Out of the 250 million people in the United States, about 25 million of them play an instrument of some kind, or used to when they were in school and would like to pick up where they left off. Another 30 million or so sing in a church choir, a barbershop quartet, or at the very least, in the shower.

That means that there are over 50 million adults who would like to play their instrument or sing better than they do now. After all, everyone wants to improve his or her skills, no matter what the field.

Before the advent of the Internet, if adults wanted to learn to play a musical instrument, they had to schedule a lesson time with a teacher in a store or studio or if they were fortunate, in their own home with a teacher who would come each week for a lesson.

That meant doing it after work, driving to a store or studio, dealing with transportation, babysitting, illness, cancellations, and so on. Very few adults who started lessons that way continued very long, as it was a continual hassle.

But with the development of the World Wide Web, music teachers have gone online to offer lessons to adults in the comfort and convenience of their own homes. No scheduling problems, no transportation issues, no cancellations; none of the problems inherent in traditional lessons.

Here are a few of the many courses available for adults online:

Jamorama Guitar Course; a course in guitar playing

Stripped-Down Guitar Course; a course in guitar playing

SlapBass Guitar Riffs: like the name says

Guitar Made Easy; a basic guitar course

Acoustic Guitar Workshop; lessons on acoustic guitar instead of electric guitar

Screaming Fingers Guitar Course; the name tells the story

One Weekend Guitar; a crash course in guitar

Make Money Teaching Guitar; how to teach guitar and make a living

Learn Chords Fast; course in chords and chord formations

Instant Chord Finding Software Download; a wonderful piece of software that you download to your desktop which allows you to instantly find any piano chord

84 Piano Chords; course in 84 piano chords

"Crash Course" in Exciting Piano Playing on DVD: a complete home study course for adults in exciting piano playing which covers everything from sight-reading to chords to arranging to improvising to theory and harmony and technique and styles and more. A year-long course on multiple DVD dics with co-ordinated books and charts.

How To Play Piano By Ear; a course in playing the piano by ear

How To Dress Up Naked Music; a course in adding full sounds to any song using chords, runs, echos, fills, counter-melodies, styles, etc.

How To Play Praise & Gospel Piano; a course for those who want to play in a praise group or worship team, plus make traditional hymns contemporary.

How To Play "Black Gospel" Piano; course in black gospel piano

How To Play Contemporary Urban Worship Piano; advanced course in black gospel

All The Chords In The Whole Wide World; exhaustive course in ALL the chords possible on DVD and book

How To Play Chord Piano'In Ten Days; course that teaches "chord piano" fast

Learn To Play Electronic Keyboards; like the title says

Singing Success; a course in singing

Drum patterns online to download; drum rhythm patterns you can download online

Your own "Drum Machine" online; like a rhythm machine

Learn to read music fast; sight-reading course online

Children Can Read Notes Easily; sight-reading course for kids

Learn to Read Music in One Evening; quick method for adults to learn to read music

Even though this is a big list of music courses for adults now, it is growing at an exponential rate. The opportunity for learning music at your own pace online has never been greater, so take advantage of it and start improving your musical skills without delay!