Answers to Everyday Questions : Is it possible to learn guitar without any regular classes just on your own?

Is it possible to learn guitar without any regular classes just on your own?

12 Responses to “Is it possible to learn guitar without any regular classes just on your own?”

1. y n said :
   September 24th, 2010 at 9:40 pm

   yes
2. BROCK PETERS said :
   September 24th, 2010 at 10:28 pm

   Tons of great guitarists, like Jimi Hendrix are self taught (or least are taught the bare basics) and learn the rest of their craft by themselves and some with little to no formal musical training (like Hendrix.)

   The key ingredient is passion.
3. mightymouse>:* said :
   September 24th, 2010 at 11:28 pm

   definitely, chordie.com gives you the lyrics, chords, and shows you a picture of the chord if you need it, and is super easy to use. And if you listen to the song you can figure out the strumming pattern.
4. rlayne said :
   September 24th, 2010 at 11:55 pm

   Well what I did was order these DVDs that teach you. The best one I ever came across was Esteban. He is like a really awesome guitar player. He put it in easy to understand terms and not many things are easy to understand for me because I am sort of blonde. So just search learn guitar with Esteban and it should pull up his DVDs.
5. Who Am I? said :
   September 25th, 2010 at 12:24 am

   i did it so yea
6. Hoadly said :
   September 25th, 2010 at 1:08 am

   First…reread your question..You are THINKING about learning to play the guitar? I’m not trying to be rude but,,If you were going to play the Guitar,,You would already have one. The word thinking is a negitive word,and to play the Guitar,you must be POSITIVE. So if you were positive,you would already be playing. Its not a good idea to spend money on something you’re not positive about.
7. Tyson said :
   September 25th, 2010 at 2:06 am

   Yea, it deffinately is. At some points, you may be confused in some stages of guitar, where you might need an instructor. But, for the most part, you can.
8. Guitar Lover said :
   September 25th, 2010 at 2:30 am

   Hey stone!

   Check out http://www.shigaru.com . It’s a new guitar community based website where people can share their musical knowledge by uploading there own music, video tutorials. They have all kinds of levels and languages on there too! And lots of metal too!

   Best of all ….it’s free!!

   Hope this helps!

   And please tell all your friends about it. The more people we tell about the site the more users it will have and the more tutorials people will share with us!! 🙂
9. Robert said :
   September 25th, 2010 at 2:32 am

   The Success of learning how to play guitar is within the grasp of many people, yet many beginners give up too fast. Frequently, quitting beginners will blame their lack of time to practice and that playing hurts their fingers. The cause is that they just don’t practice enough. This answer can’t give you more time to practice, but it will show you how to successfully become an adequate guitar player :

   1. Study the physical instrument itself, initially. Learn the names and functions of the guitar parts, and how they work together to make sounds. A half hour spent on this basic understanding will be repaid many times over throughout your learning and playing time.

   2. Teach yourself as many different ways to play a chord as you can. e.g., there are 10 different fret hand positions from which to play the C chord. Obviously, go for a ‘perfect’ open C chord first, but the more ways you know to play a chord, the more flexibility you’ll have in moving from one chord to another. This can also serve a purpose if you decide to try composing new music.

   3. Practice every day (5 out of 7 days minimum) for at least a half hour. If you want to learn quickly, you must force-feed your brain with guitar. This entails learning how to have a good ear for changes in sound, comfortably positioning your body (including leg, back, shoulder and arm positions), strum-hand coordination and technique, fret hand coordination and technique, and most importantly, fret hand muscle memory.

   4. Carry your guitar every where you go if you’ll be sitting, waiting, watching, etc. Having your guitar with you in those locations will promote your playing ability when starting out. It’s also helpful when establishing calluses. Always have your guitar with you so you can practice pressing down the strings using proper fret hand chord formation.
   Buy an electric guitar tuner, you’ll save yourself many packs of strings and be careful when tuning, especially the first string.

   5. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice makes perfect isn’t just some phrase. When practicing, strive for quality; if you practice messily you’ll be making bad habits permanent. A better aphorism in fact might be, “Practice makes permanent.” Also, just as weight-training athletes rotate their exercises, focusing on one part of the body one day, it’s possible to practice passages focusing on different aspects – tone, smoothness, speed, accuracy. By concentrating on different practice facets of the music apart you can hone your skills and improve your overall playing!

   6. Play along with CD versions of songs you simple to ‘rewind’ and repeat even very small pieces of a song over and over until you figure out exactly how to do that riff you really like. Just hold down the ‘fast rewind’ button and watch the number counter (the number counts the number of seconds of music). Make a mental note of the seconds-count where the riff starts. Then you will be able to easily backtrack again and again to your start point.

   7. Never put nylon classical strings on a steel string guitar, nor vice versa. They are not exchangeable. However, if you have a steel string acoustic, you can use “silk & steel” strings on the guitar until your fingers are tough enough to use the steel strings, because they are easier on your fingers. Note that the sound will be more subdued and less outstanding, splendid.

   The most important part of learning to play guitar is having the right instructor to take you through each step professionally and thoroughly. I can recommend a really good program which is reviewed in the following link:
   http://www.squidoo.com/guitar-like-pro

   Good luck with the guitar!
10. Bob said :
    September 25th, 2010 at 3:10 am

    It’s not impossible but it’s certainly more difficult.
11. K T said :
    September 25th, 2010 at 3:16 am

    There are a ton of courses online for learning guitar. Most of them are crap, but there are a few gems that can really help a struggling starter. Check out:

    http://learnelectricguitarnow.blogspot.com/
12. Bubbly Scarlett said :
    September 25th, 2010 at 3:41 am

    Yes, it’s very possible. 🙂