Are Classic Guitar Lessons A Solid Foundation?

Like most kids my age, I wanted to play electric guitar. I figured that I could just learn a few chords, strum my guitar, and magically get hordes of groupies, flocking to my side. This is a common fantasy and a harmless one, but my parents encouraged me to have bigger dreams. They convinced me to take classical guitar instruction to start learning guitar. They argued that learning classical guitar would give me a much more solid foundation in how to play guitar. I would learn guitar techniques, understand musical theory, and once I was proficient, rock out with the best of them.

So I signed up for classical guitar lessons with the stipulation that, once I got good, I could get an electric guitar and start rocking. What I didn’t expect was how much I enjoyed to learn classical guitar. Learning acoustic guitar was like nothing else I had ever accomplished. I had never really listened to classical music before, but once I started playing it I became absolutely fascinated with it. It was so subtle, so complex, and so intricate. Although the rhythms were simple, the chord structures and variations added a grace that I had never heard in contemporary pop music. I was hooked, and it really helped motivating me to learn to play the guitar.

It helps that I was a natural at playing classical guitar. One of the things that they never tell you when you start to learn guitar is that your fingernails make a big difference in how well you can play. Guitarists with soft fingernails are doomed to be second-rate guitarists. You need to have strong fingernails or else you can’t properly pick the notes. Not only did I have good fingernails, but I had the sort of skinny long fingers that allow you to play bigger, more complicated chords with ease. My hands were made for playing the classical guitar, and my mind wasn’t far behind. I loved classical music by the time I had been at learning to play guitar for a couple weeks.

That is not to say I gave up my rock and roll dreams. On the contrary, once I passed beginning guitar lessons, I started to learn to play a little bit of rock ‘n roll as well. It was surprisingly easy to pick up after I had learned to play classical guitar. Don’t get me wrong, it does involve some skills they you don’t use in classical playing. Some of the chords are different, and you have to learn how to use a pick. Nonetheless, I had discovered such subtlety with my fingers that it was comparatively easy.

This article was written by our guest blogger Cyn.