them into an interactive learning environment — helping you explore notes, intervals, scales, chords and their relationships across the instrument.
From Memorising to Exploring
The goal is the same as everything we teach at AGS: see the relationships, understand what they mean and use them to make music.
CONNECT • CREATE • TRANSCEND
WHY ALIEN GUITAR SECRETS
More Than Just Another Guitar Lesson
Understanding, structure and creativity — connected from the beginning
Alien Guitar Secrets was developed for players who want more than a collection of songs, exercises or shapes. The goal is to help you understand the instrument, develop the skills to use that understanding and gradually become a more independent musician.
Personalised Tuition
Your lessons respond to your current level, musical interests, strengths, gaps and goals rather than forcing every guitarist through exactly the same program.
Theory Connected to the Instrument
Notes, intervals, scales and chords aren't treated as abstract information. They're connected directly to the fretboard and to the music you actually play.
Technique With a Musical Purpose
Picking, legato, rhythm, articulation, control and other techniques are developed because they allow you to express musical ideas more effectively.
Creativity Is Part of the Learning
Improvisation, phrasing, ear development and musical decision-making help turn information into something personal rather than simply something memorised.
A Clear Direction Between Lessons
You should understand what you're working on, why you're working on it and how it relates to the larger picture of your development.
The Aim Is Independence
Good teaching shouldn't make you permanently dependent on the teacher. The deeper goal is to develop your ears, awareness, technique and understanding so that you become increasingly capable of making your own musical decisions.
CONNECT • CREATE • TRANSCEND
Connect the information. Create with understanding. Transcend the limitations of patterns, habits and imitation.
THE STORY BEHIND THE METHOD
Alien Guitar Secrets Grew Out of the Same Questions Many Guitarists Ask
How does all of this information actually connect?
Rob Lobasso
Guitarist • Educator • Founder of Alien Guitar Secrets
Alien Guitar Secrets wasn't created from a desire to invent another set of guitar patterns. It developed through years of playing, teaching, questioning and trying to understand why so much guitar information is often learned in disconnected pieces.
Rob's own approach to the instrument was heavily shaped by independent study and exploration — continually looking beyond the shape itself and asking what the notes were doing, how the intervals related, why the harmony worked and how those ideas could be used creatively.
Over more than two decades of teaching, those ideas gradually developed into the AGS approach: help the student connect the information first, then use that understanding to create something personal.
The Teacher Should Eventually Become Less Necessary
The aim isn't to create students who need someone to tell them every note to play. It's to develop musicians who increasingly understand what they're hearing, what they're seeing and what choices are available to them.
Guitar lessons that develop the musician — not just the mechanics
Sydney's Northern Beaches • Online worldwide
The Method Continues to Evolve
AGS isn't about defending one rigid system. It's about keeping what works, connecting useful ideas and continually refining how guitarists can understand and use the instrument more effectively.
CONNECT • CREATE • TRANSCEND
LEARN AT YOUR OWN PACE
Take the AGS Method With You
Structured guitar training you can work through anywhere, at your own pace
Experience the Alien Guitar Secrets approach through structured online programs designed to help you understand how the fretboard connects and turn that knowledge into real musical application.
Start Free — Then Go Deeper
Begin with the free Fretboard Starter Mini Course to experience the system, or move into Fretboard Mastery for a complete structured pathway through notes, intervals, scales, chords, improvisation and fretboard awareness.
All Courses
Knowledge Is Only Useful When You Can Apply It
The goal of every AGS course is not simply to give you more information. It is to help you recognise relationships, understand what you are playing and gradually turn that understanding into creative musical choices.
New to Alien Guitar Secrets? The Fretboard Starter Mini Course is the easiest way to experience the method before moving into a larger program.
START THE FREE MINI COURSECONNECT • CREATE • TRANSCEND
FROM THE AGS BLOG
Explore the Ideas Behind the Playing
Practical guitar theory, fretboard thinking and musical development
The Alien Guitar Secrets blog goes deeper into the concepts behind the AGS approach — helping you understand the fretboard, develop your musical awareness and connect theory with actual playing.
FRETBOARD THEORY
Understanding Guitar Intervals on the Neck
Discover why intervals are one of the most important keys to understanding how melody, harmony and fretboard movement connect.
READ THE ARTICLEFRETBOARD MASTERY
Why Most Guitarists Feel Lost on the Fretboard
The problem usually isn't a lack of shapes. It's that the shapes haven't been connected into one understandable musical system.
READ THE ARTICLENOTES & NAVIGATION
How to Memorise the Guitar Fretboard
Learn a practical system for identifying notes across the neck so the fretboard begins to feel like familiar territory.
READ THE ARTICLEUnderstanding Should Continue Beyond the Lesson
The AGS blog is part of the same teaching philosophy as our lessons and courses: make complicated ideas clearer, connect the information and give you practical ways to use it on the guitar.
CONNECT • CREATE • TRANSCEND
AGS GUITAR SERVICES
Guitar Setup & Restring Services in Sydney
Sharpen your tone. Maintain your axe.
A guitar that plays properly makes everything easier. Alien Guitar Secrets provides restringing, setup and specialist locking-tremolo services from our Sydney Northern Beaches studio, helping keep your instrument comfortable, stable and ready to perform.
Your Guitar Should Work With You — Not Against You
Poor action, unstable tuning or an instrument that simply doesn't feel right can make progress unnecessarily difficult. A properly maintained guitar lets you concentrate on the part that matters — playing music.
* 24-hour turnaround applies to pre-booked express restring services and is subject to daily availability. Same-day priority service may be available at an additional fee. Ernie Ball strings used unless customer-supplied strings are arranged.
CONNECT • CREATE • TRANSCEND
AGS OFFICIAL MERCHANDISE
Wear the AGS Philosophy
Official Alien Guitar Secrets apparel, headwear and accessories
Explore the official AGS merchandise collections — created for guitarists, students and supporters who connect with the Alien Guitar Secrets philosophy both on and off the instrument.
AGS Rock Series
Bold AGS designs for players who live and breathe guitar.
AGS Heritage Collection
Classic AGS styling with a more refined, timeless feel.
AGS Varsity Collection
Collegiate-inspired AGS apparel built around the 2007 legacy.
More Than Merch
The AGS store carries the same identity that runs through the lessons, courses and community — individuality, creativity and a love of the instrument.
CONNECT • CREATE • TRANSCEND
AGS BOOKS & PUBLICATIONS
Take the Ideas Beyond the Lesson
Guitar books and practice resources built around the AGS approach
Alien Guitar Secrets publications are designed for guitarists who want to understand the instrument more deeply — connecting fretboard knowledge, theory, practice and musical application in a clear and practical way.
Written for Guitarists Who Want the Bigger Picture
The AGS publications extend the same principles found throughout our lessons and courses: learn the information, understand how it connects and develop practical ways to use it on the guitar.
Fretboard Understanding
Develop a clearer understanding of how notes, intervals, scales and chords are organised across the neck.
Better Practice Structure
Move away from random practice and begin working with clearer purpose, direction and musical intent.
Musical Application
The aim is never just to collect information. The deeper goal is to turn knowledge into playing, creativity and expression.
Build a Reference Library You Can Return To
Books offer something different from a lesson or video: the ability to slow down, revisit an idea and build understanding at your own pace. AGS publications are designed to become practical reference material throughout your development.
CONNECT • CREATE • TRANSCEND
BEYOND THE LESSONS
Professional Music & Creative Services
Performance, production and professional guitar work beyond the teaching studio
Alien Guitar Secrets is built from real-world musicianship. Explore Rob Lobasso's work as a guitarist, producer and recording musician, or enquire about professional session guitar for your own project.
Teaching Informed by Doing
The ideas taught through Alien Guitar Secrets aren't separated from real music-making. Performance, recording, arranging and creative work continue to inform how musicianship is approached in the teaching studio.
CONNECT • CREATE • TRANSCEND
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
A Few Things You May Want to Know
Lessons, Junior Academy, Zoom and getting started with AGS
If you're considering guitar lessons with Alien Guitar Secrets, these are some of the questions we hear most often.
Do you teach complete beginners?
What happens in my first guitar lesson?
Where are private guitar lessons held?
What age can children start at the Junior Academy?
Do you offer Zoom guitar lessons?
How is Alien Guitar Secrets different from traditional guitar lessons?
Can I combine private lessons with AGS online courses?
Do you offer guitar restring and setup services?
Do I have to commit to ongoing lessons before my first session?
READY TO START?
Start With Your First Guitar Lesson
Tell us a little about your playing, experience and goals. We'll review your enquiry and help you find the most appropriate starting point.
CONNECT • CREATE • TRANSCEND
Alien Guitar Secrets — Guitar lessons that are out of this world.
