Guitar Mastery

It’s not uncommon for you to start playing if you get your hands on some decent books. I know several guitarists who have been playing for over 30 years that started out playing with a beaten up old guitar and a little book of chords. Here are a few great keys to success.

1. Form- Make sure to always pay attention to how the book is showing you to position your hand and fingers. Always do it the correct way. When you become advanced you’ll be glad you did.
2. Dedication- play at least 20-30 min every day. Don’t skip a day just because your fingers hurt a little one day. Your fingers will normally hurt and its normal. It will go away after the first couple of weeks.
3. Walking the scale- Make sure to spend at least 15 min each time you start practicing walking up each and every string. Open, first, second, third, fourth fingers. Then back down. This process will seam monotonous very quickly. But don’t let it fool you. It builds finger strength, correct positioning and callousing
Good Luck!

Like learning anything else it takes time. How much effort and commitment you put forth is the real question as to how long it will take you. There are little muscles inside of your fingers that you have to develop in order to even have the capability to play well. Just starting off I would say that you should practice at least 15 to 20 minutes a day. At that rate you can expect to be able to play guitar within about 2 years. Its takes time to develop the finger strength. Like anything else practice makes perfect. The more you practice the faster you will learn and the less time it will take to be playing songs for your friends and family

Many people have questions wither they should start learning guitar on an acoustic or electric guitar. The answer to this question is pretty simple. If your intention is to play mostly electric guitar then start on an electric guitar. If your intention is to play traditional Spanish guitar then start your learning process with an acoustic guitar.

The people who tell you that you should start with an acoustic guitar usually are people who play acoustic guitar. They normally aren’t electric guitar players and to tell you the truth don’t know what they are talking about. I’ve heard people say that it’s good to learn acoustic first because it blisters your fingers, making is seem like that is a good thing. But in all honesty many beginner electric guitar players practice until their fingers bleed! No matter what type of guitar you start with it’s about the passion that goes into it. Another reason to think about what you mostly want to play is that the space between the strings on an electric guitar and an acoustic guitar are different lengths. If you get used to one then it will be even more difficult to get used to the other. As for the music theory and philosophy of guitar they are completely the same.

Many people don’t fully understand just how difficult it is to learn to play guitar. It isn’t easy and it defiantly will take a lot of hard work and practice. The good news is the guitar is one of the easiest instruments to learn compared to the flute or the clarinet. It’s not uncommon for you to be playing like Larry Carlton within a couple of years with enough dedication and practice. The 2 keywords being DEDICATION and PRACTICE.

One of the first questions people have is where do I start? Well there are a couple different ways to start. The 2 main ways are hiring a teacher and teaching yourself. They each have their own advantages and disadvantages. If you hire a teacher chances are you are going to spend quite a bit of money to before you’re really get good. But the advantage comes in the way of having someone there guiding the way and answering questions when they do come up. Teaching yourself could be very cost effective and you can learn on your own schedule. The only problem is how do you know you’re really doing it right? And no one can help you with specific questions.

Many people also get caught up on what type of guitar they should start on. The common myth is that you should always start with an acoustic. But it’s all BS it all depends on the type you must that you want to play. If you love metal, then an electric guitar would be best for you to start learning so that you enjoy the process. If you love Spanish guitar then an acoustic guitar would be more your style. But if you start with something you hate or really dislike. Then most likely you’re not going to enjoy the process and it will take a lot longer for you to learn. If you enjoy the process and enjoy every minute of learning to play your favorite songs then learning the guitar will be very very easy. Although if you’re doing something that you hate it will seem like the most difficult thing in the world