Most people reckon learning guitar is hard. Well not right, learning guitar is always simpler than most people reckon. Learning guitar is often like yoga for the fingers, as they learn to stretch and even grow a small differently. The key to learning guitar is practice. Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of first learning guitar is that it is seemingly impossible to play anything that really sounds excellent and most people get frustrated and leave it at that. Once you get that first “excellent” tune from the playing the guitar it acts as a trigger for more enthusiasm and encouragement that you are seeing success from your endeavors. When you have that first guitar success it is a fantastic feeling to have. One thing to remember is that learning guitar is a passion for each and every one of us and is something that takes a long time to master.

A guitar is primarily a rhythm instrument, meaning you can make excellent music with just a handful of chords and a couple of scales. Above all, the most vital thing is to make sure that playing the instrument is something you really delight in, or no matter how much you place into it, you won’t ever get anywhere. It is undeniably the most well loved instrument in our country at this time. For only a small amount more you can get a quality instrument.

Learning Guitar: Getting Started

I have found that learning to play guitar is like many other activities it takes practice and perseverance. A person can get along fine these days by learning a few chords and knowing how to read tab, right. That should be the first guitar goal and that alone will unlock many doors to guitar progression. The best and simplest path to becoming a competent guitar player is by learning some chords and then applying them to learning the rhythm parts of songs that you hear and delight in. Guitar players often spend hours learning new chords and practicing them over and over again. Nearly anyone can learn to play the guitar if they place their heart into learning, in addition to putting in a substantial amount of effort and passion. Although many prefer to take lessons, which can be very expensive, learning to playing guitar by purchasing guitar courses online is also a very realistic option.

Choosing an Acoustic Guitar

If you are looking to choose an acoustic guitar as your learning guitar then I would recommend the following:

- Taylor, moderately priced

- Dean, some excellent deals available

- Gibson, expensive, but you get your money’s worth in terms of quality

Acoustic guitars may be more expensive up front but then again you won’t need an amplifier. I often recommend learning acoustic first, and then moving to electric, but it doesn’t really matter what you start on and is often a matter of taste. An acoustic guitar is generally used by learners because it produces a cleaner sound and the chords crisper as a result. Some people consider it harder to play on an acoustic because you have to “push” harder, and when you take an electric guitar in your hands after that, you’ll see how it is simpler.

Choosing an Electric Guitar

If you are looking to learn guitar by starting with an electric guitar I would recommend the following makes:

- Ibanez, fantastic starters and very attractive prices

- Gibson, same as acoustic, expensive but worth it

- Fender, moderately priced, but if you don’t want to pay full price you can go with Squire

If you choose to start with an electric guitar, then you’ll want to buy a practice amp too. You can usually pick up a reasonably high quality practice amp for around $50-$100. If you buy an electric guitar first, it will be fantastic fun learning to do power chords and noisy solos, but when you reach certain level where you want to start using more complex chords and arrangements, it’s time to knuckle down to practice chords and progressions as if it was an acoustic. One advantage of learning guitar with an electric guitar as opposed to acoustic guitars is that you can practice silently by using headphones.

Conclusion

Learning guitar is about repetition, repetition, repetition and if you have time, repetition. Once you have those chords and scales burned into your muscle memory playing guitar is very relaxing. One major aspect of learning guitar is that of confidence and getting to that first goal and persevering is a must. Also some people find it hard initially teaching the left hand the chords and fingering but again, this comes down to practice. The first thing to know is that learning guitar is something that takes a long time. The most vital thing to keep in mind while learning guitar is never give up and you will succeed.

Learning guitar chords is like learning how to speak a language. Learning guitar chords is quite hard but it does not have to feel impossible for you as there are many online resources that can help you master the process. Learning guitar chords is largely a question of teaching the left hand to memorize different shapes. Muscle memory plays a very large part of this process and practice is essential. One of the tricks for when you are practicing and learning guitar chords is when taking in to consideration that you have already memorized the chord patterns and to switch randomly between these chords so that the changes become automatic and you do not have to concentrate on the changes.

I personally like playing guitar. The guitar is still the most well loved stringed musical instrument and we all have our guitar idols and gods from Hendrix to Slash, Page to Clapton. All of these guys started with simple chords and chord progressions and so can you.

Once you learn how to play guitar chords you will be able to pick up any song book or guitar tab and play the songs as you read them and that is an incredible feeling of accomplishment. Many of the online guitar courses available from our website feature play-along tracks for you to practice with and you can jam along to your hearts content!

Friends often question me how to play guitar or what guitar instruction to use, sometimes they even question me how hard should it be to learn how to play guitar music. My answer is always the same, not as hard as you reckon if you are prepared to learn. Unlike the ancient ways of learning guitar music, taking lessons and wasting 100s of dollars, squinting at notes for hours on end, playing songs over and over, you can find very effective online training course that cost a fraction of guitar lessons.

When you are learning chords on your guitar you have to consider the differences in sound that the two main kinds of guitars make. The chord sounds are very different between the electric guitar and the acoustic guitar so bear that in mind when you are learning songs, match the guitar to the song style. Simple guitar songs start right with simple stepping and rhythm. This enables the novice to study to play the guitar simpler and allows quicker progression. When learning guitar chords, you must bear in mind that the guitar chord is considered as the most common and simplest way of playing the guitar. There are so many different guitar chord combinations that trying to remember all of them can really be a headache. So learn the main ones and master them, memorize them and you can then go on to learn the more hard or less used variants. Most songs are made with these basic chords or slight variants as these are the ones the guitarist who wrote the music is most familiar with and also practiced most while they learned their craft.

One thing you must consider when you are playing guitar or learning new chords is you apply yourself. If you apply yourself properly and dedicate your time to learning the chords in different ways then you will soon be on your way to a more professional sounding guitar and much better techniques than you ever had before. You will soon be playing along to your favorite songs as if you were in the band. You will soon have that warm glow of satisfaction as your family comes to listen to you play with a contented smile instead of running to the other room as soon as you pick up the guitar, and that is a right sign of success!