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The Joy of learning to play an instrument
There are many reasons why you should try your hand at learning a musical instrument. The first – and super obvious reason is that it’s a rewarding experience. Not only will you get acquainted with the vocabulary of the musical language, but you will also enjoy the company of countless other musicians who share similar passions as you. Learning music, much like learning anything else- requires new neural networks to form in your brain, and while that might sound technical- it just means that you are training your brain to be better at learning new things. The next reason- and why most people learn instruments- is to be able to play that for an audience. Whether you want to play for a huge audience someday or just want to learn the guitar to be good enough to play in front of a campfire, you are never too late to start learning. Is learning guitar hard?
Like most things in life, the guitar is hard- but I don’t mean it in a demotivating way. I am a firm believer that anything worth having needs to have a certain element of sacrifice to it- and requires you to put significant time and effort into it. That said, the difficulty in learning guitar does not stem from the fact that there are tons of chords or bizarre symbols or melancholy theory that you will need to memorize- it’s none of these actually. You don’t need to know that many chords to play along to any song- unless, of course, you want to learn Frank Sinatra’s rendition of Autumn Leaves! There are just a handful of chords that you need to know- and if you learn basic chord construction and internalize the intervals, you will be more knowledgeable than most of the guitarists out there. Pair a capo with that, and you will be ready to play any song you might want to learn. If the process is super simple and won’t take more than a few months, what then, might be the reason behind the difficulty in learning guitar or any other instrument? Turns out, it’s actually persistence and dedication. The first day you get a guitar, you might be oozing with motivation and want to practice the instrument till your fingers bleed. And gradually, while you are learning your way through the basic chords and scales- that initial motivation seemingly fades away. This is actually the case for way too many beginners- and the reason why most guitarists only learn the bare minimum and move on with their life. So, let’s say that you want to get crazy good at guitar. It’s reasonable to assume that such a goal would require countless hours of monotonous practice. If you’re a people person, you will have to make time for practicing boring arpeggios and scales on your guitar which is easy to say- but difficult to put into practice.
I am not assuming that you are super disciplined. I think it’s safe to assume that in addition to playing guitar, you have got a day job that demands a significant portion of your time, and since you are pretty exhausted by the end of the day, what you might be able to learn in that short a span of time is going to be fairly limited. With that in mind, I am putting together the best way to learn guitar. Why Learn Guitar?
There are many instruments that can be easier than guitar. There’s Bass (Davie disagrees!), violin(not really), drums (probably), and sax (this is way harder actually). So, the instruments that I’ve mentioned may not exactly be the easiest to learn but they are there, and if you want to start out on something easier, keyboard or a ukulele would be a great choice. I don’t recommend starting out on a fretless instrument because that’s, honestly- a pain that no beginner should be getting into. A fretted instrument is just easier to learn as you don’t need to constantly worry about not being in tune.
Learning the guitar as a first instrument is a great idea as not only is the humble guitar cheaper than most beginner pianos out there, but it’s also got tons of players out there who would be very happy to help out a beginner. Every pro musician was once a beginner, and that’s exactly why you can expect them to help you if you ever need help in your learning journey. You also get to learn all about notes and chords and scales and stuff, so you can quickly apply that knowledge to any instrument of your choice, which is great. Personally, the reason why I decided to learn guitar was that I could easily get an electric guitar if the neighbors decided that I was too loud, and you have the choice to use countless pedals and accessories to sculpt the tone and sound just the way you want. There is also the fact that you need a sound-proof room and a pretty hefty budget to even get started learning drums. 
There are many similarities in the process of learning drums and guitar share- and you will have to work on your muscle memory and hand coordination for both of these instruments. But guitar will probably be easier, at least, in my opinion- as you don’t have to be worrying about limb coordination. An acoustic guitar is pretty quiet when compared to the super-loud sounds of a drumkit. Even if you decide to muffle the bass drum, the sound is still very loud and will certainly get you kicked out of your apartment if you prefer an acoustic kit over an electric setup. You will also be able to pick up the ukulele or banjo or mandolin after thoroughly learning the guitar which, I think is a fantastic thing. If you want to be a multi-instrumentalist, learning guitar can be the first step to your long journey. What is the best way to learn guitar?
The Budget Mindset
It can be very easy to fall for the premium brand trap. You might think that it’s much better to invest on a premium brand three months from now than get a budget instrument that you can afford now. The reasoning is fairly simple- if you get a cheap one right away, you will have to replace it later anyway. So, why bother getting a cheap one when you can just save up and get a more expensive one later, right? That’s where you might be wrong. There are a lot of things that can make you a better player. And I know for sure, that having good quality gear can make you a much better musician as you will have a better intonation – as well as a better sense of chromatics. But to be honest, if you postpone your dreams by three months, you just might be putting off that dream for years. Think about this- you may be a free man now, but if you decide to get married in three months, or have a daughter, or a pet, it would take most of your time. And it’s actually very hard to be a good parent.
If you are like me, and want to know what your child is learning- and want yourself to be a good influence on them, you will be paying attention to every little vowel the little guy is learning. And learning guitar just won’t be one of your priorities, trust me! So, you should get an instrument while you can, with the money you’ve got, and if you do your research well and invest some time into looking into the features you are getting, you might be able to get a sweet deal. Even if you are a fast learner, and can learn a dozen scales in a single day, there will still be some time before you can outgrow the instrument. Learning guitar not only means just learning the basic open chords and playing cowboy chords- but it also means improving your sense of rhythm and becoming a better musician. Beyond these foundational elements, musicians often expand their repertoire by learning how to play bar chords, which are crucial for navigating a wider range of songs. Everybody has a different approach to that, but even if you are a child prodigy with tons of hours to spend, you will find that you are still improving after decades of playing. Take it from guys like Guthrie Govan and Rick Beato – the process of growing and learning new things on the guitar just never stops. So, since you are in it for a life-long journey, it’s a good idea to step right in with what you can afford at the moment. There is one more reason why you should stick with what you have, and not look at the most expensive models in the market. Not only do you need a good instrument, but if you want to make your life as a guitarist easier, you will want to invest in a good tuner, digital metronome, a looper, a decent amp, good cables, and much more stuff. The list literally grows as you progress on the instrument. So, it may be a great idea to just get used to playing on what you have, and if you have the budget to spare- upgrade to a better one later. As many musicians like to say- it’s not the gear that makes good music, it’s the musician! Learn your Intervals First
It can be very easy to get distracted by scales and tons of arpeggios. There certainly is value in learning those stuff- scales and arpeggios will help develop your vocabulary in ways that learning songs simply cannot. That said, as far as learning on the guitar is concerned, you will only be able to play what you actively practice. You cannot expect to get better at sweeps if you are only practicing tremolo right? Very similarly, if you want to get better at phrasing, you will actually need to try to improvise over a track. I always recommend that beginners start out with intervals first because it not only helps them remember what those sound like, but it will also come in handy later on when they actually want to get into bass guitar chord construction and harmonizing melodies. The benefits to learning intervals religiously are endless- you are training your ear to hear those pesky harmonies, you are getting used to how a certain note combination sounds- and you are also preparing your ear to find melodies on the fretboard later.Get A Tuner
Do you know how many guitarists actually use a tuner? You will be surprised by how many musicians actually forget to tune up their instruments and sound bad while rehearsing at band practice. If you have a bassist who is never in tune, you know just how annoying it can get. If you want to never forget to tune-up before a show, just keep a tuner handy- and use it. Sure, many amps come with tuners built-in, but they are a pain to drag around, and if you just want to tune your acoustic guitars, getting a pricy amp can be counter-intuitive. You can also use a tuner on most phones by using am app- but if you just want to tuner your instruments, having to reach your phones first can also be an inconvenience. Clip-on tuners solve this problem quite elegantly as you can put one on the headstock of your guitar and know if your guitar is out of tune very easily. Consistently accurate tuning is a foundational skill, essential for any musician aspiring to become a better bass player or guitarist.Stay in Time
If there’s one thing that separates the professionals from the amateurs, it’s the fact that pro-guitarists have an amazing sense of time. You can play the same scales and melodies, but If you actually know what you are doing, you can introduce new and interesting variations in your playing much easier. Many players think that a drummer is the only person in a band who needs to be familiar with staying in time. That couldn’t be farther from the truth- every musician needs to be adept at playing in time. This also helps when you actually have to record in a studio setting for launching EPs which is something you should certainly look forward to. If you are somebody like me who has never stepped foot in any music course, you will quickly find it confusing if you are trying to learn all about time. The first thing you should be mindful of- is the fact that there are beats in music, and there are bars. Most pop songs today are in a 4/4 time, which just means that the song usually has a beat that you can count as 1-2-3-4. There are other time signatures like 2/4 or ¾ or 6/4 or even 5/11, but 4/4 and ¾ are probably the most common ones out there.
If you just play a note for every beat in a bar, you will get what’s called quarter notes. Most players actually want to play more than just a note per beat, so you will find that you can also play two notes in a bar- and you call eighth notes. You would count that as 1-and-2-and-3-and-4-and. After you’ve gotten used to these note values and can play steady at about 60 beats per minute, you can move on to three and four notes per beat which you would count as 1-and-a-2-and-a-3-and-a-4-and-a, and 1-e-and-a-2-e-and-a-3-e-and-a-4-e-and-a respectively. This may sound super confusing if you don’t have any previous experience at counting beats, so I suggest that you keep at it till you get good at playing steady no. Slow down, mate!
When you are first starting to learn the instrument, you may want to play the fastest you can. While there’s nothing wrong with wanting to do that, you’ll soon find that doing so can get you in a big problem. All of your notes will sound messy. There is value to playing fast- as somebody who has practiced technical riffs for years, I know how intimidating wanting to bump up the speed can get, but trust me- if you can play it slow, you can also play it fast. Just pay attention to what movements you are making, and try reducing any unnecessary movements while playing at a slow bpm, and you will notice that your top speed will soon increase and you will also sound much cleaner. Even if all you want to do is shred on the fretboard and play triplets at blazing fast tempos, slowing down can improve your progress as you will have time to analyze where you may be losing your speed. Unnecessary arm and wrist movements can make your playing slow- and playing slowly while being attentive is a good idea to know your weak points. There is actually an example from my own playing that taught me to stick to slow tempos first- when I was trying to learn major seventh arpeggios across the fretboard, there was a tricky part that always caught me off guard. The notes weren’t hard at all and it was just my fingers that made it harder for me to reach the notes. I fixed that by adopting the one-finger-per-fret technique which just means that if I had to play a note on the fifth fret, I would use my index finger if I had to play the sixth fret- the middle finger, and so on. This gave me a speed boost- and if you’ve read some of my other playing guides, you might also remember that I am an advocate for playing with all four fingers as opposed to just using two or three. You can try slowing down to see where you might be limiting your playing, and try improving your technique to achieve faster speeds and accuracy. A good metronome can come in very handy for that.Learn Songs
I know many players who are guilty of just practicing scales and theory, and don’t have a well-rounded repertoire. As musicians, we need to build a good repertoire of songs and licks that we can use when the need comes. It’s never a bad idea to stay prepared for gigs.
This is exactly where many beginners might feel like copying somebody else is bad and you may want to develop your own musical style from the start. I think it’s great that you want to have a personal style, and you are on the right path, but the way most musicians (even the greats like John Mayer and Hendrix) learn is by exposing themselves to good music and trying to do what many before them have already done. You see, you wouldn’t have the blues if artists decided that the blues scale sounds lame and they would like to use their own unique scale. It doesn’t work quite that way, and unless you know exactly what you are doing, you will be stuck with a terrible sound. If you want to be paid, or at least appreciated for your playing, it’s a good idea to stick to the music that you know sounds and feels good. Just learn songs, even if they have cheesy lyrics and you hate country- because learning a song will teach you something you didn’t already know before, and that’s the fastest way to become a skilled musician. You may know all about brushes and the myriads of colors mixing paints can produce, but you won’t be an artist unless you do something with those brushes and paints of yours, right? Very similarly, knowing the building blocks of theory and harmony can be very essential but if you don’t know how to use it in a practical setting, you are missing a huge part of learning. Get Rid of the Bad Habits that are holding you back
This needs to be more out there- there are many players who aren’t improving because they are always trying the same things on guitar. Identifying and avoiding common mistakes beginners make can significantly accelerate your progress on the instrument. If every time you pick up a guitar, you are only playing the minor pentatonic, you cannot expect to one day shred in a neoclassical scale, right? If you want to get better at shredding, you will need to work on arpeggios, tremolo, alternate picking, and sweeps, right? Very similarly, if you want to improve at rhythm, you actually need to be doing exercises with a metronome. You don’t need to be playing notes either – you can just get started with a drum loop and tap along to it, and gradually increase the note values or the tempo. Doing so should help reinforce your sense of timing. If you find yourself bending out of tune, it’s a great idea to use a tuner or a backing track so you know what reference note you are trying to bend to, and what you need to do in order to sound in tune. If you want to improve your vibrato, you will need to put more time into learning vibrato techniques. This may sound like something you already know but when you actually pick up an instrument, it can be hard to implement. After all, habits take time to form- and if you’ve got a habit that you would like to change, you can expect to spend two-three months of dedication before you can actually get used to the new activity.Jam sessions
If there’s one thing that has helped me improve the most in music, it’s got to be the jamming sessions. If you are new to the term, jamming just means a gathering of musicians- and they play over each other. One of the instruments might play the bass line, another plays percussion, another plays the harmony and another might play the lead section.
If you do decide to learn the guitar, you also have the versatility to play either the bass part, the mid-parts, or even take the lead, and if you are into percussive playing, you also have the freedom to come up with your own beats on the guitar. That’s awesome, right? Improvising with friends or just with a track can help you experiment with new musical ideas, learn new vocabulary, and provide a handy accompaniment to bring scales and arpeggios to life. If you are a beginner and have never tried playing with others, I highly recommend that you try out playing with a backing track or a looper. Doing just that can help you improve by leaps and bounds in no time at all. Final Thoughts
There are many things that might trip you up while learning to play the guitar, and I think I have discussed some of the above. Unsurprisingly, the best way to learn the guitar is to actually practice the guitar. You will find that you will suck at it for some time, and eventually, after months of practice- you will get better at making music, enough for others to not ask you to stop while you are playing. I think the process of learning the guitar is very rewarding and even if you don’t want to become a fantastic musician, you can always expect to learn many valuable things by learning a new instrument. This was very interesting for me to write, and I hope that you have gotten some value out of this post. If you have found this article helpful, please do us a favor by sharing and leaving a comment down below!Frequently Asked Questions
Is learning an acoustic necessary before learning an electric guitar?
It is the traditional way to learn- and is almost a rite of passage for many electric guitarists. I would also suggest the same because if you are just starting out on an acoustic, you don’t need to worry about the tone or the amps or pedals or gimmicky effects like wah and fuzz. Having an acoustic allows you to focus on improving your guitar skills, and I find that if you work on your dexterity on an acoustic guitar, it helps a lot while trying to get better on an electric as well. But, it’s not really necessary and if you just want to play the electric guitar, I would suggest that you go for an electric. Similarly, understanding how long it takes to learn bass or other related musical instruments provides a broader perspective on different musical journeys.Why do I need a metronome?
You need a metronome to stay on time. Nobody wants to play with a musician who does not know how to keep time. And if you invest some time in improving your metronome skills, it also shows up in your playing. If you are into songs by greats like Petrucci and Mayer, you will quickly realize that they employ syncopation and the licks can be pretty fast sometimes. If you want to learn the parts properly and not sound crappy when playing up to speed, it’s a great idea to slow the parts you are having trouble with- and practice just that till you feel comfortable, and you would gradually bump up the tempo. So, there’s really no reason to not use a metronome. If you’re confused as to which one you should get, check out my post on best metronome for beginners.What essential accessories do you need to learn a guitar?
If you are starting out on an acoustic guitar, you don’t need much. Just a guitar and a tuner, and maybe a decent capo will keep you covered. I’ve also made a list of the best guitar accessories that you want to check out! But if you want to learn on an electric, you also have to invest in a decent amplifier. For players needing a compact and portable option, exploring the best mini guitar amplifiers can provide quality sound for practice without taking up much space. Whichever way you choose to learn, you will find that having a looper and a capo can come in very handy when actually trying to get better at music. The thing that’s more important than fancy accessories is an effective practice, and if you keep at it, you will quickly become as good as you want to be.Understanding Guitar Amplifiers
While this article emphasizes practice over the acquisition of endless gear, having the right equipment significantly impacts your learning experience. For electric guitarists, a quality amplifier is not just an accessory but a fundamental part of their sound. Beginners often wonder about the different types of amps, their features, and how they contribute to tone. Learning to navigate these options, from portable practice amps to larger setups, can deepen your understanding of the instrument. A detailed guide explaining guitar amplifiers can help aspiring musicians make informed choices and sculpt their desired sound from the start, enhancing their overall playing journey.