Compared to when I started on the guitar there are seemingly innumerable resources out there to learn and to master many of the skills and general knowledge it takes to be a reasonably good guitarist. There are hundreds of sites out there which give away free lessons, there are sites which have some pay structures in place, and provide some great lessons too… I am not interested in becoming another one of these sites, but there are a few things which I can see needing to be addressed.
Many online guitar lesson sites provide a great resource for those who need to better understand some of the technical aspects of playing the guitar, but they (every site I have checked out so far…) don’t spend much time (if any) covering some of the questions which beginners always ask.
I’ve decided to try to present and answer as many of these questions as I can. The net result is that this ongoing set of blog posts may be a worthwhile adjunct to taking lessons, practicing, and playing with other guitarists.
So, to start:
I will start with some of the fundamental questions which go through the head of someone who hasn’t even started in lessons and doesn’t know anything about this instrument.
Why play guitar in the first place?
The snarky (and sadly passé answer) is to ‘pick up chicks’. Back in reality, there are plenty of obvious reasons, but the primary one amongst almost all new players is to learn about, get into, and play the music of some of their favorite artists. The fact is the reasons for starting will slowly fade (as with embarking upon any long term project, the very beginning will fade with time…).
What are some common reasons to play the guitar?
This is a subtly different question; it alludes to some of the advantages the guitar presents versus other musical instruments. The basic ones are that the acoustic guitar is about the cheapest and most portable instrument you can get which will provide accompaniment for you (as a singer). The guitar itself is arguably the primary instrument in many popular music forms and genres (i.e. when you think of Rock, Country, Blues, Punk, or any of the hundreds of Metal variants, you think of a guitar player…first).
Which guitar should I get?
The good news is that nowadays whichever guitar you get is of some reasonable quality (this is a new phenomenon!!!). Almost all beginners have dreams of having the same gear as their ‘heroes’…in reality, if you stay with the guitar, you will likely go through plenty of instruments (it’s part of the real learning process), and the first guitar you get should be mechanically sound, to be playable, and stay in tune…the rest of this picture will fill in with time.
Why do this, why do that? An explanation of why there are reasons to use certain techniques at first, even though they are harder…
Much of guitar technique is about training your mind, the muscles, and nerves which control your fingers to do things which you couldn’t do…earlier. Imagine learning to walk…the first time, when you could crawl, you could get to most of the places you needed to go to, but looking back at this, I imagine that you would agree that the efforts in learning how to walk ‘correctly’ were worth the effort. In many aspects of guitar lessons, you will be working on things which don’t seem to (or feel like they) make any sense…right now. My only advice is to endeavor to persevere…it does really pay off!
Finally for today, keep in mind that there are some practice tools worth picking up. These tools include some form of a metronome, a tuner, and the ability to play music (i.e. an MP3 player and/or a PC). With these tools, some lessons to work on, and a guitar, you can accomplish nearly anything.
