You’ve made up your mind, and are ready to start learning the guitar. But where do you start?
Should you get private lessons, or learn online?
That is the question I want to discuss in this article.
You need to take a few things into consideration to make up your mind.
All advanced musicians know the sensation of pleasure playing an improvised blues guitar solo will cause. It is one of those activities in your life, which simply must be experienced, it just can’t be described.
In case you are thinking of learning blues guitar, I have good news for your. Blues is one of the easiest genres to learn on guitar, especially with the help of quality blues guitar lessons like these.
Picking up your guitar and performing a blues tune whenever you feel like it is comparable to nothing else. As with all things rewarding in life, it will take practice, but will certainly lead to an experience that’s undoubtedly worth it.
Stay enthusiastic, through learning how to perform songs from the start! Learning to play fun music tends to make all the difference, and can cause you to practice more.Read these tips again if you need to, I know there are a lot.
Any time students ask me whether or not it’s possible to learn how to play the blues online, my reply really will depend on the mood I’m just in.
Being a self-taught guitar player, my straightforward response is normally “certainly”, since I trained myself to play without teachers guiding me. However, in the old days while I was initially figuring out the guitar, it was not as simple as it is nowadays.
I learned from books as well as VHS instructional videos, and it took way too much time, as the info accessible was not as plentiful as it is nowadays in the modern world of the world wide web.
If you love the blues, you’ll love playing it even more!
Most people toy with the idea of learning to play guitar at one time or another. And who can blame them? Music is intertwined in society, and the guitar is a cool instrument.
Here are 5 real guitar journeys from guitar players of various levels, as they discuss how long it took to learn to play guitar at an acceptable level, what they had difficulties with, and what they would do differently looking back.
What age did you start playing the guitar and why?
I was 16, I just thought it was cool.
How long did it take to learn it?
Well I never really stopped learning, but I started playing in my first band about 2 years later.
What was the most difficult aspect of learning guitar?
Oh there were lot’s of difficult things. Where to begin. Barre chords, rhythm, chord embellishments, learning the notes. But it’s all doable.
What would you do differently?
Maybe I would have bought a 2nd guitar sooner. I played on an acoustic for over a year before I got an electric guitar as well.
What age did you start playing the guitar and why?
About 8, my father played guitar, and he wanted me to play as well.
How long did it take to learn it?
I didn’t start taking it seriously until I was in my 20s, but from there it came pretty quickly. I started learning and practicing a lot at that time, and I got better quickly. I had a great teacher, my dad.
What was the most difficult aspect of learning guitar?
Technically I learned everything early on, so I don’t really remember. Later on in my 20s, I had a hard time with the theory.
What would you do differently?
You can probably guess. I should have taken it more seriously when I was a kid.
What age did you start playing the guitar and why?
12. I like the sound of the acoustic guitar.
How long did it take to learn to play?
That’s hard to answer. It took quite a while I guess. I’ve been playing for 13 years now, so I’m ok. I sing as well, so it’s a split show between the 2.
What was the most difficult aspect of learning guitar?
Definitely bar chords.
What would you do differently?
Actually I don’t know, I’m pretty satisfied with how everything went.
What age did you start playing the guitar and why?
When I was 28. I always thought it was cool, but never learned. I quit my job at 28 looking for other opportunities, and with that, I just went into a guitar shop and bought my first guitar.
How long did it take to learn to play guitar?
Probably about a year before I started enjoying it, so that’s when I could play songs. It took a while from there on until I really started understanding what I’m playing, so the theoretical part of it all.
What was most difficult aspect of learning guitar?
I am self taught, I learned online. I was bouncing in between youtube lessons a lot, so I didn’t have any direction.
What would you do differently?
If I would have actually paid for lessons, I’m sure the length of time it took me to get to a solid level would have been reduced by a lot. That’s what I would do differently. Not be so stingy.
What age did you start playing the guitar and why?
I was in college, so I was about 19-20. My roommate had a guitar, he was pretty good, and all the girls were in love with him. So naturally I wanted to learn the art of guitar seduction, haha.
How long did it take to learn guitar?
By the end of college I was OK.
What was most difficult aspect of learning guitar?
Well for me it was balancing college life and getting enough practice. I knew from my roommate that practice was key, and I had to make time in between classes and studying and parties. But I always squeezed in at least an hour a day, and usually much more on weekends.
What would you do differently?
Considering the circumstances, I don’t think I would have done anything differently. I know many guitarists now who took much longer to learn guitar. It all depends on how much time end effort you devote to it.
Purchasing a beginner acoustic guitar is a fantastic experience as well as one that may end up being life altering! Therefore when looking to buy your very first beginner acoustic, don’t rush. Look at a great deal of online videos, study other articles on beginner acoustic guitars, and get in touch with seasoned guitar players, before making your ultimate pick.
Obviously you can visit a nearby big-box retailer like WalMart and then get a starter guitar for one hundred dollars, but i will wager you’re not going to get particularly far along with it before you’re considering another guitar. The musical instruments introduced in the following paragraphs are high quality acoustic guitars from leading brands, that will give you years of fun.
Anytime you are shopping for a guitar, you should know that it’s a prolonged undertaking, not at all something that you can do in just one day. Precisely what will make a guitar stay miles ahead of its competitors? Does a guitar that costs $600 have to be better than the ones that cost $200 or even $100? Remember, you get what you pay for. The cheapest won’t be good quality.
Play lots of different acoustic guitars before choosing one. Even though you may have no idea as to how you can play, hold it to check out just how it feels. Analyze the construction and finish for any marks, break, spots or other issues. Your nearby music shop is a wonderful spot to take a look at instruments.
Although it’s difficult to withstand jumping right in and purchasing the first beginners guitar you find, it is essential to think long-term when you make your choice.
Here are a few great, yet affordable beginner acoustic guitars:
The FG8xx collection boasts a louder and more powerful sound in the lower towards mid-ranges, thanks to modern acoustic research technology created by the Yamaha R&D unit. Yamaha’s technicians have attained this particular sound through the use of testing as well as simulation to get to the optimal bracing design.
A dreadnought size beginner acoustic guitar that provides Fender’s traditional design appearance with high quality engineering, created to provide fantastic performance at an incredible price tag. Although the CD-60 definitely will not substitute a Martin or Taylor, the blend of cost, build and audio quality mean this is the ideal “camp fire” guitar, a great acoustic you’ll never be reluctant to carry along on excursions or perhaps a buddy’s apartment.
The Epiphone Dove Pro beginners guitar is actually a remarkably cheap guitar which has a lot to offer. The sound is definitely awesome, the construction is excellent, and it performs just like a guitar which costs lots more.
The AD30 is a great entry-level instrument in Alvarez’s awarded Artist Series. Even though it might be the least expensive of them all, it nevertheless competes quite nicely with its bigger siblings in terms of sound.
The Little Martin acoustic guitar may be a smaller guitar, but it can be a good-sounding beginner guitar, even to travel with or just play around the campfire. Martin lovers are going to be pleased with the deeper sound plus for people who would like to plug in they’ve got a great deal of options that are offered with electronics on the guitar. Being a Martin, this one isn’t as cheap as the others, but it’s good to keep your options open.
Everyone knows that you don’t empty your wallet of cash on your first guitar. However, there is loads of temptations, but don’t forget that the instrument might appear to be glossy and gorgeous, however it does not really imply that it will be the most beneficial on the market. Select a guitar that will be appropriate for your body size, and begin with one which is quite lightweight.
$300 is a good budget to have for your first acoustic guitar.
This can get you a quality instrument, at a nice price.
When you are only beginning to learn to play guitar, your budget is unquestionably destined to be an issue when choosing the ideal acoustic guitar. Still, it is additionally important to play a high quality guitar in order to ensure you are really getting the most bang for your dollar.
Considering the variety of different beginners guitar brand names these days and lots of cheaper options to choose from, it can be challenging selecting the proper acoustic guitar to begin with.
Everyone who buys an annual membership to GuitarTricks will get a discount and a free Huntington guitar:-)
The total price for the yearly membership + the guitar is $129.
They are giving away a Huntington acoustic guitar. It makes for a nice practice guitar, that you can take with you anywhere, and not feel guilty about banging it. It’s worth $75 on Amazon right now. Here are some pics:
GuitarTricks is running the promotion all December, until their stock of guitars run out.
Here is the link to the promotion, click to see the details:
As a result of all the hype around e-learning nowadays, we decided to do an evaluation of Jamplay, an online guitar lessons site, and compare it to GuitarTricks.com. We just wanted to see if a novice could learn how to play the acoustic guitar at the sites.
Making music by playing an instrument is among the most pleasing things you can do. The sense of self satisfaction that is felt by making tunes whenever you would like to, cannot be compared with just about anything. Among the best instruments to master if you want to play music may be the acoustic guitar. It’s comparatively low priced, doesn’t use up much room, you’ll be able to perform a huge selection of songs, and it is cool as well!
Guitar Tricks
Because of all of the hype around e-learning nowadays, we thought we would conduct a review of GuitarTricks, an online guitar lessons site. We just wanted to check if a newcomer would be able to learn how to play the electric guitar at the site, plus what a more advanced guitar student would be able to learn.
During our review of GuitarTricks, we were very satisfied. The website gives video guitar lessons for a very affordable price of $10.75 monthly (with their yearly membership), which is a joke since a private instructor costs about $ 55 by the hour. Actually, it’s safe to state that GuitarTricks is better than a private instructor. The teachers at GuitarTricks will respond to your emails personally, and so absolutely no loss there, but they also provide 1000’s of video lessons addressing just about all styles of music.
To make a good offer even better, you can save some money with this Guitar Tricks discount coupon code.
Are you in the military, and thinking about learning how to play guitar? We have very good news for you. TheGuitarLesson.com is providing a large discount to members of the military, 68% to be precise. Learn about the discount on military.com.
Are you wondering about what steps to take to start learning? Listed below are my thoughts. Before I picked within the guitar, I became operating under plenty of false assumptions on how difficult it really is to be a musician.
You simply need time. Playing guitar is fundamentally about teaching your fingers to accomplish weird things they aren’t familiar with doing. That’s it. It does not take a genius. It requires some hours. Put aside 10 hours with all the guitar and you’ll be playing some good songs. Promise.
Be patient and don’t get frustrated. Understanding how to play guitar may be a lengthy process. If you stay patient and practice you may improve eventually regardless of if it feels as though you aren’t. Bear in mind this, The slower you choose to go, the faster you’re getting there.
I started playing guitar once I was 20 – trumpet first, then guitar. I became keen and enthusiastic, and constantly asked every musician I met for advice concerning the best and fastest option to learn.
Every person provided me with only one word of advice: “Practice!” It drove me crazy as hell – i desired more – however it was helpful advice.
Exactly how much should you practice, and certainly will it squeeze into your military schedule? I still the stand by position the advice I was given:
Practice each and every day. One three hour session per week seriously isn’t planning to cut it. Remember we have been attempting to develop finger memory, and that comes by regular, constant practice.
You might like to set small short-term goals that will not take such a long time to achieve. You should visualize yourself onstage having fun with a band. You might like to reward yourself somehow after every practice. You might like to find a guitar buddy that is also learning, and cry using one another’s shoulder. You should remind yourself that a lot of people find learning very hard in the first place. You do so, maintaining motivation is vital, or perhaps you may indeed call it quits.
One-on-one private lessons really enable you to grasp the concepts of learning at a faster rate and invite one to understand more effectively. But obviously, some people in the military can’t get private guitar lessons, and so the internet may be the next smartest thing. This, though, will probably imply that you’ll be learning all on your own.
TheGuitarLesson.com is the best source for online guitar lessons to military members. In the last 10 years, the website has taught thousands of beginners to play guitar.
GuitarTricks, one of the largest online guitar learning websites signed an agreement with yet another band, to create guitar lessons on their songs. The band this time around is Soundgarden: http://soundgardenworld.com/
If you are a paying member at GuitarTricks, you’ll be able to play learn classic Soundgarden songs, such as:
This is of course in addition to the more than 500 song lessons GuitarTricks has at the moment, twice as many as it’s main competitor, JamPlay.
JamPlay looks to be concentrating on getting artist teachers on their website, while GuitarTricks is more into signing more big name bands to create lessons on their songs. Which strategy will win? Probably both. There seems to be demand for both good lessons on popular songs, as well as more advanced lessons by real artists. But you can read more about this in our comparison of the 2 sites, as well as this youtube video.
So getting back to the topic, here are a few more popular songs GuitarTricks teaches:
Hello to all my faithful readers out there, just wanted to let you know that Tom Fontana from TheGuitarLesson.com just published a really detailed and insightful video comparing the 2 big guitar tutorial sites, Jamplay.com and Guitartricks.com.
We have a reviews of both of these sites on LearnMusicEasy as well, here is the one on Jamplay and the other one on GuitarTricks, but this video does a great job of explaining the differences between the 2 sites.
The method Tom chose to carry out the review is very interesting, he actually placed the 2 websites side-by-side, and compared their similar features, so you can really see the differences between them. Make sure you put in on full screen and choose HD, otherwise everything will be a bit too small.
It’s really interesting to see the similarities and sharp differences between the 2 big sites as the video progresses, I think the most dramatic point was when the 2 video screens were compared towards the end of the video. JamPlay obviously looks much better, but Tom correctly states a few interesting points on why design won’t win over educational value.
GuitarTricks has a couple of things going for it for sure, but then again, so does JamPlay. Watch the video and decide for yourself, and make sure to visit our reviews on both of these sites, where you can pick up a coupon to save a few $ off your membership.