For the past few years I've wanted to learn to play the guitar, but never really got around to it. I have the time this summer, so I think it's time to appropriate myself a guitar and start learning.

However, I can't really afford lessons and the people that I know that can play don't have a lot of time to teach me, altho they can provide tips and stuff. So I was wondering if there's a way to teach it myself?

Has anyone tried self-teaching with the guitar and what sources did you use?

Toolmaker

Years ago when I was first learning I would download tabs of songs I liked and pick my way through them. Sure, learning to read sheet music is great and all, but it is far more fun (and so more likely you'll stick with it) to familiarize yourself with playing by picking along to songs you enjoy.

I learned to play guitar at a pretty young age (12 maybe?). I was pretty lucky cuz my dad played as well, so I grew up watching/listening to him, and also had a couple guitars to practice on. It wasn't long before I got a lot better than my dad (my dad will be the first to admit he's a pretty novice player, he knows enough to play along with some bruce springsteen and bob dylan songs).

There are a lot of ways to learn, and depending on what you already know and what you want to know can determine how to learn. I don't have any specific books or anything to recommend, so I'll just give some suggestions on ways to learn.

Are you already familiar with music and can read music? If so, learn what note each string is on the guitar, how the frets = half steps, and begin playing easy songs out of books (mary had a little lamb, etc). From there you can start learning simple chords, then move on to more advanced chords and bar chords. I would also learn a few scales, and practice them, this helps a lot with learning the note positions as well as improving speed and picking accuracy.

If you don't know anything about music, you'll have to learn how the musical staff and notes work, and how they would be played on a guitar. You could also eliminate this by strictly learning songs by reading tablature, but I would recommend you at least learn time signatures and the time each note represents. This way you can read tab and staff music next to each other, as they compliment each other very well.
There are some really good sites out there that have great tab. There is a program called PowerTabs that you can use on your pc that can open special tab files that shows both the staff music as well as the tab. It is my favorite to use, but not all songs have a tab transcribed for it (and my ear isn't good enough to learn songs by ear, although i really wish it was).

If you want to get more advanced about music in general, pick up a bunch of books on guitar playing or music in general. This will help to improve on how/what to play in given key signatures, improvisation, and things like that.

This is all pretty generic and me rambling, but once you get the basics and can play some basic chords and scales, start playing with other people (or just watch them play). One of the best ways to learn more and improve your play is by playing with someone who is better than you (especially if they will take the time to show you the techniques they use and explain them). I jammed a lot with friends in college, and one guy was a pretty good player. I learned a lot from him.

A lot of guitar playing is muscle memory. Once you know a song by heart (or by muscle rather), you almost never forget it. There are times when I can't even remember how a song goes, but as long as I can pick up the guitar and play the first 2-3 notes/chords, I'll just continue playing it.

The main thing is not to get discouraged. Guitar is said to be one of the easiest instruments to learn, but hardest to master, so practice practice practice.

What kind of music are you looking to play btw? Also, have you picked out (or already own) a guitar?

Hope that helps some.

I taught myself how to play guitar when I was 12. I had taken piano lessons, so I already knew how to read music, but that isn't really necessary. You'll need a guitar. Instead of spending hundreds on a new instrument that you might give up on after a week or two, try looking for a used instrument at a yard sale or second hand shop. A nylon stringed acoustic is probably best to start with as nylon strings are easier on the finger tips than steel strings. A typical "how to play guitar" or "learn how to play guitar" book will contain all the basic chords you'll need to get started - C,D,G,E,Em,Am,Dm,F,A ... You can also find these online, but there's so much information available online that you might find it overwhelming. You might also want to pick up a song book of folk songs that you can practice with. Folk songs tend to use the basic chords and tend to be played on acoustic instruments and that means that as a novice you'll have an easier time reproducing them. I'm not familiar with Dutch folk music, but that's the case with American folk music (Pete Seeger, Peter, Paul and Mary, Bob Dylan, etc).

At any rate, your goal will be to train your fingers to retain the chord shapes. A good beginners book will show you which fingers go where for each chord. Once you have a chord formed, hold it for as long as you can, strumming with increasing vigor, from slow to fast. It's just like physical exercise and building increased stamina. The more you do, the easier it becomes. No pain, no gain. When you've got one chord down, repeat with the next until you've got all the basic chords down. After you've got two or three chords down, practice switching between them, back and forth, again, slow to fast changes and strumming. Once you've got all the basic chords down and can switch between them without pausing or thinking about it and you've got a couple of folk songs under your belt, you'll be good enough for the campfire. This could take anywhere from month to six months depending on how much time and effort you put into it. If that's as far as you want to take it, great. You're there. If you want to take it further, you'll need to learn about scales and music theory and the rest. There's a lot of information online, but you'll likely want to hire a teacher too, for a while at least. That would also be about the time to think about getting an electric guitar if that's what you want.

PS. If you want to hear me play, to judge my adivce, check out this tune I threw together in 1999: DickFloydSays.mpg. (Dick Floyd is the name of the man who's voice I sampled for the song - the mix is very crude, the guitar pyrotechnics begin about 2:15 into the tune).

[Edited by - LessBread on July 15, 2010 4:49:42 PM]

And, perhaps the seemingly obvious advice, you're going to get frustrated, your fingers are going to be overlapping strings badly, and you're going to feel like you'll never get it down and you'll want to give up.

Which is fine, it's not easy, but you'll come to a point where you get start playing chords, and switching between them.

Find some easy tabs, start playing along with songs you enjoy, and make it fun. practicing scales can be boring, so be sure to throw fun stuff in there while you practice.

Quote: Original post by LessBread
<--- lots of good advice except--->

A nylon stringed acoustic is probably best to start with as nylon strings are easier on the finger tips than steel strings.

I'd pretty much agree with everything Less said, except this.

I'd go with a steel string acoustic first. This will strengthen your fingers and make every other guitar you play seem easier. Also get a fairly tough rubber ball and squeeze it in your fret hand (usually your left hand if you're right handed and vice versa). YMMV.


Is there any particular style of music you want to play? In my experience, technically, classical guitar is generally the most difficult, folk is usually the easiest. Hard rock/metal rhythm (not lead) can be reasonably fast and technical, but musically is not that difficult. Bluegrass, roots, etc is very hard to play well since you'll usually have to be able to improvise. Again, this is my POV. Others may disagree

I've sort of been learning how to play the guitar lately, and here's my one piece of advice:

Practice!

I haven't been doing nearly enough so my fingers aren't staying calloused. If you don't keep on it, practicing at least a few times a week it takes a really long time to learn anything.

be cognisant of how wide your fingers are. I thought I had normal hands until I tried to play chords on a guitar. Fat fingers :'(

You'd be surprised though, I've seen some old men with some huge fingers play guitar like there's no tomorrow... You just have to be that much more accurate.

Quote: Original post by geo2004
You'd be surprised though, I've seen some old men with some huge fingers play guitar like there's no tomorrow... You just have to be that much more accurate.

maybe I needed to try a different guitar. I couldn't physically fit my fingers between the frets for some chords on the guitar I tried and decided to switch to piano for my musical fiddling.