How do you learn how to play the guitar?
I want to learn to play the guitar…acoustic. But I don’t want to learn how to play certain songs. I want to be able to pick up the guitar and just play…not any particular song. Like in the future I want to pick it up and be able to start playing and put words to it. I have never played the guitar before, but I don’t want to learn the old-fashion way by taking lessons and repeat, repeat, and repeat things. I want to be able to pick it up and just play. Any Help? Please and Thanks!
November 26th, 2010 at 6:45 pm
Join a class or take private lessons – there are also books on how to self-teach.
November 26th, 2010 at 7:24 pm
The only way to get to the stage where you can pick up and play whatever comes to your head is to practice practice practice.
If your not willing to go through this then you may as well forget it.
It takes determination and dedication, which you seem to lack.
November 26th, 2010 at 7:49 pm
Every great guitar player (Clapton, Robert Johnson, Chuck Berry, etc.) learned the same way: listening. They all listened to albums and figured out how to make the noises they were hearing on the guitar. In fact, that’s how great players learn on any instrument. This method takes longer than taking lessons and repeating, but if you’re serious, this is the way to go. You’ll also have amazing ears. If you really get frustrated and want to cheat, just look up fingerings for notes or chords, not a whole song.
November 26th, 2010 at 8:06 pm
I seriously think the only way you will ever be able to just pick up a guitar and play any song without lessons or training of some kind, would be to be reborn as a prodigy. Face it. To learn to do anything new you need some kind of training. Either take lessons from a reputable teacher, or purchase a good book on teaching yourself to play guitar. And it will take practice, practice, practice!
Good luck.
November 26th, 2010 at 8:31 pm
Self teaching. Try playing when in noticeable moods, like extremely happy, or really sad.
November 26th, 2010 at 9:04 pm
The easiest, fastest, and best way to learn is with lessons from a good local instructor. Since you have never played you should know that lessons are about providing a structure and a solid foundation and building on that foundation. A good teacher can show you more in one month then you could learn by yourself in a year. I know this for a fact because I have seen it over and over. The guitar is not an instrument that you can just pick up and play. It requires devotion and dedication and a willingness to practice a lot. It takes a long time to develop the ability and lessons are the best way to speed this process up
November 26th, 2010 at 9:53 pm
honestly you learn guitar on your own by playing songs you like. its the most fun simple and easiest way to learn. when you have learned your major and minor chords move on to harder ones and learn your major minor and pentatonic scales and then you will be able to play by just picking it up and playing. oh yea i forgot to mention that you have to learn how to build chord progressions using the scales you learned.
P.S. play for yourself and no one else. if its to impress a girl than you might as well quit right now because your not going far with such little inspiration. you need to play guitar cus its what you wanna do. and when you first pick up a guitar dont be shy. f you wanna strum the shit out of it go ahead and dont just pluck strings slowly and lightly cus your not gonna be able to really hear your guitar
November 26th, 2010 at 10:13 pm
Learn at least five chords like C F G and Am and Em. Most songs use only a few chords. If you mix and match these chords you can come up with creative combinations to put words to them. It should only take a few days or weeks though to learn these chords. Start with C, then F, Then G. Am and Em are optional but will give you added color.
If you really want to start faster, you could tune the guitar to an open chord. And bar the strings at Open, Fret 5 and Fret 7. This will get you started quicker but you should really learn the basic chords in standard tuning that I suggested at the beginning of this answer.
November 26th, 2010 at 10:38 pm
You learn by taking private lessons until you feel comfortable enough with the basics to teach yourself. There are also a lot of good resources and lessons online that can get you started, but nothing compares to the value of a private teacher.
November 26th, 2010 at 11:37 pm
In acoustic guitar there are 3 very different types:
Classical guitar for classical music and it is the best one of them all to play different music genres actually.
The Flamenco guitar for flamenco music.
The steel guitar for popular music. The steel is very very easy to learn because it has no techniques required like classical and flamenco guitars. 60 Minutes say acoustic guitars need 12 hours to master while classical and flamenco need 12 years.
November 26th, 2010 at 11:59 pm
From what you’ve written you sound like you want to learn the chords and be able to play on your own. That’s pretty easy. Get yourself to a good website or buy a good book or DVD and learn from there. Chords are not hard.