Category: Guitar Practice Tips

FunAdvice is a social question and answer site where you can find discussions on all kinds of topics. Here’s a few responses to the question, “How hard is it to learn to play the guitar?”

“Learning anything depends on the person. Each person has a different level of difficulty for learning different things. Some people find it easy to pick up playing the guitar while others require extensive lessons and years of practice to be able to play even the simplest things. In any case, to make the process easier for you I would check out the local music store and see what their rates are for guitar lessons. Not only because a professional instructs you, but because you learn more than just doing it yourself (there’s nothing wrong with it because that’s how I learned how to play) like how to read music and tabs etc..
However, if you do plan to do it yourself, start off on an acoustic guitar. I found this out the hard way. Electric guitar strings are easier on the fingers to play or ’softer’ than an acoustic. So if you learn how to play on an electric and decide to try playing acoustic, you’ll rip your fingertips to bits. So play on an acoustic (it doesn’t have to be a really expensive one either) and get your fingers callused so that you’re better able to play (and yes, that process will be uncomfortable).”

“You should learn to physically play the guitar. Simply get a few chord diagrams of the internet, and if you must, get a few song tabs. Plenty of people will teach you to read tab. Then after you’ve learnt a few songs and you can play a few chords, seek lessons. Guitar teachers are more intent on teaching the theory side of music, for eg. Scales, intervals, modes, notation etc… And when beginners get this stuff thrown straight at them, they easily become bored and discouraged.
After a while of playing stuff you taught yourself, you’ll actually want to learn theory. And believe it or not, you’ll get bored of learning songs by tab that other artists have already created, and you’ll start writing your own stuff.”

More of this fascinating discussion at http://www.funadvice.com/q/guitar_2500

Technorati Tags: learn to play the guitar, playing the guitar, how to read music

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Sometimes fingerpicking guitar is not as easy as it looks. Some people struggle with getting their right hand fingers to work independently while other people start playing fingerstyle guitar like they were born to it. Here’s a Q & A page that might help if you are having problems with your picking:
“No matter what I do I can’t get my right hand to work for fingerpicking. I can’t get my thumb to work independent from my fingers. I have spent almost six months trying to learn how to finger pick. I am not going to stop trying, but I am looking for all the help I can get. I know Stefan Grossman has some lessons on videos. Can you give me any help or any recommendations at all. I have been playing the guitar with at pick for over twenty years. I always wanted to learn how to finger pick but never had the time. Now I have the time. I would be most grateful for any help or recommendations you might have.

My recommendation would be to try to find some right hand studies…exercises that will assist you in gaining the foundation first…this would be called a methodology approach…most videos and books I’ve seen on fingerpicking are song oriented…teaching, by rote, one song after another. Well, this isn’t going to help someone such as yourself…and, probably just make it that much more frustrating. Hence, if you can find a book, or a video, that teaches one study and exercise after another, with only a few songs to support the exercise material, you may find yourself jumping hurdles in your efforts to learn fingerpicking. It should take you from step A to Z…with the first studies focusing on isolating your thumb…and slowly adding the index finger and other fingers through a stair-step process…Sorry, I’m not sure what’s available within this description…only, I know it would work in your case.”
The complete question and answer page is at Folk of the Wood Fingerstyle Guitar Fingerpicking Questions & Answers

Technorati Tags: fingerpicking guitar, playing fingerstyle guitar, Stefan Grossman, right hand studies

Whenever you are having a day when you wonder how you ever thought you’d be able to learn to play the guitar, remember that all progress consists of small steps. This is a home truth that holds true always. If you are feeling negative about your progress with guitar playing, pull back and and look for a baby step to conquer. Something you wouldn’t normally consider. You might, for example, have been playing guitar for six months or a year and never really worked on how to hold the guitar properly. Working on a small step like that can be very revealing. What if you discover that the basis of your problems with chord changes is in the way you put too much unnecessary tension into your left arm when you hold the guitar. To discover something like that would turn a baby step into a life-changing revelation but the bottom line is that taking a fresh look at how you go about your guitar practice will help you to continue with your aim to become a guitar player.

Technorati Tags: learn to play the guitar, how to hold the guitar, chord changes