The Essentials in Learning How to Play Guitar
So you want to learn how to play the acoustic guitar? Well there are many ways to go about learning how to play. I’m going to start a very basic series over the next several weeks. So follow along.
Don’t think you need to be young to start learning how to play guitar. There are a lot of people that start later in life that become interested in playing the acoustic guitar. There are no obstacles to learning how to play other than your own patience and determination.
So, what should you do to get started playing the guitar? First thing, you need to think about the method you will use to learn how to play the guitar. Would you like some one-on-one guitar lessons? If you have the budget for this, then see if you can find a good instructor. My local guitar center has lessons now. However individual guitar lessons are going to cost you a little more.
Group lessons are another option. I once took a class at a community college and it was pretty cheap.
Or can you learn on your own with a good online course like Jamorama.com or Guitar Superstars.com. Both if these courses let you try them out before you purchase them. Check them out and see what you think. It just totally depends on your drive and how quickly you want to learn. Myself, I’m mostly self taught, and learned from friends and “how to play guitar” books.
You can also do some self-study, if you want to learn how to play guitar on your own. There are a ton of self-help books and guitar magazines for this and Guitar Lessons at Amazon.com
In fact, these guitar instructional materials come with tablatures and chords for anyone who wants to learn how to play guitar. They also come with easy to learn material on how to read guitar tabs and how to play basic songs. Guitar tabs is pretty much how I do it since I don’t really know how to read music. Learn a bunch of chords first before you go out and buy songbooks.
As I mentioned before you can also get help from a close friend who knows how to play guitar already. I think most friends would be willing tohelp you out. People I know have come to me in the past to get them started. I’m more than happy to help them out with their first few chords and songs. I think I can get them enjoying it a little faster because I’ll show them really easy songs to play.
No matter what method you want to incorporate for yourself, you have to remember one thing: learning how to play the guitar takes practice (and then some more practice!). You will get better with practice. Just take an hour or two each day. This will help in getting your left hand in shape because it’s going to cramp up on you in the beginning. Also, the practice will help get the calluses on your fingertips quicker. Oh, and did I mention, you need to PRACTICE A LOT!! J
Resources:
