How long did it take you to learn how to play guitar?
i’m about to by an acoustic guitar. I’m so excited to learn to play and i have a couple questions. how long did it take you learn to play simple songs and can i teach myself or should i get lessons?
also can i get a good guitar for around 150 dollars. acoustic ofcourse.
October 7th, 2010 at 2:38 am
i started but kept giving up :/
i want to learn so bad tho, but it hurts my fingers.
October 7th, 2010 at 3:31 am
well, it depends on how much time your gonna commit to your guitar. it doesnt take too long to learn simple songs as long as you can read the notes, and know how to hold your guitar right. i learned by myself and am doing pretty good, but its better if you took lessons and then branch off on your own. Also, read tab, its easy.( sheet is hard, i know i tried it). good luck ; )
October 7th, 2010 at 4:19 am
I learned my favorite Eagles songs (Take It Easy, Best of My Love) in about 1 1/2 months after practicing about 6-8 hours a day.
My mistake was not taking private lessons or using a good guitar training course; I would have learned much faster!
You can get a good sounding acoustic guitar with decent action (space between the neck and strings) in the 150-300 range. A used Washburn D10s would be my first choice because of the warm tone and easy playability.
As a former guitar instructor myself, I can tell you there is nothing like having a great private guitar teacher. However, not many people can afford this and instead opt for Jamorama, which is the best guitar course out there and it only costs about as much as 1 guitar lesson.
Good luck!
October 7th, 2010 at 4:51 am
Hey there it took me around 4 month to really enjoy my guitar playing.
Successfully learning how to play guitar is within the grasp of most people, yet many beginners give up too quickly. Regularly, 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, first. Memorize 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. For instance, 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 come in handy if you decide to try composing new music.
3. Practice day by 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 situations 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 sloppily 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, centralizing 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 are fond of[spin]. The CD player is a great tool for music learners because it is [spin]easy 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 begins. 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 interchangeable. However, if you have a steel string acoustic, you can use “silk & steel” strings on the guitar until your fingers are tough durable 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 great program which is reviewed in the following link:
http://www.squidoo.com/guitar-like-pro
Have a blast!
October 7th, 2010 at 5:01 am
I could play some very simple songs after only a week or two. After a year, I started soloing seriously. No, you don’t necessarily need lessons, but it’s a wise thing to have a guitar player around to tune your guitar during those first weeks, or to correct your basic mistakes.
Today, you also have thousands of free tutorials on YouTube that might be useful.
Good luck and just rock!
😉
October 7th, 2010 at 5:06 am
You can play ina day but then u have 2 have an ear for music, be able to keep a beat and be able to master 3 chords. Talent is a definite asset and a metronome and tuner will not go amiss.
October 7th, 2010 at 5:38 am
Here are some great beginner acoustics that are all pretty cheap. I would recommend the Yamaha. I have one myself and it sounds better than my friends’ more expensive acoustics.
http://www.findguitarteachers.com/acoustic-guitars-for-beginners.html
As for how long, I’ve been playing for 9 months and I’m starting to see some nice progress. But everyone progresses at different rates and it really doesn’t matter how long it takes you vs. anyone else. I would recommend taking private lessons though.
October 7th, 2010 at 3:57 pm
[…] How long did it take you to learn how to play guitar? i'm about to by an acoustic guitar. I'm so excited to learn to play and i have a couple questions. how long did it take you learn to play simple songs and can i. […]
February 25th, 2014 at 7:17 pm
Hi Lisa My dad played (well he still plays) gtuair when I was a little kid. I remember him playing Mexican folk songs.I apparently inherited some musical genes from he and my mom (who used to sing in the kitchen and in the car all the time). I was in the band in high school and went to college with the hopes of being a jazz trumpet player.Didn’t work out. Changed majors then dropped out of school after sticking with it longer than I should have. Joined the Marine Corps. Got married, had a child, divorced. Life took over, remarried, career changes, etc. Seventeen years after leaving music in college I picked it up again but by way of an acoustic gtuair.I am having so much fun with it.