whitever
-
12:58:17 am on January 9, 2008 | # |
Everybody wants to learn how to play the guitar by themselves. They want to learn guitar now and show everybody that they taught themselves. Nobody wants to take lessons. However, lessons of some sort are a requirement if you want to get good. Chords, notes, and timing is all information needed for advancing in music.
Sure you can use your musical ear and make your own melodies but why do that when we have thousands of years of human development that has resulted in a solid definition of musical theory.
Learning the guitar by yourself can result in bad technique, improper holding of the guitar and a number of other problems. You will also have no guided direction to do anything. If you have no musical background then lessons are very important.
Lessons do not have to be the usual instructor student lessons. Nowadays there are online courses that teach you with videos that show you what to do. You can also find a friend to teach you. Books are also another resource to learning to play the guitar. However, the internet is better since there are videos that show you how to do the stuff. Books are good, however, for theory and learning musical concepts.
Nevertheless, anybody can teach themselves how to learn the guitar. With the right amount of dedication it is possible. However, you still need some resources to learn chords, notes, etc which were written by authors. It is probably nearly impossible to learn to play guitar chords without some guidance.
When learning, take your time and don’t rush. That’s what I did when I was trying to learn a second instrument, the violin. What happened? I eventually quit. If you properly learn the guitar you can use that knowledge in furthering your musical scope to include other instruments. And as long as its western music, the information will be the same
Will 9:40 pm on November 1, 2008 | # |
Great post. Essentially everyone learns by themselves even with a teacher because they have to put in the work and find their own ‘voice’. I agree that patience is key. Steady consistent practicing will do the trick.
I like to teach step by step and for students that have some experience I teach the CAGED shapes and using chord tones to solo over chord changes rather than the scale/mode approach. Beginners should hire a private teacher to learn the basic chords and make sure they aren’t making any mistakes.